Tuesday, February 13, 2018

The Past 20 years Approach to Solution; Political Campaign Attitude in Manus Province

Talking big and cash handouts comes election time somehow compels elected leaders to entice voters from the village level. This has seem to be the norm for the past 20 years.

A research of the tangible development happening on the ground will result in many unfulfilled book-report type mission statements, development plans, etc…Fine, but many of these development plans assumed that the ability to point out a problem somehow embues one with the ability to solve it. Reading up on rugby does not mean that you can play the game....or play it well....or play it well enough to win.....or play it well enough to win at a high level. Most past elected leaders of Manus that have tried to address development aspirations of the province simply do not play the game at all.

After 15 years on the job, 3x 5 year development plans have gone thru over millions of Kina without playing the game well enough to be tangible anywhere. In fact, this track record of our successive government has not exceeded the gains of small privately funded local projects/entrepreneurs in the province for the last 20 years

Successive leaders claimed to have the qualifications and the experience to treat the cancer in the province; the heavy handed, unsustainable five year development plans, methodologies and government support and subsidy of them.

Instead they set about redefining the core problems in their own imagination.....and proposed treating peripheral issues, alternative issues, issues en vogue, and side issues that more conveniently fit their own inexperience and association. The development ills of the province, initially against them....became de-facto [albeit] passive government support as they realized their “non- viable and un-implementable" vision" would never amount to anything.

Supporting that which will never be.... is cheap, easy and allows one to claim knowledge of what is really needed in the Province". Letting the development aspirations of the province off the hook with this get out of jail free card, the elected leaders in question were kinda certified as players...and were granted funding from the government which became a gravy train which fed off a momentum without deeds but cash handouts at the end of their term. As elected leaders seldom leave offices, development plans are taken as fact and funding continued with poor implemented strategies.

Staff supported them as condition for employment regardless of personal belief and inside whistle blowers were kept out to allow the unrealistic strategies to push forward without the wake-up calls.
Most of their advisors were "service guys" happy to sign on for "validation by association and inclusion in something important" A second tier signed on for that plus....perks, plane-rides, per diem and salaries.


This non-involved, in-experienced, cult based gravy train became the "auto-pilot go-to answer "on the eve of election campaign and the rest is a lack of productive history. This type of mentality, stake-holder, lose-lose situation de-railed the chances for real development reform in the 90's which have not reformed as of today….