Kua resigns

The National Main Stories

By FRANK SENGE KOLMA
SINASINA-YONGOMUGL MP Kerenga Kua tendered his resignation as Energy Minister to Prime Minister James Marape on Thursday, giving five reason why he had to leave.
Marape thanked Kua, following his resignation, for his dedication and service as Petroleum and Energy Minister in the past five years
In a Cabinet reshuffle the previous Thursday, Marape had halved the Petroleum and Energy Ministry, and offered Petroleum to his party man, Esa’ala MP Jimmy Maladina.
Flanked by Abau MP Sir Puka Temu, Chuave MP James Nomane, Hiri-Kairuku MP Keith Iduhu and his PNG National Party executives, Kua announced his resignation on Friday at his Dream Inn Motel.
He said the reasons for his resignation were:

  • A STEADY decline in the standard and productivity of leadership and governance;
  • A CULTURE of praise and worship in Government;
  • WEAPONISATION of the budget;
  • CRONYISM and nepotism in jobs allocation; and
  • A THREAT to many important projects in the hydrocarbon industry which were nearing the critical decision stage with his removal as minister for petroleum in the latest reshuffle.

“Minimum leadership standards and expectations have been eroded considerably,” Kua said.
“It seemed any leader could do anything with impunity and get away with it.
“However, if leaders at the bureaucratic levels did anything wrong, then the political leadership applied the minimum standards and came down very hard on them.”
Kua added that the decision to resign was not easy.
He said it was made harder by the fact that he was only one of three from the Opposition who was invited to Cabinet in 2019 by Marape, and who was retained in his Petroleum and Energy portfolio after the 2022 General Election.
Kua added: “Prime Minister Marape, in his wisdom, appointed me as Minister for Petroleum from the Opposition. And that is unprecedented, I think, in many places.
That was an exceptional leadership call that he made.
“And I felt duty-bound to go beyond the call of duty to do more than any other minister to reforming the petroleum industry. And that is what I did.”
He said the petroleum industry was the single biggest revenue generator. And it comes with a lot of sensitivities too.
“I felt I was not entitled to the job but somebody entrusted me to do the job.
“So I had to do it with due care and attention.”
He added that an example of the weaponization of the budget was that financial resources were allocated to political loyalists rather than to projects which could benefit the people.
“Some departments don’t receive much notwithstanding the important roles they play.
“Financial allocations to provinces are uneven and unfair.
There are no identifiable criteria to enable fair distribution. Provinces like Eastern Highlands, Simbu and Jiwaka are always treated unfairly.”
He also claimed that the distribution of senior jobs were along political loyalty and nepotism which had taken deep roots.
He feared that all the work he had overseen over 10 years, in or out of Cabinet, were in serious jeopardy.
Sir Puka, Nomane and Iduhu who had resigned from Government earlier, welcomed Kua’s resignation, and agreed that Government and governance had deteriorated much under the leadership of Marape.