In the past three weeks, I discussed the unfortunate situation with the lack of space for post-secondary education for majority of our Grade 12 Leavers – over 17,000 of them have no place for further education in 2021.

It is, but one in a list of myriad of development challenges, we face as a nation heading into the future.

We do not conclusively know where these masses of our Grade 12 Leavers pushed out of the education system end up every year. As a modern nation, we do not know their whereabouts because our country has a serious lack of research and statistics on these kinds of developmental matters. Leaders and others talk about this lack of research and statistics to aid development planning and allocation of resources from time to time. That is about. Talk about the lack of research and statistics and not do anything correct it.

The research generated data and statistics on the whereabouts of the Grade 12 drop-outs is one of the development anomalies we face.

It appears that we just talk about it and not do anything to alleviate the problem. Instead, we are on a rat race to make ends meet and forget about thinking collectively and do things for the collective benefit of all.

You know what happened between 13 November 2020 and 16 December 2020? What was all that political maneuvering and camps about? I can bet my one kina to say it was about nothing else but for those in this murky business of politics to stay ahead in what I call the rat race to self-gain at the expense of others.

If mandated leaders in Parliament are on a rat race to stay ahead of one and another, you reckon the bureaucrats and the rank and file of the public service would just standby and watch? No. They have and will also want to do their own things in their spheres of influence to self-gain, stay ahead of others or disadvantage peers. They have done so and are doing it, as I write.

While the politicians and those associated with them are doing it, many Papua New Guineans appear to be also on their own rat races to some destination without due regard for their surroundings, those around them and the collective good of the nation. There are Papua New Guineans who appear not to care about the total well-being of the natural environment, the social and cultural environment and the national economy.

Take for example the seriously bad practice of some of our public servants making it easy for the recently arrived Asian business operators to take up State land in non-commercial areas in our towns and cities to set up retail and wholesale businesses. Imagine the kick-backs involved in fast-tracking these deals to even evict existing Papua New Guineans to ensure the Asian businesses take the land set up businesses.

Imagine how many PNG families are disadvantaged and affected. Imagine the noise and social and health problems that arise of an Asian owned shop suddenly popping up in a residential zone of a town.

This is happening when land title applications from genuine PNG investors and families is left without being approved for months and years.

Those Papua New Guinean public servants short-changing the system to facilitate for shrewd Asian businesses to get land titles must know that they are disadvantaging the futures of their own people.

Those of you public servants must know that you will not follow the trail of money earned from those shops and end up in better places in China or Australia. This is your country and you and your children and grandchildren will be here. You owe it to them to do the right thing to allow the due processes of law to work and let everyone bid their time and apply for land titles. Do not allow for short-cuts.

We are now filling the pinch of the decisions of our leaders who have allowed the flooding in of foreigners now running businesses and taking jobs previously reserved for Papua New Guineans under the “Reserved Business and employment list”.

Who in the PNG public service is monitoring and preventing these influx of foreigners?

Our mandated leaders in politics and the bureaucracy are able to give approval for our seas to be mined of gold and other minerals through the experimental deep-sea mining. Thank God, there are many sane people still out there who campaigned so hard to stop authorities from allowing PNG to be used as a guinea pig for deep sea mining – something that has never been done anywhere in the world.

Now you see some of these mandated leaders appear to be lurking in the shadows giving nod to sand mining along the coastline of Madang Province. Sand mining? How is that more superior than the age-old tradition of the local people living off the sea from fishing?

The above are few examples of how far some of us, Papua New Guineans, are able to go to cheat our own people and our country.

There are so many instances where Papua New Guineans end up becoming the worst enemies of their own people and country. It seems that benefit of self-gain by way of bribes and commissions obtained from facilitating deals for others is far superior than the common national good for our country and its people.

It is not only in the high-end transactions that bribery and kick-backs short-change the processes.

We the ordinary people are also our own worst enemies to ourselves and our communities by our own actions and inactions. If we cared for our country and each other, out towns and cities would be among the cleanest and tidiest in the world. It is the most simple and basic act to depose rubbish in the right places. But we do not. We cannot blame foreigners for defacing the public appearance of our towns and cities.

Many of us seem not to care about how we carry on with our lives and consider the implications of our decisions and actions before going ahead with them.

In whatever we do, we must always remember that what we do individually and collectively has a cumulative effect on the total well-being of our country. What we do individually and collectively will determine our destiny as a nation. We must know our destiny and allow our decisions and actions to by on target.