Disappointing disaster responses in PNG
PNG’s history for disaster response is fraught with delays, inefficiency, and corruption. Here are some blunders we experience during disasters:
- Corruption
Under the Public Finance Management Act, the tender process is suspended when a disaster is declared. This is done to ensure the response is not delayed by the bureaucracy of tender processes.
The government doesn’t have to go through the tender process. Instead it gives the funds to a specific service provider so they can move with speed to get supplies and life saving equipment to the people. This may include, for instance, brining water purifiers from overseas, or logistics for medicine, or building a damaged telecommunications equipment to re-establish communications etc.
The problem is that politicians and authorities then give the contracts to their cronies and wantoks who have no experience, or capabilities to deliver. As they delay and misuse and mismanage the funds, the people suffer.
- History of unaccountability
To date, we have no audits for the millions spent on the devastating earthquake in the Highlands in 2018. Parliament has never received a report to that effect. No one bothers. And life just moves on.
It’s the same for most of the K6 billion spent on COVID-19. Now the IMF is demanding acquittals.
- No budgets for disasters
PNG is prone to disaster. Every year there’s flooding somewhere that destroys homes and villages and gardens, or there is a volcanic eruption, or drought, or high tides, or cyclones etc etc.
Yet when you look at the budgets for departments responsible for disasters it’s almost negligent. Our national policy for disaster response is called “ad hoc” strategy.
- Lack of coordination
For every review, you will hear about the lack of coordination. This problem applies to donors and aid providers as well.
When there is a disaster, the private sector gives some assistance, the foreign embassies give something, the international NGOs, the multilateral organisations, provincial and national governments, all respond at various levels.
A national, streamlined, and predictable strategy would help. But usually, different stakeholders do different things or fund the same area whilst others suffer.
- Lack of data
This is the most important one: do we know exactly how many people live within the area affected by the floods and volcanic in East Sepik Province?
Do we know how many women, men, children, those with disabilities, the number of houses, etc.
This is important so we know exactly how much to budget, what kinds of essentials to buy, and where to deliver.
Our last proper census was done in 2001. In 2011 we tried another census which was so inaccurate that even the census office – National Statistics Office – admitted to its inaccuracies.
The next census is planned for 2024, about 23 years later. Someone born in 2002 was never been counted and PNG has no record of his existence. So when disaster hits, you don’t know if this kid even exists, where he exists, or whether is disabled.
We just allocated K10 million because that’s what we think is needed.
Exceptions:
I know there are some very hard working people working day and night to get the stuff our people need. And some good leaders like Allan Bird who saved money from Provincial Services Improvements Program funds and now using it to respond to the disaster. There are some beautiful souls in guys like MAF who assist during disasters. Thank you all.
Academia Nomad 