Comments

Thanks Stephen. The point on decentralisation is a key one - confusion around the direction in this area is the key determinant of a failure to convert core reforms (in PFM or in service sectors) and enhanced budgets into sustainable service improvements. It is also - besides resources - one of the main issues shaping the current transition. Perhaps the current energy and broad coalition can drive resolution of the key debates around districts and provinces - whatever the system chosen, successful decentralisation requires clarity above all else.

A useful effort …….. thanks Michael (fatason). Present analysis shows a trend, perhaps you may look at past governments for comparative purpose to develop insights into their role in regional and party politics.

Hi Francis, you’re right. Due to word limit requirement (1000 words or less) I couldn’t go into the motives & reasons behind MPs’ movements. I hope to do it later as a follow up.

Good day Micheal, an interesting piece, indeed. The analysis appears to be a descriptive one. What is missing is the political motive that led to a political outcome. Politics is all about strategically maneuvering the game to achieve power. I hope this could be more clear in this analysis.

Hi Francis, the Southern (Papua) region having lower portfolio allocation under O’Neil era is consistent with the conclusion that regions with lower number of MPs are given proportionally less portfolios. Momase’s case may be explained by what you suggest. Perhaps most of Momase MPs were in the opposition. I didn’t think about that the time of writing. Party numbers and regional considerations plays a big part in portfolio allocations. We know this because O’Neil said on at least two occasions (both after government formations in 2012 and 2017) that they allocated portfolios “fairly”, meaning, they considered regions. Some take that to mean portfolios are/should be equally divided among the 4 regions. Data shows it’s the number of MPs from each region that determines “fair” distributions. Number of party members plays the main role in how many portfolios each party gets. It is possible that, after portfolio distribution is agreed based on party numbers, the actual allocation then is based on the region they represent. For instance PNC had 46 MPs, 20 portfolios were allocated to PNC. The highlands region then gets most of the portfolios allocated to PNC because the region has most number of MPs in these parliament? Worth investigating.

Hello Micheal, This is an interesting piece. I enjoyed reading it since it puts the events and decisions of what had happened over the past few months and PNG politics into better perspective. I have only one question- Since you make the claim that regions with more MPs receive more than those that have less, why were there less ministries given to the MOMASE region and more to the Papuan region during the O’Neil era? Where most of them with the Opposition?

Hi Rohan, are we even sure that the increased dividends from statutory authorities are being paid out of earnings, or is it possible they are being paid out of new borrowing? Cheers Tony

Thank you for this interesting blog post. I must admit that I was one of the people who was ignorant of this Ebola outbreak. It is scary to know that it is occurring in a place with an ongoing war and further worrying that it has already spread to a neighbouring country. Thanks again for bringing us up to speed, Amanda.

Hi. Thank you so much for providing such an informative and knowledgeable article on your website regarding the non-government aiding whose effectiveness has been compared. It was really a pleasure reading out your blog. I hope in future as well you will keep sharing such high quality content that keeps the user glued to your website for a longer duration.

The macro economic analysis is simple and make more sense to indicate what PM said is not achievable within a decade. Past governments have a problem and that is there is no diefinite economic policy to trigger change. Every important economic decisions were being politicised and in the event make them more ambigious. Since the comparison above shows that the less the population of a black nation the richer they become with respect to GDP per capita..What is required as a PNG context to trigger change for improving affluency a policy or policies need to be tailored to ensure gains from extractive industry is directed to Agriculture sector..Government's SME policy to give more focus to small enterprise involving in Agriculture. The country needs active people to engage in formal employment activities of which Agriculture seems to be very fitting. The country will be more poor should the bulk of population is idle or rather engage in domestic activities which are not captured in macroeconomic analysis.

@Maholopa. Your article is spot on and well researched. I truly hope that people at the top also do their homework and research before advising our leaders what to say and what not to say. Also attitude from grassroots to the top level is also very important. Everytime I take a ride around the city, the amount of graffiti I see on the walls, fences and on road signs, billboards, buildings and just about anything that has a surface is simply shocking and worrying. Adding to that, the amount of littering that is taking place is unbelievable. Betelnut spittle is another thing. Chewing itself is fine but spitting every where and thinking that it is fine and normal simply shows that our sense of attitude has gone out the window and beyond reach. I hope that we can return to good old days of personal hygiene, clean towns, clean buses, buildings without graffiti and chewing bettelnut without spitting every where. Once we reach that state again, then perhaps we can start thinking about becoming the richest black nation in the world.

That is very informative. The 1026 households is 0.012% of 8 million assumed population in PNG. This research is not about PNG, its about these provinces or districts being surveyed, it has less confidence level to represent PNG. Wide spreading in PNG need more data at this stage. Thank you