Big Pat: LIVING UP TO THE SOCIAL CONTRACT

KEEPING IT THE WINGTI WAY

These locals offered their land and timber and labour free to build this health centre in East Kambia.

BY FRANK SENGE KOLMA

The business of government, the late Bernard Narokobi used to say, is that it is a Social Contract between political leaders and their people.

All contracts, including the Social one, place binding obligations upon the parties contracted.

The Government has to fulfil its contractual obligations by responsible law making, producing good workable policies, forecasting and planning for programs along realistic lines, and making fair budgetary allocations, ensuring equity, accountability and transparency, frequent reporting, sustaining good works and building on success.

The people likewise are called upon to fulfil their contractual obligations by obeying the law, ensuring peaceful co-existence, exercising responsible behaviour and respect for neighbour and public property, volunteering their sweat capital and such other resources under their control as would make the government’s development work easier.

Only when both parties perform their prescribed obligations well can the contract be executed to the satisfaction of both.

Should the government sign a commitment to provide certain goods and services to a certain group under the Umbrella Benefits Sharing Agreement, it must fulfil its obligations to the letter. It cannot expect the people to give their resources up for the benefit of developers, which includes the government as an equity partner, if it cannot carry its share of the contract to provide those services it promised the people under Agreement.

Mobilising locals to work freely to build their new high school in Kotna, Dei Council

Likewise, if the people want a road or school in an area, they must be able to provide such local material and labour as would make the Government’s efforts easier and less expensive and they would be expected to maintain and look after the assets.

Such a Social Contract has been in full operation for some time in the Western Highlands Province that requires amplification and emulation.

There former Prime Minister Paias Wingti reigns as Governor and insists that there will be no school built or road constructed in an area unless the people want these services absolutely. The absoluteness of their resolve is when they agree to give up their land, their materials and their labour in exchange for the services provided by the government.

The policy is working wonders. The province must today be one of the very few, where most villages in and around the Mt Hagen area are connected by a paved road. The road network is spreading slowly outwards but it extends into only those villages and connects communities that agree to abide by their Social Contract obligations.

Volunteers helping to build Marapana high school

Communities, with a decent road network are ripping out mature coffee trees and turning their fertile soil to commercial vegetable gardening, the end result of which are beginning to flood local markets. They are building modern homes on home soil, improving their welfare and inculcating a friendly competitive spirit at the village level to outdo the other in quality homes and business acumen.

Schools are being built by the people in many locations around the province. The people agree to give freely of their land, their sand and stones, and their labour while the Government supplies the money and roofing iron, iron posts and cement for classrooms, desks, and teacher’s houses.

No less than 18 schools have been built by the people themselves through this unique collaborative effort. More are in the pipeline.

Governor Wingti says: “Our Western Highlands Province Education Motto is: ‘Giving every child the opportunity to access safe, quality and affordable education for a quality life’.

“In trying to give access to schools for every child, we are building more schools, we are engaging more teaching staff and encouraging our church partners and private schools to come and operate schools in the province.

“There is a very important element to what we are doing here. It is all very well to expect the Government to build schools and supply schools equipment and to pay tuition for our children but that creates a dependence mentality among our people. They tend to say “Government supply” and develop a no-care attitude.

“With that attitude, our people have not looked after schools in the past. Schools and other government assets become the first casualty in any tribal conflict.

“Today we have changed that mentality. Government will only go to areas where it is invited, where people are willing to give land in exchange for schools, where they will give sand and timber in exchange for schools’ infrastructure. Throughout the districts our people are responding to this.

“Today they are using wokabaut sawmill to cut timbers, they are giving sand from their rivers and clearing land voluntarily for their schools.”

Pioneer teachers of Lumusa high school

The numbers speak for themselves.

There are 230 elementary schools with 1,300 teachers catering for a student population of 42,000.

There are 137 primary schools with a staff of 2,200 and a student population of 73,700.

There are 13 high schools and 11 secondary schools with a teaching staff of 700 and a student population of 16,000.

Tertiary institutions include the Highlands Agriculture College, Hagen Poly-Tech College and the Holy Trinity Teachers College. There are 6 TVET schools and the University of Goroka and University of Technology each have Open Campuses in the province.

Private operated schools include Christian Academy, International Training Institute (ITI), Highlands Christian Grammar, Hagen International School and Hagen IEA TEF College.

By the end of 2019 there will be 34 high and secondary schools.

The excitement is spreading.

Already, Mr Bob Bates, PNG’s veteran tourism promoter has entered into an agreement with the provincial government and the local community to build a road from his Rondol Ridge Resort to connect the lodge and communities along the way to Mt Hagen town.

It is understood Governor Wingti is in the process of engaging churches throughout the province to get involved in building homes for people, again under collaborative Social Contract conditions.

Mr Wingti says: “The government can only do so much. The people, the private sector and the churches must offer a helping hand in the development of our communities, our towns and cities, our provinces and our country.

“Then and only then can we see really strong and sustainable development. Our people and our companies are mostly good. They will obey but they must see dedicated and committed leadership which is able to deliver what it agrees to deliver.”

Were such a policy to be applied nationally, were the abhorrent and destructive claims for compensation to be done away with, and were the Government and People to honour their obligations in the Social Contract, things might just start to look different and more uplifting on the development front.

fskolma@gmail.com