Open letter to Rt Hon. Peter O’Neill CMG MP, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea and his Cabinet

My Dear Prime Minister,

It is almost 9 months since your legitimate rise to Power through the Ballot Box putting behind a tumultuous reign of political brinkmanship that brought our country to the verge of collapse – because you used Parliament wrongly to flout the laws of the land. However you are a smart man and it was indeed clever of you to get your new Attorney General to start the process to undo the damage done to our parliamentary democracy; and the separation of power doctrine that you conveniently discarded during the political impasse.

History has shown us that nations and particularly the younger generation do not judge their leaders lightly on charges of abuse of power and political corruption. Mubarak in Egypt and Musharraf in Pakistan are the two latest leaders in a long line of Presidents and Prime Ministers hauled before the courts after leaving office to face charges of abuse of power. For you Prime Minister O’Neill that time is still light years away.

In the 9 months since your outstanding victory in Pangia, you have demonstrated yet again that you are ready to take risks and make the hard decisions that will take PNG with you on a path to greatness. Your confirmation as Prime Minister certainly shows a grateful parliament that just wants to get on with the agenda and art of governing in an environment of certainty.

The young and old of Papua New Guinea are watching your leadership as we have watched the other former PMs. You will be judged by not what you say or how you say it. To the contrary they will see and examine the resultant actions from what you have said and done by your actions and indeed your deeds.

Of all the decisions made by you over the last nine months the most telling has been over the future of the OK Tedi Mine and the role your Government and Cabinet will play in respect to the development of our rich resource sector. Like many educated Papua New Guineans, I am excited about this future and believe in your ability to take us on this new and exciting journey into the future.

While you do not have to justify your Prime Ministership, many Papua New Guineans still remember the prominent role you played in the Government of the Late Sir Bill Skate and the Era of binge drinking, Budget blow outs and reckless spending. The nation and the government institutions have never recovered from a lot of the side effects of that governance, to this date.

Writing to you as your former president from the UPNG student union days, I must say how pleased I am to see that the composition of Parliament today and your National Cabinet in particular has given me great hope in knowing that the ideals we all shared as student leaders for a greater prosperity for our Nation and our people may in fact be realized in this term of the Parliament.

Your legacy and contribution to this country under your watch will be greatly measured by and against how you propose to deal with Ok Tedi Mine, the Frieda Mine and major financial and resources issues which will have a telling effect on the population in the many tens of decades to come. Will you take us through a path of personal self-enrichment or few elite empowerments or will you use the opportunity that God has given you to take this country to greater heights that can be achieved by leaders with great insight?

Your position gives you the unique opportunity to leave behind a lasting and enduring legacy.

I believe in your Prime Ministership and that with proper direction from you, your Cabinet can rise to the occasion in using our new found wealth in dealing with the scourge of poverty and ignorance that enslaves our Nation and to remove it from our lexicon. With you as the leading figure of our generation we must use the opportunity now and leave behind for our children a nation that is more inclusive, a nation that can create its wealth and then use it wisely to underwrite Health, Education, clean water, power and housing - not only for the working class citizens of our country that live in our towns and cities but to also provide for the rural majority that live in some 10,000 villages that make up Papua New Guinea.

Many people that read this letter will wonder how a country can achieve and realize this dream that we all share. If a mosquito infested swamp like Singapore can, within half our life span and without resources, raise to the worlds pinnacle we can do ten times better. All we need is the leadership, the vision and foresight from the man on top of the Haus Tambaran to walk the path to greatness.

You in particular must know that by taking 100% control of Ok Tedi Mine the State will now be placed, for the first time in our history, to use the mine as a major tool of leverage to propel the States exclusive role in the ownership and exploitation of our natural wealth for our collective good without recourse to foreign ownership and control over our resources.

Already the Australian Press led by writers such as Rowan Callick and Michael Pascoe have in recent days begun the battle for the hearts and minds of the intellectually inclined by generating distorted and negative views about PNG under your watch.

Internationally, the foreign press is skeptical about our ability in handling the enormous wealth that will be generated in the months ahead particularly in view of the fact that many Members of Parliament and Government Departments have failed to provide acquittals and audits in the expenditure of Public Funds and that State agencies such as the police force and the Ombudsmen have failed to prosecute those that have been reported to misuse public funds.

It is also depressing to see that we continue to fail to provide adequate medical care to our 7 million people and in protecting our women particularly against the heinous crime of Witch Burning and domestic violence. However on a positive note, one man’s problem is another man’s opportunity, one generations failure is another generations chance. Therefore the past problems and failures is your opportunity to leave a legacy and change the course of this nation.

Nationally, your view on Ok Tedi and its future has generated excitement in the Sepik Provinces with respect to the development of the Frieda Mine. As you know, with total ownership of Ok Tedi there is nothing stopping the National Government in taking over 100% ownership of Frieda Mine in conjunction with the Provincial Governments of East and West Sepik Provinces. The ownership of our mines will importantly necessitate its finance and insurance and that in itself has much wider implication in our finance, insurance and banking industry. Therein lays the bigger issue of how your Government will use its new-found wealth to use the finance and insurance industries to underwrite Health, Education and Housing for the 7 million people who are residing throughout the breadth and width of this nation. For example, Sir Mekere empowered BSP in his term to be a truly national bank that is all over PNG.

I am sure you have given thought to these issues and will use your best judgment to ensure that the PNG Sovereign Wealth Fund is used wisely to enhance the viability of our Finance, Insurance and Banking Industry.

The Finance, Insurance and Banking Industry is the very base on which any nation builds its future, because it is the only conduit by which inclusive development takes place in any nation (for example Singapore, Malaysia and China) and this will help propel PNG into a middle income Nation that our Generation aspires to create and bequeath to our Children.

Please, my Prime Minister, no other person or country can underwrite our inner felt aims, objectives and our desires than ourselves - no matter how genuine they are. And history is the judge of this.

Gabriel Ramoi, LLB