Parkop: Presidential system best for PNG

THE presidential system is best for Papua New Guinea, NCD Governor Powes Parkop said.
Speaking to a crowd at a village outside Mt Hagen over the weekend, Mr Parkop said the present Parliamentary system was delivering very little.
He said there was poor leadership in the country leading to the depletion of natural resources at a faster rate without consideration for the future generation.
He said PNG had a much smaller population compared to Singapore, South Korea and Indonesia yet “we have lost the plot in developing our resources for the benefit of the greater majority”.
The NCD Governor was invited by the Roni clan at Wurup Kaip village outside Mt Hagen to talk to them, and he also took the opportunity to promote his social democratic party.
He said PNG was richly blessed with natural resources and it was up to this generation to be wise and leave some of these resources for future generations.
He said PNG lacked honest leadership. “The country is only as good as its leaders,” he said.
He said people had themselves to blame for the misery they were in daily.
“We call ourselves a Christian country but we do not practise Christianity and we have yet to produce selfless, fearless and humbled leaders,” he said.
Mr Parkop said his party aimed to introduce a presidential system of government if the people gave it the mandate, and urged the people to take their voting seriously.
He said in Parliament at present, MPs were playing for survival with the numbers game and the interest of the country was not a priority.
“All the MPs, including the Prime Minister, are victims of the numbers game.
“In order to keep the numbers, bills and amendments are passed without considering the social impacts and consequences on the people.
“That is why we need a presidential system where a president is voted in by the people so that the numbers game is not in play,” he said.
He also assured the people that he would do his best to improve the nation’s capital as it was the image of the whole country.