|
Sports |
Credit for improved economy
irrelevant
SIRMekere Morauta and Bart Philemon
are like-minded politicians with good track records.
I would regard Sir Mekere as the “starter” and Philemon the
“finisher”.
When Sir Michael Somare was prime minister 31 years ago, Sir
Mekere headed the Finance and Planning Ministry (now Treasury).
No one in Papua New Guinea knows more about the economic-related
issues confronting PNG than Sir Mekere.
Sir Mekere was a fine bureaucrat and he saw the need to change the
way financial institutions were governed. He wasted no time doing
so when he became Prime Minister.
His changes had a positive impact in the corporate governance and
independence of these institutions.
Some of his other decisions had a far greater impact on the
country than many realise.
Of course, Sir Mekere could also be blamed in those years, for
adding K1.65 billion to the national debt, due to his classical
economist’s approach.
In the long-run, his thinking paid off and this country is now
enjoying the fruits of his reforms.
Perhaps, the only person who understands the gravity of the
national debt burden is Philemon.
The Somare Government has the opportunity most governments dream
of.
All commodity and mining/petroleum prices have been heading
northward which means more revenue for the Government to help
service its debts.
The public debate between Sir Michael and Philemon as to who
should get the credit for the country’s improved economy is
irrelevant.
Neither of them put in place a single policy to insulate the
economy against external shocks when commodity, mineral and
petroleum prices head declined.
There are two basic tools at the Government’s disposal to regulate
macroeconomic stability – the monetary and the fiscal controls.
The monetary policies are now in the domain of the Central Bank,
thanks to the reform Sir Mekere introduced.
The Government’s only control mechanism is the fiscal policy and
Philemon used this lever to greater advantage and gets the credit
for it.
He, to a greater extent, controlled the fiscal policy by
controlling spending and expenditure.
Philemon implemented corrective measures in the fiscal regime to
guide PNG in attaining macroeconomic stability.
The coalition Government led by the National Alliance shows little
direction, lurching from crisis to crisis, abusing public
resources to gain political support.
There is evidence that corruption is more systematic and
entrenched in both the private and public sectors, and that an
ethnic group is being favoured.
All this is unhealthy for a young developing country like PNG, and
violates one of the national goals – equal distribution of wealth
and participation.
Other ethnic groups do not participate in the decision-making
process of the nation, not because they are not competent but
because of the Government’s tendencies in appointing senior
people.
It is a very sad scenario, and the next government must eradicate
such malicious practice that will bring disharmony to the
country.
Of course, there is political stability in the Somare-led
Government but it came about because of the Organic Law on the
Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates initiated by Sir
Mekere.
The law reduced the number of brief-case carriers in Parliament
and saw a new beginning in the political history of PNG.
Leaders who had the wealth were restricted from remote-controlling
other MPs.
There are still some loopholes in the public
administrative system, allowing political cronies to dip into
Government coffers but this is due to failure to tighten up
procedures,
A good example would be the recent appointment of the Police
Commissioner.
Many decisions go through without debate and public scrutiny.
Roland Epart
Porgera
 
|
