BY SAMIE WAIKORI

Premier of Makira Ulawa province calls on the GNUT government to update the province on the Community Governance Regime, a program established by the Makira Ulawa province back in 2006.

The program came following a gap identified in the Provincial Government Act that there is a distance between the act and the traditional governance.

Premier of Makira Ulawa province, Hon Stanley Siapu said in 2006, the then government saw a gap in governance linkage with the then Area Council abolished by the PGA 1997, leaving rural people distanced from government immediate attention and focus.

He said in 2006, the formation and introduction of a traditional governance the Community Governance Regime established in all the twenty (20) wards in Makira Ulawa province.

Siapu said it was endorsed by the ministry of provincial government and blessed by the national government by way of the presence of then prime minister Hon Manasseh Sogavare.

However, he said that to this day the national government is yet to support and resource the regime.

“If we care to refer to our national constitution, somewhere there, it provides for and recognizes traditional leadership in governance.

“Now, it is also within the scope of national intentions hence the establishment of the Ministry of Traditional Governance and Ecclesiastical Affairs.

“Somewhere there on the shelves, the Traditional Governance Bill is awaiting and I hope it-re table in Parliament.

“High on the agenda of our much-awaited federal state government, is a community government structure similar to what we have now.

“So, looking at the Kakamora perspective, I think we have not erred nor misled any one on all these doings.

“We can now ask ourselves “what have we achieved, accomplished in the last 41 years?” Siapu asked.