State loses from costly mistakes

FORMER prime minister Peter O’Neill has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the purchase of K2 million diesel generators sitting idle in Port Moresby and Lae.
He was charged with abuse of office for writing to Treasury secretary Dairi Vele on Dec 4, 2014 requesting him to locate K50 million for the purchase of the two American-made generators through the LR Group of Israel.
The court ruled that the letter was only a request to the secretary and not a direction that would be seen as putting pressure on the secretary in any way to pay the supplier for the two generators.
One man has been vindicated and is relieved but the multi-million kina question remains: What of the two generators which are practically rusting away while PNG Power Ltd, for whom they were purchased, remains cash-strapped and struggling with ageing equipment? It was rather unfortunate that a purported political witch hunt, which the former prime minister alluded to soon after the Waigani National Court ruling last Friday, could quite easily detract from the gravity of the million-kina blunder of an executive government – made possible by parliamentary provision.
Meanwhile, the country remains millions of kina poorer and the electricity company is not making any money from the two generators.
By the way, the Government is currently PNG Power’s biggest debtor.
For some reason – and it had better be the workings of the justice system alone and nothing more – cases like O’Neill’s that ended last Friday, have been litigated as close as possible to general elections so they remain freshest in the minds of voters as they go to the polls.
His case and the court’s ruling are clear for anyone who cares to follow it.
The purchase of the two generators was provided for under the 2013 Supplementary Budget passed by Parliament and was facilitated following O’Neill’s state visit to Israel in 2014.
Under this provision, the former prime minister had requested the Treasury secretary to locate funding for the generators.
In hindsight, however, would it have been prudent to seek technical advice from PNG Power Ltd before the purchases?
In high profile cases like this where millions of kina is involved, the public easily gets distracted by the trials against individuals.
To establish the truth leading to such cases, more money is wasted on inquiries or investigations.
The losses of millions of kina in public money are underplayed and soon forgotten.
The public should demand answers and if necessary, changes to existing systems that allow wasteful use of public money.
The lack of foresight, and in some cases selfish interest or coercion, have bled billions of kina from the long-suffering public for far too long already.
In this age of technology, social media, better education and awareness on the workings of the Government and state instrumentalities, voters and tax payers should demand for better governance by those who raise their hands to occupy public office.
Thanks to the robust judiciary, justice has been served well for individuals, but the greater underlying sense of justice for the state is not seen to be served.
The State is unable to recoup or make up for costly mistakes of poor governance.
This is the price to be paid for electing or appointing the kind of people to run the kind of system in this country.
But if the system is weak, the State should have reason to at least count on people in it to make it work well.
After all, they are supposedly the best who have beaten others on the way to the high positions of authority.