Prime Minister O'Neill assures districts without MPs

Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill says the Government will come up with a policy on continuity of funds and projects in districts that lose their MPs through dismissals or jailing.
He said this in response to questions raised by Pomio MP Elias Kapavore on funds and projects left by jailed MP Paul Tienstein.
Kapavore said that there has been no support for the past three years in Pomio and that the electorate had been forgotten.
But PM assured that the funds for the district will be remitted as it belonged to the people of Pomio.
"Let me assure you that outstanding DSIPs that the member is talking about will be paid, the funds that is due to the district and again I see the shortcomings of the system when a member loses office somehow all these funds come to a standstill," he said.
"We will need to direct the officials to look at the continuity of the funding. These funds are not for the Members of Parliament, they are for the districts so even if there is a vacancy in the office, the funds must continue to roll out.
"There are other members of the district authority who are capable of conducting meetings, who are capable of managing these funds and the district authority chief executive officers are there and the district treasury is also there to manage those funds.
"It is not the role of the Members to manage the funds so when there is a vacancy this notion that we should hold back the funds while there is a vacancy is wrong.
"It affects services, it affects delivery of ongoing projects in the districts and we will urge the officials to rectify that so that the continuity of funds continues without disruption," he said.