Elected leaders have been reminded of their core duty as legislators.
East New Britain Chapter for Transparency International PNG Chairman, Patrick Varagat, issued the reminder during yesterday’s Pomio leg of the voter awareness and candidate forum.
Speaking at the Sinivit LLG of Pomio district, Varagat specifically emphasised on the need for elected national Members of Parliament (MP) to understand their role and not to take over the job of the executive or administrative arm, which lies with the public service machinery.
He says politicians are not project managers and that leaders elected into office in these national general elections should know that they are entrusted to be the law makers of this nation.
Varagat says any projects at the ward, local level government (LLG) or district level must be left to leaders at those levels, such as ward members and LLG presidents.
He says national MPs can sit at their District Development Authority boards and deliberate on matters but their core role lies at the national level, as legislators.
As a trade unionist, Varagat says because politicians are busy delivering projects, PNG still has over 370 laws that were formulated during the 1960s, but need to be amended or reviewed to suit the present situation, such as the National Employment Act and the Industrial Relations Act.
