RESIGNATION FROM MARAPE-ROSSO GOVERNMENT
1 September 2024, Today, I am announcing my resignation as a member of the Marape-Rosso Coalition government. I extend my sincere thanks to Prime Minister Hon. James Marape and Deputy Prime Minister Hon. John Rosso for the opportunity to serve and contribute to our nation under their leadership.
This decision was not made lightly. My initial support for Hon. James Marape in 2019 was based solely on his being a man of strong Christian faith. However, upon careful reflection and in light of the current state of affairs in our country, I have made the decision to resign with a heavy heart but a clear conscience. Having returned to the office after two years, I have witnessed first hand the pressing challenges our nation faces.
During my time in government, I held various ministerial portfolios under the Marape-Steven, Marape-Basil, and now Marape-Rosso Government: Minister for Police (June 2019 to December 2020), Minister for Justice & Attorney General (December 2020 to April 2022), and Minister for Immigration & Labour (April 2022 to September 2022).These roles provided me with invaluable insights into the inner workings of the National Executive Council (NEC) and the broader government machinery. Through this experience, I gained a deep understanding and appreciation of our young nation's challenges, as well as the opportunities available to steer the nation in the right direction.
Transparency and good governance must be the cornerstones of our efforts to rebuild our nation, which necessitates a firm stand against corruption. However, in my view, after 49 years of independence, corruption has become so deeply entrenched in our government machinery, to the point where it has been normalised.
I spent most of my time in the NEC fighting to block countless harmful submissions that were being pushed on the Prime Minister, who could not risk losing coalition numbers in cabinet. I firmly believe that it was these very factions that orchestrated my being moved from ministry to ministry and ultimately excluded me from the cabinet.
Regrettably, since my dismissal, the opportunity to fight bad decisions from within the government has been lost, enabling the widespread misuse of public funds with impunity. This has increasingly placed our nation at risk, contributing to our current state of affairs.
I firmly believe that everyone, especially our Prime Minister and my fellow Members of Parliament, can still do the right thing by putting our people’s interests first, as we are duty-bound to do. If we continue to allow the systematic degradation of our people's well-being, our nation’s finances, and overall welfare, there will be no future for our country. Our faith should compel us to do what is right, not merely to survive politically.
I entered politics to fight corruption and to ensure that all Papua New Guineans have access to the services we, as Members of Parliament, are mandated to provide. My mission has been to combat and stop corrupt practices that rob our people and businesses of their hard-earned contributions and, most importantly, to protect the future of our nation's children. I will continue this fight from outside the government with integrity, as expected by the people of Madang who voted for me and the people of Papua New Guinea who placed their trust in me.
Consequently, I no longer have confidence in the leadership of Hon. James Marape to lead as Prime Minister.
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