By Gelab Piak.

Western Province is the biggest Province in PNG yet after 31yrs since Independence and 27yrs of OTML’s operations, it is still undeveloped.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

he Government is so vibrant and dancing to the sounds and drums of LNG, but the people of Western Province are tired of the Government’s empty promises. The Government’s plan to pipe gas and oil from the Western Province to Port Moresby is ridiculous and too expansive. Why can not the National Government build processing plants in the province rather than embark on an expansive, unviable plan? Western provinces’ Oil wells and gas will be developed and then processed in the province. LNG plants can be built at either Daru or the mouth of Fly River. It is also encouraging to learn that Norway’s Flex LNG and London based Rift Oil are looking at an off shore option and hopefully that would be built or centered on the mouth of Fly or in Western Province. The people of Western Province don’t want their resources to leave the province because they have had enough of being uninvited guest to their own parties. They have learnt a great deal from the Ok Tedi Mine in the past 27 years.

It’s so saddening to hear about the signing of the Gas deal between the Government and resource Developers because in actual truth the land owners of the Western province Oil fields on Mt. Bosavi live in total isolation,  miles away from any Government service. As such is the case, it is no stranger that the local people of Mt. Fubilan still live in traditional villages. Is it culture preservation or lack of development? I think lack of development, because of two reasons; culture changes, it never stays the same and giant miner Ok Tedi Mining Limited, operating a world class mine producing “A” grade gold and copper, is just a stroll away from some villages. The little towns of Kiunga and Tabubil are developed yet the two towns are still in dare need of new developments and services; existing services need improvements so that the businesses can be allowed to grow and in turn will develop the province. Last week saw the pulling out of one of the biggest companies from the Western Province. That company was the City Pharmacy Limited. Kiunga and Tabubil are becoming un-lucrative for business because of lack of proper Government services and infrastructure. Services such as telecommunications are not provided to an expected standard and this point out the dept of development in the province, if more development take place then Telikom would try to improve its service in the province. There are many more examples that point out clearly this need for development in the province.

         

 After 27 years of mining giant Ok Tedi Mine’s operations in the province, there are no tangible developments. Developments such as road networks, rural health centers, jetties along the Fly do not exist and the general population still live as they were before the mine began. The one and only usable road in the province is the Kiunga-Tabubil highway built and maintained by OTML and sub-contractor Star West everyday, which is a top standard that no road in the country is maintained to. While on the same token, the government road from Wipim to Morehead and feeder roads to the villages are covered with tall grasses and are inaccessible during rainy season. There are no bridges so when streams and creeks flood; it becomes extremely difficult to cross. OTML has done its bit but there is yet more to be done by OTML before it leaves in 2013. What will become of the province when such great company leaves, since it has been and is the major developer and development partner in the province. The Sustainable Development Programme Limited must do more than just same old fish projects which are peanuts compared to what its doing in other provinces, e.g. power projects it is part funding and carrying out in some Highlands areas. The PNGSDPL should be either part funding or fully funding projects such as roads, bridges, school buildings and so forth. It is good that PNGSDP is trying to sustain the livelihood of the rural population but what or which infrastructure and mode of transportation would these rural people from the village use.

There is also a need to develop the Kiunga wharf due to an increase in cargo and as preparation for more increased cargo going to be brought in by Oil companies when the development of Oil wells and rigs began. However, I am amazed; where have all the billions that Ok Tedi has made? Has the money gone to the development of other provinces, and no thought has been given to the resource owner?

 

Daru town is far worse than just a sad story. Some spots in town are terrible eye-sores, even school building are rusting away, the province’s general hospital based at Daru is ill equipped and without vital necessities such as oxygen gas bottles and drugs. The Health Office complex near the New Century Hotel is in dare need of renovations as it seems almost to be falling apart and further it doesn’t look like an Office complex at all. The Provincial Assembly building looks frail and old, it is time it underwent major repairs. Daru wharf is the pride of old Daru town, but that wharf is small, with less space for vehicles with heavy loads to pass and it is a death trap waiting to take lives. The larger population lives in settlements, and it is like a graveyard waiting for dead bodies. Human waists litter the place, prostitution and rape of young girls are rife, and most people live in poverty. As a student studying to be a social worker it hurts to see small boys, ages ten and below, begging on the streets.

South Fly District, from Suki, Morehead, Kibuli, Masingara, Wipim and Oriomu are areas covered in Amazon-style jungle. And the same grim story is a master piece painting for Western Province, from the North Fly to the South Fly. When is there going to be real, tangible development seen in Western Province?

 

 It seems obvious that Development has become a game in which the real players who win are those who cheat and steal. Where are the leaders of this province? Are they being manipulated by the so called “gang” elites in the parliament? Which in these recent months is becoming a worrying and alarming trend that most of our elder states man, such as Oseah Philemon and those of the media have spoken out about? The Government and Resource Developers in the province must work together in developing this province. Western Province deserves a chance to catch up with the rest of PNG, since Ok Tedi’s money has gone in Grants amounting in billions to the Government which has been used in the development of other provinces and besides that, we all know that when the Panguna mine was shut, Ok Tedi mine became the engine room of the country. 

 

 By Gelab Piak

Divine Word University

                                                                                   FEBUARY,2009

The Face of the New Generation

By Gelab Piak

 

Have you ever wandered where Papua New Guinea will stand or how it would look like half after century from now? Well that has always burned a great furnace in my mind. But what puzzles me the most is where we would be now, if we had taken a different course.

I do not speak for myself, but I speak for the many young people in PNG. Today, many young people of Papua New Guinea often wander how great this beloved country could look like if the so many billions of kina stolen by our shellfish corrupt leaders were used on infrastructure, education, health, transport, and other such things as businesses, people’s welfare, school materials, medical drugs and vehicles for Government agencies.

By now our government should be concentrating or focusing its resources on maintenance of infrastructure and investing for the future generation. Investing in terms such as; putting computers in every school in the country, subsidizing school fees 100% and letting the general public to have free access to clean water and power supplies. Not opening billion dollar gas plants and million dollar mines. What good would those do except pollute us, bred more corrupt politicians and bring upon us more suffering.

 

To paint a more realistic and perfect of the face of the Government, take look at the Government agencies in the provinces and districts outside of Port Moresby. Government agencies are run down, incapable of performing their duties and are under resourced. So where do all the Billions and Billions of kina go? I think the answer to that lies in the back of our minds. And we are the only ones who can make a difference by finding an unavoidable solution that interacts directly with our answer.  Every year hundreds of Papua New Guineans die from treatable diseases like malaria, TB and leprosy. Its genocide being committed by the Government, and the government should be guilty of that, which is a crime against the people it is obliged to serve.

 

When will we Papua New Guineans realize that? When will we stop being fools and slaves in our own land? Well some of us, the wise one, who are not blinded by these blind prophets who lead us, have realized it. In universities all over the country, young students’ minds are becoming radicalized. They believe that a revolution is the only way to fix up our country. Whether it is a peaceful one or a bloody one, yet it’s coming, and it is unavoidable. It is mostly those who have come from rural areas, who have gone through sufferings at the hands and mercy of the Government that are calling for a revolution. They know what it’s like to be left out, to live in inaccessible places, to have no access to government services, to trust their hope into false promises, and they what it’s like to lose everything and pay the hefty price of freedom so that their children can have a better, fruitful future. These young people are, not criminals, not homeless people, no, they are university students and graduates, who live, work and mingle with you. They know only one thing; and that’s that one morning the rest of PNG will wake up to the sound of, not signing birds, but bombs and guns, and they will all know that the face of the new, elite, and educated generation of Papua New Guineans is an ugly one, with the word Revolution, written all over it.

 

What caused the PNG riots?                                        May, 22nd, 2009 

By Gelab Piak

 

The recent riot in PNG against Chinese Businesses is cited by many newspapers and news agencies to be a symptom of a nation in crisis. The looting has been condemned and the Government has vowed to set up a bi-partisan team to investigate the riots. However, in order to define the cause of the problem transparently and accurately, we have to critically analyze what has happened and answer the above question.

 

 The riots maybe uncalled for, yet are well over-due. This rioting is a build up of a mixture of many issues. As it is PNG is filled with many problems such as acute poverty, lack of development, HIV/Aids, Law and Order, Public Servants and Workers pays, a great divide between rich and poor, land owner issues and the list just goes on and on. The Government knows about these issues, yet has gone on to ignore them, and this is part and parcel of the cause of the recent rioting. Theses riots were a mare work of opportunist and not a coordinated work. These opportunists were mainly from squatter settlements, where the poorest of the society lives. They took advantage of the lootings else where and orchestrated copycat versions. But dig deeper and you’ll find that these people are people from remote areas who have been neglected by the Government for so long, that they have moved to the Towns and Cities in search of government services denied to them. Other settlement residents are Primary school, High school, and Secondary school dropouts that become “street boys” and eventually end up in criminal activities, and the end is always fatal.

 

The education system too, must be reviewed, as it has contributed to a large number of dropouts over the years, some with little education, thus having little understanding of the problems facing this country so they become contributing factors to some of the problems. The service delivery mechanisms of the Government also need to be reviewed, as these riots are evidence of the need provide services. The Department of Labor has come under criticism from other government authorities, but all should accept the blame and not pass the buck around. Business Regulatory arms must be blamed for no checking to see if foreign owned business and owners are abiding by PNG laws. This issue also paints a bad picture of the way we manage our border security, and in the center of this, are corrupt leaders and Government ignorance, not only the current government but also the previous governments.

 

 Adding salt to the wound is the great cultural divide between the two peoples and races. Another fact to consider is that we must understand that PNG is a developing nation; it is developing and peoples’ perception changes as they become more aware by changing with development. As a developing nation, PNG is caught in the middle; on one hand is the Western culture and on the other is our own culture and where we stand upon is Christianity, (as we, as a nation, claim to be) which goes against most of the basic morals and norms of our culture. As we probe deeper we realize our problems are complex and so our leaders must be prepared to address all other issues first, and must investigate with regards and in the interest of its citizens as well as the foreigners(in this case the Asians). If this problem is properly addressed; we won’t see another Honiare in PNG.

 

                           Febuary,  2009                                                          MARCH, GOOD MORNING PNG

Gelab Piak

I have passion and love my nation. I love my country so much; I can’t even find the words to define it. I feel hurt when I see a young woman walking on the dusty road with three hungry crying children behind her.

Eighty percent of the population of PNG lives in rural areas, where the roads, bridges, infrastructure and school building are deteriorating and people have little or no access to government services. I see this as a violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 21(2), where it states: Everyone has the right to equal access to public services in his country.

It’s like living in a fairy tale; each year we hear billion dollar profits announced by companies in PNG, but there is no tangible development. May I ask: where is our (the public’s) money going? Workers throughout the country are living in dire conditions: rotting houses, some condemned. Thousands of public servants don’t have a house provided by the government. They live in settlements. It is estimated that nearly 2,000 police officers in Madang Province have no house.

Ok Tedi Mining has operated in Western Province for 29 years; but there seems no sign of development except the 150km stretch of dirt road from Kiunga to the mine site. Lihir Gold has over the years announced consecutive billion dollar profits, but recently New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan complained in the media (The National, 16 March 2009) of no tangible development in his province.

Why is the PNG Government hypnotizing the world by announcing billion dollar kina budgets yet the country’s infrastructure is crumbling?

The Government is sensitive on issues relating to its corrupt practices. It uses its position to crush protesters (e.g., the 1997 UPNG protest in which several students were shot by police) because it realises that the educated elite, especially university students, know about these corrupt activities.

The Government controls every department by abuse of power, using its discretion to appoint the heads of all departments. So when Members of Parliament misuse public funds, the agency heads do not comment or pretend not to know a thing, and the corrupt practice goes on until it adds up to millions of Kina being stolen.

For example, the PNG National Aids Council is being investigated for misuse of funds that were donated by aid donors such as the Clinton Foundation and AusAID who pumped millions of dollars into NAC to combat HIV/AIDS in PNG. Members of Parliament are also corrupted; they offer project contracts to their own private companies.

On Thursday (Post Courier, 19 March 2009), MPs voted themselves a hefty 10 million Kina bonus in perks. Who are these MPs to do this while the workers and public servants live in dire conditions on a K7 a fortnight housing allowance while MPs vote themselves a housing allowance of K1,720 a week? Ordinary citizens suffer and live in acute poverty while parliamentarians and their K12,000 drivers are chauffeured around in K50, 000 tinted glass cars.

Should PNG have a revolution?

Yes, why not. Many countries that are now well off (France, Russia, China, the United States) had revolutions. Change is a movement from one stage to another, it brings advancement and development. Revolution can be the mechanism of that change. PNG was given independence on a plate. We didn’t have to fight for it, that’s why we don’t appreciate our freedom and take it for granted.

I believe PNG can achieve a bloodless revolution. It only takes the will of the people. We are systemized by the Melanesian chief system, that’s why we respect the Chief, but in order to change for the better, sometimes you have to gather up the courage to draw the line and say enough is enough. It’s now or never.

 

 

  

                                                                            Sept.....

IS PNG A STATE IN CRISIS: AN INTERNAL TURMOIL FROM WITHIN?

By GELAB PIAK                                                                                                                     

Papua New Guinea is a state in crisis. It is evident enough to sum that all events that have occurred signal a country sinking into itself. This is the grim reality that faces PNG today. It also is uncertain now, whether the PNG we know of today will be existing, as provinces seek autonomy, peoples seek realizations of new provinces, plus infrastructure and service delivery mechanisms are broken down, and the cause-factor of all these is an incompetent bureaucracy, a very corrupt government and a Prime Minister who doesn’t want to let go of his grip on power. The Government is facing a vote of no-confidence and some of its members have moved over to the Opposition, claiming the Government is so corrupt that it suppresses their rights (other Government MP’s) and is not delivering services. The Government has adjourn Parliament to November, but in doing so have breached section 124 of the Papua New Guinea constitution.  As a result of that, the Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, his Treasurer Paul Tiensten and Parliament Speaker Jeffery Nape have been referred to the Ombudsman Commission, which says there is a possibility of prosecuting them.

The Government, not so long ago, announced a K500 million deficit, and defended it as an insignificant deficit. However, it shows that the Government has over spent, hence it has mismanaged the country’s budget, as argued by Bart Philemon, who an economist himself. It is also questionable, however, with so many mines in Papua New Guinea, yet there is no tangible development, a never-ending tale of lack of funds and after 34 years of independence the people still live like they did hundreds of years before independence. Government policies nowadays do not tend to be of or in the peoples interest anymore, thus due to this there are many explosive issues waiting to blow up. Some Government policies need to be amended, for example; the Mining Act of PNG needs to be amended, or the landowners of Ramu Nickel Mine, Pogera Gold Mine, Harmony Gold Mine or any other mining areas for that matter will keep causing trouble (by strikes, compensation claims, etc.) for the developer-company because the mining act gives 70% of the stake to the developer and leaves the land owners with less. This is a definite day-light robbery to the people of Papua New Guinea.

Over the years, up till recently, there has been a breakdown in Service delivery. The education system is failing thousands of Papua New Guineans. Every year thousands of students from Primary Schools, High Schools and Secondary Schools throughout the country fail. It may seem entirely their own fault, but it is partly the government’s fault too because the government fails to provide adequate stationeries and text books (some rural schools do not have text books on all the subjects they teach), libraries, and teacher-transport logistics (many schools that are far out manage to scrape through the year with only one or two teachers manning the school). In some places school buildings are rundown, thus schools are closing;  as such is the case for the Kerevat National High School, one of the country’s pioneer high schools. While schools in Morobe, Oro and Miline Bay Provinces were also facing closure due to delay in the release of Government subsidy. However, countless other schools in rural areas, where education is direly needed, have closed over the years without mention in the media.

The health system of Papua New Guinea is slowly crumbling from within. This year the Health Minister, Sasa Zibe, described the health system as “bloody useless”. While the HIV epidemic sweeps PNG, the health services are in a slow constant decline. This will be a tragedy in the years ahead, as HIV/AIDs is reaching into villages and many (villages) do not have aid-posts or the aid-posts were shut down and the next town is always kilometers away. It is scary, considering the fact that whole villages could be wiped out. Whilst there is an ever-growing shortage of drugs and a never ending story of Warehouses dumping away undistributed stocks, there seems to be no funds to distribute them. It is saddening that PNG holds the highest mortality death rate in the world. Many of these cases come from rural aid posts, usually due to lack of medicine or equipment. Port Moresby General Hospital, PNG’s biggest hospital, is ill-equipped, overcrowded and the building itself, including the materials used, are old and rotting, while other hospitals throughout the country are far worse.

The Police Force of PNG or the Papua New Guinea Royal Constabulary is at the brink of collapse, as claimed by the Police Commissioner Gari Baki, that the police force needed about K2 billion to fully function, be operational and purchase much needed equipment, as criminals are becoming more sophisticated and better equipped with weapons the police don’t have. Lately the police have turned to “shoot to kill” tactics, whether approved by the Government or not, to quell any violence or uprising. The Police Force is now cornered because due to the Government’s policies the people (e.g., the unemployed) are now turning to crime as a means of survival. For example, many men and even women are selling marijuana to make a living. However, on the other end, Police are ordered to kill anyone, even in a protest, as demonstrated in the recent Asian lootings, when four people were shot by police. There is doubt about the justification of using such lethal force in that given situation.

Deep down in the Social saucepan of PNG, in the dark hearts of the settlements (squatter/shanty towns), there is growing frustration and anger towards the Government. The rich and greedy life style of politicians has created a divide between the rich and the poor, it has created classes among Papua New Guineans, and the divide is getting wider and wider. The divide between the rich and poor, corrupt politicians, two sets of laws issue and the lack of development and delivery of services all contribute to a hot brewing social saucepan waiting to blow off its lid. As such, PNG is a state in crisis. Only because of the cooperate sector, the businesses and by the grace of God, PNG seems to be ticking, otherwise we’re gone past dead.            

 

 

PNG now: an analyze of Papua New Guinea

By Gelab Piak

Independent but dependent: PNG 34 years on.

This Wednesday, the 16^th of September 2009, will mark the 34^th year of independence. We, as a Papua New Guineans are proud of our nation but on the other hand, are troubled by the torturing thought. What really are we celebrating about? Yes, we maybe celebrating our freedom, or maybe are celebrating our independence. Both are right. However, what is freedom. Freedom is the power to express one’s thoughts, action, words and rights without objection or intimidation. Freedom is having no objection to your rights, unless they violate the law of the land. Last month, Metropolitan Superintendent Fed Yakasa, in stopping the “infamous” NGO political march said that the actions of the police were to protect the people’s Rights. First of all, what Rights is the police protecting, when in fact, contradictorily, they are depriving the people’s Rights and Freedoms. The people have the Right, under the law of the land to expression of Freedoms, such as freedom of speech and as such they had a right to express their thoughts, actions and words without objection. Secondly, People have the right to services and the duly elected Government has the obligation to provide services to the people. When the Government doesn’t do what it is obliged to do, then the civil society has to stand up. The vibrancy of any democracy depends on the freedoms and the liberation of its civil society to exercise its rights. When the civil society’s freedoms are suppressed, a nation’s democracy is under threat. The opposition has on several occasions cried foul about Parliamentary democracy not being exercised. Are these tell-signs of suppression and oppression, and at the highest level? Thirdly, what is Independence? Independence simply means being Independent. Independent and Independence are two big words. So what is it like to be independent? Being independent is being able to fend, provide for oneself, and meet one’s own needs. Put it that way, it is very hard to see the PNG Government fending, providing or meet the needs of its people, now or in the future. There is a great need for policy makers to draft effective medium term policies. Malaysia and Venezuela are good examples of countries that have been transformed through short, effective medium term policies. Long term policies and plans such as 40year plans, may not be effective, may not realize and maybe thrown out by future Government, that may not understand the need to make such policies.

Big Projects: An illusive idea.

Our future mustn’t depend on “big projects”. The idea of ‘big projects’ is an illusive one that is luring landowners to give away their land without proper consultations with other villagers and community members, who, to the landowners’ misunderstanding, will be affected by the landowners’ decisions. ‘Big projects’ are creating a lot of problems in our Melanesian society of communality, brotherhood and peace and harmony. ‘Big projects’ are often rushed, and when they are rushed, no proper social mapping is done, no proper assessment for environmental damages is done, (e.g. how would the project affect the ecosystem of the particular area, etc. Have we had any though of that?), landowners form factions as self-interest eats away at the morals of society, corruption becomes rampant in the Government, and unwise decision are made. It has also created a mentality in this contemporary society where villages wait for big projects such as oil, gas or mining and do not take initiatives to develop themselves with small projects that are community orientated like small holder plantation estates (coffee, cocoa, copra, etc) or sawmills instead they often wait for the big projects. Overall, once the projects fail, we, as a nation, tend to lose millions or even Billions of Kina.

We need to look at ways of becoming self-reliant, (almost can be better than fully), with a Government that is the main services and goods provider. Thus we can say that we are independent, because by then we have a government that fends, provides and meets its people’s needs. A sad fact is that the Australian Government, through AusAid, is more popular in rural areas than the PNG Government. This paints a picture of a Government that is not able to provide and meet its people’s needs so other Governments have stepped in. Does that mean we are dependent? Yes, it does, as we are dependent on overseas aid and that nevertheless means we are dependent.  We must, as our Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare always says, be an export orientated economy or nation. Not an exporter of raw materials and vast natural resources, but an exporter of finished products. But that will only come about if there is Government leadership, and there must be Government leadership. A good example is Japan. Japan today is the floating factory of the world. How did Japan become the floating factory of the world? By Government leadership and a bold move towards industrialization, only now known as the industrial revolution. The Government must lead by investing in downstream processing. The government must build factories; enter into partnerships with companies to build factories and produce locally. Producing locally would create more jobs, boost the economy, increase our GDP and greatly reduce our imports. Exporting and producing locally maybe deemed as a far cry or something that happens in the future, but for it to eventuate in the future, we must start now. PNG should start producing small products such as peanut butter, coffee jam, copper wires, etc., and then we can look at bigger products and projects like partnering with auto giants Toyota or Nissan to produce cars and trucks locally; as PNG imports thousands of vehicles every year from these two companies. We can then become a cheaper option for our close neighbors when they want to import cars as these cars will be genuine Toyota or Nissan made products. The Government must also enact tariff laws for a certain period of time to help local products gain popularity among consumers. This type of Government leadership is lacking in our country and that is demonstrated by the fact that many of our exports are raw materials and do have a higher value thus the returns are mare peanuts to what is made and earned by other countries out of our resources, that are later sold back to us as finished products.  Until then are we really independent.

Infrastructure, Education and Heath: The Secrets to Prosperity.

The secret to a nation’s prosperity is its infrastructure, education and health. The Government of Papua New Guinea needs to seriously consider the state of its infrastructure such as bridges, roads, airstrips, government hospitals, schools and communications infrastructure; i.e. towers for two-way radios. Are they in good, useable conditions? Does the state of the infrastructure affect the economy and puts a strain on the economy?  

Yes. Bad state of infrastructure is a bottle neck to the economy. The PNG economy while enjoying growth over the years, is struggling and the tell-signs are evident. Exports of products such as coffee, cocoa, copra, and rubber may drop if road conditions are not improved and more farmers can not have easy access to markets. This will have much greater impact on the smaller farmers who grow cabbages, tomatoes, ginger, and other crops for sale at local markets and also markets outside their province. Such is the case where farmers of garden produce from the highlands bring their farm produce to Madang for sell at the local markets. The state of the Okuk Highway is also costing Trucking companies thousands of Kina. With the deteriorating road conditions pot holes form and becomes every Truck driver’s nightmare; they either avoid them or go through them. If they avoid them, they risk the chance of bumping into an oncoming vehicle, and, if they go through them, it wears out the truck’s tyres other parts under the trucks. This is cause for concern to bosses of trucking firms as they know they will be ordering more parts, thus losing thousands. Thus is a call for the Government to invest in infrastructure. Investing heavily in infrastructure will not only improve the economy but also provide jobs.  Road condition must be fixed and maintained to acceptable standards where they are in a useable and working state. Roads must be built to villages far out in remote areas which are in isolation. Using these roads the people can then access markets to sell their produce or other services provided in the towns. Bridges that have broken down due to lack of maintance must be fixed, so that people can have access once more, and may revive agriculture and farming in the ‘cut off’ areas. The Government must look at putting aside funds to rebuild bridges and other infrastructure destroyed by disasters.

An educated nation is a healthy nation. Education must reach all the rural areas. Schools that have shut down must be reopened, and teachers must be sent up there. The Government has to invest in Education by building schools in both town areas and rural areas, and must pay teachers properly so that they are happy to go into the bush and teach, and they must also have good houses so that it boosts their moral as educators of tomorrow’s generation. With an educated populace a nation will progress, as most of its citizens will be in a position to understand the problems facing their country or the economics of their country. If many of the citizens are educated, PNG would find itself having a competitive work force. Today, PNG’s workforce is not that effective, in the sense that there is no competition and workers are not competing for jobs. What happens, and is happening now, is that the current work force is aging and there isn’t a younger generation to fill the gap created. Thus the education of the youths and not only the younger generation and children, must become a priority for the Government. It must focus on equipping its people with knowledge, as the present world is a world where technology rules and a young, striving nation like Papua New Guinea must equip its people with knowledge so that they understand the technology and use it for the benefit of their nation. A meaningful and effective start would be investing in Vocational training education. Why don’t PNG start training its next generation of welders, carpenters, plumbers, and mechanics? These people are equal contributors to the immediate building of the nation. As well as providing scholarships to Universities, the Government should provide scholarships to Vocational Training Schools. It is again these very people who will be involved in the infrastructure building and building of huge investments such as factories and hotels in this nation. We need not bring other people from outside; that happens when a nation forgets about building its own workforce through investing in its peoples Education. Thus the nation is not healthy.

Healthy citizens contribute meaningfully to the building of a prosperous nation. When a nation has a healthy workforce, production is said to double its normal rate. The recent outbreak of cholera shows clearly the concern our Government has for the health of its people. Little that is, and that’s demonstrated by its snail-paced response to the recent cholera outbreak. Not only had that, but the lack of health services also contributed to the deaths that have occurred in the affected areas; as some of the deceases are treatable. Cholera was a time-bomb waiting to happen, as many rural areas do not have aid posts or the aid posts have been run-down and shut for many years now. Even in towns, the standard of healthcare provided by the Government is no where near any standard at all. Port Moresby General Hospital is no exception with rotting wood, ill-equipped and lowly funded; the hospital now cannot cater for Port Moresby residents. The Government is now planning to build a second hospital in the city or outside of the city. This is good, but the Government must build more aid posts with proper and enough medications in rural areas to ease the number of patients seeking medical help in towns and cities and putting a strain on the services the hospitals provide, as the hospitals built in towns and cities are built to cater for the town or city residents and cannot cope with increased number of patients. The increased number of patients put a strain of health services provided by hospitals in towns and cities. Nurses and doctors must have good housing and transport must not be a problem to hospitals, which need to transport patients or staff. Providing a better healthcare system will ensure a brighter future for Papua New Guineans and a more productive workforce, resulting in a growing, demanding economy, thus a prosperous nation looms in the making.

A challenge for everyone:

Members of Parliament really need to stop their corrupt practices and have a true nationalist feeling that drives them towards nation building. Nation building is not an overnight job. It takes, many people, in fact a whole nation, many years, and many hearts. One pure heart can not turn the many unclean hearts. It has to take courage for everyone to change, and if the Politicians are not serious about building this nation called Papua New Guinea, then who else? No one may take the courage to build our nation, as you politicians are the top leaders, everyone are looking at you, and this Independence, everyone will be looking at you to hear what you will say. Together, let’s build a nation in Papua New Guinea, so that we can have something to celebrate about.