government juggernaut

Sasakila, victim of the government juggernaut

Spare a thought for Mr Moses Sasakila, once Minister for Culture, Recreation and Youth Development in the Papua New Guinea Government.

He has returned to his home near Kainantu, a mile above sea level on the outer rim of the PNG Eastern Highlands. But the former aid-post orderly and cattle farmer, who became a government minister, went home without his portfolio, and without his membership of parliament as well.

Writs were taken out September 23 for the by-election which will elect his replacement in parliament.

It’s small wonder, perhaps, that Mr Sasakila sneaked quietly out of Port Moresby, and attempts by newsmen to interview him were un successful.

Mr Sasakila lost his portfolio and his seat for what history has already technically recorded as “misconduct in office”.

But he didn’t fiddle with funds; he didn’t betray a trust, and he didn’t abuse his official position.

His offence was that he was late in submitting an annual return re quired from legally-specified public leaders, a return in which men and women in high places have to dis close their incomes, their financial dealings, and the nature of any gifts they may have received.

The nature of Mr Sasakila’s return, when it was eventually lodg ed with the PNG Ombudsman

Commission, has never been made public because it is a personal docu ment. But the contents of the return itself had nothing to do with what happened to him, and knowing Mr Sasakila it was probably a pretty tame document showing little more than his ministerial salary.

But under PNG’s heavy Code of Leadership as defined in the con stitution, late lodgement of the return amounts to a technical mis conduct in office, and misconduct in office brings automatic dismissal.

Mr Sasakila cannot stand for election again for three years, or hold certain public positions during the same period.

Now Mr Sasakila was never a heavyweight in office, either in terms of the portfolio he held or in terms of his position in the govern ment machine. As minister for recreation he presided over a chess

championship and frankly conceded

that the game had him tossed. He has also been known to miss the ball the first time when officially kicking off a football match.

He is not being replaced in the ministry, either, and the work in volved in the portfolio will be shared out between two other ministers.

But some of the more thoughtful PNG leaders, including the Prime Minister, Mr Somare, have been appalled at the unsuspected and frightening rigid powers which the 12-months-old constitution is prov ing to possess.

The Sasakila incident, which started off as something of a routine formality, developed out of all proportion to what had been ex pected.

Mr Somare’s main concern, as expressed to newsmen a few days ago, is that a technical breach in of fice can effectively negate the votes of the 30,000 Eastern Highlanders who put Mr Sasakila into parlia ment in the first place.

Despite the huge work which went into the framing of the con stitution or perhaps because of it there seems little doubt that a constant and time-consuming review is still needed to knock off the rough edges.

From GUS SMALES in Port Moresby