Politics
How did Sir Mekere Perform in the Past Two Years?
The challenges facing a special PM
The streaks of gray in his hair and beard looked to have multiplied too quickly in a very short space of time. Whether it is old age, pressure from work, effects of an illness or all three combined are one's close observations that could only be qualified by the man himself if he so desires to do so. But physically, the man has grown grayer than at this time two years ago.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta, who marked two years in office on July 14, has survived some of the most tumultuous challenges faced by any past prime minister in the nation¹s short history. He may not have won hearts. But his exuberance, strength and determination in standing firm by his mission statement, has made him a special leader.
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Among the many critical observers, The National, one of the country¹s two daily newspapers, has described him with the words such as "True leader at last for PNG", in an editorial on July 25.
Writing in support of his two years in government, The National views him as the only politician who¹s prepared to take the necessary and unpopular steps to rescue a country tottering towards oblivion.
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"He is an experienced economist, a man who had mixed readily with a cross section of society, a man of apparent probity, and a man with both the vision, and the determination to make the vision become a reality," The National said.
He inherited the running of a country with a beleaguered economy and a bureaucracy that was riddled with widespread corruption. It was a period of low income and low employment, high prices, falling value of the local currency, the Kina, high interest rates, and deteriorating health and education services. Compounding this were depleting government cash reserves and a widening gap in the country¹s relations with its traditional foreign partners.
As the country's first local finance secretary, and as the former managing director of the Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation and the Governor of the Bank of PNG, he has the knowledge and experience to make a difference. He has so far lived up to this expectation. He had identified the problems and moved immediately to institute wide-ranging economic reforms.
He also moved to re-establish ties with foreign partners and donor agencies, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He secured loans from Australia, Japan and China and the International Monetary Fund/World Bank.
Part of the reform process involved the privatisation of government-owned institutions and statutory authorities. This alone has caused him the worst of his nightmares. Opposition to the programme and the involvement of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank by unions and students has been ferocious, culminating with the recent violent unrest in Port Moresby. This led to the deaths of four people and widespread destruction of properties in the city. But it was this unrest also that earned him the attention he is currently receiving. He laid bare in Parliament on July 25, the facts and figures relating to the poor financial state of some of the institutions, which are the reasons why they should be privatised.
Morauta said institutions such as Telekom PNG, Elcom, the Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation and Air Niugini had been run down to near bankruptcy since the country's independence in 1975. They had suffered incompetence, nepotism and corruption. "Much of the criticisms of the World Bank, the IMF and the Australian advisors and other friends of Papua New Guinea are simply dishonest, and deliberately designed to cause political mischief and disruption," he said.
The National said: "During the past nine months Sir Mekere has been pilloried by the ignorant, white-anted by the ambitious, vilified by those whose appalling records speak for themselves, and ridiculed as the inept patsy of hidden power-brokers.
"But on July 25, in one starkly memorable address to Parliament, the Prime Minister once again displayed his true mettle and re-kindled hope for PNG and its people."
His other major challenge came when he attempted to trim down a largely unmanageable Papua New Guinea Defence Force based on recommendations of a Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group report. Soldiers revolted by arming themselves with weapons, which they forcefully removed from an armory at the Defence Force headquarters in Port Moresby in March.
The mutineers demanded that the government shelve the report. Morauta, who refused to meet with the soldiers, succumbed to their demands finally to prevent any further escalation of trouble.
He has also given in to the demands of the student-led demonstrators in the recent Port Moresby unrest.
In both cases, he felt insulted and demeaned, not in himself as a person but for the high office in the land to which he is the supreme custodian. A precedent of this trend of attitude, had been set during the 1996 Sandline crisis.
Former Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan received a double blow when his government's secret plan to engage mercenaries from the London-based Sandline International company to wipe out secessionist rebels in the country's trouble-torn Bougainville island became public.
Protestors, with the support of armed soldiers, forced his resignation and eventually caused his defeat in the 1997 elections.
Morauta had brushed aside the soldiers revolt and the Port Moresby unrest, branding them as only mischief aimed at forcing him to quit the job. He is moving on with privatisation and other structural and economic reforms.
However, Morauta's biggest challenge now is to live up to the political pressures within his government and his political party, the People's Democratic Movement, in order to see the fruits of his reforms. He has unfortunately been the leader of a party which largely controls and influences his decisions. It is public knowledge that former Prime Minister and party founder Paias Wingti has a lot of hand in the running of the government.
Many observers see this as the major negative aspect of his governance. It has already attracted enough bad publicity and if he allowed it to continue, it might eventually lead to the destruction of not only his good works but also his chances in next June's elections.
His government has been besotted with instability within. In most cases, he had to act against his own better judgement in making decisions, which were often in the best interest of the party. The sacking of the nation¹s most respected man, and first Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare as a minister in his government, did not go down well with many.
The pressures have also forced him to allow the government to use its numerical strength to adjourn Parliament for six months. The reason for the adjournment was to avoid a constitutional loophole for vote-of-no-confidence.
Neither this nor the continuous appointment of political cronies to senior government positions have won him any votes either.
The Papua New Guinea Guinea Trade Union Congress general secretary John Paska has rated Morauta¹s performance as five out of 10.
He said Morauta tried his best in a lot of situations. But like all past prime ministers, the rhetoric has come while the reality did not come. He said when Morauta took office one of his objectives was to restore integrity in government.
He said while he attempted to give substance to the objectives, there was a lot of crisscrossing going on, especially with his party wooing more support in parliament. "This shows the double-face of the man," he said.
Paska said the other aspect of Morauta's governance related to the appointments of cronies to senior government positions. "This has been happening right under the man's nose. I've lost the trust and confidence in the man," he said.
Paska also said that in terms of economic reforms and the World Bank¹s support of Morauta they not necessarily agree with the reality.
He said the World Bank's view is not the same view expressed by the man on the street.
He said there are now more street vendors selling things on the streets to make a living than before and the gap between the poor and rich is widening every day. He cited a United Nations Development Programme report, which rates Papua New Guinea as the most unequal nation in the Asia/Pacific region. He said the report rated the country on a 20:20 ratio with the top 20 percent accounting for the 56 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the bottom 20 accounted for only 4.5 percent of the GDP.
Morauta¹s only achievement in the political arena appeared to be the passage of the Political Integrity Act, aimed at creating stability in future governments. Among other things, it would stop members from jumping seats during the taking of votes in parliament. It means that when an MP registers with a party during an election, he remains with the party throughout the term of the parliament.
