PNGTUC: Keep Win Bakri Daki out of NEC until K200million SME Fund questions are cleared

The Papua New Guinea Trades Union Congress is calling for Win Bakri Daki to stay out of the National Executive Council until questions surrounding a K200 million small and medium enterprise fund are cleared.

The union’s position challenges Prime Minister James Marape’s decision to appoint Daki, the MP for Tambul-Nebilyer, as Minister Assisting the Prime Minister. PNGTUC says the appointment requires more than political authority. It says there must be a compelling reason that can win public confidence across the breadth and length of Papua New Guinea.

The demand places the SME fund questions at the centre of the dispute over Daki’s access to the NEC. PNGTUC has not indicated in the available material what the questions involve or how they should be resolved. It has, however, made clearance of those issues a condition for Daki’s participation in the country’s top executive decision-making body.

The call adds scrutiny to a ministerial appointment that the union believes should meet a high public-confidence test. Until the K200 million fund questions are cleared, PNGTUC wants Daki kept outside the NEC.