BY SAMIE WAIKORI
Rennell Bellona province escapes the worse penalty possible any province could get for serious mismanagement of the Provincial Capacity Development Fund (PCDF) program, administered under the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthen (MPGIS).
Over the past years, abuse and maladministration of the fund was rife in the province, where Rennell Bellona province was known for the record of “failing PCDF assessments.”
The province was also given with the “disclaimer status” – the lowest rating of the PCDF assessment and even reached the point where MPGIS had to revoke their PCDF account – an area Rennell Bellona government is currently working on with MPGIS.
Fortunately, Premier Pongi led Alliance for Reform and Progress Government RBRPG of Rennell Bellona province has rescued and restored the province back on the program in 2023.
He revealed that prior to his government, Rennell Bellona province had the worst record of PCDF assessments.
“For long time, Rennel Bellona didn’t pass the PCDF assessment. Even, the province was given with a disclaimer status, based on auditing of the PCDF fund.
“It is shameful for a province to hold that disclaimer status and continued to fail the PCDF program for many years.
“And for a small province to continue failed the funding program, it only deprived the people of Rennell Bellona province from this much needed funding,” Pongi said.
He stated a key area past governments had been disqualifying the province on the PCDF program was failure to pay the ward development grant.
Pongi explained ward grant becomes a Minimum Condition under the PCDF, and if it is not paid, the province can be disqualified.
Adding there were other areas, but this was the key area for their disqualification.
With all these, when Pongi led government took office, one of their aims was to pass the province’s PCDF assessment and restore the province in the program.
This is so that they can regain the trust of the national government, development partners, NGOs and the people of Rennell Bellona province.
He said they did it. “After coming in, we were able to pass the 2022/2023 PCDF assessment.
“Since then, we are improving the status of the province on the funding program with positive progress.
“We ensure, Ward Development Committee (WDCs) are well set-up, by creating their accounts and issuing the funds.
“This is a big achievement for Rennell Bellona province especially its people, who have been deprived from the fund for the past years,” Pongi said.
Meanwhile, he emphasized that while Rennell Bellona province has requalified for the PCDF program, it was a signal to everyone that the current executive of Renbel province means business.
“Simply, we are saying you can trust us.
“This is what we want. We want national government, NGOs, donor partners and the people of Rennell Bellona province to trust us,” Pongi said.
According to the premier, after passing the 2022/2023 PCDF assessment, which belonged to the previous government, they were awarded with around SBD $3.3 million.
His government also received a funding of SBD $927,000 from UNDP and SBD $1 million dollar for East Rennell tourism.
He noted that the SBD $3.3 million and other funds received has doubled the budget of Rennell Bellona province for the first time.
Pongi highlighted the milestone achievement of the province on the PCDF program and assured the commitment of this government to maintain and improve on the program.
He said the province expects the PCDF assessment for 2023/2024 next month and the first PCDF assessment under his leadership will begin next year.
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We need to constitutional amendment for a federal govt system. We had enough of this small funding things.