Is the Government supporting nepotism?

AIRPORTS are the most security-sensitive places on earth.
Airport facilities management is a high-risk business.
That is why airports are governed with international standards on technics for safety and operating procedures.
With the advent of terrorism, transnational organised crime, drug trafficking and now, the global pandemic (Covid-19), every airport around the world has extended their efforts to provide a safe haven for passengers.
The recent Jackson International Airport fiasco involving two security firms – armed with knives, iron pipes and sticks – attacking each compromising the safety of the travelling public and jeopardising business, was totally uncalled for.
While investigations are underway to determine those at fault, social media is already crucifying the National Airports Corporation acting managing director Rex Kiponge, blaming him for incompetence.
In the internet age where nothing is no longer secret, internet blogs and Facebook pages are having a field day with all sorts of evidence suggesting that Kiponge was not a compatible candidate for the job.
If these claims have merit, then the Government had apparently appointed him with no regard of due diligence.
Perhaps Michael Koisen’s resignation as chairman of the corporation last year over the Government’s continuous interference in the board and management is something to consider.
Koisen was not the first and the last in the growing list of resignations of business leaders citing the Government’s nepotism and cronyism in the appointments of the heads of statutory boards and state-owned enterprises.
Notable among the business executives are the three Peters: Peter Graham (chairman and acting managing director of the Kumul Minerals Holdings Ltd and former managing director of Ok Tedi Mining Ltd and ExxonMobil PNG), Peter Aitsi (chairman and director of Kumul Consolidated Holdings Ltd) and Peter Nupiri (chairman of PNG Power Ltd).
This will compel one to ask, is Prime Minister James Marape’s Government’s “Take Back PNG” agenda being driven on an aggressive nepotism programme?

David Lepi