![]() Amendments to certain sections of the National Capital District Commission Act 2001 have stripped off several important powers of the NCD Governor Powes Parkop. The governor is the chairman of the NCDC Board. The amendments were aimed to set a clear demarcation of functions of the Board, Chairman and the City Manager and improve governance of the city. The amendments were introduced to Parliament as a Private Members Bill by Central Governor Robert Agarobe yesterday and were passed. Agarobe says, currently the chairman is vested with more authority and power than the board and the city manager. Some of those include Section 5 and 6 powers of the chairman to appoint members of various interest groups to the commission. Top among the changes will see the replacement of the settlement interest group in the City Commission to be replaced by a representative of a formal business interest group. Other representatives from the formal groups will come from the Youth Development Authority, National Council of Women, Trade Union and Business representative.
Other changes include the demarcation of powers of the chairman, board and city manager as well as removing authentication powers bestowed on the chairman only. Furthermore changes to Section 16 of the NCDC Act 2001 will allow for investigations on any transaction that may be questionable. Section 20 and 21 amendments relate to staff appointments that will be done by the city manager only with the board to be responsible for approving the management structure of the commission. The city manager will also be responsible to the staff of the commission and be subjected to the direction of the board and not the chairman alone. This is expected to allow the city manager to perform independently without any control from the chairman or the board. The amendments will also ensure that the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) will now directly pay portions of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) to Central, Gulf and Motu-Koita Assembly (MKA). This will now be made known as "Revenue entitlement" and not "financial assistance" based on the changes with Central getting 10%, Gulf 5 % and MKA 2%. Changes to Section 5 of the NCDC Act 2001 will allow the Central Governor to replace the provincial administrator as an ex-officio member in the NCDC Board as a commissioner. Opposition Leader Belden Namah described the Bill as a "lazy man's way of doing business," but was asked to retract his statement by the Parliament speaker following a point of order by the prime minister. He further asked where the K50 million given during the Somare Government to build Central City was? Namah said Central should build its own city and collect its own tax. NCD Governor Powes Parkop reiterated that NCD serves the National interest as well as that of Central Province without any reservation. He says, the governance system was already there before he took over as Governor in 2007 and he has no interest at all in this. Meantime - police in NCD say rumours of a city-wide protest today by certain members of the community disgruntled over the passage of the Bill will not be entertained. They've confirmed on the NCD Central Command Facebook page, they've not received any request for a protest and any crowded gatherings will be dispersed. NBC News / PNgfacts next : Port Moresby Police Recover Stolen Car, Arrest Suspect Comments are closed.
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