Continue where Sir Michael left

The National Letters

IT is now past a week since Grand Chief Michael Thomas Somare, the founding father and architect of this country, was laid to rest.
As the nation comes out of the mourning period, we must reflect on that past and take out key learning points to guide our democracy into the next 50 years of our independence and fulfil the wishes of this great leader – for a vibrant Papua New Guinea that is united and prosperous.
Some of the key values which the Grand Chief and his pioneer leadership team built as the foundation of our nation were:

  • SACRIFICE of self-interest for the good of fellow country men and women;
  • UNITY in diversity;
  • FAIRNESS in decisions and actions; and,
  • EQUAL distribution of wealth.

In reflection of these, the following corrective actions must be taken at the national level:

  • REVIEW the province and district services improvement project funding against PNG Vision 2050 to ascertain where each district, province and the country stands in terms of global development goals;
  • TAKE stock of our school system’s free education policy to better understand whether our educated population are ready-made to meet the country’s current development goals and future ambitions as we move into the industrialised and techno age. The current situation is that we are reliant on an education model that was aimed at producing professionals for white collar jobs. However, the number of graduates are exceeding the number of jobs and quality education is being sacrificed for quantity;
  • REVIEW the public service delivery mechanism to assess its effectiveness against implementation and monitoring of Government policies. At the moment, duplication of jobs in overlapping inter-department functions points back to the lack of ownership and control, thereby, leading to abuse and corruption; and,
  • REVIEW the Organic Law on Integrity of Political Parties to assess whether it is contributing to political stability and good governance or is it leading to systemic disintegration of the executive arm of the government, further disunity and self-gain for greedy politicians who form small parties to become party leaders in order to access privileges as they become brokers during formation of governments.

These actions and more are needed to sustain a strong democracy in the face of a turbulent global economy – more than ever, a stable government is needed to empower our people and use our abundant natural resources effectively to progressively move forward.
As we peacefully mourn the passing of our founding father, nations are crumbling in Africa, Middle East and South America as corrupt regimes led by greedy leaders are killing their own people and amassing riches for themselves.
Where we are heading – in life after the Grand Chief – is the next question.
Have our leaders truly reflected on the legacy our founding fathers and done critical self-assessment on their leadership styles?
Will they be refocusing their efforts to serve the interests of the citizens of this country who gave them the mandate to lead us?
What kind of leadership do we want the next crop of leaders to provide, in order uphold the above values in our democracy and bring prosperity to a united Papua New Guinea?
Those are questions that the people of these country need answers to.

Michael Kalep,
Bulolo