| Sports |
by Frank Senge Kolma
Hearing the same old policies
THE same old tired policies are being
bashed to death again.
Plans on free education, crime, health and infrastructure are
being proffered by all and sundry as the answer to PNG’s
socio-economic ills.
And the same tired salespersons, representing the same old
political parties are at it again.
Little do the salesmen realise that the electorate has grown up
and is full of cynical old men and women and big, bright eyed
pranksters, who would do anything to lure the money out of their
pockets.
The understanding at the community level is almost universal. You
had the time of your life in the last four years. This is the one
year when you give something back and they will drain your life
blood faster than Dracula if they knew of a way to sell it.
The problem is that there is only one Member and so many more
candidates but each candidate is treated virtually the same.
Except the people will not do it up front. That is too easy. They
like to enjoy themselves as well. This is one big show, you see,
and they are not going to miss it for the world.
You got something to sell; everybody might not be willing to buy
but they will listen; oh with such rapt attention that at the end
of it, you will be glowing in ecstasy – thinking you have an
entire community enticed.
The applause at the end is sustained and if this were the opera
you would hear cries of “encore, encore”. There are the
appropriate pats on the back and offers of congratulations and the
compulsory cries of: “Mipela i no save harim wanpela man mekim
dispela kain tok bifo. (We have not heard this from anyone
before).”
Of course they have heard it all before, if not yesterday by the
other candidate who preceded you, than last week or sometime in
the not too distant past.
In any case, they have heard it all before in the lead-up to the
last election. The people know their needs well.
They want their children in schools and for there to be enough
space for them. They want access to health facilities and for
bridges and road access for easier transportation of their goods
and services.
They want credit for business opportunities. They want to improve
their standard of living, to having running water in their homes
or close by as well as electricity.
The problem is that these needs have been there for every one of
the 32 years of independence but nothing seems to have improved.
The question, of course is, why are the same old parties and
individuals making the same old promises which they do not seem to
have fulfilled in all those years.
In the past, one excuse was that too much political instability
meant one regime did not have enough time to fully implement its
policies.
If that was indeed an excuse, it was removed in the last five
years when we have had a full five-year term of one Government.
Yet the same needs remain.
So what excuse do we fetch for the people this time around?
All that remains, I am afraid, is some good old truths that need
telling.
Politicians need to stop saying the things that the people want to
hear.
They want to offer universal free education but they will not ask
the people to offer something in return for having the Government
take over their school fee paying responsibilities.
Why not have them supply materials for school buildings free of
charge and to offer free labour?
The politician will promise roads and bridges but does not dare
ask the people to offer up the land where the road is going to be
built or for gravel to be taken free of charge.
Credit from the Rural Development Bank will be offered on the
condition that the people support one or the other group into
Government but the people will not be asked to turn in land and
their land assets as collateral.
All this time the people have been offered the world and they were
under the impression that they do not have to do anything in
return.
That is a truly cargo cultist mentality and has helped create the
hand-out mentality that is so prevalent in communities across the
country.
Nothing is free and every Papua New Guinean understands that but
over time they have been promised almost everything for free in
exchange for their vote.
The blame has to fall on weak leaders who have chosen not to
disappoint the masses.
Unfortunately, they have disappointed the masses over time because
they have no capacity to offer all the promised goodies.
Watch the crowd behavior and you will understand the contempt with
which politicians are held by the ordinary people.
The really interesting bits are said after the salesmen
(candidates) have passed on in his journey to the next village.
They either give you the finger once your back is turned, or curse
you or they fight to take you to their home to spend the night.
There, at night, they hope you can divulge further “secrets” and
more especially make you feel sufficiently indebted to divulge the
contents of your pocket or wallets.
The salesmen, being veterans themselves, of course know this so
they will divide all their cash into small notes which they keep
in separate pockets on their bodies. There might be fivers in one
pocket, twos in another, 10 in one and 20s and 50s in another.
Pulling notes out of a pocket is an art form. They must be
swooshed out without any rustling to suggest there is more inside.
What comes out must be given out, not put back in the pocket. So
imagine the few occasions when the hand meant for the fiver comes
up with a 50 or even two.
The self chastisement is acute.
 
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