22 Jan 2015

PNG consultant sees district changes as more bureaucracy

1:05 pm on 22 January 2015

A leading Papua New Guinea government consultant says the devolution of public service powers to district administrators has only added more bureaucracy.

As of the beginning of this year, PNG district administrators became District Development Authority heads, giving them power to discipline public servants who are not performing in remote areas.

The government said the law change allows district administrators to more efficiently address public service delivery problems, rather than wait on the national government.

A government consultant who develops district administration systems, Jonathan O'ata, says while increased power to the districts is good, decisions still have to go through the provincial administrations.

"We're still building the bureaucracy at the provincial level which is almost ineffective and the real implementation at the district level has been reduced to merely authority status, almost a desk operation."

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PNG Parliament Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades