"I have already consulted Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam on the procedure to discharge the House secretary general," Marzuki said. The consultation was necessary as Nining was an echelon-I public servant.
Speaking to the press after chairing a meeting of the House`s Household Affairs Board (BURT), several considerations were the basis of his intention to get Nining replaced.
Firstly, he said, the House`s Secretariat General often carried out projects without the knowledge of or consultation with the House leadership.
The most recent example was the renovation of a meeting room of the Budget Commission at a cost of Rp20.3 billion.
Previously, in early 2010, the secretariat general procured computers for House members without having been asked to.
"At the time, the secretariat general put a brand new computer on my desk in addition to one already there. I was surprised and asked who had asked for it. The answer was ` there is a budget for it", he said.
Marzuki said he had then told the secretary general, when her office intended to procure whatever new things, she should first report to the House leadership although a budget for the purpose was available.
Another consideration was that the House leadership had often recived complaints from the public and companies that procurement or project tenders carried out by the secretariat general were "full of compromise,"
In the procurement of goods, Nining also often ignored the government`s program to prefer using domestic products. In the Budget Commission meeting room renovation project, for instance, the new chairs were all foreign made.
"I repeatedly reminded the secretary general to be transparent and observe propriety in carrying out her tasks and always consult the House leadership on major or crucial matters, I don`t know what her problem is but she never consulted us," Marzuki said.(*)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
