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By KEVIN PAMBA
PAPUA New Guinean politicians are walking on a “minefield” of “dirty
money” from unscrupulous people with money, who are hell-bent on
influencing political outcomes for their vested interests.
This claim was made by Deputy Opposition leader Bart Philemon and
constitutional lawyer Prof John Nonggorr in Madang last Friday. They
warned that this scourge could destroy the country.
Mr Philemon and Prof Nonggorr were speaking at the 7th annual Ethics
Symposium of the Divine Word University’s Faculty of Business and
Management in Madang last Friday.
Mr Philemon said the country faced the real danger of seeing its Members
of Parliament bought out by those with “big pockets (of money)” to get
political favours for their vested interests.
“How can we ensure our politicians survive this minefield?” Mr Philemon
asked.
He suggested that laws be amended to allow those with “own wealth” and
high integrity and community standing seek election to avoid them using
the political offices for personal enrichment.
In direct reference to the last election where he observed large sums of
money allegedly used by vested interests, Mr Philemon claimed some of
the winning candidates demanded their election expenses be refunded if
they were to join certain political groups in the lead-up to the
formation of the new government last month.
The outspoken former treasurer said PNG politics was characterised by
“unscrupulous ministers who asked for concessions” while other MPs asked
for positions.
He said the misconduct charges against leaders had grown remarkably
since independence 33 years ago but most got away, which was “seriously
worrying”.
He suggested among other things that those vying for political office
must be those with “own wealth” so they don’t get into the temptation of
using the position for personal enrichment.
Mr Philemon said people with own wealth should be those with high
integrity, who are interested in serving the public and not to expand
their own businesses.
Prof Nonggorr said bribery and undue influence were rife in the recent
election but it was difficult to police because of the obvious
shortcomings of the law enforcing agencies.
“Bribery was common. Intimidation was common,” he said.
The Electoral Commission’s legal adviser said that even the voters asked
for bribes to be paid to them if they were to vote for certain
candidates.
But Prof Nonggorr said it was difficult to catch up with perpetrators as
the law enforcing agencies were inefficient and out-smarted.
He said when people were asking for bribery and could not cooperate with
law enforcing agencies, it was hard to bring the unscrupulous candidates
and their financiers to account.
Prof Nonggorr said the law enforcers alone could not do much and called
on the public to rise up against bribery and undue influence of the
political process as “it was not very good for the country”.
“Certainly, law enforcing is not efficient and people must assist,” he
said.
“What are the standards that people want in leadership?” he asked and
called on the public to help determine the standards.
He said people must now plan to make the next election in 2012 free of
bribery and undue influence.
He said if the public allowed the status quo to continue, “dirty money
would rule this country”.
 
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