Namah: Seize opportunities, make a difference for country

OPPOSITION Leader Belden Namah says individuals can make the difference for a nation if they seize the opportunities that are within their grasp.
“You and the nation will be left behind if Papua New Guineans do not grab what it takes to help build the nation for socio-economic progress,” he said.
Namah spoke when he joined a group of Kiribati community at the Pacific Adventist University outside Port Moresby for a dawn flag raising ceremony for their 42nd independence
“When my country achieved independence in 1975, I was only a child in Bewani’s Somboi village near the Papua New Guinea-Indonesia border in West Sepik.
“I was doing Grade 3 in Bewani four years after independence,” he said. “I was not concerned with my country or yours at the time.
“I only wanted to succeed in life.
“I thought myself too small to care for others.
“Life is like that for individuals.
“We come into the world unconnected, full of fire to grow up and become successful in the world but we know little about connectivity and our relationship with our environment and our friends that can affect us or our future.
“We begin life thinking we are too small and that small will never make a difference.
“What we do is fate, and fate is what I call opportunity.”
Namah acknowledged the climate problems facing Kiribati.
“If past governments had grown PNG’s economy into a robust one, PNG can stand tall as big brother and offer assistance to smaller island nations in need,” he said.