No help from Govt to let us grow

PAPUA New Guineans will be, if not already, become completely marginalised and, sadly, only look on from the sidelines whilst abundant economic opportunities are grabbed by foreigners as the Government continues to turn a blind eye on these issues.
History will show all successful nations built their economies from humble beginnings with Government help.
For example, Australia and New Zealand’s economic success was largely attributed to agriculture with massive government support, and most recipients of government support were small to medium enterprises.
A people-based economy is a very solid economic foundation to build on.
In PNG, there is no political will to develop a people-based economy.
Instead, the Government is suffering from severe addictions to the easy money from our resource-based economy which is unsustainable and very dangerous in the long term.
The wealth of the nation will end up and remain in the hands of a few powerful elites and their cronies whilst the masses will become financially crippled and remain a huge burden to the State.
The handout mentality will further disempower our human resources from meaningful participation in the economy and reduce our people to become a liability rather than an asset in nation building.
A people-based agriculture and tourism economy is key to PNG’s future success.
To get there, the Government needs to invest heavily in our human resources development.
Education, health and infrastructure should be the highest priority of our Government.
Otherwise, we will end up, if we not already have, like Nigeria – a corrupt country – or, worse, Zimbabwe where leadership is addicted to power and refuse to let go while its economy is on the verge of collapse.
Or we could end up at the very bottom of the political-economic ladder – a failed State like Somalia.

Jamie Maxtone-Graham
Port Moresby