Papua New Guinea’s Way of Leadership Sustains Corruption

This was an essay I wrote in 2008.

Corruption has and continues to be an ongoing issue that carries on impeding vital developmental efforts. The continual failure of political leaders and bureaucrats to be accountable and transparent has seen corruption eating out much needed resources to cater for even the most fundamental needs. The style of leadership in Papua New Guinea is said to sustain the spread of corruption. Papua New Guinea’s government system is a democracy, that is; individual liberty is seen as paramount. The preamble of our constitution also states that we uphold Christian values and beliefs, and including the preservation and practice of our cultures and traditions. Corruption has, through the actions of our leaders, been detrimental to our nation’s reputation as a sovereign democratic state, because many of our practises are contrary to what that has been imprinted in our constitution. We have over the past years seen our nation being criticised for failure of tackling the corruptive practises of our leaders. In this essay, the focus will be on this style of leadership. It will first look at leadership as a quality and also the dangers leadership skills posses. Then, the concept of corruption will be evaluated in the essay. Furthermore, media reports on actions of our leaders will be provided as examples to support the stated arguments.

The issue of leadership and corruption in Papua New Guinea are becoming important because of how they can affect each other. Leadership, in its nature is vital in the determination of which direction the country is heading, and how leadership is approachable to the needs of the people. Corruption is, rather, the action or situation that affects the ability of our leaders to make good decisions and deliver goods and services to the people effectively. The Papua New Guinean democracy system has developed its own style of leadership, which, through the actions of our leaders allowed for corruption to breed and grow. Leadership itself is more associated with charisma because leadership is a character attribute which enables a leader to apply influence over others. In applying influence over others, the main objective of that influence is to achieve an intended goal. Leadership has qualities which (Papua New Guinea Politics Lecture: Leadership and corruption, 2008):

·         Mobilizes and Inspires  

·         Unity promotion and Encourage all to pull the same direction

·         Strengthens organizations through establishment of a hierarchy of responsibilities and roles

In contrast to qualities, leadership has also dangers that include:

·             Power is concentrated, which can lead to corruption and tyranny. Therefore it has to be checked by accountability

·             Endangers subservience and deference, which discourages people to take responsibilities of their own livelihood

·             Narrows argument and debate because ideas are coming from the top rather than bottom up.

Leadership in all is a political skill which is portrayed much as an artefact. That is, it can be learned and practiced. Political leadership in this sense is similar to the art of manipulation, a perhaps expected characteristic of democratic political affairs in an era of mass communication.

Corruption, as mentioned previously is the situation that affects the ability of our leaders to make good sound decisions and deliver goods and services to the people effectively. Generally, corruption is the misuse of authority for the result of personal gains. It is mainly tied to the act of bribery. But there are other types of corruption.

·            Bribery

This is when an official accepts money or some other favours to engage in a particular course of action or inaction.

·            Extortion

This is when an official demands money or some other favours to engage in a particular course of action or inaction.

·            Fraud

This is when an official makes a false claim for benefits that that person is not entitled to, or to avoid liability for payment such as tax or customs duty.

·            Conflict of interest

When an official stands to profit incidentally from an official act.

When an official accepts money or receives something that is money’s worth to do an official act, or an unofficial act, or exercise a legitimate discretion for inappropriate reasons. It is mainly attaining private ends through political means which are illegal. Now the question is why does our leadership sustain corruption? A reason may be because of our customs and traditions that continue to conflict with the western ways. 

It is evident that our customs and traditions continue to conflict with the western ways. Many of our leaders see themselves more as leaders than representatives of the people. According to the democracy system of government, those that elected into parliament are representing the interest of the people and not his or her own. Therefore, the people will be his or her priority and whatever issues that arise, which, may be either positive or negative, that MP will have to be answerable to the issues. But, many of our MPs tend to avert what is their responsibility and either ignore or blame others. One example of such situation is the infamous Somare Inquiry, where the Grand Chief tried to elude prosecution by disbanding the Financial Inquiry. An article taken from the Post Courier cover page titled: “Chief axes Fin inquiry” stated “The Opposition yesterday called on the Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to resign from office if he cannot provide justifiable explanations as to why he terminated the Finance Department Commission of Inquiry.” (2008, April 21:1 & 3) What can be concluded from the article is the Prime Minister’s refusal to be answerable to allegations persued against him. (However, it was in late 2011 when he faced the inquiry and was given a two week suspension.)

Corruption has generally affected every government agency in Papua New Guinea and little has been done to deter the spread of corruption. An article from the Post Courier read: “Silence on corruption deafening” which read: “The National Government yesterday was urged to act firmly against corruption involving people in high offices including senior ministers and departmental heads. Lae based community leader and business man Fred Wak said the Government must take immediate steps to expose and deal with those alleged to be involved in corrupt dealings, if the National Alliance-led coalition wanted to maintain the confidence and trust of the people of Papua New Guinea....”(2008, September 24: 4)  Mr. Wak was responding to the page one report of the Post Courier which stated that K100 million in public funds allocated to the PNG Forest Authority had gone missing. He concluded in saying: “What is wrong with this country? The Government is doing nothing. We are not told of the police or the Ombudsman Commission or anyone in the law and justice sector is doing anything about the corruption cases that are already exposed. We can’t allow these people to get away with all that money they have taken from the ordinary people, the very people who are seething their frustration and anger out there because they think their MPs and government let them down...” (2008, September 24: 4)

 Another article in the Post Courier gave the corrupt state in which PNG is in, titled: “PNG ‘most corrupt’ ” read: “Papua New Guinea is the least transparent country in the Pacific says watchdog group, Transparency International. The yearly list measures the perceived levels of public- sector corruption in a given country and draws on different expert and business surveys. On the scale from one to 10, Papua New Guinea scored two, placing it 151^st overall. The country is internationally ranked among the 30 most corrupt countries in the world with no real indications of real improvement...” (2008, September 25: 8)  From the article Mr. Aitsi (Transparency International Chairman) went on to say: The 2008 CPI is a timely reminder that if we do not take seriously action to combat corruption then our communities will face even harder times in the years ahead. The Corruption Perception Index is a real ‘wakeup call’....” (2008, September 25:8)

The corruption rate of our nation will not improve unless immediate action is not taken to curb corruption. Our leaders need to be more transparent and accountable in order to really address it. They (Political Leaders) need to show good examples and attributes becoming of a leader. We really need to lower the corruption rate in the nation and in order to do that we need to change our attitudes, which is, something that the people of this nation are lacking. So many wakeup calls have been given and it is really time that we all should stand up and work together to fight corruption by making our leaders answerable to all their actions.                    

References

Daniel Aloi, 2006, “Elements of Public Administration,” University of Papua New Guinea Printery, Waigani Campus, p 58-59

Gorethy Kenneth, 2008, “PNG ‘most corrupt,’ ” Post Courier, September 25, Port Moresby, p. 4.

 “Papua New Guinea Politics,” 2008, University of Papua New Guinea Lectures, Waigani Campus.

“Silence on corruption deafening,” 2008, Post Courier, September 24, Port Moresby, p. 4.