We marked the 45^th independence anniversary of our wonderful country, Papua New Guinea, last Wednesday 16^th September 2020.

 There was cause for celebration and time to reflect on our achievements and non-achievements. We do not have to tax ourselves to hard and focus on the non-achievements or failures. Every child grows up making mistakes and learns from it with age.

Overall, I am delighted we have a great country that has come a long way. We do not have big cities choking in their sheer size, over-population and pollution.

We have so much open spaces out there with a lot of fresh air, sunshine, greenery, less populated waterways apart from those near mine sites and an abundance of organic food from our gardens, jungles and waterways.

We do not have people dying lack of hunger like in some other developing countries. In the Melanesian PNG cultural context, we are open to helping our relatives and friends in need. The act of freely giving to the needy and in acts of reciprocity is our local cultural attribute that is still with us. It is the reason why many live to see another day, have their school fees paid and problems addressed. This cultural attribute is by far our most important social safety net that is no match to whatever social security benefit that might be out there in PNG.

 Our country has so much potential for better times ahead. We can make things happen for the better going into the future. The only impediment for a brighter future is us - we the born and bred Papua New Guineans. We the citizens have much to contribute towards how our country fares as I have been saying in some of my writings here in recent weeks. If we choose to do the wrong things either as individuals or collectively in groups even for once, we are being unfair to our country and its well-being. It is as simple as that.

 If, for instance, some Papua New Guineans choose to break the law for an immediate gain by assisting international cocaine smugglers, they are not helping the country’s future. Do some of our young people and even elites have to be engaged in underworld crimes to get by in life? No, there are better ways to earn a honest living.

 We have to make it happen for our country beginning with us doing the simplest of things right in our personal lives and in our family homes. We have to remember that old saying: “little drops of water make the mighty ocean”.

 Yes, we could have done more and better than the last 45 years. On balance though, we did well considering the status we were in at independence in 1975 with less number of people with basic education, literacy and numeracy skills, and university degrees not many of us wearing shirt and blouse. Today, we have so many people with basic education who can read and write and are using modern dressing. Many more of our people are university educated and are doing wonderful things in their own settings away from the public limelight. These are milestone achievements that were not there in 1975.

As we head towards our 50^th anniversary in 2025, it is time for us to reflect on where we have come from, where we failed individually and collectively and do everything in our means to do better. Let us use the next five years to self-assess, self-correct, and set targets. This is so that when we commemorate our 50^th anniversary in five years’ time in 2025, we have a platform and clear set of objects to pursue and ensure our country is different and better off over the next 50 years.

 Our Prime Minister Honourable James Marape has given us two talking and thinking points to make a start in this regard with his “Take Back PNG” and “Making PNG the Richest Black Christian Nation” statements after taking office on 30 May 2019.

 The underlying messages in the two slogans are about us rising up and addressing the many problems and developmental bottlenecks that we have constantly spoken about over many years since independence. Mr Marape and his government may provide the leadership at the legislative and policy levels but the overall message is for us to stop bickering and act to right the wrongs of the past.

 Instead of talking and talking, it is time to act. We should act to set targets for the milestones we would like to achieve for our country over the next 50 years. Meantime, belated happy 45^th Independence Anniversary! Send me your feedback to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.