Dig deep and wide - Basil
Bulolo MP and Deputy Leader of Opposition Honourable Sam Basil today commended the enforcer of the Leadership Code - the Ombudsman Commission – for its proactive response on his call for public accounting on funding of elections. “I am pleased that that Acting Chief Ombudsman John Nero has taken my public call on parliamentary leaders and political party executives to account for their election campaign funding seriously,” Mr Basil said, following an EMTV news item featuring Mr Nero’s public comments on Saturday evening. The head of PNG’s watch dog said on TV that the Ombudsman Commission will investigate the use of District Services Improvement Program funds by both ousted and returned MPs. Open MPs are chairmen of their joint district planning and budget priorities committees which determine priorities for disbursement. It is estimated that the 89 Open MPs had access to some K27 million each from 2007-2012 in DSIP funds. That equates to an expenditure of at least K2.4 billion for the