It is with great sadness that we Papua New Guineans, as a nation, mourn in union on the passing of our independence leader and founding Prime Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare.

It is with great sadness that we Papua New Guineans, as a nation, mourn in union on the passing of our independence leader and founding Prime Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare.

It is also a time to celebrate the life of Sir Michael, what hl stood for and did for us.

Sir Michael was one of a kind. He lived his time and life with a sense of purpose and duty for his country and its people. Sir Michael lives behind a legacy. He lives behind a wonderful story for us to tell and teach our children and the future generations to come about so many great attributes of being a purposeful person.

In Sir Michael’s life story we can learn and teach our children and the future generations in terms of things like – upholding values, fair leadership, tolerance, appreciation of differences, national unity, economic independence, appreciation of cultural and Christian heritage, adoption of the Westminster system of Parliamentary democracy and the family.

Our children in various levels of our education system must be taught the life story of Sir Michael in the areas he excelled in and stood up for and some of which I mention above.

I hope the curriculum writers or heads of various educational sectors – from primary up to tertiary levels

-do come up with subjects that can teach the life story of Sir Michael under different areas or topics mentioned above.

Sir Michael is a great subject to teach and a wonderful role model to emulate by the young generation.

Sir Michael was a true patriotic Papua New Guinean to the core. Everywhere in PNG that Sir Michael went as a Prime Minister, Minister, Leader of the Opposition, ordinary MP and retired MP, people looked up to him. They connected with him. There was something in Sir Michael that resonated with every Papua New Guinean. This fact is being reflected at the time of his passing whereby just about everyone in all corners of PNG has expressed grief and sorrow.

In Sir Michael’s eyes, he did not see a Sepik, Morobe, Enga, East New Briton, Bougainvillean or Central person – he saw a Papua New Guinean. He saw and valued every Papua New Guinean irrespective of which region, province, district or ethnic tribe one came from. When Sir Michael Somare was prime minister on four separate occasions, his heart for the country was demonstrated by the allocation of ministries – that every region and province had to be represented in a Somare-led Cabinet. He did the same with appointments in the public service.

When the nastiness of PNG politics took its toll with the incessant and often times unnecessary moves for vote of no confidence, it impacted on many a great leaders like Sir Michael and their thinking and approaches to politics. There was no need for a VONC when the first successful one took place in 1980 – a mere five years after independence but it did take place. Sir Michael, as PM, was ousted. But Sir Michael and his beloved Pangu Pati came became strong in the 1982 national elections and formed the next government with him as PM once more. That was short-live when he lost office and his government through a second successful VONC in 1985. Few years later in the late 1980s, Sir Michael lost the leadership of Pangu, and for a better part of 17 years since 1985, Sir Michael was on the outside of the core politics even though he did serve as minister.

Following the 2002 National Election, he returned with flying colours as Prime Minister – that is 17 years after he was ousted as PM in our second successful VONC in 1985. No prime minister in PNG and very few PMs in the Commonwealth would ever return to being PM after such a long time lapse. But Sir Michael did and served for another nine years when he was ousted through another, dear I say, nasty VONC on 2^nd August 2011. The VONC and the process followed was declared by the Supreme Court as void but Parliament as the legislature using the separation of powers argument did not honour the SC decisions.

Sir Michael as a human being of course was upset about the turn of events, but as the true father of the house, he allowed the due processes to reign and forgave every one as the 2012 national elections beckoned. It was in the 2012 National Elections that Sir Michael stamped his acumen as an all-loving and patriotic national leader when me made a triumphant return to Parliament as the Provincial Member for East Sepik and served for that term and bowed out as a real champion in April 2017. He declared his retirement in Parliament and gracefully bowed out of national politics as the Provincial Member for East Sepik in the National Parliament. This was a position he held continuously since 1968.

Sir Michael could have easily made live-long political enemies after being ousted three times in a VONC and removed as leader of Pangu. But he did not go down that path. Each time he was ousted he returned with flying colours as a true champion would do. Most of all, he had the heart of steel for forgiveness. Sir Michael was always willing to work with his rivals, enemies and friends alike when it came to matters of national interest and importance.

These are character traits of visionary and value-based leaders – and our Grand Chief Sir Michael was one of them.

He did not teach his children to be angry and vengeful to others. He taught them tolerance, forgiveness and acceptance. Sir Michael was the ideal father to his immediate family and to the nation. Let us teach our children about Sir Michael and the good values and principles he lived by and causes he fought hard about for our nation. Sir Michael is a great role model that we must teach our children about.