Time to stop foreign loans, donor monies

 CONTRARY to the recommendation by Paul Flanagan for Papua New Guinea to borrow more (The National, Feb 29), PNG no longer needs to borrow money from international agencies nor rely on foreign aid.  

Acceptance of foreign aid and international donor assistance has only contributed to the current fragile state of the PNG economy. 

What PNG needs is for its leaders (politicians and senior bureaucrats) to exercise sound judgment and discipline when it comes to national economic policies. 

Since Independence in 1975, our leaders have been taking the easy approach to national development and they have been encouraged by the lending policies of the so-called international donor agencies.  

The paternalistic attitudes of donor countries and the international agencies they dominate only promulgate the imperialistic policies of the donors and which only serve to undermine national development and suppress the rise of patriotism in this country. The policies of the IMF, the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank have all led to the current precarious state of the PNG economy.  

Papua New Guineans today are suffering because of the poor development policy options exercised by the various governments that ruled PNG since 1975.  Our youth of today have an identity crisis. They cannot feel patriotic for government policies that do not serve them. 

The symptoms of class struggle are evident in everyday life in PNG yet our leaders dismiss this off hand as being merely disgruntled cross sections of the community with a don’t care/won’t care attitude.

Everywhere the people of this country are protesting the deepening income inequalities resulting from the lack of opportunities for employment or for free enterprise. 

Their lack of patriotism is manifested in the rampant vandalism, in the unsightly mess of buai litter, the rise in petty crimes, etc. 

Many thinking Papua New Guineans lament the abundance of laws in this country, yet there is little order.    

For PNG to grow up it needs to stop borrowing and stop embracing international aid as by doing so we are also accepting the imperialistic policies of the donor countries which only undermine our quest for real nationhood.

Wake up PNG!

James Kiele

Los Negros Island, Manus