Commentary by CYRIL GARE – freelance journalist
Since the first national general election in 1964, no serving Prime Minister had been dismissed from Office for breaching the Leadership Code. This has been the pathway to the 11th Parliament today. Certainly, it will not be James Marape in this term of Parliament either.
The closest being in 2011 when the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare was suspended for two weeks as PM for his failure to submit complete annual returns to the Ombudsman Commission.
No death.
Also, no PM has died while in office. GC Sir Michael was removed by Parliament for being unfit when he was undergoing medical treatment in Singapore in 2011. The Supreme Court ruled his removal unconstitutional since expert opinion was not sought. But Parliament under PM Peter O’Neill ignored the ruling.
Validity of PM’s election.
Parliament’s election of the PM has had some challenges over time including Marape’s own election. Of all, the Court has ruled that only one such election was invalid and that was of PM Paias Wingti in the ‘snap resignation and re-election’ in 1993. On 23 September that year, as the 18-month grace period was coming to an end, Wingti secretly resigned, hoping to be re-elected the next day and enjoy a fresh 18-month grace period. When Speaker Bill Skate announced the vacancy and call for nomination the next day, Opposition MPs protested and left the chamber. Government MPs proceeded to elect Wingti as PM. A year later, the Supreme Court ruled the re-election of Paias Wingti to be invalid.
Votes of No Confidence
Outside an election, a vote of no confidence (VoNC) is only one such mechanism Parliament can utilize to change a PM.
PNG’s constitution provides for the dismissal of the prime minister from office for breaching the Leadership Code (s. 142(5)(a)), removal from office on health grounds (s. 142(5)(c)), suspension from office pending an investigation (s. 142(6)), as well as removal through a vote of no confidence (ss. 105 and 145). A vacancy can also occur if the prime minister resigns, dies or has his election invalidated by the courts.
Changes in government following motions of no-confidence (VoNC) have been a characteristic of PNG politics since independence. In total, PNG has had nine prime ministers elected on the floor of Parliament following a general election, but only two have completed their terms: Michael Somare (2002 to 2007) and Peter O’Neill (2012 to 2017). As mentioned above, Somare was replaced by Peter O’Neill in 2011 on the disputed grounds of ill-health. Three PMs have been replaced through votes of no confidence (Somare by Julius Chan in 1980, Somare by Wingti in 1986, and Wingti by Rabbie Namaliu in 1988) and three others resigned to avoid a vote of no confidence (Wingti in 1993, Skate in 1998 and O’Neill in 2019).
The Price We Pay.
In politics we have formed government 18 times in the last 48 years so that’s like 32 months for every government on average. If I break it down to details you had the following governments;
1. 1975 Somare Government
2. 1977 Somare Government
3. 1980 Chan Government
4. 1982 Somare Government
5. 1985 Wingti Government
6. 1987 Wingti Government
7. 1988 Namaliu Government
8. 1992 Wingti Government
9. 1995 Chan Government
10. 1997 Skate Government
11. 1999 Mekere Government
12. 2002 Somare Government
13. 2007 Somare Government
14. 2011 O’Niel Government
15. 2012 O’Niel Government
16. 2017 O’Niel Government
17. 2019 Marape Government
18. 2022 Marape Government.
In our 48 years of being a nation, we have witnessed our elected leaders forming government 18 times and apart from Somare’s 2002 to 2007 and O’Neill’s 2012 to 2017 where full five-year terms were served out, rest of governments were two years to four year Governments.
Simply put, we had more political instability in the years when we were supposed to be stable to grow our country.
It cost us dearly though as seen here on the United Nations’ Human Development Index (HDI) rating of PNG:
• 1975 PNG ranked 77th;
• 2004 PNG dropped to 139th place;
• 2008 PNG plummeted to 149th placing;
• 2012 PNG further plummeted to 156th placing;
• 2018 PNG shrinking further to 178th placing.
In 1975, our economy was K2 billion. In 2002 our economy was K17 billion. In 27 years in the hands of 12 of the 18 Governments, we have only able to grow the economy by a mere K15 billion.
No wonder we were unable to educate more skilled people, fix law and order, build health and education facilities, develop enabling infrastructures, etc. Some 37 countries had passed us on development ratings.
We were simply playing politics and not growing the economy. Stable politics, stable policies and positive economy. Compare China and the ‘Tiger Economies’ in the ASEAN.
In PNG we saw only a snippet of this stable politics and policies that lead to economic growth. We envy it but never achieve it. When Somare came back in 2002, he took over an economy that was in recession. Inflation was in double digits, Forex was in the negatives and Kina was selling at 0.16 cents to name a few macroeconomic indicators.
How can a government work constructively in 2 or 3 or 4 years. Somare was just settling in after 1977 General elections and Chan took over in 1980.
What much can Chan do in 1981 because he was facing 1982 elections which saw the return of Somare after the General Elections. Pangu Pati under Somare won 82 of 109 seats in this election and formed a one-party Government then. But Somare was revived by Wingti only 2 years after in 1985 and Wingti would have been busy defending his government’s survival because vote of no confidence was allowed every six months back then.
Wingti may have won 1987 National General elections but lost to Namaliu in 1988, so you ask yourself whether it’s fair we blame him for not doing much for the country.
Political instability via VoNCs has cost us dearly and impact with serious ramifications today.
Bougainville War.
In late 70’s, the Panguna mine landowners submitted a proposal to government to pay them some environmental compensation plus a 2% royalty. But the various government changes and the consequential turnover of public service heads saw no one in Government machinery handling the Bougainville and Panguna issues seriously only for the issues to explode in 1988 when Namaliu was PM.
Today 48 years later we lived through 10 years of Bougainville crisis that cost more than 20,000 lives, millions in property destruction and huge economic burden for PNG with a 97.7 % referendum vote for Bougainville Independence. This is a huge price we pay for political instability.
Political instability has a detrimental effect on the progress of our country. Investors will be uncertain, policies will not mature to delivery and public service will be dysfunctional.
No new government will have a magic pill to fix our country overnight or in one or two years as it has been the last 48 years.
Therefore, in a call of duty and servitude, all Papua New Guineans must simply hold your government to account for work now and allow them to work. If they don’t deliver then we vote then out of office in 2027.
Unless the incumbent Government is corrupt and abusive there is really no need for change in mid-term.
And you don’t get a PM from outside, you pick from within Parliament so if you are to change an incumbent then the new PM must be better than the present one to unite the country, to fight for the country and to work hard for the country and not for self-interest.
Quality Leadership.
We must seek efficacies of quality leadership which lie in the understanding and sound knowledge of the basic principles of natural law known as Character Ethics. These principles are as old as beginning of human civilization and are part of human consciousness and conscience. These principles are secret behind every family and institution that has survived and succeeded. They are fundamental for successful and effective living. Character ethics must not be confused with Personality Ethics.
The principles of character ethics are used in all societies to make and judge a leader. These principles are:
- Integrity: The spirit of being honest and morally uncorrupt;
- Humility: The spirit of not being boastful or not being big time;
- Fidelity: The spirit of being faithful to principles and to one’s wife or husband;
- Temperance: The spirit of self restrain and self control:
- Courage: The spirit of not being afraid to stand for what is right:
- Patience: The spirit of accepting delays and problems without complaining;
- Industry: The spirit of being hard working;
- Simplicity: The spirit of living without luxury;
- Service: The Spirit of working for others;
- Modesty: The spirit of not being a show off;
- Excellence: The spirit of promoting high quality and not accepting mediocrity;
- Growth: The spirit of releasing potential and developing talents;
- Fairness: The spirit of not favoring a particular person or group; and
- Human Dignity: The spirit of treating everyone with respect.
Personality ethics, on the contrary, is without substance. It never gives the true picture because people use public relations techniques to get others to like them. Personality ethics is like a TV commercial. The commercial tells us how great a product is; we know the commercial is not everything the commercial says it is, but we buy the product because our minds have been tricked by the advertisement.
Personality ethics is clever and is used to fool people. It’s about public image, quick-fix influence techniques, power strategies and communication skills. The big appeal of personality ethics is the thinking that there is an easy way to achieve the quality of life without going through the natural process of work and growth.
It’s a get-rich-quick scheme but only results in failure and disappointment because people will not be fooled forever.
