Posted By Staff Reporter
By Francis Potape, former Hela Governor The tidal wave of lawlessness continues to flood Hela whilst the current political leaders gone into hiding in safe havens. In the last week or so alone 11 people have lost their lives in the Pureni fight. These are our people dying and thousands displaced. Their livelihood is affected forever. Their properties and infrastructures destroyed to the ground. The school age kids' education permanently destroyed. Public servants on the run. What is leadership? For that matter what is the primary role of the Governor, MPs and Provincial Government? One can do so much but one can not allow these things to claim lives right your noses. Every ethnic group in PNG is growing their population, their local economies, their schools, hospitals, public servant housing and townships. As for Hela everything is being depleted on a daily basis everywhere. This is sad. This is totally unacceptable. Our forefathers predicted that a "generation of haletapa" will come. That generation will not listen to anyone. That generation will breathe organised chaos and civil disorder into the communities of Hela. Are we in that generation? When political leaders do not listen to decency and civility, respect for fellow Hela man, and discharge power and authority, one wonders whether the "halatapa" generation has arrived and in charge. I see millions of Kina being pumped into Hela by the Oneil Government and now by powerful Marape Government but I see no major changes of marvel and wonder. The primary responsibility of any political and administrative office holder is to save the lives of its people and protect its borders. When killing after killing is going on and on and on, the meaning and essence of the positions we occupy on behalf of the Hela people, has deteriorated and diminished to its core. It's very shameful to stand in front of people with fancy suits and colour neckties and talk about projects and developments. Our leadership qualities have been measured and found wanting. Our strength and abilities to stand against gun totting warlords have been measured and found wanting. Even the little children growing on the plains and swamps and hills throughout Hela do not want to hear our names because those names are of no value, no meaning and gives no sense of security. They write those names on the sands, soils and dirty and put Bush knives or axes into them in anger and hatred. They said we thought these names will protect us from the powerful gun toting warlords, marijuana eddicts and rascals but our fathers and mothers hopes and trusts were misplaced. I call on Hela public servants especially the provincial administrator, provincial treasurer, examiners, etc etc in the provincial administration and treasury, to stop print cheques after cheques knowing that nothing is happening in hela. How much money was spent on law and order alone to bring peace, order and civility into Hela province. When I was Governor I spent K1 million in 4 months and that money was distributed to the law and order committees throughout hela to foster peace. As a result we had a peaceful election where no one lost their lives. In fact when I was Governor for 6 month I enjoyed a luxury of peace because I created that with my decision. Peace or chaos is created through decisions of leaders. Leaders will harvest what they sow. At the moment our current political leaders sow seeds of negligence of their primary duties towars their people. This has to stop and attention must be given to Hela province and the flight of it's people. Papua New Guineans have eyes and ears. They see what is happening in Hela. They hear what is happening in Hela. They can see that Hela peoples money are totally mismanaged with no results of measure. They see that present Hela political leaders have priorities distorted. They see that present Hela leaders sleep in expensive hotels, eat and drink in expensive hotels, and have meetings in prestigious places whilst the Province they represent is in total shambles. The first public document I signed as Governor of Hela was for the Hela Provincial Health Authority with Health Minister then, Hon. Michael Malabag. During that ceremony at the Tari hospital ground I said "Our past Hela leaders were fence builders in PNG. They used to 'Hela hakira pialu hene ibiro'. " I was a community school kid then. I see that whilst they were building the fence (whatever fence that is) in Waigani, Hela was going down, down, down and down. What's the point of being a fence builder if your garden is overgrown by weeds?" Today we see that those were con words to fool the masses. Hela leaders now must graduate from those styles of leadership or rather the lack of, and bring everlasting changes to Hela. This is their noble and mandate duty. No need to repeat the ancient metaphor 'hela hakira pialu gene ibiro.' Francis Potape Former Governor Hela Next : K303 Million For COVID-19 Operations In PNG With Less Than 8 Reported Cases Is Asburdity At Best Note: Let Your Views be heard : Send all your Political Commentaries to us through our email : pngfacts@gmail.com Share this Comments are closed.
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