Academia Nomad

PC: Dr Joseph Ketan

By Joseph Ketan

It is hard to keep track of politicians. We cannot hold them accountable for their actions if we do not know what they are doing – or not doing – with respect to their duties.

We have got to keep our politicians honest by keeping an eye on them at all times!

The PNG daily newspapers, generally, do a good job in keeping our parliamentarians honest, although in recent years there has been growing concerns over biassed reporting on several occasions.

Radio still does a terrific job in terms of coverage and the quality of reporting. The NBC easily leads in keeping our people informed on what is happening in our country. The commercial FM radios are doing a good job, but their focus is on the national capital, leaving room for improvement.

EMTV could become a powerful medium of communication, but they employ lazy reporters, with terrible English, while the good ones (John Eggins and Scott Waide have moved on).

Social media, with all its faults and awful grammar, has the potential to hold MPs accountable, though we get a lot of misinformation at the moment. The level of literacy will improve the standard of reporting and debate on key issues affecting our country.

Sir Anthony Siaguru used to provide some great commentaries on the state of affairs in PNG. I enjoyed reading Dr Tony Deklin’s commentaries, but he has stopped writing for the general public. I love reading Dr Andrew Moutu’s elegant articles on a wide range of topics, but his writing is not for public consumption. He writes for a cultured audience.

John Endomonga and Samson Komati provide useful political commentaries on everything political. Their commentaries, although biased, are necessary. David Lepi’s commentaries are biased toward Peter O’Neill – but he writes beautifully.

Micheal Kabuni and Duncan Gabi do better than most. They will, no doubt, take the mantle of responsible reporting in years to come. I hope politicians do not buy them off. Patrick Kaiku and Teddy Winn will provide leadership in political analysis at UPNG soon. Francis Wagiriai and Mike Kabuni will join them there. That will provide the basis for PNG political scholarship and commentaries on national affairs.

I would love to read more from some great thinkers, including Roland Katak, Joseph Sukwianomb, Professor John Nonggorr, Dr Thomas Webster, Gabriel Pepson, Peter Pena, Peter Komon, Paul Mawa, Paraka Maua Pena, Thomas Laka, Dr Lawrence Sause, Dr Steven Winduo, Dr Elizabeth Kopel, Dr Fiona Hukula, Dr Orovu Sepoe, Dr Hengene Payani, Dr Linus Digim’Rina, and Professor Frank Griffin, and my countrymen Frank Senge Kolma and Nikints Tiptip.

We live in a country with high levels of illiteracy at all levels. It is up to people with knowledge of government to comment on public affairs.

When good men – and great women – stand by and do nothing, evil triumphs. So, it is absolutely necessary that learned men and women must stand up for the rights of the downtrodden.

Have a Safe Easter!

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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.