Cardinal Ribat – projects must be financially accountable and transparent

accountability

Churches in Papua New Guinea (PNG) engaged in health, HIV and AIDS and education projects and programmes are encouraged to continue to be accountable and transparent before God when dealing with public funds.

They also must ensure the promotion of good governance “as we continue to provide vital basic services to our people in PNG.”

Chairman of PNG Christian Leaders Alliance on HIV and AIDS, Cardinal Sir John Ribat made these comments when he presented the acquittal of K300,000 to the National Gaming Control Board (NGCB) community benefit fund this week.

“NGCB supported the first HIV Summit for Heads of Churches with K300,000, and as our commitment we are honouring it by documenting our acquittals report and presenting it back to our sponsor,” he said.

An acquittal report is a financial report which includes an income and expense statement to show how a grant has been used.

The HIV Summit was launched in Port Moresby in March.

More than 20 heads of churches took part.

Ribat said at the time one of the great intentions for the HIV summit was to bring the heads of churches together so they could speak about the virus, which is a public health issue in Papua New Guinea.

He said the summit was the first of its kind and is critical for the PNG church leaders, as it would help them to strategise more proactively towards addressing sensitive issues relating to the spread of HIV.

The leaders will be able to “… further discuss HIV and other cross-cutting agendas, learn from the current HIV situation, identify existing gaps in the response and how we as a collective voice can address these issues within our networks,” he said.

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News category: Asia Pacific.

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