by
BRIAN GOMEZ
Politicians are to blame for ‘sad’ poll outcome
There is a long way to go before the
final results for the national election are known.
But in general terms, Bottom Line believes a sad outcome is
inevitable.
Good governance and good government will be difficult to achieve
in the coming five-year term of the next government as the
country’s leadership continues to grapple with the age-old problem
of keeping coalition party members onside and compliant.
Despite this negative outlook regarding the performance of
politicians and political parties, I still believe Papua New
Guineans can anticipate that the next five years will be the best
period, in economic terms, since the nation gained independence in
1975.
This may appear a contradiction but is somewhat akin to the once
widely held view in Australia that the ‘Lucky Country’ would do
well regardless of inept political leadership, although this view
has waned over the last two decades.
The reason for this optimism on the economic front flows from
basic developments that have occurred under the previous two
governments, during which time there has been a vast improvement
in overall governance.
Former prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta was responsible for core
constitutional and legislative changes at a time the nation was
reaching the depths of despair, overhauling regulations governing
the financial sector.
He also set new ground rules for the nation’s democratic
foundations, particularly with respect to the behaviour of
political parties.
Why have the results of the 2007 elections been less than ideal?
Near the top of the reasons I would place the high number of
independents that will enter the next Parliament.
Independent MPs can, and do, play an important role as a
constructive opposition and as a ‘voice’ for valid minority
interests and aspirations, a role well personified in Australia by
‘The Democrats’ (slogan – Keep the Bastards Honest) and
others such as the ‘Green’ parties.
But when minority views assume prominence the overall result could
be destabilising.
It has been a common saying that ‘people get the governments they
deserve’.
In many senses, this is a truism. After all, democratically
elected governments are voted into office by the people.
One has to assume that despite problems in various PNG
constituencies with cheating, etc, that the overall result would
still be a fair reflection of public opinion.
Bottom Line would view this situation in a slightly different
light and suggest that PNG politicians have brought on an adverse
result because of their own actions, even though the big
personality changes in the next 109-seat Parliament is not
necessarily a change for the worse.
More likely the next Parliament will closely reflect what has been
going on in this august body since independence, with the effects
somewhat muted by the Integrity Laws passed by the Morauta
government.
There is no reason to believe that attendance at parliamentary
sessions will be much better than ever before – many sessions will
be abandoned because of a lack of quorum – and this will certainly
not be because individual MPs are spending more of their time
looking after the interests of people who voted them into
Parliament.
I have made the point in this column that the past five years have
been among the best enjoyed by the country due to the massive
increase in government revenues from high commodity prices, better
controls on government spending and good policies.
This has laid the groundwork for a broad-based economic recovery
on a scale that has never happened before with many thousands of
people in various parts of the country enjoying significant
royalty payments from new developments plus unprecedented housing
programmes for the middle class citizens.
Even though the ruling National Alliance Party should return to
office, it appears that it will do so with less than the 24 MPs
voted into office in 2002.
This nevertheless is history making.
All ruling parties have in the past performed badly when they came
up for re-election.
Like Sir Mekere’s government at the 2002 polls, the Somare
Government badly hurt itself, and its prospects, in the final six
to 12 months
prior to the national election.
It caved in to almost unanimous demands in Parliament to vote big
increases in various perks and lifelong pensions for MPs oblivious
to the poverty that is the way of life of a vast number of people
around the country.
Major and difficult changes to governance revolving around the
National Capital District that had taken much pain and difficulty
to push through the previous Parliament were trampled almost
overnight.
No voices of protest were heard from the august house.
The Ombudsman Commission had to personally intervene to stop MPs
who had not accounted for their ‘slush funds’ to have access to
additional funds to bolster their re-election hopes.
For these reasons, the street-smart people of PNG, a large
proportion of whom have never been to school and could arguably
blame their politicians for their fate, used their innate wisdom
to repeat a tradition of booting out some 60% of MPs who were
elected in 2002.
One of the really sad outcomes has been the ouster of former prime
minister Sir Rabbie Namaliu, a leader as far as we can tell of the
utmost integrity and a true nationalist.
But the nation’s political leaders have to share the blame for the
election outcomes.
They have obviously poorly read the situation and reacted in a
manner that confused and divided the electorate-at-large.
Probably the biggest problem in this regard was the spat between
Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and his former treasurer, Bart
Philemon, which led to the formation of the New Generation Party.
It is useless in retrospect to apportion blame and, possibly, the
unfortunate pawn in that manoeuvre has been Sir Rabbie, who
dutifully took on the role of Treasurer when he was moved from the
Foreign Ministry.
Despite the high public regard for Mr Philemon and Sir Mekere,
their effort to tear down the edifice built by Sir Michael – they
certainly had some grounds for their stance – was among the
factors that will make governability an ongoing issue until 2012.
