Give Uguro the rest he earned

EDUCATION Minister Jimmy Uguro’s body was found in a Wewak hotel room, East Sepik, on Feb 6.
He had died, apparently from a massive heart attack, in the middle of the night after a full day of activities visiting and performing an important ceremony to convert the Wengei High School to secondary school at the Yangoru Saussia district.
The East Sepik provincial administration helped put his body in a coffin and he was loaded onto the cargo hold of a commercial flight to Port Moresby.
On Feb 22, the late minister’s body laid in State at the chamber of Parliament while members paid their respect in eloquent speeches in his honor.
Two weeks later, his body remains yet at a funeral home in Port Moresby for reasons not yet made clear. A family, a province, a district, and a tomb stand ready to receive him. So, when is he going home?
Whatever the reasons for this delay, it is an insult to a sitting minister of State, a sitting member of Parliament, and a member of the ruling Pangu Pati.
The Uguro family, the people of Madang and his people of Usino Bundi deserve to express their sorrow and grief while the death is fresh, while the loss is deepest felt, in his home setting.
This is not the first time this travesty has occurred. Not too long ago, the body of the late Member for Maprik, Gabriel Kapris, was also delayed for nearly two months before he was taken home and finally laid to rest.
If the excuse is lack of funds, then, we have to say this is absolute rubbish. It shows brazen disrespect at a time when we know big money is being moved around to support or defeat the motion of no confidence.
It is a sad, though, that a dead man cannot contribute his vote to that important game on foot and so he seems to have been forgotten – so soon. If this is so, then, it is a crying shame.
Uguro is a committed member of the ruling party. He was a loyal and hard-working Minister for Education. So much so that the second-term politician from remote Usino Bundi in Madang was reappointed to the post after he was re-elected in 2022.
He truly believed in the principle that education is the foundation of a strong, prosperous nation.
He said once: “Your Government is committed to pay your school fees, pay your project fees, offer a line of credit through loans for tertiary students, build classrooms and other infrastructure, buy textbooks and train and retrain teachers to teach our changed curriculum.
“As your Minister, I now ask you, the parent, the guardian, the student, the teachers and the schools, the provinces and districts to do your fair bit in return.
“How can you do your part today to deliver a well-educated, fully competent and physically, mentally and spiritually wholesome man and woman of tomorrow?”
He talked about a social contract – between the Government, the people, the students and the schools. Even the provincial and district governments were drafted into the argument.
The Government’s end of the contract was to deliver tuition fees, project fees, the new standards-based curriculum, and roll out FODE and STEM, among others, he said. In return each student, each parent, each teacher, each school board and management, and every other stakeholder in the wide area of education had an equal obligation in the social contract to perform.
Uguro called upon students to be clean in dress, language and manners; to obey, be courteous and respectful; to be punctual and manage time and resources wisely; to listen, ask, cooperate, participate and learn; to say no to alcohol, drugs, fighting, sex and pornography.
“Every person and institution engaged in this field is spending a lot of resources, time and energy for you and you alone,” he said addressing students.
“Your mental, physical and spiritual development is the final goal of the efforts of everybody from your parent to your teachers to your Government.
“So much is spent on you. What can you do in return?”
These words speak the passion of a dedicated and true leader. Such dedication, in life or in death, must be respected and honored. That is the least the Government can do to a man who served it and his country well.
Give him the honor and the rest he earned.