A sad day for PNG

“SAD, sad, sad,” said Sir Mahesh Patel, owner of City Pharmacy Limited (CPL) Group of companies.
We echo his sentiments and we are deeply sorry for his loss.
Yesterday was a very sad day in this country.
Yesterday showed how inept and slow the finance and treasury systems are in the country.
And it showed how stupid and senseless the people are.
We begin with Sir Mahesh.
Originally from Fiji, he began his business in PNG in 1987 with the City Pharmacy store and grew to become the largest retail group in the country.
Yesterday his Stop & Shop supermarkets at North Waigani, at Rainbow and Badili, Brian Bell Warehouse at Gerehu all in Port Moresby were either burnt or looted completely.
The CPL Group and supermarket chains lost millions but Sir Mahesh shed tears yesterday not for the business loss but for the behaviour of the people of this country which he has come to call home.
The Eliseo group, a new company that has grown up overnight to offer jobs, pay taxes and provide services also suffered greatly at the hands of looters.
It will take them many months to rebuild but with the Foreign Exchange shortage restocking might take ages. Everybody suffers as a result.
What, we ask, did supermarkets have to do with a computer “glitch” that taxed public servants more than legally allowed?
Why did this “glitch” occur?
There was a previous “glitch” that caused mayhem in the system.
An investigation was launched to discover the cause.
To date we await a finding from that investigation.
The explanation offered by Finance Secretary Samuel Penias into the present “glitch” is that the computer automatically reverted the first pay of 2024 back to 2017 tax status and not 2023 or

2024 where the tax threshold has been increased to K20,000.
Taxing at 2017 rates would have meant a fair sum was deducted from public service pay.
We can understand the source of the anger but why did the anger spill into arson and looting?
It was just one pay and the Internal Revenue Commission and Finance reported that it was a “glitch” and that it would be corrected and the deductions would be refunded in the very next pay.
We have on record people claiming police stood by doing nothing or actively encouraging people to loot stores.
Coming at a time when police are accused of looting a liquor store on New year’s eve and one off duty officer damaging an ATM, it tarnishes the police force’s reputation further.
We recall the damage some of their members caused Parliament over the matter of outstanding allowance.
Nobody has been held responsible for that too.
And now the disgusting behaviour of the people.
In Gerehu looters were pushing shopping trolleys of loot down the street to their homes, faces beaming. Did anyone give a thought that if all shops were looted and shut, when the looted goods ran out, they might face starvation?
No, they did not. And that is a pity because the threat is real.
Port Moresby residents depend on shops and imports entirely.
With a government which does not take serious stock of computer “glitches”, with a disciplinary force that exhibits every sign that it is undisciplined and with a population which will take every opportunity to extinguish a business without a thought to the consequences what is the use of even attempting to attract foreign direct investment?
We cannot protect foreign or local investment and that is the sad truth.
Finally, somebody has to take the blame for this.
That is a question we must lay at the feet of the political leadership.
Who should go, because somebody must?