NEC decision must be reversed: Soso

Caption:  Eastern Highlands Governor Julie Soso

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, December 7, 2014 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

EASTERN Highlands Province Governor Julie Soso, has called on the National Executive Council (NEC) to rescind their decision to appoint Solomon Tato as the Provincial Administrator (PA), without proper consultations with the Provincial Executive Council (PEC).

A clearly disappointed Governor Soso said that the decision for NEC to go ahead with the appointment without consulting herself and going against the PEC’s decision to reject the appointment was against the law.

“I am very disappointed on the way the NEC has appointed a permanent PA for Eastern Highlands Province,” Governor Soso said.

“On the 26th of December NEC decided to appoint Solomon Tato who is one of the shortlisted persons on the list of the Department of Personnel Management, which the Eastern Highlands Provincial Executive Council (PEC) decided to reject.”

“We asked for re-advertisement, which was of the EHP PEC, and a letter was written to the Public Service Minister Puka Temu advising him that the decision was made.”

Soso said that as a result of the decision, the PEC met on Monday on December 3 (Monday), deciding to reject the NEC Decision, stating that Solomon Tato was subject to an investigation that is going in the province.

She said that under the administration where the Mr Tato was the deputy in the last provincial regime where it is alleged that some funds were misappropriated.

“The Province has an NGO Organization made up of reputable people within the province who have good standing within the community who have come up with an organization called the anti-corruption organization.”

“Coming into the seat on behalf of my people I had to support this agency in EHP to collect materials and start the process of the law we have in place to start probing into these allegations to find out where the funds of the people of Eastern Highlands in considerable amount have gone to.”

“Therefore I think that the NEC decision to appoint Solomon Tato was not in consultation with me the Governor as the law on the Public Service Act that came in place says that it must be done in consultation with the governor.”

Governor Soso added that failure by NEC to rescind the decision would result in legal action being taken by the provincial governments to prevent the NEC appointed PA to take office.