Xmas gift for all

Source:
The National, Friday 23rd December 2011

It comes from the K350 million allocated in the 2011 supplementary budget for the go­vernment’s free and subsidised education policy.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said last night the release of the money began this week and would continue for the next two weeks. It would ensure a smooth start to the 2012 school year.
Officers from the departments of Finance and Treasury and Education are involved in the exercise.
O’Neill said 6,000 school accounts throughout PNG had been identified and the money would be paid into them, covering all school le­vels from elementary to Grade 12.
The government will meet the fees for elementary to Grade 10 levels, while Grades 11 and 12 fees will be subsidised.
“I call on those schools who have not yet submitted their bank accounts to do so immediately. This will ensure the funds are deposited into your accounts so that the school year can begin smoothly,” O’Neill said.
He believes the fee-free policy would ensure each and every citizen receives a decent education.
“I am a firm believer in education for all and I am backing that by providing a strong budgetary support for the education sector,” O’Neill said.
Meanwhile, in his Christmas message, O’Neill touched on the recent political impasse which had gripped the nation since Dec 12.
“Put simply, the five days between Dec 12 and Dec 16 brought home to all the reality that we are a nation that can boast about our vibrant parliamentary democracy,” he said.
O’Neill assured the nation that it was not heading for “a bloodbath and ethnic cleansing” as many commentators were being led to believe.
“Our government is determined to put our nation on the road to developing a nation of reasonably happy, healthy and wealthy people who can afford to live productive lives,” he said.
He remains focused on the free and subsidised education policy, infrastructure maintenance and development programmes, better health services delivery and a revamp and overhaul of the law and order enforcement system to make it efficient and effective.
Reflecting again on the recent political events, O’Neill said the former government had been exposed, opposed and deposed.
“Their ways were no good for the people of this nation,’’ he said.
“Recent events have drawn a great deal of deliberate misinformation to the public.
“The true state of affairs, the issues before our nation are not about personalities. They are about maintaining our democracy.
“The national parliament is where all eight governments preceding the O’Neill-Namah government were elected and defeated.
“Governments are not appointed by the courts, formed in hotel rooms or created through the barrel of the gun.
“Our government was formed to stop the rot, restore confidence in government, stop the rampant corruption and theft of public monies and
reversed appointments based on wantokism rather than merit,” the prime minister said.
He blamed the former Somare-Abal government for failing to address a number of corruption issues by:
q Ignoring the Finance Inquiry Report;
q Ignoring and failing to investigate the infamous Taiwan scandal;
q Failing to investigate the suspicious circumstances in which millions of kina had surfaced in a Singapore bank account;
q Failing to investigate the actions of the East Sepik provincial government and other parties over the management of the Sepik Highway Trust Account, Wewak Storm Water Drainage Project and the Wewak Stadium;
q Failing to investigate the use of funds allocated for the community college concept and implementation; and
q Failing to investigate the contract with the apparently non-existent Revans university to provide tertiary courses for PNG public servants.
O’Neill said the highlights of his four-month-old government, apart from free education, was the establishment of Task Force Sweep, providing K120 million to improve government infrastructure and church-run health facilities in the supplementary budget and raising the tax-free threshold from K7,000 to K10,000.
While acknowledging the police force for finally exercising control in its command, he paid tribute to the PNG Defence Force for exercising restraint and remaining neutral throughout the recent political crisis.
“Against this background, the O’Neill-Namah government stands firm and dedicated to good governance, sound economic management and a bright future for all Papua New Guineans,” O’Neill said.