​IT ALWAYS SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL IT'S DONE.TIME FOR PNG TO STAND UP AND COMBAT CORRUPTION

"It always seems impossible until it's done."
- Nelson Mandela

That one sentence matters now more than ever. In Papua New Guinea today, corruption stands like a mountain in front of the people. It looks too big, too powerful, and too connected to fight. But mountains move when people decide to push.

Under the Marape Government, corruption is rising faster than the price of rice and fuel in the markets. Every week brings new stories that are about corruption, missing money, malfunctioning public service, law and order issues, and many more bad practices. ​

K100 million to K100 billion kina missing per month from time to time. Ghost projects on paper purposely to steal state funds. Contracts given to wantoks. Medical supplies that never reach the clinics. School funds that never buy desks and other necessities. Roads promised that never get built.

Across the villages, communities feel it directly. Proposals are written for basic services as K300,000 to little K100, 000 for a community SME project to serve 3,000 people are not approved. Little projects to serve the community responsibilities are ignored by government officials. 

Land and labor contribute to starting up small medium businesses in the communities. Yet the waiting continues while big money disappears in Waigani with no explanation and no accountability.

The young, the old, and the voiceless ask the same question: "Why bother? The big men will just steal it anyway." The answer must be this: "It always seems impossible until it's done."

That is the truth about corruption. It survives on silence. It survives when people say, "This is just PNG way." It survives when good people decide the fight is too hard.

But history shows a different path. Every major change in this country started with ordinary people who refused to accept that "impossible" was the final answer.

The Bougainville crisis seemed impossible to end until the people chose peace over guns. The introduction of DSIP and PSIP seemed impossible until districts demanded control of their own money. The fight against sorcery-related violence seemed impossible until churches, women, and communities stood up together and said, "No more."

Government corruption is no different. It only looks permanent because the job of stopping it has not been finished. That job was not finished until the last toea reaching the child in the classroom, the patient in the clinic, and the farmer on the road.

The fight must continue until it is done. The fight is not just about protesting or posting on Facebook. The fight is practical.

First, transparency must be demanded at every level. Every district, every LLG, and every department must publish where the money goes. Quarterly reports should be placed on notice boards in Tok Pisin and English. Community leaders must ask for acquittals. Projects must be photographed. Signboards with costs must be erected at every project site. When leaders know the people are watching, decisions change.

Second, the systems already in place must be used. The Ombudsman Commission, Police Fraud Squad, and Auditor General are not perfect, but they exist because the founding fathers knew this day would come. Reports must be made. Follow-ups must be done. Silence is consent. One prosecution done properly sends a message to a hundred others.

Third, children must be taught a different way. In villages, leaders must no longer be celebrated just because they bring bags of rice during elections. Leaders must be celebrated who build classrooms, who acquit properly, and who serve without stealing. The wantok system is for sharing food, not for sharing government contracts. Bigman status must come from service, not from theft. Culture can change. The country moved from tribal fighting to elections. The same shift can happen from "take what you can" to "serve the people."

Fourth, good leaders must be supported and protected. Not all leaders are corrupt. There are MPs, public servants, police officers, and church leaders trying to do the right thing under heavy pressure. Some have been threatened. Some have been sidelined. When only criticism is given and no encouragement, everyone is pushed into the same basket. Good leaders must be named and defended when hard decisions are made.

To the Marape Government, this must be said respectfully. The slogan "Take Back PNG" was believed. Seven years later, the feeling in the villages is that the taking has continued, just by different hands and in larger amounts. The big fish must be locked up. Audit reports must be published. The law must apply to everyone, from the village councilor to the minister. If justice is only for the poor, then it is not justice.

To the opposition, the churches, the media, and the civil society, the work of asking questions must not stop. The role of a watchdog is to bark even when no one is listening yet.

To all Papua New Guineans, tiredness must be resisted. The belief that one person can not make a difference must be rejected. A majority of communities across the nation may seem small compared to K30 billion budgets. But when 3,000 people get a place to meet, plan, and hold leaders accountable, that is how a nation is rebuilt, one community at a time.

When one ward refuses to steal money, the next ward finds courage. When one district publishes its books, the next district feels shame. That is how "impossible" becomes "done."

Yes, corruption is imposing. The networks are deep. The money is big. The excuses are many. This is how it has always been.Connections are needed. If it is not taken, someone else will.

But every corrupt deal was "done" by people who decided to try. This means an honest PNG can also be "done" by people who decide to try.

There is an old saying, "A bush knife can not cut a big tree in one swing. But if the same place is struck again and again, the tree will fall."

This is the swing. In homes, when lies are refused for relatives. In churches when greed is preached against. In LLGs, when receipts are demanded. In votes when character is chosen over cash. In the willingness to speak up even when the voice shakes.

Papua New Guinea will mark 50 plus years of Independence next year. The country is no longer a child. Blame can not keep being placed on colonialism or others for problems created here. The time for responsibility is now.

It always seems impossible until it's done.

Let it be done. For the children who deserve schools with books. For the sick who deserve medicine in clinics. For the farmers who deserve roads to market. For PNG.

--Nelson Wandi