RECOVERY EXERCISE FOR ALTERNATIVE GOVERNMENT



PNG

What should the alternative government do?

The alternative government has its own good policies to implement but as an observer and a victim of the country's economic mismanagement and its aftermaths, I suggest the following areas to be worked on in the short to medium term.

The Independent State of Papua New Guinea was like a car being driven recklessly by a very reckless driver without care for the last 8 plus years! The driver didn't bother servicing it to make it roadworthy. He didn't bother checking whether the tyres were okay, whether there were sufficient hydrolic fluids, water and fuel, whether the brake pads were okay, whether there was enough engine oil, whether there were dents made to the body, whether the overall mechanics and lighting systems of the car were sound. He didn't care what types of road he was driving on. He didn't even bother washing the car, and forgot whether the registration and safety stickers were expired. He drove day and night without rest for the 8 long years!

That means, logically the car (PNG) is in dire need for a thorough service, a full service! It definitely needs amble time to be fully serviced before it is out again on the road!

What is urgent right now for the new government to do is a RECOVERY EXERCISE! We will defintely need amble time to recover fully before we are out on the road again. Out on the road again is to mean, before we look at any further infrastructure development exercise, aid assistance to other countries, or other development activites within!

This is a simple logic! We just cannot continue to drive, or we reach the point of irreparability; we need to fully service it!

As an observer, our alternative government could look at the following policy matters which are urgent to address in order to take back PNG before we look at any luxury.

Actions to take (may not be in order):

1. Reinforce independence of and strong governance of key public institutions, including respect for separation of powers
2. Review all the recent amendments made to our constitution
3. Review all the extractive industry polices and acts
4. Stop further external borrowings
5. Review the Tax Acts
6. Reduce Income Tax
7. Review remuneration packages for Parliamentarians including government ministers and Prime Minister
8. Immediate stop to excessive overseas trips by MPs and government officials, including domestic trips
9. Cross check all the public servants to establish genuine employment
10. Review all the fringe benfits received by departmental heads and heads of Statutory bodies
11. Review to institute stingent public procurement system
12. Sack and replace all the current departmental heads and heads of Statutory bodies
13. Stop any further infrastructure development
14. Salary review for expatriate contract officers both in public and private sectors
15. Immediately deal with all the corrupt cases and investigate all the bureaucratic heads, starting with the current Prime Minister
16. Repatriate all the illegal foreigners including those illegally operating businesses and working in PNG
17. Reinstitute Task Force Sweep Team
18. Empower local businesses and open doors for local participation in SMEs
14. New budget paper MUST be recurrent focused until we fully recover.

With these and other important but critical policy matters PNG should be fully serviced to be on the road again!

What is critical now is A RECOVERY EXERCISE.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How SMEs can beef up PNG's Economic Growth

Image
By Willie Mell INTRODUCTION PNG is among the very few lucky countries on the planet, abundantly blessed with all the natural resources! It is referred to as " an island of gold, floating in a sea of oil, surrounded by gas" . We have all the natural resources on the land and in the sea that other countries wish to have.  Better still, and geographically, we are located on a very prime spot in the Asia Pacific region to facilitate trade and commerce to our neighbours - we can provide an ideal trade route to our advantage!  But despite our obvious economic potentials and being  a sleeping economic giant, we are rated as one of the poorest countries in the world by living standards!  Why are we being so rich in natural resources yet rated so poor? What can we do to improve our conditions, and reach our full economic potential? And, is it possible to reach our full potential? Let's study some basic economics and see if these important questions can be put t...
Read more

A reason to consider provincial or regional autonomy by PNG government

Image
We are thousand different tribes distinctly peculiar. We are actually a nation made up of a thousand plus nations. We are united nations. The roots of our distinct thousand languages and cultures took 50k - 60k years to evolve! White men came to our shores only 100 ago with their language and culture. What is 100 years compared to 50k - 60k years of cultural and linguistic evolutions! We learn and adopt the white men's culture but is superficial. Deep down are our own distinct ways of life. We can never be as developed as China, Japan, Germany,  England, France, etc under our current system of government! A federal system of government  like the USA could work well for us given our circumstances. Give each province autonomy, and let each run its own affairs. Our current state is like, someone's intending a superior solution (product) by mixing clay and iron! The Tower of Babylon could reach the sky if the builders still spoke the same language. But conf...
Read more