John Varey| Post Courier | Yu Tok | 22nd May 2025
As Papua New Guinea marks 50 years of independence, it’s time to confront a painful reality: billions of kina allocated through the District and Provincial Services Improvement Programs (DSIP and PSIP) are shrouded in secrecy, mismanagement, and unaccounted spending. The lack of transparency and timely acquittals by Members of Parliament is a betrayal of public trust.
Post Courier | Jeffery Elapa | May 21, 2025
Several Government heavies and Opposition frontbenchers are yet to submit their ‘slush fund’ acquittals.
These include Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey (Kavieng), and outspoken East Sepik Governor Allan Bird who are among 46 MPs who have yet to submit their annual reports on DSIP and PSIP to the Department of Implementation and Rural Development.
The National | May 19, 2025
Auditor-General Gordon Kega is calling on all public offices, district development authorities and provincial administrations to improve governance practices.
“Transparency is not optional, it’s a requirement for effective delivery, and therefore we expect responsible agencies to improve in areas of internal controls in promoting accountability in financial management.
The National | Philip Ukuni | May 15, 2025
THE District Development Authority Act 2014, or DDA Act for short is a stumbling block to the Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Government (LLG) Act (revised 1995).
The DDA Act seem to provide a legalised avenue for corruption to thrive.
It also contravenes with Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Government Administration Act.
This legislation is the elephant in the room and yet we are so naive and ignorant of its function and its impact to the detriment of service delivery.
The National | Zara Kanu | May 15, 2025
THE recent audits of projects funded under the service improvement programme (SIP) have revealed widespread weaknesses in financial management, an official says.
Auditor-General Gordon Kega said this raised red flags on documentation and particularly compliance with government guidelines.
“There are several recurring issues that have created these weaknesses and this is poor record-keeping and the lack of supporting documentation which causes failure to submit timely financial reports and acquittals.
The National | May 13, 2025
CONCERNS have been raised about the timely disbursement and acquittal of service improvement programme (SIP) grants, specifically under the provincial and district programmes.
East Sepik Governor Allan Bird, in an interview with The National, said it is a problem that some provincial and district agencies are not able to meet the March 31 deadline to submit acquittals.
“We either don’t receive them on time or not at all,” he said.
The National | May 8, 2025
OPPOSITION Leader Douglas Tomuriesa has claimed that the Government is yet to release all the 2025 funding it had allocated to MPs, departments and agencies in the national budget.
He told reporters yesterday that some government agencies were yet to receive funds due in the first quarter of the year.
He said only K1 million of the K10 million allocated for the District Service Improvement Programme (DSIP) had been received.
The National | Phillip Ukuni | May 1st, 2025
One of the dailies published an article few weeks ago under the subheading 50 plus MPs yet to acquit.
This message was coming from the combine efforts of two very important government agencies legally tasked with constitutional duties and functions.
These two agencies are the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) and the Ombudsman Commission.
These agencies efforts to ensure all public funds are acquitted annually has to be stringently enforced.
Post- Courier | Monday 28th, April 2025
The Ombudsman Commission was given a huge pat on the back when it issued a public notice in the daily newspapers at the beginning of March this year, calling on all MPs to submit their acquittals on the use of their electoral development funds.
Commentary by ACT NOW!
ACT NOW! welcomes the recent government announcement of extra funding support to the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) to allow physical inspection of district projects funded under the Service Improvement Program. But ACT NOW says the department must be transparent about which projects get inspected and the inspection reports must be made public for transparency and accountability purposes.
The National | Jesher Tilto | April 17, 2025
MORE than 50 MPs are yet to submit acquittals for their 2024 service improvement programme (SIP) funds to the Department of Implementation and Rural Development.
Acting secretary Aihi Vaki said only 62 out of 118 MPs had submitted their acquittals as of yesterday.
The National | Jesher Tilto | April 8, 2025
More than 70 MP's are yet to submit acquittals for their 2024 Service Improvement Programme (SIP) funds to the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD).
Acting secretary Aihi Vaki said only 43 out of the 118 MPS had submitted their acquittals as of yesterday.
The National | Editorial | March 31st 2025
The Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) must be adequately funded so it can perform one of its key roles of inspection and monitoring projects in districts.
This department is very a very important role to play in supporting the Government deliver improved services to every province, districts and local level government throughout motoring the country.
The National | Jesher Tilto | April 2, 2025
All MPs yet to submit their acquittals for the 2024 service improvement program (SIP)funds to the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) can still do so, an official says.
Acting Secretary Aihi Vaki said despite the directive from Ombudsman Commission (OC) for all MPs to submit their required acquittals by March 31, his department would still accept them.
Vaki said the DIRD and OC had different roles and responsibilities.
The National | March 26, 2025
Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) was unable to inspect projects implemented in districts and provinces through service improvement funds in the last 10 years, its acting secretary has revealed.