Somare's Time is Up and Over

By Joseph Turian

As the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mendi Hospital, I support good governance and good government. However, my opinion is that the current performance by the government and especially the behaviour of many of the government ministers does not convince me of their seriousness in managing this nation and its wealth for the common good of all Papua New Guinea citizens. Their effort to stamp out corrupt practices in government and government officers is appalling.

I have a lot of respect for the Hon Prime Minister as the father of the Nation, God bless him and his family. I must be honest to say that the father of the Nation’s time is up and he should retire gracefully now or at the end of his current term. We must now cultivate in new leader to lead our Nation. God bless who ever that might be.

I am a Papua New Guinean first and my province of origin is second. My wish, is for a good leader to manage Papua New Guinea for all of us and with those who come to work for us, live with us and visit us.
The removal of K200, 000,000.00 ($30m) from Health dept for health projects in Papua New Guinea is a shame and reflects the insensitivity of the Government to address the health infrastructure needs of the Hospital and rural health. This could have been down competently by the Department of Health.

We had development funds for Redevelopment of Mendi Hospital for K6.4 million and now we have to put up a fight to get it from the National Planning office. Why must I fight to get something that needs to be provided by my own government? This money is rightfully for Mendi Hospital.

The redevelopment plan was completed and this was going to be given to a contract only to be removed on November, 9th 2008. The National Planning & Management office do not have the capacity to assist Hospitals throughout the country.

When I see the gross abuse and negligence by the Government ministers and their cronies at the National Planning office for their own good, it saddens me and hurts me to my bone marrows.

God Bless PNG

Joseph Turian
Chief Executive Officer
Mendi Hospital

*** Joe,

Thanks for your thoughts.

I have been vocal on such issues and have written extensively to the editorials of the papers about corrupt leadership and their practices in some of the highest offices in Papua New Guinea.

While you have some respect for the somare family, I don't have any respect for the so called father of the nation because somare had never done anything to alleviate the level of poverty and infrastructure developments in our rural areas. Our villages still lack major infrastructure developments. For these motives, somare doesn't need to be at the helm remote controlling the country (PNG) like it is a family business.

Therefore, he and his cohorts need to be kicked in the butt so that NA will have no traces on the political scene in 2012 and beyond.I thank you and other CEOs of our major hospitals to work tirelessly under tiring conditions to keep the hospitals going so that our rural folks can get the care they needed. Good job and continue to fight for what is ours.

I think what you expressed is a scenario that portrays our leaders' level of ignorance and stupidity toward the people they represent. As you rightfully pointed out, unless we put in new bunch of leaders who put their people's interests ahead of theirs, Papua New Guinea will not develop in all aspects.

God bless you and your wantoks (friends) in Mendi and PNG.