Gov't urged to probe PVMC

The Office of the Opposition has strongly urged the Minister of Internal Affairs, Alfred Maoh, to investigate allegations of mismanagement in Port Vila Municipal Council (PVMC).

Speaking on behalf of the Opposition at a press conference Friday, the Leader of the Opposition, Ishmael Kalsakau, said since they made their first appeal two weeks ago, there’s been no feedback from the Minister of Internal Affairs to say if he has used his powers under the Municipalities Act to undertake an investigation into the allegations which they had raised concerning Port Vila Municipal Council.

He said two weeks ago they spoke about “a vehicle belonging to a Councilor, Ialu Sawia, who is using it today, which apparently they used money from the Municipality to guarantee its purchase.”

“We understand that the councilor is going around confirming that it is the vehicle. But when is the Minister of Internal Affairs going to intervene. If money belonging to the people of Port Vila was used to purchase the vehicle, then the vehicle must be returned to the Port Vila Municipality,” Kalsakau added.

“In fact, we have found during the past week that the vehicle was not the only one they purchased using money from PVMC, but there are several more vehicles. Next time we will identify these vehicles and who they gave them to,” he further alleged.

The Opposition is questioning too “some expenditures the Lord Mayor is making on behalf of the Municipality on activities of the Union of Moderate Parties.”

“You will wonder with speculation why, me a UMP candidate is raising this issue? I am raising this issue on behalf of the people of Port Vila. There are expenses on hotels, restaurants, in the name of UMP to get supporters of the party together. But the purse of the Municipality is not the basket of the apu (granny) of any man to use to promote his party,” Kalsakau stressed.

“I, for one as a candidate of the UMP, let alone the Leader of the Opposition, should be the first person to speak against this behavior of using the funds of the people of Port Vila to generate your politics. It may have happened in the past, but it must not happen today.

“The Office of the Opposition appeals to the Minister responsible for municipalities, Alfred Maoh to investigate this matter urgently because huge expenditures of the people of Port Vila are being used for ways the municipality was not installed for. No wonder the people are crying for services because politics and fooling around with their purse,” the Leader of the Opposition continued.

He added that this is a challenge for the Minister of Internal Affairs to not let this issue go away without acting on it.

“If not the allegations that maybe the President of his party (Ralph Regenvanu of Graon and Justice Party) has withheld these investigations because at one point in time he assured a councilor of Port Vila that he will be the next Lord Mayor. But at the election of the new Lord Mayor, we found out that they created a new post of Deputy Lord Mayor, which has been filled by a candidate of the same party as the Minister.

“So, this may explain why the sluggishness in carrying out the investigations. But they must be able to look beyond these issues. If there is mismanagement/maladministration happening in the Port Vila Municipal Council, then we are telling the Government that you shake the Ministry of Internal Affairs to speak and to carry out the investigation to confirm if we are just making a lot of noise for nothing.

“If it is true that there is maladministration then the Government must take action for the sake of the benefit of the people of Port Vila to ensure that PVMC’s administration is correct in conjunction with the law.”

Daily Post contacted the Port Vila Town Hall and was told the Mayor had left this morning on an overseas trip and would return only after next week.

However, on social media, in Yumi Toktok Sense Facebook group, in response to a post by the Leader of the Opposition on the subject, Lord Mayor Sumptoh confirmed the council had received a letter on the matter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He said a reply was being prepared for the Ministry.

In reply to comments on the post, the Lord Mayor denied misusing any money and said there would need to be evidence to substantiate the allegations.

He said the Ministry of Internal Affairs would “do its work” to provide the true story. He appealed to everyone to allow the process between the Municipal Council and the Ministry to be completed following which there should be an answer to clear the allegations of misuse against Port Vila Municipal Council and the Lord Mayor.