Madang staggers amid sea of problems

FROM the very beginning when the incumbent Madang governor, Ramsey Pariwa, walked into his office after the 2022 National General Elections, many in the province may have wondered what his relationship with the provincial administrator was going to be like.
Turns out, it is hardly a happy one.
The gentlemen’s differences in the management of a province of some 400,000 persons were not only confined to their offices but became public knowledge, courtesy of the mass media.
And, there have been a few instances when the province’s leaders differed on matters or skirted around their differences with a bit of tack.
But it does not take a genius to read between the lines that all is not well between the politician and the bureaucrat.
If that much has surfaced in the public media, who knows what else is there and known only to those close to the men, or those working in offices near them or directly under them.
The soured relations would have played a part in the suspension of the provincial administrator and the appointment of a replacement.
And there has been no shortage of drama in the provincial headquarters of Madang.
As reported yesterday, former administrator Frank Lau was locked out of the provincial government building last weekend.
Lau was sacked by the National Executive Council (NEC) on Feb 16 but claimed that he had a court order preventing the Department of Personnel Management and other agencies from interfering with his appointment until his court matter involving alleged misappropriation of Electoral Commission’s funds in the 2022 General Elections was completed.
Chief Secretary Ivan Pomaleu, on March 1, issued a notice which stated that Lau was terminated as provincial administrator effective on Feb 16. But Lau insists that the word “agencies” in his matter covered the NEC, police and others who wanted to interfere with his appointment.
The concerns around the office of the administrator are part of bigger problems and challenges facing Madang at the moment.
One of its strategic electorates, the Madang Open which covers townships known as a favoured tourist destination, is without representation.
A by-election to vote in a new leader will have to be put on hold until the Supreme Court has settled an appeal by dismissed MP Bryan Kramer.
With the passing of the Education Minister and Usino-Bundi MP Jimmy Uguro, that now leaves two of the province’s six electorates without representation.
A number of other electorates around the country waiting on the National Government and the electoral commission to call for by-elections after the loss of their representatives.
Madang will have to wait a few more months before by-elections for Usino-Bundi and Madang Open are held.
Historically, the absence of representation in Parliament has set back some electorates. One needs only to speak to those in the electorates concerned to appreciate the hardships and lost opportunities.
Madang is host to a number of economic projects of national importance including the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone. The Madang government has now taken charge of the project.
In another development, Ramu NiCo Management mine signed a memorandum of understanding with Kumul Mineral Holdings in January to process the nickel and cobalt mined at Kurumbukari in the Usino-Bundi electorate. These major investments require a well-functional provincial government and bureaucracies to prudently manage the impacts and the windfalls from these undertakings.
Managing landowner expectations is often a tricky matter and the provincial government and administration are closer to them than national government agencies and, therefore, better placed to do so.
And this can easily get out of hand if the leadership at that level fails to capture the big picture and, instead, squabble over personal differences.
The powers that be will happily let Madang wallow in problems of its own making if it cares little about lifting its game.