Chief Secretary Ivan Pomaleu has once again called on staff of the Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council to step up and resolve bottleneck issues that hinder the progress of development and service delivery.
The Chief Secretary made the call during the Department’s Luncheon to celebrate Papua New Guinea’s 48th Independence.
“It is a moment in history, 48 years ago, that our country was admitted into nationhood, and joined the community of nations globally,” he said.
“It is a moment where our founding fathers stood tall and proclaimed the national Constitution and determined that we are empowered to chart our own course and our own destination.
He said therefore, on occassions such as the celebration of our independence, we pay tribute to our founding fathers for the decision they made that has brought us this far.
The Chief Secretary said they did so much with so little during their time and that their power to think sometime amazes him.
“Their ability to bridge the traditional past and use that as a platform to imagine the structures and the systems that are required to build the foundations of our country,” Chief Secretary Pomaleu said.
“Their ability to build the required institutions of state and the relationships that are necessary for our country to thrive.
“Their ability to chart a course, however simple and rudimentary but at very high levels, where the country ought to be in the future.
“The amazing energy and the drive they had to influence thinking, build support and drive to achieve key outcomes that are necessary and visionary.”
Chief Secretary Pomaleu said but our founding fathers have had their time and that now is our time to take it from where they left off and on into the future.
He said our government, lead by Prime Minister James Marape, has taken stock of where we are and have determined a direction that they want to take this country to.
The Chief Secretary told staff members present that we were all privy to high level conversations on Connect PNG, on making our health and education better, on building infrastructures, on building opportunities for our common people, business opportunities, on taking back more from our resources.
The Chief Secretary said our government, which represents our people, has given us directions that we need to follow.
He said we have already launched the Medium Term Development Plan IV (MTDP IV), which is the aggregate of every other conversations that we have had up until now.
“It is a guiding document that will help us achieve the development goals of our government.”
Chief Secretary Pomaleu said and it is our collective responsibility, as members of this department to work on making sure that the aspirations of this government and the people that it represents, as enshrined in the MTDP IV and other over-arching and associated documents are achieved.
He said the MTDP IV sets the tone for all that must be done to deliver us to 50 years of independence and beyond.
The Chief Secretary added that it (MTDP IV) demands that we do not rest on our laurels and that we do not go to sleep on our watch.
