Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Assess candidates carefully



I am talking  about serving members of Parliament and those intending candidates, and their rhetoric on getting elected back to Parliament.
Some are soliciting votes by making cash donations, some at rallies are pledging huge sums of money, and even some are promising what they will do for you in the next parliament.
My request to the people of Papua New Guinea is to assess those candidates individually. Our votes are very important. We won’t get another chance until 2017.
Therefore, my plea is that we must cast our votes with care and responsibility.
All current members of Parliament should be judged on their record. Have they delivered goods and services to your electorate?
Ignore those cash handouts you received at the funeral last year, or the chance airline ticket you received while being stranded, for example, in Port Moresby.
Instead we should ask some questions, for example, is our level of education and its infrastructure acceptable, is our level of health and its infrastructure acceptable, is our roads and its conditions acceptable?
These questions are relevant for all Government Assets and Institutions.
If one takes the time to look around and make an assessment of all our institutions of State, the answer is a resounding no. All politicians have failed in discharging their responsibilities. For example, it is a shame when each MP is given a K10 million Electoral Development Fund each year.
There is no or little evidence to suggest how or where the money was spent.
We have seen numerous ground breaking ceremonies and crony companies set up to milk these funds with little development or poor workmanship to show, for example upgrading of local roads.
I think the people of Papua New Guinea deserve better than that. It is our right to make sure our vote are cast for candidates that will pursue our desires for a better Papa New Guinea.

Joseph Kup
Port Moresby

No comments:

Post a Comment