Prime Minister James Marape was the keynote speaker at the dedication service of the 2023 public service year and the commissioning of the annual plan this week.
PM Marape chose to recount his experience of the tour he made through the trans-hinterland where he met with some of the marginalized people in the remotest part of the country, a country outside of Port Moresby.
On Friday last week, he was at Normad River in Western Province revisiting his roots of 50 years ago. He said time seem to have frozen because nothing changed from 50 years ago it is still the same today.
“It was as if I was visiting another country, not Port Moresby, not Mt Hagen. It was like visiting another country. In fact, it was a moving moment. People there cried and said, Mr. Prime Minister, we think we are Indonesians. We thought we were forgotten.” He added.
Before that on Wednesday, he visited PNG’s border post at Weam, the closest border post to Indonesia where he met 13 faithful soldiers. Their state of affairs broke his heart.
“I looked at their shoes, Mr. Commander maybe we have not given enough money but their shoes were torn as if the last time they ordered their shoes was 10 years 20 years ago, Mr. Secretary Defense.” Marape lamented.
These faithful public servants nevertheless committed themselves to travel a 7 hours journey by dinghy by night just to make sure that they are on duty while the CEO of their country takes his rest and he flew in on the chopper which took only two hours for the same distance.
Travelling from Tari to Kutubu Lake on the highway onto Kikori in Gulf Province, travelling the night arriving 1:30am the next day. Prime Minister said he met children who were waiting for his entourage in the dark of the night just to get a glimpse of a lifetime with the leader of their nation and to tell him that they had been left behind.
“I called to one of the children and asked him if they go to school. He said yes but it’s holiday so we are here. The name of the school he mentioned was in another area which is a 6 hours walk from where they are from. So throughout the school year they have to stay with relatives there in order to attend school.” PM Marape recalled.
“Mr. Prime Minister, we have been left behind! We had been left behind!” he repeated the children’s lament.
The experience was the same in Kutubu and along the way where many people are still left behind.
“The only time they had seen an excavator was in the last 9 months when we decided to invest in upgrading Kutubu and Kikori precinct and Kikori station to start off with.” Marape continued.
Prime Minister Marape left this challenge to both the politicians and the bureaucrats of the Public Service to live up to the theme, “Building the nation with Integrity and Skillfulness through the Public Service.”