Deciding between dreams and reality

ROSY pictures belong strictly in the realm of dreams.
Where they concern national development, these pictures are drawn up in the endless canvas of the imagination and euphoria flutters enticingly near.
Socio-economic realities of Papua New Guinea are painted on rather different canvases by serious-minded artists whose selection of colours and subjects must blend dreams with reality.
These painters we call economists, lawyers, accountants, engineers and, yes, journalists and politicians.
Dreams we have had plenty of. They are to be found in the eight-point Plan announced by Chief Minister Michael Somare in 1973, or the five-point National Goals and Directive Principles in the preamble to the Constitution, in the seven-pillared Vision 2050 released in 2008, in the successive National Public Expenditure Plans, the many Medium-Term Development Plans, the Strategic Development Programme 2030 and the many, many annual money plans since 1975 that we call our National Budgets.
Yet, we remain undeveloped and even under-developed.
What is the issue?
What has gone wrong?
Why is it this country with so much going for it is so desperately destitute?
That is not to say the plans were, or are, without merit or are wishy-washy.
The plans are altogether noble and reflective of the socio-economic realities of the times. So much time and mental energy is poured into developing them.
The seven pillars of Vision 2050, for instance, are fully backed by detailed strategy frameworks, directional statements, linkages, policy directions, area specific goals and targeted outcomes.
The problem has been Papua New Guinea’s singular inability to implement these plans consistently.
Vision 2050 was introduced in 2008. Sixteen years on, not much has been registered under the seven pillars.
If there is nothing to show now, then, what guarantee is there that the next 26 years will produce any difference?
Our Prime Minister has told the world, at the United Nations General Assembly, no less, through his then Foreign Minister, that he will grow PNG into the richest black Christian nation on the planet by 2030.
With six years to go to that deadline, nothing suggests PNG is even on the way.
A growing gross domestic product (GDP), propped by external factors and extraction of natural resources does not produce the kind of development PNG desires.
That only happens when people hold down decent jobs, when businesses prosper and pay their taxes, when public utilities are reliable and affordable, when children are in school and medical expertise and supplies are accessible and affordable.
Those things remain, for now, in the imagination.
As a young country, many conditions can be blamed for the state of affairs in the country.
Fluid politics has much to blame for this.
An ever-shifting political landscape has provided a plethora of policies and plans but no tangible results. Implementation takes time and there hasn’t been much time in between the changes of governments.
Lack of management skills also has a part to play in PNG’s state of affairs.
Education and skills development have been lacking, so, they have contributed.
Tribal and territorial instincts have churned out negative results with tendencies to grab and to not contribute to the national good.
Whatever the reasons, the results are not encouraging.
Prime Minister James Marape wants Papua New Guineans to make a quantum leap in every sector and agency, in every aspect of our lives, but especially in our mindsets, to drive character and habits changes.
He wants to shut out corruptive tendencies and influences and to encourage and inculcate productivity-driven honest hard work.
It is not impossible, this intervention, but it will be hard and will fizzle out unless it is supported or sustained by tangible programmes and policies.
Creating jobs for the majority working-age population, growing the economy robustly ahead of population growth rate, and ensuring more Papua New Guineans enter the economy as professionals or entrepreneurs: these are the interventions that will help.
More especially, the PM must realise that his people are a resilient bunch.
They can and will take hardship if it is explained to them.
Their very lives are tuned for hardship.
Too many governments, like this government, have tried to please, to make promises beyond their ability to provide.
It is time to tell Papua New Guineans to buckle up and prepare for some austere times which have arrived.