West New Britain is the third province to submit its 2024 Annual Provincial Performance Reports (APPR) to the Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs (DPLGA) yesterday.
Deputy Secretary for Provincial and Local Level Services Monitoring Authority (PLLSMA), James Agigo received the 2023 and 2024 reports on behalf of Secretary Philip Leo from Provincial Administrator, Leo Mapmani.
Mr. Agigo stressed the importance of compliance reporting as part of accountability by provincial governments.
“Provincial Governments have to be compliant to mandatory requirements under the Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Governments (OLPLLG),” Mr. Agigo highlighted.
Mr. Mapmani assured DPLGA that WNB will improve on its reporting by submitting future reports before the annual deadline of June 30.
He also stressed on the need to review and broaden the scope of current reporting to reflect growth in population and other service delivery expenditure priorities.
Secretary Leo said according to DPLGA’s records, in only 12 province submitted their annual reports and in 224, only three provinces submitted theirs.
With the deadline for the 2024 APPR approaching, Minister for Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs Soroi Marepo Eoe had earlier warned provincial governments to submit their APPRs.
Minister Eoe strongly emphasized that lack of compliance not only undermines the principles of transparency and accountability that are fundamental to governance, but also hampers the ability to effectively monitor and enhance service delivery across the nation.
The Annual Provincial Performance Reports are in compliance with Section 119 of OLPLLG, which mandates annual reporting on provincial performance.
The report details the six key minimum priority areas which are Health, Education, Transport and Works, Primary Industry, Law and Justice and Governance.
The first province to submit its 2024 report was Simbu followed by Oro and West New Britain.
(Source: TVWAN News https://tvwan.com.pg/news/4583)