CONTROLLING THE POPULATION NOT A PANACEA FOR THE MISMANAGEMENT OF PNG: POLYE /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// PORT MORESBY: Opposition Leader Don Polye today described the government’s intention to control the country’s population as ‘inappropriate and imposed’ upon the people, as it will not provide a magic cure-all for the country’s current mismanagement problems. “Controlling the population will come as a by-product of a modern, affluent and smart PNG. We as an alternate government would like to create employment opportunities for almost everyone in the next decade to modernise PNG,” said Mr Polye. He said the government does not need to make laws to control the population, adding that when the quality of the people’s lives improves and the level of corruption goes down, that transformation itself will have a spill-over effect on their mindsets. “Our people will make those decisions to control the size of their family on their own terms and not government imposing on parents. This is a thinking of an incompetent government with no ability,” he said. He urged the government to instead act responsibly by providing social services and creating employment to cater for a growing population in the economy. An unskilled and untrained population, regardless of how educated they are, creates a haven for all kinds of problems if the country fails to provide the basic services that the population needs to survive said Polye. “It shouldn’t become a major strategy that the government is trying to use to solve our problem. With the inaction of government we are creating a problem called social entrapment”, stated Polye. He said it was ironic to control the population because PNG has only 8 million people. He added if the census figures are true, 8 million people are not a concern to the government, saying it should be worried about creating employment opportunities, skills development and the improvement and increase of social services for the people of PNG. He further stated that those employed in the formal employment sector are less than 20 per cent of 8 the million people of PNG. “Even if we continue to reduce the population, it doesn’t help solve our chronic problems. Almost 6 million people are unemployed [so] the problem is not a boom in population”, he said. “We are not like China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia or the Philippines. When we look at the quantity of resources that we have, our wealth can be translated into income for all Papua New Guineans at a sustainable level. The ratio of our population to our resources and the land mass is relatively small. We have a vast land mass and resources”, he said. The Opposition Leader called on Prime Minister O’Neill to look at a much broader policy intervention to create a better situation for the people, adding that population control should not be one of the policies looked at. He said awarding contracts to only four or five foreign-owned companies to build all the roads in the cities doesn’t create employment for the people of this Nation. At any one time whatever the level of population the government may want to take it down to the country needs a healthy and skilled population for positive growth, stated Polye. He reiterated that the O’Neill government is incompetent to manage the country’s economy prudently and is not concerned about the welfare of the people. Approved for Release ........................................... Don POMB POLYE, CMG, BE (Civil), MBA, MIEPNG (Reg), MP
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 05:12:16 +0000
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