The Special Parliamentary Committee on Public Service Reform and Service Delivery has recommended the immediate update of the government payroll system to counter abuse and misuse of funds.
Governor for Northern Province Garry Juffa said the last update of the government's payroll system was back in 2002, and without continuous updating the system has been prone to misuse of government funds over the years.
A forensic audit will be conducted to identify where and when certain ends of the system have been compromised or misused with those responsible to be held accountable.
A recent audit was conducted into the state of government departments, statutory bodies, and agencies by private auditor Deloitte. The aim was to find out financial disbursement and delegations and how the entities were operating and their specific roles and responsibilities.
Public Accounts committee member Juffa said the audit was independent without any interference from either the committee or the executive government with the completed report given to the Prime Minister, the Department of Finance, Treasury, and Personal Management.
The committee has recommended the immediate update of the government's Alesco payroll system, as Mr Juffa said the lack of an update has created avenues for corrupt activities to take place.
"We have a significant recommendation one of which is to upgrade the software system which had not been update since 2002. This is very alarming!"
"The lack of an upgrade to the government's payroll system gave room to abuse, misuse and fraud and it is here where we believe That significant monies were diverted Unlawfully and deliberately by various public servants’ individuals and organisations," Governor Juffa said.
The report will also be tabled in parliament when it reconvenes during the August sitting.
Meanwhile, the committee also recommended that a forensic audit be carried out into the state of government agencies. This would be carried out by authorities, and those that have been misusing and diverting government funds for their personal gain over the years would be held accountable.
After the forensic audits into government bodies, the public accounts committee wants the government to immediately put a moratorium on the creation of any state entity.
Governor Juffa stated that for a country of Papua New Guinea's size, having more than 1,400 government departments, statutory bodies and entities simply does not make sense.
The public accounts committee wants a financial and functional audit to determine if some of this state entities are necessary. Governor Juffa said so much money has been spent on these entities many of which perform duplicate roles, and some do not even function as they are supposed to.
"As of 2018, Papua New Guinea has 1419 creatures of state, government departments, statutory bodies and agencies. The PAC feels that many of these organisations are duplicating each other's roles and are not functioning as the ought to and costing the government a lot of money."
"We are calling for the national government to put an immediate moratorium on the creation of any more government departments or statutory organisations until we carry out a functional audit to determine whether these organisations are relevant and if they need to continue be merged or abolished,"
Reference:
Press Conference of Special parliamentary committee/ Public Accounts Committee. Tabled Audit report & findings. June 21, 2023 [Paul Oeka/PNG Business News]
