BY LORETTA B MANELE

Whilst there might be laws, there is lack of enforcement, says David Hiba Hiriasia, the new Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management, and Meteorology (MECDM).

Speaking to the media recently, he stressed that lack of enforcement may relate to not having enough resources or capacities, an issue he says needs to be addressed to find solutions to the problems we have.

In regards to enforcement, Hiriasia spoke about lack of public servants from the Ministry in the provinces which may be due to the lack of manpower.

“For me, how I look at it, if you look at the arrangement of the Ministry at the moment, we don’t have much provincial presence there, probably due to lack of manpower,” he said.

Hiriasia highlighted that these are issues where the government can come to resolve by working with the public service and recruiting people to stay and work in the provinces.

He said at the moment, if you are going to complain about the environment, you have to come on your own as there is no presence of most divisions of the Ministry in the provinces.

“You only have med service and disaster that are present in the provinces,” said Hiriasia.

While he understands that some provincial governments have environmental and climate change officers here in the capital, he says strengthening partnership between the government and provinces is important.

“Whether we use the current arrangement or strengthen it or make a new one to ensure that people get services that are available all the time,” he said.

Photo: Supplied

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