| Business |
Mutton dressed as lamb
PAPUA New Guinea is very good at the
grand gesture. We hear that the roads in Madang town have been
patched, albeit on a very temporary basis.
Dirt was the main component of the pothole filling and residents
were reportedly fully aware that one good evening downpour, such
as Madang experiences during the monsoon season, would return the
roads to their former disgraceful state.
Not only the roads benefited – roadside verges normally knee high
with weeds and discarded plastics and paper suddenly became tidy
borders.
Reportedly this did not happen in every street; the cosmetic
make-over was restricted to those thoroughfares most likely to be
traversed by the Prime Minister and his party as they travelled to
the Laiwaden Oval opening of the Madang branch of the National
Development Bank.
Readers and listeners to the live broadcast marking this event
could be pardoned for thinking that it was a new entity in Madang
and represented a giant step forward for a province that has a
strong agricultural, marine and cash crop economic base.
The fact is that the Bank, recently renamed, is the former Rural
Development Bank and it has been present in Madang for many years.
The two-storey building had almost reached a point where
refurbishment would have been out of the question.
Fortuitously, it was rescued and repainted in striking shades of
turquoise green and chrome yellow and forms a new central
attraction in the commercial centre, much of which is drab and
ill-maintained.
The Prime Minister duly launched the revamped facility, some of
his political companions spoke, and the cavalcade moved on.
There has been a flood of such engagements involving leading
political figures. Duties that would normally be associated with
the functions of their departments or ministries have been
skilfully utilised to boost political campaigns.
The number of roads, aid posts, bridges, farming projects, water
supplies and an almost endless list of other village and
community-level projects that has been trumpeted to the skies in
the past three months borders on the unbelievable.
Many of the normal functions of government have become adjuncts to
barn-storming political campaigns. And most have been accompanied
by quick-fix beautification programmes such as Madang’s ephemeral
pothole filling.
It is tempting to ask who has the priority in these matters.
Who has a right to expect high quality roads, rubbish and
sanitation collection, appropriately staffed and stocked clinics,
well-kept sporting facilities and properly funded cultural
bureaus?
These and dozens of other services are allegedly the
responsibility of provincial and national governments.
Is it the people, many of whom pay taxes and most of whom voted
these leaders into power – or is it the Big Men themselves?
Under a democratic government, there is no question about the
answer.
It is the people.
Suddenly, one the eve of a national election, there is a veritable
deluge of funds available for anything and everything. Millions of
kina have changed hands in the past few months and much of that
money has been public money, intended for the betterment of our
people.
Worse, there is precious little attempt to conceal what is at best
questionable expenditure and at worst outright theft of public
funds.
The Ombudsman Commission, Transparency International, the Bank of
PNG and many other government and statutory organisations have
expressed alarm at the rate of spending that marks this election.
If that expenditure is sustainable in the term of the incoming
government, we are indeed a wealthy and a blessed nation.
The blunt fact is that there is vast overspending on election 2007
by those who hold the purse strings and that flood of money is for
the purpose of political gain.
If at the same time some of the voters benefit through a restored
airstrip or a new clinic – well, what a happy coincidence!
We hope that the people of PNG will open their eyes and see the
truth behind the smiles and the handouts.
We hope that there will be a new wave of voters who will indicate
their views without hesitation at the ballot boxes of this nation.
And above all, we hope for an incoming government that will have
the welfare of ordinary Papua New Guineans as its foremost goal.
 
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