Items filtered by date: May 2019

DILI:The former Timor-Leste president Jose Ramos-Horta has questioned the value of the government’s foreign work visits and recommended that State funds be better spent elsewhere.

DILI: Timor-Leste must adopt a “credible fiscal strategy” and protect the country’s petroleum fund to improve economic stability, according to the International Monetary Fund.

In a recent review, the IMF said that the “main challenge facing Timor-Leste was improving fiscal management,” calling for “improvements in expenditure control, greater spending efficiency, and better revenue mobilisation.”

DILI: Mariano Asanami has insisted that the Democratic Party wants a stable government that serves the people of Timor-Leste, amid talks the opposition party may join the ruling coalition government.

The President of the Democratic Party said his members were open to accepting an invitation to join the government ranks, emphasising that in opposition Democratic Party’s vision aligned with government priorities.

DILI: The ruling coalition government is likely to announce a cabinet reshuffle of government members after next week’s inter-party meeting, a source from the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) party has said.

DILI: Opposition leaders from the Fretilin party have accused the government of failing to conduct a transparent tender process for the multi-million dollar Beaço port project awarded to a Chinese civil engineering construction company recently.

DILI: Timor-Leste’s parliament could pass legislation against “fake news” on social media, amid concern of the proliferation of fake accounts spreading falsehoods.

Fidelis Mangalhaes, Minister of Reform and Legislative Affairs for Parliament, said the government was looking into IT regulations, but also insisted that people living in Timor-Leste would always have the right to use social media platforms such as Facebook.

DILI: Abel Pires has poured cold water on National Parliament’s Parliamentary Commission Inquiry (KIP) report on the legality of 143 state-funded road projects, saying the work was “not accurate” because it failed to include Xanana Gusmao and former Prime Minister Rui Araujo in the investigation.

DILI: Antonio Bianco has questioned why a notification letter from the Public Prosecutor regarding parliamentarian Francisco Kalbuadi Lay’s corruption investigation had not been discussed in a National Parliament plenary.

DILI: Members of the National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) must agree on a new strategy for the party or risk its demise, its founder Xanana Gusmao warned on Saturday.

Addressing CNRT’s 12th anniversary congress in Dili, an impassioned Gusmao said Timorese people had become the “victim” of Timor-Leste’s current divisive politics and CNRT must get back to putting people first.  CNRT was established on a social democracy ideology.