A hundred days in office

TODAY represents a noteworthy milestone for Prime Minister Peter O’Neill. It has now been exactly 100 days since he took control of parliament displacing Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare’s record-breaking National Alliance-led majority government in one fell swoop.
On Aug 2, with the House in relative peace, O’Neill ascended the throne in a move that caught the nation unawar­e.
The Pangia native garnered the backing of an overwhelming majority of MPs to be voted Papua New Gui­nea’s seventh person to hold the top post.
But this was not the story of a man quietly waiting in the wings, bidding his time for the opportunity to seize the reins of power among confusion and uncertainty, nor was it entirely about fortune favouring the bold and daring.
Still, in PNG politics, no­thing is a certainty and the judicial reference taken by the East Sepik provincial go­vernment could yet end a short but promising term in office. A decision by the country’s Supreme Court on Dec 9, exactly 30 days away, will decide whether the O’Neill-led government can stay on in the crest to go to a second century.
O’Neill’s moderate yet driven leadership style was always present through two successive terms in office representing the Ialibu-Pangia electorate of Southern Highlands.
He is firm. He remembers slights. He rewards loyalty. He keeps his word. He is a stickler for numbers.
It is essentially his stability, and dependability, that enable fellow MPs to gravitate towards him as their choice for PM. And despite the complexion of his skin and the Irish name, which many might assume hides a privileged upbringing, O’Neill, like so many of this country’s leaders, shares in a common rural upbringing.
His young mother, disco­vering she was pregnant out of wedlock with him, ran away to a remote village on the border of Southern Highlands and Gulf. There she tried to abort him and failing that tried to commit suicide but was dissuaded by villa­gers. And there O’Neill was born and there he was reared.
He walked 20km to school every day and only met his biological father when he was already a teenager in Goroka where he also became acquainted with his first pair of shoes.
These experiences have helped mold the future prime minister. He said yesterday that it was his determination to succeed – in school, in business and in politics – that was his best preparation for the job.
Among the significant policies O’Neill has adopted over the three months have been undoubtedly free education, a commitment to strengthening the nation’s deteriorating and deficient health system, the upgrading and building of infrastructure (roads and bridges) to accommodate the current resource boom, tackling – without fear or favour – white collar crime much of which perpetuates corruption in the corridors of public financial and administrative institutions, and providing security and stability going into the election.
In fairness to the previous regime, these policies apart from education, were being tackled by the former govern­ment but O’Neill’s administration has injected a freshness which the public, rightly or wrongly, has warmed up to. One only needed to witness the throngs of people who attend his every visit outside of Port Moresby to know the truth of this.
O’Neill’s fully funded education policy is a God-send for the majority of struggling parents. It has hit all the right chords in this era of rising costs. The commissioning of a task force to combat corruption is also another initiative that has earned wide-spread support.
Some have labelled the conduct of the force headed by Sam Koim nothing more than the proverbial witch-hunt. Nevertheless, this voice of dissension is drowned out by the chorus of agreement that O’Neill is actively fighting corruption by putting the cleaners through the various government departments and offices.
The changes and policy shifts O’Neill has issued are yet to be nearing their fruit-bearing stage but the beauty of O’Neill’s 100-day stay in power is that he is determined to make a difference and that he has a team that seems to think likewise.
One could be forgiven for taking the low road this close to a general election and simply playing it safe by stocking up on resources and building a war chest for re-election but that course seems to be beneath O’Neill.
He has proven himself to be a prime minister not only in name but in heart.