Papua New Guinea's anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International has criticised the government for failing to sign an agreement to make parliament more transparent and open.
One of the "Open Parliament Project" objectives is to generate public awareness on the performance of MPs by publicising their attendance, speeches and questions they ask in parliament on a website to be created under the project.The signing of the project agreement was put off today because no one from the Speaker or Deputy speakers' office was present.
One of the "Open Parliament Project" objectives is to generate public awareness on the performance of MPs by publicising their attendance, speeches and questions they ask in parliament on a website to be created under the project.The signing of the project agreement was put off today because no one from the Speaker or Deputy speakers' office was present.
The absence of senior officials from the PNG parliament has not gone down well with the organisers, Transparency International.
The group's Executive Director in PNG, Emily George Taule, told Pacific Beat people have a right to a transparent government.
"Parliament belongs to the people and so therefore parliament information belongs to the people.
"It is there to also make parliament accessible to citizens, civil society included, and having greater access to parliament information," she said.
The European Union provides over 350,000 Euros to fund is funding to the project.
The head of the EU delegation to PNG, Martin Dihm, is confident the agreement will be signed.
"It will help parliament to get greater publicity and visibility for all its work and results it achieves.
"We are looking forward to having the signature of the speaker or his deputy as soon as possible and we will certainly be in contact with our counterparts," said Mr Dihm. Radio Austrailia International
No comments:
Post a Comment