By MALUM
NALU
Papua New Guinea has one last
throw of the dice if it is to be put on a sound financial footing, according to
Public Enterprises Minister Sir Mekere Morauta, The National reports.
He said when welcoming Air
Niugini’s new Boeing 737 to Port Moresby on Wednesday that the ace up the
sleeve was the new Sovereign Wealth Fund.
“I have suggested that the
Sovereign Wealth Fund should earmark dividend flows from PNG LNG ‑ about K500 million
per year – to be used to recapitalise our public enterprises, and to pay for
the maintenance of national infrastructure
- roads, ports, airports, universities, hospitals - and the provision of
rural infrastructure,” Sir Mekere said.
12mnmekere: The shame of Lae...the road leading to the Nadzab Airport is ridden with potholes.-Nationalpic by MALUM NALU |
“I hope that the next government
sees the wisdom and practicality of that.
“I also hope that it does not
succumb to the temptation of winning political popularity contests – looking good
but doing nothing and achieving nothing to solve our deep-seated problems.
“Governments and politicians are
there to make decisions in the national interest, not to please vested
interests or to entrench themselves in the comfortable seats of Parliament
House.
“Most importantly I hope that it
does not listen to the ignorant, self-interested mauswara that the opponents of reform inflict on us.
“Most recently vested interests
and would-be politicians opposed NEC’s proposed solution to the constant power
blackouts that the national capital suffers.
“The anonymous arguments they put
in support of their case were non- arguments.
“What they served up to the
nation through the media – in particular with the connivance of the Post-Courier – was politically
motivated and self-serving nonsense consisting of falsehoods, rumour, innuendo
and smear.
“Facts appear to be a
non-essential item in public debate these days.
“How long are we going to allow
tens of thousands of families to suffer every day because there is no
electricity for mothers to cook with or lights for children to do their
homework by?
“How long are we going to allow
people – the old, the very young, the ill and the frail – to be put at risk
because there is no power or water?
“Why should we allow the job
prospects of our children to be crippled because rather than hiring more
workers, business needs to spend its money on generators and fuel?
“These are the consequences of
the opposition to the reforms that the nation so desperately needs.”
Sir Mekere said it was his hope
that the incoming government would make decisions based on the fact that the
people of PNG owned public enterprises.
“Not unions and employees,” he
said.
“Not directors and management.
“The people own public enterprises
through their elected representatives.
“And elected representatives have
a duty to make decisions in the national interest.
“Elected representatives are
empowered directly by the people, and the people are the owners of these
assets.
“One of the biggest failures we
have as a nation is that decision-making is often on the basis of political
convenience or pandering to sectional interests.
“It is my hope that the new government
has the determination and the wisdom to make decisions solely on the basis of
the common good.
“If the new Government does not
prevent decision-making from being hijacked, we will continue our increasingly
rapid slide down a slippery slope.”
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