Cathy Tukne

Transparency and accountability are fundamental to effective governance, especially in the management of public funds. In Papua New Guinea, District Development Authorities (DDAs) play a critical role in delivering essential services and infrastructure to districts. However, concerns over mismanagement and declining service quality have prompted the launch of the DDA Watch website by ACT NOW! 

The website provides essential documents, contact information, and a public scoring system that allows users to rate DDAs on a scale of 0 to 100 based on governance and transparency. It also enables public engagement through comments, photographs, and feedback on local projects. This blog summarizes the key findings from the DDA Watch Annual Report (June 2023–June 2024), highlighting the state of transparency, accountability, and public engagement across Papua New Guinea’s DDAs focusing on four key areas:

1. Availability of Key District Documents
2. District Contact Information
3. Public Interaction with the Website
4. Top performing DDAs

1. Availability of Key District Documents

Key documents; are 5-Year Development Plans, Acquittal Reports, Audit Reports, Annual Budgets, and Inspection Reports. Each document is worth 10 points on the DDA Watch scoring system, contributing to a maximum of 50 points. 

As at June 2024: 

• 5-Year Development Plans: Only 21 DDA’s launched development plans.  7 from the 21 are public. 72 DDA’s are yet to have a district development plan. 
• Acquittal Reports: 40 DDA’s submitted financial acquittal reports. None is public. 24 of those reports were for the most recent financial years (2022–2023), while 16 were for earlier years (2019–2021), indicating delays in compliance. 69 DDA’s lacks recent financial acquittals. 
• Audit Reports: Zero audit reports.      The Auditor General’s Office has only conducted 6 audits of Service Improvement Programme funds since 2017, highlighting a significant oversight gap.
• Annual Budgets: Only 8 districts announced annual budgets, with 6 located in the Momase Region.
• Inspection Reports: No information on inspection reports. The Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) is the responsible body. 

Figure 1. Availability of key District documents as at June 2024

2. District Contact Information

Accessible contact information is crucial for public engagement and accountability. This part holds 20 points of the overall 100-point score of a DDA. 

Contact information includes; 

• CEO Names:  Only 45 out of 93 DDAs have a named CEO recorded.
• Email Addresses: Only 3 districts have an active email address.
• Phone Numbers:  Only 3 districts have an active phone number.
• Postal Addresses: Only 4 districts have a current postal address.
• District Websites: Only 4 districts have an active website.

Figure 2. Summary of DDA contact details publicly available at June 2024

3. Public Interaction with the Website

The DDA Watch platform allows citizens to engage through public comments, user votes, and media links. The user votes part makes up 30 points of the overall scoring of a DDA. 

• Public Comments: 24 comments were posted, relating to 12 districts. Wau Waria and Talasea received the most comments.

• User Votes: 56 votes were recorded for 29 districts. Talasea received the most votes (6), followed by Wau Waria (5) and Jimi District (4).

  

Figure 3. Summary of user votes by district 

• Media Links: Over 700 news stories were linked to 86 districts. Talasea had the highest number of news stories (47), followed by Nawae (39) and Yangoru Saussia (32).

Figure 4. Number of news stories recorded for each DDA June 2023 - June 2024

4. Top-Performing Districts

The top ranking DDAs on DDA Watch at June 2024 are;

1. Talasea 
2. Markham 
3. Kerowagi
4. Lufa
5. Rai Coast

The analysis of District Development Authorities (DDAs) according to the information recorded on the DDA Watch website from June 2023 to June 2024 highlights significant gaps in transparency, accountability, and public engagement across Papua New Guinea's 93 districts.

Key Findings

1. Limited Availability of Key Documents:

• Only 7 out of 93 DDAs have a publicly available 2023-2027 Five-Year Development Plan
• No public records exist for district Annual Budgets, Acquittal Reports, Inspection Reports, or Audit Reports.

2. Gaps in Contact Information:

• Only 45 DDAs have named CEOs, leaving 48% unidentified.
• Active email addresses are available for just 3 DDAs, and only 4 have a phone number listed.
• Only 8 DDAs have a publicly available postal address or active website.

3. Public Engagement on DDA Watch:

• Talasea had the highest number of votes (6), followed by Wau Waria and Jimi District with 4 votes each.

4.  News Coverage Disparities:

• 724 news stories were recorded for 86 DDAs, but 7 DDAs had no media presence.
• More than 70% of districts (63 DDAs) had fewer than 10 articles recorded, with only 5 DDAs reaching between 21 and 50 articles.
• Talasea had the highest media coverage, with 48 recorded articles for the one DDA. 

Recommendations

• Citizen Engagement: We urge citizens to actively engage with their DDAs, demanding transparency, accountability, and adherence to good governance practices.
• District Planning: All DDAs must publish a 5-year development plan and make that plan available to the public
• DSIP Accountability: DDAs must promptly release detailed DSIP and DIP acquittal reports to restore public trust.
• Audit Expansion: Increase funding to the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) to enable it to conduct audits for all 96 districts.
• Budget, acquittals and district plans: All Districts should publish their budgets, acquittals and district plans ensuring openness and fiscal responsibility. The lack of publicly available financial and planning documents raises concerns about transparency and governance. 
• Funding Restrictions: The Department of Finance should stop distribution of further DSIP (District Services Improvement Program) and DIP (District Infrastructure Program) funds to districts with no plans, acquittals or contact details.
• Leadership Code Enforcement: The Ombudsman Commission (OC) should act under the Leadership Code against CEOs and DDA Board chairs who fail to publish plans, acquittals or contact details. 
• Leadership Action: All DDAs should publish the names of their CEO, and contact phone, email and postal addresses. Improving communication channels is critical; ensuring that each DDA has a designated CEO, active email, phone number, and an official Postal address or website will strengthen public access to information.
• Enhance Monitoring and Accountability: Allocate additional funding to the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) to strengthen monitoring and reporting frameworks. This will ensure comprehensive tracking and transparency of DDA activities, with a specific focus on inspection and audit reports.

Overall, while some districts have demonstrated limited attempts at public engagement, all DDAs still lack transparency and accountability in their operations. Strengthening information access, public engagement, and enforcement of governance frameworks are key to improving service delivery and ensuring that development funds are effectively utilized.

Access the full report here