Set our goals and roll our sleeves up

WE are facing a leadership crisis and this is the main topic at home, office, church, sports meet, village, etc.
Many leaders are confused over their roles and responsibilities.
When this happens, instability, confusion, distrust, and incompetency kick in. 
This sends conflicting signals to subordinates which causes a negative impact and creates violent beha­viours. 
A leader must first and foremost know the purpose why he/she is called a leader.
The success, fulfilment and effectiveness of the leader depend primarily on how he/she understands the purpose to which he/she has been mandated with.
A blind leader has the potential to lead blind followers and both end in the same ditch.
We are all faced with challenges and we have to find solutions.
We are faced with different forms of challenges with no end in sight such as HIV/AIDS, lawlessness, immorality, corruption, rising cost of goods and services, political confusion, religious corruption, white-collar crimes, syndicates, terrorism, ethnic killings, etc.
We have identified these challenges and talked about them but have done nothing concrete to tackle them.
What is stopping us from advancing and meeting these challenges is not the absence of policies and plans but a lack of leadership.
Many of our leaders are distracted by petty and trivial matters, our chro­nic avoidance of making tough decisions, our preference to score cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.
It is time to turn the page.
We have made a little progress but we still have a long way to go.
That is why we have to set priorities and make hard choices.
Although the government will play a crucial role in bringing about the changes we need, more money and programmes will not get us where we want to go.
Let us work together and transform this nation.
Let us be the generation to reshape our economy and to compete in the digital age.
Let us set high and Godly standards in our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed.
Let us recruit a new army of tea­chers and give them better pay and more support in exchange for accountability.
Let us make our tertiary institutions more affordable and invest in scientific research.
As our economy improves, we must share the wealth equally and reward our workers who are working hard with decent rewards.
This will make it possible for hardworking Papua New Guineans to save for retirement.
Let us be the generation that ends poverty in PNG.
Today we are called once more and it is time for us – who are sick and tired of evil, immorality, corruption and wickedness – to answer this call.
We cannot allow injustice, unfairness and certain selfish leaders running this country.
We need leadership that has no­thing but vision and the determination to get this country forward.
Let us not wish and dream but turn it into reality.
The coming elections is about PNG and its future, not about Sepiks, Highlanders, Papuans, New Guinea Islanders or Morobeans,
The 2012 elections is not about regionalism, but our future.
This is the election for change and change for the better.
God bless PNG

Scotty Alu
Port Moresby