The National Research Institute of Papua New Guinea yesterday launched the Report on the National Conference on Decentralisation at its Waigani campus in Port Moresby.
The 150-page comprehensive report covers key points of agreement that emerged from presentations and discussions that took place over the course of nine months last year, and the two-day conference hosted in February of this year.
One of the key aims of this report is to enable decision policy makers to have increased knowledge on options for Autonomy and Decentralisation in PNG, enabling them to consider specific legal and technical arrangements.
On 28 July, 2021, the Autonomy and Decentralisation Project or ADRP hosted its first seminar. The guiding discussions that would be the center of dialogues for the next few months were:
- The capacity deterioration of basic service delivery systems and;
- The weakening of national institutions relating to governance and oversight.
At yesterday’s launch of the Report on National Conference for Decentralisation of Government in PNG, Dr Osborne Sanida highlighted how governance mechanisms in the country have weakened over time, resulting in poor governance and service delivery mechanisms.
He said, “The situation has really deteriorated to a state where basic services across most parts if the country are very poor and governance arrangements have also deteriorated. If we do not take any action at reforms, the situation will only worsen.”
The Autonomy and Decentralisation Project Team Leader, Dr Thomas Webster and his team of young Papua New Guineans, Martha Waim, Joe Harry and Amanda Kundil in the second half of 2021 facilitated discussions through a series of seminars, briefings, and commissioned research papers.
Then planned and organized the National Conference on which, the report is based on.
“The NRI project for our purposes of generating discussions has come to an end. This is the report. Dr Gelu, the next challenge is, now what do we do? And I guess, really we will look to the technocrats and the different departments that are responsible, so that we can have more robust discussions about the reforms and the way forward.”
Former Registrar for Political Parties and Secretary for Department of Provincial and Local Level Affairs, Dr Alphonse Gelu had the honour of launching the report. Dr Gelu was a key contributor to discussions surrounding autonomy throughout the course of the project.
The NRI PNG hopes that this report must ultimately result in the reform of improved services to the people of PNG.