Kainantu needs improvement

KAINANTU is one Eastern Highlands’ eight districts.
Kamanos (Kafes) and Agarabis are the ethnolinguistic groups of people who has equally important cultural values.
The population is about 80,000 and live small villages across 10,000 hectares within its political land boundary.
Their districts main administrative headquarter is Kainantu town and to highlight the districts as the gateway to the highlands of Papua New Guinea – Yonki hydro electricity and the Kainantu Mining Ltd are the two top revenue earning projects of the country and the Kainantu people are the proud landowners of the projects.
The National Government under leadership of Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has made an effort to put in place the development plan called the “Vision 2050” that will guide the development in the country.
It is very clear that every district development authority priorities the target areas particularly education, roads, health and law and order with the prerogative government target of K10 million every term of parliament.
Different party came into
power with different views and party policies but that may be for a time only when the party is in power.
The Kainantu development authority needs to work in par with the Government development priorities because the lifeline of the people depends entirely on government directions.
It is in the best interest of the people of Kainantu that they must be engaged in economic and financial well-being of this country.
In return, they are entitled to monetary budget allocation from the Government through their district MP.
The money must be well spent and expedited and acquitted to the responsible government authority for accountability and transparency of public monies.
What we have seen and experienced in the district to date is a weak service delivery by a political leader who is representing the people on the floor of Parliament in the past 15 years.
The problems have indicated that there has been an absence of vibrant and action centred leadership in many aspects of governance.
We have experienced parents struggling to pay fees for their kids in colleges and universities.
For parents who cannot afford to pay fees, children quit their studies and become villagers which has become the common trend among many students.
High number of deaths recorded resulting from curable diseases, because the established government health facilities are partly operational and are in inability to provide awareness and provide quality medical assistance on time.
Economic life in the village cannot be sustained as a result basic needs cannot be met.
Rural dwellers become poorer whereas public servants particularly police and teacher cannot travel to rural zones to carry out their duties.
These are economic problems caused by poor standard road conditions connecting the villages.
Criminal activities have increased due to not enough police presence.
Warlords, hooligans, drug lords, drunkards and murderers have taken opportunities of weak police operations to disharmonise communities through their wicked deeds.
Social livelihoods of the people are controlled by people who are seen as heroes leaving minority or weak people to leave under constant threats.
These problems are real and obvious and is not the kind of livelihood the governments are promoting.
It is the outcome of the type of political leadership.
The problems are to be solved or remedied through effective political concept and that is by choosing right leaders.
The General Election 2022 brings a positive outlook to the candidates and the voters at large and to accept whoever wins and to keep an eye to make sure service is delivered through consultation with appropriate authorities as citizens.
The Member-elect has to foster goodwill and promote working collaboratively to solve problems affecting peoples’ livelihood in the district.
He or she needs to be visionary with plans in place and to carryout scope of work needed with constructive mindset through action centred leadership.
Call it a project to revive and revitalise Kainantu and take corruption as a thing of the past.

A.P Oniyu
Kainantu