RESTORE POLITICAL STABILITY
NOW that Members of Parliament are now longer bound by the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC), the air in Waigani is filled with rumours of secret meetings to topple Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.
The meetings, we hear, are being held by political parties, or factions within parties, and different little groupings from both the government and opposition.
Make no mistake. The silly season is on, and political hangers-on and fat cats are coming out of the woodworks to stake their claim, holding themselves out as seasoned brokers who have been in the game, seen it and done it all before, but banished to the wilderness for almost 10 years because of OLIPPAC.
It is the opportune time for them and those Members of Parliament who feel their freedom has been curtailed for too long.
They will hold secret meetings, often in dark places or under the cover of darkness, and send messages out containing their demands. “Give us this, and that, and we will make sure you stay in government. If you don’t, we will deliver the government to the other side.” There is no place for integrity in this exercise, and they know it.
You kind of get the feeling we are beginning to slip back into the murky waters of political instability. You sense that the art of shifting the goal post in the middle of the game is returning.
It was not a mistake when the government of prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta introduced and enacted OLIPPAC in 1999. PNG suffered a lot in the period prior to the law coming into being. No one can deny there existed a political environment where unprincipled MPs and their cohorts ran riot, holding prime ministers at ransom to all kinds of demand.
They kept prime ministers and governments busy playing the numbers game, manoeuvering to remain in office, rather than govern the country and attend to the development needs of the people.
PNG needed a law to guard against these leaders without integrity, to safeguard the institutions of government that should be working for the people.
OLIPPAC was enacted with noble intentions in 1999. Other legislations were also introduced by the government of Sir Mekere at the time, to reform the public service and the financial and banking sector.
In the financial sector, we have seen the Central Bank made independent and free from government interference, and given more regulatory powers. The superannuation funds have recovered from almost total collapse, and returning handsome dividends for members annually. The PNG Banking Corporation, once a cash cow for politicians and their cronies and nearing bankruptcy, was merged with BSP and it is now the biggest commercial bank in the country, branching out to other countries in the region.
The OLIPPAC ensured PNG finally provided a stable political climate and, in the years since its inception, investors started returning to the country. The economic growth enjoyed by the country today, and the promises the LNG project offers for us, can be related to this law.
Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court declared that parts of the OLIPPAC were unconstitutional and rendered them of no force and effect.
We welcome this ruling, because our Constitution is supreme, and all laws passed by Parliament, whether they be to regulate how we extract our natural resources, how our MPs conduct themselves or how we engage with others, these laws must be in line with, or consistent with, our Constitution.
We must protect our Constitution at all cost, now and for generations to come, because it is the foundation of our great nation.
Our leaders now have a duty to return to Parliament to review the law that has been struck down. If they feel OLIPPAC should be revived, they have the mandate from the people to do just that, as long as the law does not trample on our Constitution.
PNG can ill-afford to lose the gains a stable political environment has brought to our shores.
The meetings, we hear, are being held by political parties, or factions within parties, and different little groupings from both the government and opposition.
Make no mistake. The silly season is on, and political hangers-on and fat cats are coming out of the woodworks to stake their claim, holding themselves out as seasoned brokers who have been in the game, seen it and done it all before, but banished to the wilderness for almost 10 years because of OLIPPAC.
It is the opportune time for them and those Members of Parliament who feel their freedom has been curtailed for too long.
They will hold secret meetings, often in dark places or under the cover of darkness, and send messages out containing their demands. “Give us this, and that, and we will make sure you stay in government. If you don’t, we will deliver the government to the other side.” There is no place for integrity in this exercise, and they know it.
You kind of get the feeling we are beginning to slip back into the murky waters of political instability. You sense that the art of shifting the goal post in the middle of the game is returning.
It was not a mistake when the government of prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta introduced and enacted OLIPPAC in 1999. PNG suffered a lot in the period prior to the law coming into being. No one can deny there existed a political environment where unprincipled MPs and their cohorts ran riot, holding prime ministers at ransom to all kinds of demand.
They kept prime ministers and governments busy playing the numbers game, manoeuvering to remain in office, rather than govern the country and attend to the development needs of the people.
PNG needed a law to guard against these leaders without integrity, to safeguard the institutions of government that should be working for the people.
OLIPPAC was enacted with noble intentions in 1999. Other legislations were also introduced by the government of Sir Mekere at the time, to reform the public service and the financial and banking sector.
In the financial sector, we have seen the Central Bank made independent and free from government interference, and given more regulatory powers. The superannuation funds have recovered from almost total collapse, and returning handsome dividends for members annually. The PNG Banking Corporation, once a cash cow for politicians and their cronies and nearing bankruptcy, was merged with BSP and it is now the biggest commercial bank in the country, branching out to other countries in the region.
The OLIPPAC ensured PNG finally provided a stable political climate and, in the years since its inception, investors started returning to the country. The economic growth enjoyed by the country today, and the promises the LNG project offers for us, can be related to this law.
Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court declared that parts of the OLIPPAC were unconstitutional and rendered them of no force and effect.
We welcome this ruling, because our Constitution is supreme, and all laws passed by Parliament, whether they be to regulate how we extract our natural resources, how our MPs conduct themselves or how we engage with others, these laws must be in line with, or consistent with, our Constitution.
We must protect our Constitution at all cost, now and for generations to come, because it is the foundation of our great nation.
Our leaders now have a duty to return to Parliament to review the law that has been struck down. If they feel OLIPPAC should be revived, they have the mandate from the people to do just that, as long as the law does not trample on our Constitution.
PNG can ill-afford to lose the gains a stable political environment has brought to our shores.
Terry, while political stability is one of the things we want, OLIPPAC delivered that at the expense of political integrity. How can a politican be presented from voting on the national budget ? It seems so ludricrous.
ReplyDeleteOne politican who seems to have integrity in his bones is Dr Allan MARAT.
He has stuck to his guns, much to his demise, but has consistenly debated the issue of integrity. Whether he can ge the numbers to get a seat on the next political bus remains to be seen.