PNG facing institutional breakdown

 IN the recent months, we have witnessed dramatic events such as the killing of alleged witches, mass jail breaks, conspiracies between correctional officers and inmates, police brutality, deadly fights between schools and the shocking revelations of mass payouts from the finance department to individuals and private entities bypassing due process. 

Taking a good look, I wonder if we are truly a state in mayhem. 

The public dispensing “justice” with impunity, public servants colluding to defraud the state and the people and law enforcement agencies violating their own principles and moral standards to further the lawlessness they fight so hard to contain. 

Where are we heading? 

We have a government system that is currently breaking records with six opposition MPs. 

In PNG where there is great need for government scrutiny, the Opposition was supposed to be a team of many, providing critical evaluation of the government. 

Those six are doing a great job so far but that is not enough. 

Our civic institutions are breaking down, law enforcement agencies are questionable, our finance and treasury offices became a robber’s den and our parliament is a joke. 

Perhaps it is the LNG and the booming economy that caught us by surprise and found us wanting. 

Unless drastic measures are taken, I fear PNG is on the edge of an institutional breakdown where citizens will have to take self-preservation measures for survival. 

Yal Bal 

Sydney