A commitment to deliver

 By James LARAKI

UPON formation of the government in August last year, the prime minister and his coalition partners informed the people of Papua New Guinea that it will be a responsible government. 

And it was also made known the government business for the next five years will be guided by the Alotau Accord. 

Unlike many governments in the past, this government wanted to take a new approach. 

It sets its objective to deliver for the people. 

To achieve this, the government has made it clear to state agencies it wants to see results. 

It has taken tough measures to ensure state resources used must translate into outputs visible on the ground. 

Heads of government departments and agencies have been put on notice and have been directed to deliver services. 

Departmental heads have been given clear directions and are required to implement a number of projects they have agreed to deliver through the performance agreement signed with the go­vernment last January.

 This is commendable. For too long the performance of departmental heads and their departments have gone unchecked.

Many of the state departments we believe are already well underway with the implementation of their prioritised activities. 

In many cases, these priority areas represent the continuation of existing work programmes and would require only slight adjustments. 

Most departmental heads have discussed their priorities with their respective ministers and have agreed on a course of action. 

As a statutory research organisation, the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) has agreed to implement and deliver on three impact projects in line the government objective.

In signing the performance agreement on behalf of NARI, director general Dr Raghunath Ghodake committed to fully implement these priorities projects between 2013 and 2015 consis­tent with the Alotau Accord and the prime minister’s state of the nation address that encapsulated the key priority of the government.

The three prioritised activities of NARI are:

l PNG preparedness to intermittent and prolonged and frosts;

l Innovative development of smallholder livestock in PNG; and

l Domestication, commercialisation and development of canarium (Galip) nut industry in PNG.

These key areas have been prioritised as we believe they have the potential to benefit the farming and rural communities. 

Ghodake, upon signing the agreement, has in turn put staff on notice to be prepared to deliver on the government’s vision. 

“I would like you all to please read and take this information as serious as you can so that we individually and collectively deliver on the performance agreement that I (as CEO) have signed with the minister for higher education, research, science and technology, thus with the GoPNG,” Ghodake said upon signing the agreement.

He said by signing the performance agreement, he had made a commitment on behalf of NARI management, staff and stakeholders to meet the government’s objectives in upholding good governance and effective delivery of key areas agreed to. 

This, he said, could be achieved through effective and efficient use of resources, strong and effective leadership, and discipline and rule of law. 

“We need to focus on service delivery guided by our strate­gy results framework 2012-20 (SRF). The SRF is our strategic contribution to PNG Vision 2050. 

“We must be in a better position to brief our minister on a regular basis and provide timely professional advice,” Ghodake said.

The activities to be implemented by NARI are not new, rather they are continuation of existing projects which we hope to implement with necessary adjustments. 

These are projects we believe can make an impact on the lives of the farming and rural communities. 

In the first project, NARI aims establish 40 resources centres around the country. 

These centres will be the focal point where we hope to promote and carry out awareness for communities to adopt drought coping strategies, as well as multiply and distribute improved technologies. 

The second project will aim to ensure an efficient, effective and innovative smallholder livestock sector is established contribu­ting to economic growth and make use of locally available resources. 

This is necessary as our smallholder livestock farmers must position themselves to tap into the fast expanding local markets for livestock products.

The third activity will aim to ensure improved production systems and management practices are available and used by used by Galip nut growing communities. 

NARI hopes to distribute 40,000 superior Galip seedlings this year and also improve its capacity to mass produce planting materials. 

Farmers growing the tree will be the key to developing the Galip nut industry.

NARI is committed to implementing these activities. 

We believe these projects can be implemented and achieve what we set for with the necessary support from the government and participation of all stakeholders. 

The government objective is clear. 

It calls for us deliver to the people – especially rural areas which have been neglected over the years. 

This is shown with substantial injections of funds to provinces, districts and LLGs. 

It comes with challenges but it is also not impossible. 

We need to ask ourselves what it means to us. 

It is a matter of pride performing to the expectations, self-assessment, transparency and accountability, efficiency and effectiveness in using public resources for community benefits.