Sir Mekere’s legacy lives on

PAPUA New Guinea has lost its champion reformist, former prime minister and Moresby North West MP Sir Mekere Morauta who passed away in Australia over the weekend.
His wife Lady Roselyn Morauta and son James announced that Sir Mekere died peacefully in Brisbane on Saturday.
Sir Mekere was born in 1946, in Kukipi Village, Malalaua, East Gulf, to Morauta Hasu and Morikoai Elavo.
His father, Hasu, was a leader of the Toaripi people of East Gulf, a local government councillor, and deacon of the London Missionary Society (later United Church).
He was prominent in the cooperative movement for the Toaripi Association.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of PNG. He was the first secretary for the Department of Finance when PNG gained independence in 1975 and helped established the fiscal framework and macroeconomic policies of the new country.
He also served as managing director of the State-owned commercial bank, the Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation from 1983 to 1992. He was the second Governor of Bank of PNG from 1993-1994.He became a MP in 1997 and was prime minister from 1999 to 2002.
From 1997 to 2012 and 2017 to 2020, he held the seat of Moresby North West in the parliament.
As tributes flow in on the passing of Sir Mekere, many refer to him as PNG’s champion reformist.
Many of the changes he saw through during his reign as prime minister is now a legacy.
As prime minister, Sir Mekere is credited with initiating significant constitutional and economic reform.
In 1999, the PNG economy was on the brink of collapse, with government finances in disarray and a currency that was spiraling to inconvertibility.
He devised and led a rescue package, which stabilised the economy and the budget.
Key state institutions were strengthened, important reforms were introduced to the financial sector, especially in banking and superannuation and to the structure and workings of the public sector. The Bank of PNG could operate independently of political influence and this was especially felt in debt management.
Public debt decreased from 72.3 per cent in 2000 to 25.5 per cent in 2010.
External debt fell as well spectacularly from over 50 per cent of gross domestic product in 2000 to just 10 per cent in 2010.
The decade 2000–2010 was in contrast to the decade of 1990–2000 characterised by a stable currency (kina), low and stable inflation and a sharp decline in interest rates.
The Morauta government was in office from July 14 1999 till Aug 5 2002 and deployed far reaching initiatives.
The Government used to be a major player in the banking sector through PNG Banking Corporation. This bank was privatised.
The state-owned enterprises were brought together under a holding company called the Independent Public Business Corporation now called the Kumul Consolidated Holdings.
This was supposed to be a shell company that refrained as much as possible from direct management of the businesses under its control.
Its core function was to stimulate the privatisation of state-owned enterprises and managing those enterprises’ dividends. The long lasting beneficial effects of the reforms by the Morauta cabinet were most clearly felt in the macro economic situation.
Sir Mekere was a highly praised and a controversial politician as well.
May his soul rest in peace.