OPPOSITION DEMANDS TERMINATION OF PAYMENT CULPRITS

By Editor's Desk

The Opposition calls on the Prime Minister, Mr Danny Phillip to identify culprits who are responsible for raising a payment voucher from the Prime Minister’s Office to fund lobbyists of his NCRA regime.

Deputy Opposition Leader, Mathew Wale said the Opposition has received confirmed reports from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury that it received a payment voucher from the Office of the Prime Minister to pay up the NCRA Government’s cronies for their lobbying services prior to the prime minister’s election but it however halted it.

Mr Wale said the Opposition is concerned that the Government had to meet claims by the political cronies of the partners that form the NCRA Government just because the payment voucher was raised by the Prime Minister’s Office. “We believe such claims should not be met with public funds”.

“We wonder if the Prime Minister had any knowledge of the payment raised from his office. If he did and allowed it, then he is complicit. IF on the other hand, the Prime Minister has no knowledge of it, then the Opposition is concerned that this instance, like his residential tenancy debacle, demonstrates that the Prime Minister is not in control of his own office.

“The fact that the payment voucher was raised and issued from the Prime Minister’s Office is a serious breach of public trust. Had it not been for the vigilance of officials in the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, this illegal payment would have been made,” the Deputy Opposition Leader said.

He said the Prime Minister must take full responsibility in identifying the culprits behind this deplorable scheme to squander funds from the state coffers for political expediency and must terminate them immediately and also announce their names.

Mr Wale said the officials from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury must be commended for their vigilance and taking the right decision to halt the payment because state finances should not be used to fund political hangers-on.