Papua New Guinea: Let’s be honest about the debt
23 August 2017
KERENGA KUA
IN the face of foreign media reports indicating a lack of liquidity in government coffers, I urge the prime minister to come clean about the country's debt situation.
Why is it that we continue to hear stories of government workers facing lockouts because rental payments are not being made, both here in PNG and abroad in places like Washington DC and Singapore?
We also hear of unpaid United Nations fees and electric power being cut to government departments.
Is all of this due to mistakes, glitches in the system, incompetent public servants?
We have heard every excuse in the book - now it's time to tell the truth.
Furthermore, as the government looks to borrow more money, it is important to ask why we are moving ahead with these measures without all members of parliament being fully briefed on existing national debt levels.
It is the right of every government to borrow, all I ask is that the decision to borrow is made responsibly and does not mean that overall debt will exceed the public debt ceiling.
As elected leaders, how can we members of parliament be expected to support anything blindly?
It would be a disservice to the people who elected us and a severe dereliction of duty on our part.
Hon Kerenga Kua MP is the member of parliament for the Simbu electorate of Sinasina Yongomugl, leader of the PNG National Party and a former Attorney-General
My Honorable PM, sometimes it is wise to get on your knees, bow your head
and humbly seek the wisdom from the Good God Almighty before you decide on something that may potentially have a negative impact on the lives of your people of this generation and the next.
What kind of legacy do you want your memory to live on?
Posted by: Max Phin | 23 August 2017 at 09:17 AM
I heard that the PNG office in Sydney is surviving on selling visas.
Can someone get through to all these young newly elected MPs who have gone with O'Neill and now become Ministers in the PNG government... the country is broke!... the country is in debt... they need to stop all the DSIP funds and use the money to improve the hospitals. They shouldn't be borrowing any more to improve the hospitals. The DSIP funds should have been used to improve the hospitals but I guess it wasn't. So much has been wasted... no acquittals.
Posted by: Barbara Short | 23 August 2017 at 09:07 AM
Em nau!
O'Neil the PNG budget is not your private cheque book.
Posted by: Michael Dom | 23 August 2017 at 06:39 AM