Papua New Guinea MPs out of touch with reality

By IAN TAUKURO

 

What was your reaction to the news in both dailies today that our MP's have voted themselves a hefty increase for housing and vehicle allowances? Was it shock? Exasperation? Or, all of this and more?

Well, I'm just as outraged as you my brother's and sisters!

For one thing, don't you think it is an appalling act in light of the flooding disaster in the highlands which has affected many people there? (As I understand it relief supplies and assistance in general for the affected people is quite slow in getting to the affected areas.)

I mean, how can the king eat cake when his people are starving? (Imagine the MP's in the Australian parliament voting themselves a pay rise while the Victorian bushfires raged!) 

Yes, once again, our MP's have demonstrated that they are truly out of touch with the rest of us who do hard time day in, day out.

In the rarefied air of that plush Haus Tambaran, they are snugly cocooned, isolated even and, as a result, rendered oblivious to the real life situation in PNG. Just take a look around the place ... our children's schools are falling apart, the roads in our country remain in a perpetual state of disrepair and our nurses, who only want a few more kina for their efforts, keep getting the run-around from the government.

Add to this the low morale of the entire public service as a result of ineffectual management, low pay, no housing, etc, and you have the makings of a civil service on the verge of collapse.

While this deplorable state of affairs goes on and on and on, billions of kina that could be used to improve the situation lie unused and, hopefully untouched too, in trust accounts.

What really gets me about what the MP's have done is that they have the power to regulate the housing industry/market through legislation so that prices and rentals are made more affordable for everyone but, no, they choose the easy and convenient way out: more pay in their wallets so they can afford an apartment in Touaguba and perhaps a Humvee too!

I was going to end my email here and send it off into cyberspace for you all to read and digest but I happened across the item in The Drum of the Post-Courier about an MP seen playing computer games on his laptop while parliament was in session ... Enough words! Somebody please take a flamethrower to that building ... NOW!!!!!

 

Ian