A GOVERNMENT ON LIFE SUPPORT – Anti-Corruption Perspective
By Sam Koim
Majority of the Government Organs are on life support and to a larger extent, the support machine is the very inducement that caused the organs’ failures in the first place. Multiple organ failures pose a direct and serious threat to the life of this great young nation hence requires immediate attention.
Successive Governments have taken it casually on the parlous state of the country. To my mind, no government since independence has ever laid down the strategic goals and worked towards achieving them. All they do is either drum-up program oriented plans that look very attractive on paper but poorly implemented; or, at the very least launch impromptu “look good” projects that are not backed by any long term objectives. At other times, driven by crony capitalism. Busy running programs is one thing yet having clear a Vision and being dictated by it is quite another.
Despite the trumpeting of the economic Growth, after 40 years, we have to seriously take a stock of our country. We should pause here and ask “DO we have a functioning system of service delivery?”
No government since independence has ever established a functioning service delivery vehicle that would equitably and fairly deliver the development aspirations of our people. Billions after billions of kina were poured into a rather dysfunctional and corrupt-ridden system that produces little to no result on the ground. No government has ever come up with a comprehensive strategy to reduce the abysmal domestic law and order situation, just to name a few.
I see political leaders and their bureaucratic puppets spending half their time putting out fires, reacting to the faults caused by rooted dysfunctional systems. Instead of diagnosing the real cause of the failures and remediating, they use their ingenuity to clear up even the remaining checks and balances which they regard as roadblocks, all for the sake of political convenience and expediency. All they want is unchecked discretionary power without accountability.
Administrative/bureaucratic corruption has permeated throughout every fabrics of the society. Routine jobs are hardly done on time unless some form of lunch money is given in exchange for a favourable and timely outcome. The agility of the bureaucratic machine was lost to corruption. It now needs grease money to lubricate its wheels to turn efficiently and effectively. Bribery was the factor that slowed the wheels, now it seems we cannot live without it. We have a system that is on life support.
Governments after governments have got themselves interested in running the country but no one seem to be concerned about addressing dilapidated governance and regulatory issues –two of the vital cornerstones of a thriving democracy.
They may be thinking they are running the country, but I see them running around putting out fires -it's all reactionary leadership.
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| Sam Koim |
Successive Governments have taken it casually on the parlous state of the country. To my mind, no government since independence has ever laid down the strategic goals and worked towards achieving them. All they do is either drum-up program oriented plans that look very attractive on paper but poorly implemented; or, at the very least launch impromptu “look good” projects that are not backed by any long term objectives. At other times, driven by crony capitalism. Busy running programs is one thing yet having clear a Vision and being dictated by it is quite another.
Despite the trumpeting of the economic Growth, after 40 years, we have to seriously take a stock of our country. We should pause here and ask “DO we have a functioning system of service delivery?”
No government since independence has ever established a functioning service delivery vehicle that would equitably and fairly deliver the development aspirations of our people. Billions after billions of kina were poured into a rather dysfunctional and corrupt-ridden system that produces little to no result on the ground. No government has ever come up with a comprehensive strategy to reduce the abysmal domestic law and order situation, just to name a few.
I see political leaders and their bureaucratic puppets spending half their time putting out fires, reacting to the faults caused by rooted dysfunctional systems. Instead of diagnosing the real cause of the failures and remediating, they use their ingenuity to clear up even the remaining checks and balances which they regard as roadblocks, all for the sake of political convenience and expediency. All they want is unchecked discretionary power without accountability.
Administrative/bureaucratic corruption has permeated throughout every fabrics of the society. Routine jobs are hardly done on time unless some form of lunch money is given in exchange for a favourable and timely outcome. The agility of the bureaucratic machine was lost to corruption. It now needs grease money to lubricate its wheels to turn efficiently and effectively. Bribery was the factor that slowed the wheels, now it seems we cannot live without it. We have a system that is on life support.
Governments after governments have got themselves interested in running the country but no one seem to be concerned about addressing dilapidated governance and regulatory issues –two of the vital cornerstones of a thriving democracy.
They may be thinking they are running the country, but I see them running around putting out fires -it's all reactionary leadership.
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