Sir Mekere wanted effective democracy: Friend

WHAT the late Sir Mekere Morauta wanted so much was an effective democracy for the country, with broadly-based prosperity, according to his friend Ross Garnaut.
Garnaut paid tribute to Sir Mekere during his funeral in Brisbane last week.
“He worked so hard for so long to make it happen,” Garnaut said.
“All of his goodness, his greatness, his wisdom, his strategic purpose, his strength of will, his generosity, and his patriotism.
“His work is done and Papua New Guinea is not doing as well as he would want.
“If Mekere could not make it work, who could?”
He said there was a better way to see what he had left.
“One man, with some friends and often alone, achieved so much.
“What could be made if many took up his vision and his work?
“If many people worked together and helped.
“What if we all look at Mekere’s life and the things that he built and which worked well for a while and resolved to do as much as our slim talents might allow?
“What if we all care half as much as Mekere did and use our own small talents to rebuild a coconut trunk stump, or Kwila window sill, or taun upright, or sago palm corner of a roof?
“What if we decide as Mekere would have done, and refuse to give up just because things seem so difficult now?
“That is how I think of Mekere’s life, and now his death.
“We can remember Mekere’s answer to John Crawford 44 years ago: What he built was worth building though it might fall down, because it proved forever that it can be built”.