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by Dr MICHAEL
UNAGE
The best among equals for PM
ACCORDING to reports, 29 political parties
have registered so far, which means that there could be 29 party leaders
wanting to be the next prime minister of Papua New Guinea.
While any party leader can be made prime minister, not all have the
qualities to be one.
Some of these leaders are well-known figures and have contributed to the
development of PNG in one way or another, while others are new to the
political arena.
For the voters, it is imperative that they know the party leaders’
credentials before they cast their ballots along party lines.
Some party leaders have been in politics for a long time and their
character and performance as parliamentarians are noticeable.
Leaders of some newly-formed political parties, on the other hand, are
unknown to the majority of the people.
These leaders will need to work hard to establish their popularity and
to tell voters what substance they are made of.
This can cause some anxiety among voters as they are used to starting
from the known to the unknown.
Despite that, new leaders may be inspirational and may have unknown
qualities that may be of benefit to the political
development in the country.
This article deliberates on the known political party leaders and their
contribution to political development but before doing so, I would like
to respond to a similar article that attracted some comments earlier.
Generally, constructive criticisms are very helpful to a columnist.
Personally, I write for public consumption.
To some, my articles may sound sweet while for others it may sound
bitter. Few felt that one particular article was unfounded, biased,
naive, out of context, stuff from the academia and not practical.
While respecting their comments, those writers failed to produce
contrasting analysis by political scientists to discredit my assessment
of politicians of the Highlands region.
Therefore, I find their criticisms rather unjustified.
It was obvious that they represent interest groups and we do understand
that.
Some comments did border on argumentum ad hominem, a Latin phase meaning
people who have nothing to argue but defend their own inadequacies
through personal attack
A politician even went on EMTV to unleash his anger at my article, which
he calls defamatory while in fact it was for him, inflammatory.
It hurt pride more than the message contained in the article.
It shows that for him, the audio-visual media was easier, revealing his
major weakness to respond in the print media.
However, that does not stop us from educating voters of their right to
discern public office holders’ character and performance.
On a more positive note, few responses seem to agree with the analysis
and request if the same could be done for the whole country. One such
person was Reginald Renagi in a letter to the editor.
I will here deal with his request.
There are four capable politicians who have the acumen to be prime
minister, and they represent each of the four regions.
In the Highlands region, Bire Kimisopa qualifies as a leader with vision
and discipline. He now leads one of the oldest political parties, the
United Party.
In the Islands region, my nominee is Sir Rabbie Namaliu, who leads
another long-established party, the Pangu Party.
Sir Rabbie is of very stable character with integrity.
He was a prime minister once during which he was nominated the best
prime minister of the year by the Pacific Islands monthly magazine.
My nominee for the best politician of the Momase region is Bart
Philemon, who is tipped to lead the New Generation Party into the
general election.
From the Southern region, Sir Mekere Mourata just managed to come in
front of the others. He leads the PNG Party.
My assessment is based on the individual’s performance and character,
both in the personal and the public domain.
The four leaders have concern for the citizens and for their development
and well-being.
They all seem to possess vision and a high degree of discipline that is
needed to serve the people of PNG.
They seem to respect the position they hold and never used it for
personal gain, as reflected by the fact that they were never referred to
the public prosecutor for any counts of misconduct in public office.
They are not driven by personal ambition but out of deep-cultivated
principles, and by the needs and aspirations of the people.
They admonish people and fellow colleagues when things are not done in
the true interest of the people.
The four leaders are the regional buttresses of PNG political future.
Although there are other political leaders who qualify for the
description above, the four mentioned would be the primus inter pares, a
Latin phrase meaning the best among equals.
Some party leaders may act on self-interest. These people are driven by
ambition for power and wealth.
Their campaign is all rhetoric and demagogy, which exploits the people’s
ignorance and poverty to their advantage.
Their campaign is characterised by political giftings, such as cash
handouts and donations.
They are driven by their guts and may lack empathy and vision for the
people.
Their marriage life is one of polygamy or serial monogamy.
They are driven by blind forces and when they assume power, citizens
suffer as a result.
There are also political leaders who are neither good nor bad and it is
hard to tell.
They do not want to be told what to do and are very cautious in breaking
rules.
They are neither driven by external influences nor do they show
initiative.
They are there to maintain the political system.
After identifying the regional architect of the future political growth
of this country, it would be a tempting idea to say if these four
political leaders would form the next government.
We have previously heard that some like-minded political party leaders
decided to join forces at a meeting in Konedobu.
Conspicuously present were Sir Mekere, Sir Rabbie and Philemon.
Moses Maladina, who will lead the Rural Development Party and PAP
founder Ted Diro were also there.
Also mentioned was the People’s Progress Party (PPP). However, both PAP
and PPP will need credible party leaders for their campaign drive.
If the Konedobu meeting can be furthered and consolidated, then the
coalition could comprise Pangu, New Generation Party, PNG Party, PAP and
PPP.
Kimisopa’s United Party should join this Konedobu like-minded
politicians.
However, politics has a way of making strange bed-fellows and the
outcome of the next government coalition partners will be only known at
the eleventh hour.
 
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