Of billboard and perceptions
* Reflects on the fertile mind of his friend Siuke on the occasion of Rudd’s visit, writes, Jack Metta *

‘HAVE you noticed?’ was the question Siuke posed as I greeted him at the gate yesterday morning.
“Notice what?” I answered back.
“Gees, you people work for the newspaper and you do not even read your stuff,” he said sarcastically.
You were taken aback by his pompous manner and felt suddenly that your patience won’t be able to stand this behaviour for long.
A rude rebuke had automatically formed at the bottom of your larynx and was on the verge of breaking through when Siuke uttered, “Do you know what we’re telling Rudd to do?”
That was when you felt like a deaf-mute, knowing the gestures for what they are but failing to grasp the meaning of the collective action.
You stood agog for a moment and then decided there was only one way to find out – produce the newspaper.
Without notice, you retreated into the house, found what you were looking for and walked back doggedly as you scanned the pages for the tell-tale signs.
Siuke grabbed the paper unceremoniously from your grasp and drew your attention to the front page picture.
A quick scan convinced you nothing was amiss and Siuke smiled, an ear-to-ear type that often signals that an explosion of a guffaw is to follow.
You read the words on the billboard captured in the photograph: “Welcome to Papua New Guinea Hon Kevin Rudd, MP, Prime Minister of Australia.
“So?” you ask.
Siuke: There’s more.
Then you noticed the writing on the fringes of the billboard. “Keep our city clean, safe and peaceful. Lukautim yu long HIV/AIDS…”
Siuke: Are we welcoming a prime minister or swagman?
It dawned there and then and a double staccato of belly laughter rocked the neighbourhood for at least two minutes, inviting curious onlookers to look our way with blank expressions on their faces, perhaps wondering what we found so funny this part of the day.
When we gained our composure, Siuke popped another question.
Could I be able to persuade the Prime Minister to get him a job on the commission of inquiry?
Without giving the question a second thought, you responded: “The inquiry into the Finance Department?
Siuke: Any inquiry. I’ll start at the bottom and work my way up. The way I see it, there is a systemic and systematic abuse of public funds and high offices and coupled with the inability of appropriate authorities to deal with the perpetrators, public outcry would often force the convention of inquiries and I would be settled for life if I get the job on this commission and those to come.
The idiocy of the brief conversation kicked in.
You: This is some kind of a joke, right?
Siuke: Am I laughing?
You: (Rubbing your day-old stubble) What brings this on? You’re not even qualified to be appointed for anything …(pause) … well, perhaps the most menial tasks like cleaner but there’s no guarantee…
Siuke: Then get me that menial task, whatever that is. As I’ve said, I’m willing to work my way up.
Me: Hold on. Do you really know what you’re after?
He let the cat out of the bag then.
Siuke: I want to be in it for the money. It’s my money, I’m told; public funds. I want to work hard to earn it and use it to help my people. Why should all that millions end up in some elites’ pockets to benefit those who are already well off anyway…
You wanted to interrupt but held your peace, knowing that when Siuke started, the last thing you’d dare do is interrupt.
He paused to catch his breath and you seized the opportunity to pop him the question: “Where have you been getting all these ideas?
Siuke: Michael Malabag.
His impromptu response brought on an overwhelming sense of curiosity.
You: You know him personally?
He looked into your eyes and no doubt saw your burning desire to know for sure. He took his time then, letting you fry inside.
The silence was almost deafening. The moments dragged on and at last with a knowing smile on his face, acknowledging the fact that you had fried enough for his personal satisfaction, he said: “I read it in the newspapers.”
Automatically your mind scrambled for the news but Siuke beat you to it.
“The chairman of the commission of inquiry receives K56,000 per week while the senior counsel assisting the inquiry receives K3,400 per day; the junior counsel K3,000 per day while the investigator receives K2,000 per day and the secretary and the accountant K1,600 each per day; right down the rank and file receiving from between K1,000 per day to K50 per day for the most junior member of staff…”
Again Siuke paused for breath.
You: Wow, that was quite a mouthful.
Siuke: And I’m earning between K2 and K8 per day if I’m lucky on my street sales of buai. Do you know that each of the staff at the inquiry is making more money than I could earn selling buai in…
He tapered off and you could tell that his brain had gone into overdrive trying to calculate the timeframe in years and comparing that against his rate of earnings each day on the streets of Sabama.
He had come up against a blank wall and it was written all over his face.
Was it time to change the subject, you wondered?
“They would have to go through 300,000 cases of abuse of public funds. Mind you this was committed between 2000 and 2006, a period of six years. That would mean 50,000 illegal payments/misappropriations per year. That much abuse should not have gone unnoticed. I doubt they would go through all the cases within a six-month timeframe.”
No time to change the topic.
He stopped, a realisation clicked in his head.
Siuke: Hey, what does a six-month salary for the chairman add up to?
You did a mental calculation – K56,000 per week multiplied by four weeks a month times six months (K56,000 x 4 = K224,000 X 6 = K1,344,000).
You: More than K1.3 million for one person.
Siuke sat in deep thought for a moment and started: Lelefiru villagers are asking the relevant government agencies to help them resettle after their village was devastated by a king tide. There has been no positive response in two years of asking around. Yet, the Government has the money to set up commissions of inquiry and pay the people they appoint more than handsomely, for what. Inquiries whose recommendations are not act upon? Wasting public funds at the expense of a child dying in Maprik without appropriate hospital facilities for babes? Commissions of inquiry are a farce. They use public funds to set them up and ban the public from the facts and the need to know what actions would be taken and when. The ones who are convening these inquiries are the ones who should have stopped the rot in the first place had they been conscious of their responsibilities. There are too many jealousies and suspicions at the top and it is situations like these that lend impetus to systemic and systematic corruption.
You were starting to really admire this guy’s perceptions.
Finally he said: “I believe the Constitution is being used as an excuse to prevent the exposure or the uncovering of systemic and systematic corruption within the rank and file of high office holders in our political landscape...”
You wondered where he picked that one up from but it reminded you succinctly of an event that unfolded in Fiji a couple of weeks ago.
Fiji Sun publisher Russell Hunter is a mentor extraordinaire in the newspaper industry and we feel for him and Martha over the treatment they received at the hands of the Fiji military regime.
Other than the memories we have of our earlier association in Port Moresby during the Niugini Nius days, we had a memorable occasion in Suva, Fiji once when Wally Hiambohn, Yehiura Hriehwazi and I visited for a media course in 1999.
The Fijians were warned that two Sepiks or more precisely two Yangorus and a Kerema were hitting town but there was no problem as the trio blended naturally into the environment.
Having being out of touch for years with Russell and his partner Martha, who had also worked with Niugini Nius, Sinclaire Solomon suggested we take along a bag of sago to the couple and renew our relationship.
We manage to re-establish that during a sumptuous dinner, umpteen bottles of the amber liquid and tonnes of kava at Russell’s place … but that’s another story.
Suffice it is to say that we kept vigil for you Russell and family when the news broke and we have pledged our support for any effort to seek redress for the treatment you received.
As the Wise Counsellor reminds us: “Trials are blessings when we can bless God for trials…”
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