| Business |
Politicians in limbo
THE issue of responsibility for law
and order is a complex and controversial one.
If asked who bears that responsibility in Papua New Guinea, most
members of the public would opt for the RPNG Constabulary.
As the years have passed our police force has become more remote
from the people it is intended to serve. Very few members of the
public now see policemen and women as people to whom they can
turn in times of danger or emergency.
We have often indicated our respect for the efforts of
Commissioner Baki as he tries, with a handful of senior
supporters, to reshape the RPNG Constabulary and return it to
the once efficient and effective body of the past.
Nor do we underestimate the enormity of the challenge.
But his cause and the interests of the people of PNG are not
served by the on-going court cases involving policemen.
Nor do the internal investigations that only succeed in
concealing findings from the public.
And as we all know, there are many allegations that are never
pursued by the public out of fear of reprisals and the general
impression that police personnel are the last people to turn to
for help.
Policemen and women are roundly criticised if the public believe
that they are not performing their duties to expectations.
But often those public expectations far exceed the ability of
the Force to provide.
No country can station policemen on every corner, or monitor the
activities of criminals on an individual basis.
In PNG it’s obviously impossible to provide wall to wall
protection for our six million people and their property.
Nor is it feasible to extend community policing to our thousands
of villages, nor reach out to each and every school to help
children to understand the many ways in which well-trained
policemen and women can be of help to them.
If it is unreasonable to believe that the RPNG Constabulary
should bear the entire responsibility for maintaining law and
order in PNG, then to whom should we turn?
The National has long maintained that Members of Parliament are
the obvious choice.
Elected representatives of the people are tasked with much more
than providing handouts of beer and bully beef at election time.
Their responsibilities go further than devising projects to
assist the people, or providing improved services in their
electorate.
Those responsibilities extend to nothing less than working hard
to make sure that all their electors can lead creative and
fulfilling lives in a harmonious environment.
They are in truth the representatives of their people.
Yesterday, we learned of the granting of permission for Engan
police to shoot to kill. This permission is only intended to be
used in extreme cases, where the lives of the policemen are
clearly threatened.
But the reason behind this move was referred to as “the rising
outrage in the province over the lack of action by politicians
to deal with the law and order problems”.
The report added that people were demanding that “the
politicians return to the province and address criminality”.
So it seems that not only The National recognises the link
between members of the House and the well-being of the people of
an electorate.
Some members follow success at the polls with a move to Port
Moresby, where they remain enshrined until the next elections.
The proof of that statement lies in the many neglected
electorate that dot our nation. Most of us are familiar with
them – the deserted administrative posts, the ruined school
accommodation, the decay of water supplies and roads and the
disappearance of the once-busy local airstrips.
At election time, the people vote for those who promise to
return that infrastructure to serve the interests of the
constituents and the electorate as a whole.
But frequently, those promises are not met, and the incumbent
lives comfortably in the capital, re-assured by reports from
sycophantic managers that the interests of his electors are
being met.
As for the over-riding interest of law and order, without which
no electorate can prosper – well that’s samting bilong ol polis,
isn’t it?
It’s time politicians addressed lawlessness and shouldered some
of the load currently born by the police force.
 
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