Wingti refutes graft

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Tuesday 20th December 2011

By YVONNE HAIP
FORMER Western Highlands governor Paias Wingti has described the widespread corruption in the country as a “cancer”.
He said corruption had crept into the country and was being caused by leaders at the top level of government.
Wingti said this during the closing ceremony of a four-day crusade hosted by the St Peter’s Catholic students and youths of Western Highlands last Saturday at Keltiga village in Mt Hagen.
Wingti, who rarely attends such meets, was at home in Keltiga and challenged the youths to make a difference for the nation.
He said the only way to stop corruption lay in the hands of the people who, as voters, must choose good leaders to provide development and not “hand-outs”.
He said corruption would only stop if the heads of the government such as governors, departmental heads and members of parliament fought it openly.
He said the future of the country was spiralling down and would be changed if people set their minds right and chose honest lea­ders who had respect for othe­r leaders.
Wingti said after 40 years of independence, the country had benefitted from mining booms which had a great impact on the country’s economy, but the country
had yet to see development.
He said in his time, the government budget was K1.2 billion but today there was much more money being pumped in for development.
“Where does all this money go,” he asked.