Watchdog Hands over Parliament project


The Open Parliamentary Project (OPP) which enables the people to see for themselves what their Members of Parliament are doing in their districts is one way of fighting corruption in the country.

The project which was initiated by Transparency International Papua New Guinea (TIPNG) in 2012 in partnership with the Speaker of Parliament, Theo  Zurenouc, and the European Union with the aim of providing the people of Papua New Guinea with the required information about their MPs.

Last week, the OPP was handed over to the Parliament by TIPNG after steering the project since its initiation.

Chairman of TIPNG, Lawrence Stevens said TIPNG embraces the important of the project because it returned information on the proceedings of the parliament to the people who are the rightful receivers of the information.

 “The open parliament project is one of our flagship program and we have watched it grow with communities in the country embracing its’ importance. We hope that the people in parliament who are going to work on this project will see it as important as well. Although we are sad to handover this project, we believe its time we let the project grow where it should grow under the authority of the organization it was established for,” He said.

The project for two years was looked after by TIPNG where it launched the “know your parliament website”, compiling of the parliamentary performance report and the SMS platform, including awareness campaigns in Goroka and Lae last year.

The achievements of the project under TIPNG was presented during the hand-over take over ceremony in parliament and was described by the European Union Ambassador to PNG, His Excellency Ioannis Girogkarakis as a way for transparency to prevail.

“We at EU are a strong believer of human rights and are very pleased to have partnered in this project. People have the right to know what their leaders are doing in parliament and this project is paving the way to breach the gap and create interaction between the rural people and their leaders. Our aim is to connect the people and we are happy that the key beneficiary of this project is taking the lead in carrying out this project,” said His Excellency Ioannis.

Mr. Zurenouc assured both parties that the project will go on as part of the speaker’s modernization plan for the parliament.

“We all know corruption grows in the dark and this program is going to shed light in the parliament where our people can be able to see what is going on. Unlike before, we have opened up the parliament for visits and tours.  I want to remove any negative sentiments about our country and parliament and starting at the parliament house is the best way.

Mr. Zurenouc said the project will become a program taken up by the parliament library as the library aims to become a research and information center for the country in the near future.

(L-R) European Union Ambassador to PNG, His Excellency Ioannis Girogkarakis, Speaker of Parliament, Theo Zurenouc, and Chairman of TIPNG, Lawrence Stevens toasting to the achievements of the Open Parliamentary Project under TIPNG since it started in 2012. The project was handed over to the Parliament early last week by TIPNG at the state function room in parliament.
 

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