Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Devolving power to districts the wrong approach says Governor of PNG’s Milne Bay

Posted at 06:02 on 05 September, 2008 UTC

The Governor of Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea says the executive role of provincial governments needs to remain even if legislative powers are reduced.

The national government has announced moves to review the legislative powers of provincial administrations, claiming they aren’t ensuring the proper delivery of basic services to rural people.

However Milne Bay Governor John Luke Crittin says the current system works in most provinces but that there is poor access to resources from central government.

He says eliminating the legislative abilities of provincial government to give it to districts is futile because the districts aren’t geared for distributing services.

“The province should be run by the governor and the open member. Instead of having provincial assembly, we should have like a board. And that board would run the public service in the province and prepare all the development plans for the province.”

John Luke Crittin says shifting provincial level powers to districts will multiply service delivery problems.