It’s all coming together at Waigani

By CLEMENT K POYE
THE transformations happening at Waigani’s central public service district are amazing, even to a public servant recently returned to active service after stagnating in the redundancy pool for years.
Gone is the decrepit Waigani of old. In its place now rear sleek new facades over the tired old structures, bright marbled corridors, elegantly furnished foyers, functional lifts, air-conditioned office suites, cobbled driveways, and well-kept gardens, lawns and hedges all around.
The brand new Independence Boulevard cutting through Waigani to Parliament House and the magnificent new National Conventional Centre have drastically altered the landscape.
From its elevated position, the new National and Supreme Court complex is already exerting its imposing presence over the district, and will be another fine addition to the growing inventory of impressive architectural feats in the area.
Meantime, major structural works are in progress on a number of aging buildings, including refurbishments and extensions to bring them up to the new high standard expected in the district.
And there still are large tracts of vacant plots, presumably State holdings that the Government can spring up more exciting new architectural delights in the years ahead.
But the overall effect so far is such that a visit to Waigani on any given week day, one will be as much impressed by the level of physical transformations there as by the revitalised and inspired public service.
The physical grandeur of the refurbished Central Government Office and the Sir Manasupe House especially, have obviously lifted public service morale though the roof.
There is a resurgence in the standard of professionalism and commitment to service delivery at the very heart of the civil service, thanks to the foresight of the progressive O’Neill-Abel Government.
The vista of smartly attired young professionals going about their business with a barely suppressed air of enthusiasm and pride in their new well-appointed work environments, is a sight to behold.
Even the elder generation of public servants, accustomed to the shabby Waigani of yesteryears, have unwittingly succumbed to the highly infectious new attitude and era of public servitude.
This government’s singular decision to refurbish the district’s existing office complexes to consolidate core national departments there has achieved the desired outcome and much more.
By this time next year going forward, the State’s unrelenting annual rental cost blow-outs will be a welcome omission in the budget book’s expenditure sheet.
The imposing new-look Sir Manasupe House is now fittingly the seat of power between government and the civil service. It accommodates the Office of the Prime Minister and National Executive Council (PM & NEC) where the chief secretary wields the balance of power between policy maker and implementer.
Directly opposite, the Central Government Office complex houses the mainline departments of Personnel Management (DPM), Foreign Affairs, Justice and Attorney General (Community and Juvenile Justice) and the State’s anti-narcotics agency- the National Narcotics Bureau.
And just down the road is the building that accommodates the Department of Trade, Commerce and Industry and the Mapping Bureau.
Then there is the Department of Justice and Attorney General in its own high-rise building and the Fincorp House next to it that accommodates the Education Department.
On the other side of a sizable vacant island plot lies the National Development Bank (NDB), the Government Printer, Department of Community Development and Religion, PNG Telekom, Department of Implementation and Rural Development, Office of Civil Registry, the Registrar of Political Parties and the Law Reform Commission.
The Public Service Commission is appropriately sandwiched between the Departments of Finance (Vulupindi House) and Lands with Health and the National Capital District Commission’s elegant new Lagatoi House taking up the rear on both sides that form a cluster a couple of minutes-walk from the central district to the east.
The significantly improved National Sports Commission complex and the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations in its brand new multi-level building take up the rear to the South.
The Australian High Commission and the Japanese Embassy amongst a number of other key regional and international diplomatic posts continue to maintain close presence and dialogue with Government to the west wing of the Waigani central public service district.
The Government’s strategic move to re-establish Waigani as the crown jewel in the public service realm has had far reaching implications, not the least being a ripple effect reaching the provinces and remitting back desired results.
To an extent, the resurgence of the positive attitude in the service is also attributed to the afterglow of the resounding success of delivering the 2018 Apec Summit, another coup of the O’Neill-Abel Government, reflective of its broad ‘think and act global’ approach.
In hindsight, the Apec Summit, apart from achieving a number of inked mega co-financing industrial projects for PNG, notably in the energy and telecommunication sectors, including firmly confirming its ‘big brother’ position amongst its’ smaller South Pacific island neighbours, it is notable in this context that the summit also played a pivotal role in reuniting the public service in the true spirit of its existence.
But overarching, the cumulative effect has now manifested in a profoundly new heightened sense of cohesiveness between government and public service.
A proximate case in point with particular interest to the author is the O’Neill-Abel Government’s laudable mandate to revive the State’s long running defunct anti-narcotics agency- the National Narcotics Bureau.
After eight years of redundancy, and as many disruptive years due to gross negligence by former consecutive governments, the National Narcotics Bureau (NNB) is finally back in progressive recovery mode.
Obviously an important agenda, processes are well underway and it is anticipated to resume full operational capacity by first quarter of 2019 with fair indications of an increment in its budgetary allocation.
Since mid this year, more than 40 officers, including the author, have been recalled from inertia and an ample office space in the Central Government Office complex has been allocated where operations are commencing gradually.
The NNB is now placed under the watch of the Department of Justice and Attorney General (DJAG) with an acting director-general appointed from within DJAC to oversee its revival.
But prior to that, it was with the Office of the PM & NEC for a year or two, and further back with the Police Department after the DPM under secretary John Kali (former) deemed it convenient to pass it on.
Though considered a branch of the DJAG at present, the NNB remains a statutory body by way of an act of Parliament- the National Narcotics Control Board Act, 1992, that enabled its establishment.
In as much, it retains its own board and separate annual budgetary allocation to deliver its constitutional functions and carry out its work plans and civic programs.
The DJAG has since reconstituted the National Narcotics Control Board (NNCB) that will in-turn facilitate for a permanent director general appointment, which is expected soon.
In the interim, under the present arrangement, matters have gained significant momentum with the conclusion of a series of senior officers’ in-house meetings last week to formulate its 2019 work-plan.
By way of the NNCB Act, the NNB through the NNCB assumes its primary role as adviser to Government on in-country matters pertaining to the illegal trade and abuse of dangerous drugs and substances in the context of existing national drug policies and legislations, including international anti-narcotics conventions that PNG is a party to.
On the secondary plane, the NNB is responsible for disseminating crucial information through public education and awareness programs, and external mediums, including non-government organizations (NGOs) on the social and medical dangers of abusing illicit drugs and controlled substances as well as informing on the criminal ramifications of dealing with and abusing illegal narcotics.
At the back-end of the business, it is also incumbent upon the NNB to provide confidential rehabilitative services to drug and substance addicts and chronic abusers. This also involves critical assessments where cases that display advanced symptoms of psychotic behavour are referred to established mental institutions like Laloki in Central province for isolation and advanced medical rehabilitative care.
Overall, to effectively facilitate its multiple roles, it is imperative that NNB has access to a national surveillance system to closely monitor the scope and influence of the illegal narcotics trade, evolving trends, and importantly- its degenerative social consequences, and the threat to public safety and security.
Only then can the NNB justify its reemergence by providing its Board and the Government with real-time intelligence that reflects the situation in-country, regionally and further abroad.
This will ensure the Government is well-informed to gauge the level of threat and enable its law enforcement arm and the NNB through legislation and policy (respectively) to effectively counter further proliferation of dangerous drugs in the country, and arrest the escalating degenerative social consequences of abuse.

•  The author currently occupies the position of Coordinator- Policy, Planning and Data Monitoring and Evaluation with the National Narcotics Bureau. He is a regular columnist and features contributor to mainstream media on a broad spectrum of topical issues and subjects.