By GEORGINA MICHAEL
Former Deputy Prime Minister Charles Abel says strong leadership and good governance are essential for Papua New Guinea’s future growth.
“It is 50 years and we are proud as Papua New Guineans who have made it this far, there is no doubt that this is a difficult country to administer and the Bougainville crisis is a cleaning example with a diversity of languages but at the same time we have to stop making excuses with a relatively small population and a great history,” Mr Abel said.
He was speaking during the Southern Region Seminar at the University of Papua New Guinean, hosted by the Students Representative Council.
“It’s time to take advantage of the opportunities from being in the capital however we Papuans make a lot of excuses. We have the land and resources and we have good leadership to utilize our land, getting partnership, working with the government, demonstrating leadership, unifying the community and getting things done. All of these can be done, it just needs good leadership and opportunities.”
The former Alotau MP also expressed concern about the dominant role of the Executive Government.
“The executive government in this country is too dominant and that is unconstitutional. The lesser the government involvement with the state-owned enterprises, the more human development we can have,” Mr Abel said.
“When it comes to the economy, the government is too involved and needs to empower the private sector. It needs to be a regulator and a facilitator and the whole thing is wrong and it starts with the issue of the executive government wanting to be involved in everything that leads to corruption, dysfunctionality and inefficiency and all the other things that tend to affect our country in terms of businesses and people.
“We have to harvest our resources better because the focus on the government is not correct, more action is needed. The government’s focus should be on our people, the country’s population is growing at a faster rate than the economy.
He added that leadership and good governance needed to be addressed critically.
“Transparency, accountability and reporting needs to came into play when it comes to State owned enterprises,” Mr Abel said.