Is Lupari telling the truth about the missing school subsidies?
10 May 2018
FRANCIS NII
KUNDIAWA – Delays in the disbursement of the so-called ‘tuition fee free’ (TFF) subsidy gets worse each year and the underlying indication is that the national government simply is short of money.
In Monday’s Post Courier newspaper, chief secretary Issac Lupari stated this was not the case and that it was all the fault of the Education Department in not releasing the funds.
But his statement was confusing and full of contradictions.
On one account Mr Lupari stated, “Currently K50 million is sitting in trust accounts and will be released but it is up to the Education Department to make the move.”
“When money hits central bank accounts, the Education Department will be given authority for the release of the money to respective school accounts,” was one explanation.
While another statement said: “There is K50 million sitting in a trust account in central bank now that needs to get to schools.”
This is confusing. If the K50 million is the aggregate of various amounts sitting in various trust accounts, then it should be the responsibility of the Treasury Department to release the money to the one central TFF account controlled by the Education Department where it can be easily disbursed to the respective school accounts.
Mr Lupari should not expect the Education Department to play a dual role of being collector of TFF funds from various government trust accounts and releaser of funds to schools.
Mr Lupari should be clear on this otherwise people will think he deliberately cooked up the story to confuse the public and make the Education Department a scapegoat.
If there is K50 million currently sitting in a trust account (or accounts) as claimed by Mr Lupari, the Education Department under the leadership of Dr Uke Kombra is not so stupid as to claim it.
The responsibility rests with the prime minister and the treasurer to direct that money to the Education Department as TFF funds for the Department to disburse to schools.
In blaming the Education Department for the closure of schools around the country, Mr Lupari said, “The Department was at fault because it was not paying fees whenever fees were made available but waited for bulk remittance.”
But he also said, “Money (TFF fees) is sent out on a weekly basis depending on cash flow.”
Mr Lupari can’t have it both ways. This is a total contradiction.
In any event, the K50 million Mr Lupari talks about is inadequate – it will not cover all schools. Many will still miss out.
Which raises the question of what criteria the Education Department will adopt to allocate funds to certain schools when all schools are in dire need of funds.
The truth is plain and it is that the government cannot adequately and effectively sustain the TFF policy because it doesn’t have the money. It has a well-known cash flow problem..
Mr Lupari should not hide the truth by making confusing, contradictory and blame-shifting statement to the media.
Instead of the government making the situation worse by not admitting the reality of its financial difficulties, prime minister Peter O’Neill must tell the truth.
Then schools can begin to make their own arrangements to collect fees from parents or to support themselves in other ways.
For example, parents can supply food to schools like the Simbu Province started doing this week to try to see classes through to the end of the academic year.
In this way, the government can also be relieved of some of its financial pressure.
The ball is in your court Mr prime minister and chief secretary Isaac Lupari.
Tell us the truth about your finances and, if you’re out of money, we’ll try to make up the difference.
Rounding up is caught out. But then, news is rather often rounded up. Mostly pollies do it, and news editors stoop, err, swoop on it, for dramatic effect.
Yet administrative staff holding status of high public office? Now that is a loose lip, err, slip.
Devalues a chap's credibility. Devalues mechanism in play at appointment. Devalues the selector(s).
Next, looking to identify monetary holding, current status, loosely lipped, err, clipped detail...
Oh, dear, loosely a lip, err, blip in a press release... oh dear can't anyone fix erratas? Errants?
Posted by: Lindsay F Bond | 12 May 2018 at 09:01 PM
Minister for Education Nick Kuman refuted Chief Secretary Lupari's claim of the K50 million in trust account (accounts) stating that there was only K49 million kina in the trust account and that was already paid out. There is no money.
Issac Lupari should be ashamed of telling lies to the people of PNG.
Posted by: Francis Nii | 12 May 2018 at 11:49 AM
Isaac Lupari is the same guy who said, along with O'Neill and Marape, that the PNG LNG proceeds were banked in a trust account at the Bank of PNG. Turned out not to be so.
And later the three argued strongly that the PNG LNG and oil prices were locked in and would not be affected by the slump in prices. Again they were shamed by not talking straight to the nation.
Due to this incompetency, the government did not take adequate precautionary measures in preparedness for the looming slump in the prices. How can anybody ever trust these three?
Lupari, do not shift the blame. People in the Education Department are not stupid.
Posted by: Mathias Kin | 10 May 2018 at 10:32 PM
The idea of TFF is basically not to give full component of money to schools but to subtract some away for personal gain in terms of TFF Kits paid to pacific trade for stationeries which were not supplied to schools. What a total waste either for whose gain?
Posted by: Jimmy Awagl | 10 May 2018 at 04:39 PM
Neat FRANK assessment. From o'realing and looping lips come max o'misleadings. Sad for PNGers.
Next prank abasement? Bottoming barrels, no plums to prune. Buai acquires status of legal currency?
Posted by: Lindsay F Bond | 10 May 2018 at 12:47 PM
In the pre-independence era, pupils brought their own food to school on a weekly basis. Has PNG reverted to that despite all the oil and minerals? If so, it can only be because of corruption, theft and incompetence.
The incompetence displayed by the Chief Secretary in attempting to explain the current situation is mind boggling. One thing parents can be sure of is that if the money were available to the Education Department, Dr Kombra would ensure it gets to schools.
Posted by: Daniel Doyle | 10 May 2018 at 12:33 PM