Past mistakes still haunt PNG Power Ltd

 ALLOW me to express my views on the PNG Power Ltd (PPL) saga.

Firstly, I wish to commend the new board chairmen for the insight and the vision demonstrated by going back to the drawing board to identify and correct the business process.

PNG Power is a pot of gold where millions is generated every minute, it simply means the company needs a complete overhaul in its management structure with people who have no political connection with major contractors and the general workforce.

History is currently on the wall for the board and the new chairman must make neutral decisions in the appointment of a new PPL management team.

Lest they forget in mid-2006 and 2007 there is bottle neck structure in human resource, finance, operations and other departments, which led to the hiring of a consultant firm called Kondamenta Consultancy to restructure PPL.

This is where the creation of regional managers’ positions and restructuring of HR functions and HR business process and other operational process and procedures. 

Hell broke loose under the guise of efficiency and effective service delivery. 

The restructuring has not gone down well with some hard working and key personnel within PPL who deserved to be recognised, which resulted in many good engineers, accountants, HR personnel and key tradesmen leeaving the company. 

Another restructure exercise followed and this time with the hiring of a consultant named Cathleen Sullivan who has made a total mess which almost led to the PPL union going on strike.

The greed for management positions within PPL and the suppression of good officers contributed to some of the critical problems facing PPL today. 

As the saying goes, what goes around comes around and this is end result of what these self-centred individuals within PPL hierarchy had demonstrated during the last 10 years.

The new chairman can see from past records that PPL has gone through significant restructuring exercise but the overall performance is very poor compared with other state entities.

This is because there a few dinosaurs sitting on the pot of gold with arms and legs connected everywhere into PPL financial system and business process and benefited one way or another and making financial decisions to suit their own purposes and for their benefits.

If someone is not given his share he starts leaking information and betrays his colleague.

This is what has been going on for the last 10 years and now the management is reaping the bad fruit of what it had sowed.

To move PPL forward requires emphasis on key areas of PPL operations and to recognise and reward key personnel and renumerate them accordingly.

The PPL workforce can deliver results apart from contract officers and managers and also remove unwanted personnel who do not add value to the company. 

Momberl 

Erima, NCD