By EDDIE OSIFELO
THE report of the Economic Stimulus Package is ready and will be tabled in Parliament.
Deputy Secretary to Cabinet Florence Joel confirmed this to media in a press conference last Friday.
Island Sun understands Government had engaged the Asian Development Bank to review the ESP.
Government had engaged more than 50 youths who went out to the provinces to conduct interviews in 2021.
However, they could not complete their assignments last year due to Covid-19, but they did follow up with the beneficiaries of the ESP through phone interviews.
According to Solomon Times, a public opinion research by USAID released in August 2021 says there is lack of transparency in the ESP.
The report says widespread lack of awareness about the ESP in particular has led to unrealistic expectations across provinces which, unmet, channel people’s frustration toward the government and those groups or individuals suspected of unfairly benefiting from this program.
In the absence of clear qualification criteria and verification mechanisms, research participants were concerned that the ESP has opened opportunities for preferential allocation and misuse of money, and called on the government to assess allowability of expenditures.
About $118.9 million was allocated for ESP in the 2021 budget.
