Honour your word, leader

EVERY person is bound to a leader by the trust and confidence he places in that leader.
Every leader, in his turn, is bound to his people by his word to deliver such services and goods for his or her welfare.
Every government is bound by the collective promises of individual leaders comprising that government to lift the standard of living and the welfare of the citizenry.
People, leader and government are linked by this sacred link of trust and loyalty to perform certain duties and responsibilities for each other.
In the end, it comes down to mere words, offered in promise or as an oath or a declaration, nothing more, nothing less.
Little do our leaders realise the sacredness of the words they utter, which is witnessed by nature, by people and by God. And when they break their word, it shatters the sacred trust, the confidence and, often, the loyalty. The leader appears as nothing to the people, a liar, a con-artist.
Every leader swears a declaration of loyalty in the following words: “I … realising full the responsibilities to which I am committing myself and the consequences of not living up to this Declaration and those responsibilities, freely and willingly declare my loyalty to the Independent State of Papua New Guinea adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 15th August 1975, as altered from time to time in accordance with its provisions and promise that I will uphold the Constitution and the laws of Papua New Guinea.”
A complimentary Oath of Allegiance or Affirmation of Allegiance is taken to pledge true allegiance to His Majesty the King (Charles III) and his heirs and successors.
There really is no penalty for a leader failing to deliver on a promise, except perhaps through the ballot box and that often takes a bit of waiting – five years under the system in operation in PNG.
What then is the worth of a leader’s word?
To many leaders today, it seems, oaths and declarations and affirmations are mere formalities to be taken as a prerequisite to taking office and, once having ascended to the office, these gestures and words are soon forgotten in the hustle and bustle of the duties and responsibilities of high office.
Promises are often forgotten.
The hardest working man on the campaign trail is often forgotten and some con-artist who has had no part in the rise of a leader suddenly takes centre stage and diverts attention and resources away from where they are meant to be spent.
When the champion on the campaign trail crosses the path of the leader he propelled to power, the leader conveniently looks the other way.
Leaders such as Obura Wonenara’s John Boito promised his people only three things on his campaign trail: roads and bridges, education and small-to-medium enterprises. Recently, he opened a bridge at Tairora in his electorate with the comments that he was delivering on his promise to the people. Whether big or small, it is the delivery on his word that is important to his followers. They can tell others, “our leader has delivered on his word”.
Leaders are not leaders in the eyes of their people until and unless they can keep their word.
Sadly, broken promises litter PNG.
The country is today a wasteland of broken promises because leaders do not keep their word and because governments choose to overlook agreements that they have signed into effect.
The Bougainville uprising began, we posted in this space yesterday, when the Bougainville Copper Agreement was ignored out of hand, not once but twice, when it fell due.
The various landowner groups of the oil and gas fields of Southern Highlands and Hela provinces await fulfilment of the Umbrella Benefits Sharing Agreement (UBS) and the Licence-Based Benefits Sharing Agreements.
Porgera legacy issues have been forgotten in the New Porgera deal.
These will continue so long as leaders say one thing, and do another. A man or a woman’s word is everything.
It is the measure of a leader, the difference between a conscientious, caring and righteous leader and one who is a pompous, self-righteous and greedy.
Unless a leader can fulfill his promise, he or she is nothing. And, it will come to pass that the government they are a part of will deliver nothing.