THE good Prime Minister has done something that warrants commendation and respect.
Very few leaders willingly submit their terms in office to scrutiny.
Yet, recently, Prime Minister James Marape directed that a review of the use of K57.2 billion allocated under the Public Investment Programme across the full seven years of his tenure be done.
That is either remarkable courage or foolhardiness and the end of this process will determine which it is.
But in the interest of transparency and accountability, about which every tongue wags but little action follows, this is truly a remarkable moment.
The Prime Minister knows the result of this review will fall on his head.
Yet he persists.
Book keeping is not PNG’s strong point. Every public accounts report produces a litany of errors too numerous to recount in this space.
There will be gaping holes in budgetary allocations and actual expenditures, unexplained disappearances of funds, and mismatches in the reporting of public expenditures.
Warrant releases will not always follow budget allocations or implementation schedules.
Aware of these shortfalls, Marape has directed the review regardless.
“Every toea must work for our people,” he said as he ordered the review.
“For too long, corruption has stolen opportunities from ordinary Papua New Guineans. That era is over.
“My government will ensure that development money builds real change in villages, towns, and provinces. We owe it to our people, and we will deliver.”
If the review discovers development has been botched under his watch, as early indications already show, the whole thing will be lumped upon the Prime Minister.
Everything has happened under his watch.
Aware of this he still persists and that is commendable, heart-warming honesty.
As he always likes to say, the Prime Minister’s post is not his by birth right.
What good a holder of the PM’s post can render, he must do so immediately, for tomorrow the shifting sands of time and circumstances might change.
And when historians remark upon the legacy of James Marape, one thing that will stick out is the fact that he arrested runaway expenditure, greed and corruption, risking government and his personal reputation in the process.
As a result of the PM’s direction, Papua New Guinea is drawing a firm line against the reckless culture of signing cheques without accountability and persistent greed eating away at the government complex. The K57.2 billion Public Investment Programme (PIP) allocated across seven years represents not just numbers on paper, but the blood, sweat, and sacrifices of the nation’s taxpayers.
Every kina disbursed must now translate into real roads, schools, bridges, hospitals, and services that citizens can see and touch.
The National Monitoring and Coordinating Authority (NMCA), another of Marape’s legacies, has been tasked to trace every toea of this money trail.
NMCA, headed by career public servant David Wereh, is parked immediately under the PM in the department of Prime Minister and NEC.
Its establishment marks a powerful shift signalling, hopefully, the end of the era of inflated contracts, ghost projects, and corruption hiding under the guise of development.
Those who continue to manipulate the system will be exposed, and the people will know who betrayed their trust.
Accounting firm, Deloitte, is engaged so that there can be no allegation of rigged audits within government ranks.
As one insider put it: “This landmark audit is not about politics; it is about restoring faith in government and giving confidence to the Pangu-led administration under Prime Minister James Marape.”
Many have been the institutions that have been created to fight graft and corruption.
The NMCA is the latest of them but it has perhaps a deeper role: To review not only what has happened but to also look at how systems and processes have operated.
Its mandate is to ensure that the national development agenda is no longer hijacked by greed but driven by accountability, transparency, and results.
That should not attract resistance, that is all too apparent at present, but acceptance and support to reset the development agenda at 50.
