Choose you blessing or curse curse

GOVERNMENT

Choose your blessing or curse curse

By ERIC PIET
FOR the first time in 10 years churches stood united with the Government to observe the National Repentance and Prayer Day on Aug 26.
In the last nine years the lead was taken solely by the Body of Christ (BOC), an alliance of Pentecostal churches, with the celebrations held within the precincts of the National Parliament. However, this year was unique as the mainline churches which include the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the United Church, Seventh-Day Adventist, Anglican and Baptist churches under the banner of the PNG Council of Churches (PNGCC) came together with the Evangelical Alliance and the BOC to host a much bigger event at the Sir John Guise Stadium.
Thousands of city residents converged in national colours as early as 4.30am on Monday to partake in the holy commemoration of which Prime Minister James Marape delivered the keynote address which was televised live on EM TV and broadcast live on FM100 and Wantok Radio Light radio stations.
Chain repentance prayer
The connection prayer for healing and restoration of the nation from the ills committed in the public service and religious circles was drawn from an account in the Old Testament book of 2 Chronicles (7:14), where God had spoken to the famous Israelite king, Solomon, in a dream telling him that his land (Israel), which was suffering calamities would be healed if the people who professed by His name humbly, prayed and sought His face earnestly. This passage is equally applicable in any Christian and a Bible-believing nation including ours.
In the packed stadium, where the Spirit of the Lord has truly descended upon the people as evident by a cool weather and hovering white clouds just within the venue precincts over the duration of the event, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Justice and Attorney-General Davis Steven opened the prayer procession uttering a forgiveness prayer on behalf of the Government and the National Executive Council followed by his colleague Health Minister Elias Kapavore, who prayed for the health issues of the nation, which have been grappling since independence, but had somewhat stood the test of time in sustaining the country’s population within the domain of general health.
Rev Tony Dalaka, senior pastor for Gateway Cornerstone Church prayed for the economic recovery of the nation, Pastor Akia Paiva of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church prayed for the social sector, specifically about the rise in crime and lawlessness, Emma Ilau Sabea, who is the PNG Council of Churches Christian Women national president uttered a wonderful prayer for families and children and Pastor Matthew Tapus from the Evangelical Alliance PNG mournful prayer for churches in the country, which had worked in isolation in the past.
Marape’s address
PM Marape explicitly expressed those thoughts first and foremost saying that taking back PNG was not from any foreign dominion but from our own selves – the few who in the corridors of power have been benefitting through illicit means from the State at the expense of the nation and its people.
“For we talk about taking back PNG, not because the Chinese, Indians, and other foreigners took our country away,” the prime minister said.

“The few of us, the 3 per cent of us who have occupied public offices as public servants and elected officials since 1975, we have gone wrong.
“Yes, I admit that many have worked tirelessly but amidst us greed, personal interest, corruption, bribery, succumbing to interests of corporate and foreign multinationals have taken our country in the wrong direction.
“We are therefore trying to take it back first and foremost not from anyone but from ourselves.”
Marape said his vision of making PNG the richest black Christian nation in the world has nothing to do with race and racism as others may perceive.
“Black is not about race but our struggles, our past, and who we are now. Being rich is about our destination, where we want to go. It does not necessarily equate only to having lots of money, but a better lifestyle for our society.
“Our nation must have good hospitals and quality education going to our children, law and order is safe and secure, and we must have good infrastructure across the nation and not just in Port Moresby and Lae,” Marape said.
Having confessed opening and seeking forgiveness on behalf of all have occupied public offices since Independence, Marape wasted no time in declaring a curse on any public official who is paid from Waigani who dishonestly benefits from the State.
“Now that our people have forgiven us in public through the show of hands, and if they have forgiven us, I now ask the God of these people to place a curse on anyone of us including me as prime minister if we do any misconduct in public office.
“Let us now put the interest of our country first. The curse would be even much higher for me occupying the prime minister’s office if I deviate from serving the interests of the country for my own benefit.
“May our lives face imprisonment and death if we continue to remain in the path of complacency and corruption, and I add, may our children and their descendants be cursed with us.
“There is only two ways now and that is either blessing or curse, you decide.”
The Department for Community Development and Religion, which is the facilitator of the annual event made it clear at the prayer day through Secretary Solomon that from next year onwards Papua New Guinea would come to a standstill, where in urban areas shops and public transport would shut down on Aug 26.
“This day should not be seen and commemorated as a holiday but a holy day, where the entire nation repents from its past wrongs,” Solomon said.

• Eric Piet is a media personnel at the Department for Community Development and Religion.

Govt policy goes rural

WHEN government policies are framed in Waigani, one would ask, who are they intended for?
Any policy, whether binding or non-binding is intended to accommodate people’s needs and developmental agendas. However, many are times these policies do not materialise and hardly reach the rural masses, where most of our people are. They seem to be gathering dust and cobwebs at the corners of offices awaiting their final destination – the trash bins.
Prime Minister James Marape recently challenged government departments to drive their policies and make them work in the districts for real life transformation in the rural communities.
Marape urged that aggressive mechanisms be deployed by policymakers and the implementers to bring tangible results in the remotest corners of the country, so that families feel the government presence at their doorsteps.
At a recent launch of a policy document for the Integrated Community Development (PICD) 2019-2028 by the Department for Community Development and Religion in Port Moresby, Marape hailed the department for leading the way in touching the lives of the people in rural areas.
“You are not a lesser light, as before, but you are a light among us. You are one of the key government departments touching the lives of the people in the districts,” the prime minister said.
The PICD is a strategic policy aimed at protecting and empowering children, families and communities as building blocks for national growth, based on the PNG constitution, Vision 2050 and other government plans aimed at promoting human development.
District Community Development Centres
To drive this particular policy and the department’s other policies in the districts a mechanism has been created, which is the department’s flagship for the delivery of its services for the people, and that is the establishment of District Community Development Centres (DCDCs). Department Secretary Anna Solomon said at it launch: “In the department we do not just create policies, we have first developed an impactful project, which is our vehicle to drive our various policies, and that is the DCDC projects.
“We will take these policies and implement them there much closer or even at the doorsteps of the communities.”
This flagship development of the department is the focus of contributing practically to taking back PNG in creating room for other government agencies and private organisations such as the churches and non-governmental organisations to get onboard so that they could implement their programmes and services through the DCDC.

Currently, according to Solomon, existing DCDCs have 50 desk spaces available for other agencies that would also drive their programmes through these centres.
It is a wonderful opportunity for those government and private agencies who on their own may have been unable to reach the rural masses to implement their programs. The Department of Justice and Attorney General can station their magistrates there to address law and order cases in the districts, Health Department their family planning and counselling, National Disaster Centre their community disaster preparedness and many more.
Eight districts in the country have shown their interest to establish DCDCs, however only three so far have signed an MOA with the department to do the actual sanapim pos and begin construction. They include Imbonggu (SHP), Bialla (WNB) and Gazelle (ENB), with construction of the building currently underway and their openings scheduled for November this year. The other five are Yangoru-Sausia (ESP), Esa’ala (Milne Bay), Kikori (Gulf), Motu-Koita (NCD), and Abau (Central).
The DCDCs will house a set of protection and empowerment services. It will also be a source of information, coordination and learning; it will have a safe house for victims of gender-based and sorcery-related violence; people displaced by disaster; provide office spaces for other stakeholders; and be an important referral centre for accessing other services.
The establishment of the centres depends on the readiness of district through the local MPs but the process basically involves first and foremost an expression of interest by the MP to the department through the State Minister responsible, who then through the secretary’s office directs a project team to commence assessments and negotiations in the district.
Then a MOA is signed by the department, district including the provincial government. At that time, land for its establishment would already be identified and acquired through normal processes. The clear indication of the budgetary allocation and the procurement proses would then enable the setting of a date for a ‘sanapim pos’, which is the department’s version of a ground breaking ceremony. Then finally the construction of the building by a contractor identified by the district itself through the tender (PSTB) process would start.
Minister responsible Wake Goi, in his statement, said that the department has a very effective and operational vehicle for driving the government policies in the districts.
“All of us here come from a remote place somewhere in PNG, and we all dream of better services for our people. My department has the right wheel that will make us to deliver to the remotest parts of our land,” Goi said.
Australian High Commissioner Bruce Davies, who acknowledged the comprehensive nature of policy that addresses areas of gender and child protection, said the Australian Government would continue to partner with the PNG Government to ensure that there were good local infrastructures in the rural areas of the country where community programmes would be implemented from.