Political corruption eating away at PNG

Letters

THE majority of those who enter politics in this era do so as a “get rich quick scheme”, irrespective of being an elected member of a parliament, in the name of political corruption.
Political corruption is the manipulation of policies, institutions and rules of procedure by political decision-makers who abuse their position for private or personal gain.
This is a gross conflict of interest.
Elected political leaders, who are representatives of the people in their respective areas, and their families or cronies or campaign managers hold substantial business interests or award of contracts to their family members with inflated contracts or appointment of political cronies to the executive positions that operate outside the legal merit-based appointment process
In the process, they subvert the objectives of the public procurement system, thus, elevating costs and undermining the quality of public services.
They also contribute to the near-destruction of the key law enforcement agencies responsible for investigating and prosecuting perpetrators of corruption.
This means that our politicians continue to use their parliamentary privileges to implement a variety of unethical and corrupt strategies to prey on our weak system and master, by hook or crook, to raid the public purse of millions every year.
Today, PNG politics is run by corruption and money hungry politicians to become overnight millionaires.
In doing so, these crooked politicians betray the common man, abusing millions of kina and treating them (common folk) like sheep.
And many of these politicians undermine and abuse the legal procedures and process where the country’s legal system is dictated by politicians using millions of kina in taxpayers’ money.
PNG has politicians who, by Constitutional protection, cannot be arrested and/or prosecuted for corruption no matter how much they plunder.
Failing to indict a corrupt PNG politician sends the message that those in power are immune to the laws of the nation.
The reality is that we hardly see corrupt politicians defending a nation from corruption if they are not held accountable.
Therefore, to fight for justice against corruption in PNG is never easy.
Even the most talked about
Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) are becoming window curtains that will never
work when corruption is aligned to politicians and the Government system. The common indicators of political corruption in any developing nations, including PNG, is obvious; a pathetic business environment, poor tourism attraction, unemployment, increasing insecurity (killings), poor quality of education, repelling investors, poor infrastructures, non-functioning public services, poor health facilities like medical drug scarcity among others.
It appears that corruption is ever rising and unstoppable.
It devours resources that could be devoted to the citizens.
It impedes the proper carrying out of economic rules and penalises the honest and capable.
Corruption in this era is clearly visible unlike in the 70s and 80s.
Today, politicians have the advantage with the different types of corruption and different ways to carry them out to benefit themselves and prey on the “small man”.
This is why politics in the Highlands is very volatile and a high risk activity played only by millionaires.

Ken Nandawa
People’s Republic of Rou’areke