VALUES-BASED LEADERSHIP AND ELECTORAL INTEGRITY IS A NATIONAL IMPERATIVE

by Kepsey Piuye – Transformation PNG WhatsApp Group

Our nation’s elections process remains completely uninsulated allowing pythons and hyenas to walk freely into our Parliament. This is not hyperbole. It is a grave national security concern. The Government’s apparent indifference toward urgently introducing a biometric voting system is sickening, to say the least. This failure directly threatens our economic security and undermines the legitimacy of our democratic institutions.

Leadership today is dangerously misconstrued defined not by principle, but by a cash-saturated culture, as witnessed in the recent National General Elections. Electoral fraud and political aggression must never be tolerated. Except for a few leaders like the Governor of East Sepik, Hon. Allan Bird, who earned an overwhelming and legitimate mandate from his people, many in Parliament today used crooked means to enter the Honourable House. This is wrong. And Heaven will deal with you if you enter Parliament through fraud. Do not think you will escape the Omnipresent.

Values-based leadership is rare in our time. The high-calibre leaders we once had—Sir Michael Somare, Iambakey Okuk, Bart Philemon, Bernard Narokobi, Jon Momis, Peter Peipul, John Giheno, Ted Diro—are sorely missed. These leaders entered Parliament through the clear and overwhelming mandate of their people. Unlike many today, they did not force or manipulate their way in. They feared God, respected the law, and upheld the dignity of public office.

Parliament must exercise extreme caution in electing the Prime Minister. Anyone who breaks the laws of the land and enters Parliament through the back door is a criminal and must be rejected outright for the nation’s top job. This is not just a political matter it is a spiritual one. You are answerable to God, because this concerns the people and the soul of a nation. Do not take a cursory approach to matters of national sovereignty, economic health, and the prosperity of our people.

A leader who wins through peaceful and transparent elections must be respected. Such leaders carry weight in values and principles. They are more qualified for greater national duty. The top job in Parliament and in the nation must be accorded only to those who earned the people’s mandate through a legitimate and transparent process. Anyone outside this process is a national disgrace and a deliberate choice of national doom.

To move our nation forward, we need leaders who are visionary, intelligent, and deeply anchored in values and principles. Lies upon lies do not reflect values-based leadership. In personal health, you are what you eat. If you want to avoid sickness, choose carefully what you consume. Likewise, if we want to live in an economically thriving, peaceful, and healthy nation, we must embrace values-based and visionary leadership.

Values-based leadership begins within by establishing a set of guiding principles that reflect one’s core values and beliefs. Without this, you become a loud thunder in the sky with no rain.

Principles-based leadership is conspicuously absent at the national level today. The mechanisms and walls of the elections process have broken down, and we now see wild beasts entering Parliament. In mature and civilized nations, Parliament is a sacred institution where only the top seeds possessing integrity are elected. People fear and respect the aura radiating from its core. In PNG, Parliament risks becoming a swine’s swamp because the elections process allows such proliferation.

Breakdown in government systems and institutions is a stark reflection of weak and unprincipled leadership. Principles-based leaders are conscious of their words. They live day and night to protect them. The words of a true leader are like master seeds watered, germinated, and grown into healthy plants that yield abundant and nourishing fruit.

Values-based leadership is about vision. It is about issuing executive orders to ensure that people down the rank and file execute and deliver the Government’s targeted policy goals. It is about commitment to work and delivering results. Incompetence and procrastination are not tolerated. People are fired on the spot.

Values-based leadership is tough. It does not harbour diplomacy. It operates with a sword disciplined and decisive. It does not talk too much. It is alert, vigilant, and active. It propagates like photons carrying light and energy to give and sustain life on planet Earth.