Ms Martha Anton was the provincial treasurer for
the Chimbu Province and last year she was one of three staff from the Department
of Finance and Treasury awarded for outstanding services to the country.
The Chimbu Provincial Government whom she served had no problems but yesterday Governor Fr John Garia and Provincial Administrator Joe Kunda are shocked that she had been sacked.
About 10 days ago, Acting Secretary for the Department of Finance, Steven Gibson wrote to Kundiawa to notify Ms Anton of her sacking and informed senior finance officer Sandy Wamil of her acting appointment.
A disappointed Fr Garia has gone to the media, expressing concern that Ms Anton was not informed of the charges, contrary to laws dealing with public servants. He is also disappointed that as Governor, he was not made aware of the charges and he is demanding that Mr Gibson rescind his decision.
We do not want to get involved in the legal issues nor do we want to question the prerogative of the Secretary of the Department of Finance to fire his staff but what we want to question is the timing.
It is highly suspicious that a performing senior public servant, who controls public funds in the province, is sacked three months before the national elections. This does not look good at all.
We are of the view that the sacking of Ms Anton is politically motivated and we urge Mr Gibson to allow commonsense to prevail and bring Ms Anton back to her position again.
We are sure there must be one or two Members of Parliament from that province who must have influenced Mr Gibson to do what he did, because we suspect that they may want to channel public funds through Kundiawa to use in the elections.
The changes at the Provincial Treasury Office in Kundiawa best demonstrate the vulnerable position public servants are in as PNG moves closer to the elections.
As the countdown to the elections begin, MPs are looking at ways to secure their seats and many of them will want to place their own people in key positions in the provinces.
Prime targets will be district and provincial the administrators as well provincial and district treasurers.
We urge these officers to be careful of such people who are going to employ all sorts of tactics to get their hands on public money to fund their election campaigns.
We challenge them to remain firm and make sure that the 2012 National Budget is not mismanaged and any other public funds held in trust or in various other accounts are protected and put to good use.
There may be MPs who may have kept public funds, meant for programs and projects in their electorates in the past years, in trust accounts to use during the elections and this is nothing but misappropriation.
We urge public servants with financial powers to stop them from drawing down on these funds during the elections and report on any MP who does that to appropriate authorities to be deal with under the Public Finance Management Act.
The Chimbu Provincial Government whom she served had no problems but yesterday Governor Fr John Garia and Provincial Administrator Joe Kunda are shocked that she had been sacked.
About 10 days ago, Acting Secretary for the Department of Finance, Steven Gibson wrote to Kundiawa to notify Ms Anton of her sacking and informed senior finance officer Sandy Wamil of her acting appointment.
A disappointed Fr Garia has gone to the media, expressing concern that Ms Anton was not informed of the charges, contrary to laws dealing with public servants. He is also disappointed that as Governor, he was not made aware of the charges and he is demanding that Mr Gibson rescind his decision.
We do not want to get involved in the legal issues nor do we want to question the prerogative of the Secretary of the Department of Finance to fire his staff but what we want to question is the timing.
It is highly suspicious that a performing senior public servant, who controls public funds in the province, is sacked three months before the national elections. This does not look good at all.
We are of the view that the sacking of Ms Anton is politically motivated and we urge Mr Gibson to allow commonsense to prevail and bring Ms Anton back to her position again.
We are sure there must be one or two Members of Parliament from that province who must have influenced Mr Gibson to do what he did, because we suspect that they may want to channel public funds through Kundiawa to use in the elections.
The changes at the Provincial Treasury Office in Kundiawa best demonstrate the vulnerable position public servants are in as PNG moves closer to the elections.
As the countdown to the elections begin, MPs are looking at ways to secure their seats and many of them will want to place their own people in key positions in the provinces.
Prime targets will be district and provincial the administrators as well provincial and district treasurers.
We urge these officers to be careful of such people who are going to employ all sorts of tactics to get their hands on public money to fund their election campaigns.
We challenge them to remain firm and make sure that the 2012 National Budget is not mismanaged and any other public funds held in trust or in various other accounts are protected and put to good use.
There may be MPs who may have kept public funds, meant for programs and projects in their electorates in the past years, in trust accounts to use during the elections and this is nothing but misappropriation.
We urge public servants with financial powers to stop them from drawing down on these funds during the elections and report on any MP who does that to appropriate authorities to be deal with under the Public Finance Management Act.
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