Kalpokas: independence

Interview

Kalpokas: independence without economic aid

By Beryl Cook

DONALD Kalpokas

was sacked as Lini’s Education and Foreign Affairs Min

ister on June 27 this year, and was elected President of the Vanua’aku Party at a Mele Congress on August 7 which Lini says is illegal and invalid. He is a father of five who was a teacher for four years until 1971, when he became an educa tion administrator. His supporters expect him to become Prime Minister at the next Parliamentary sitting or at the election.

What would Vanuatu under Kalpokas be like?

Our priorities since Independence have been to consolidate the administration.

On Independence we really didn’t have a system of administration in the govern ment and we set that up and consoli dated it. Now we are trying to work out

the cost effectiveness of that administra tion versus our economic development what those services could provide under the strain of the bare minimum of what the country can generate in itself.

We would try to pursue more vigorous economic development to get the country to be more self-reliant rather than reliant on aid for capital development. We want to emphasise that more and the way to do that is to create an atmosphere which is favourable for investors, i.e. more liberal in the press and more open in the government. I think we have put a lot of emphasis in the past in regard to foreign policies in regard to decolonisation and freedom fighters, that had affected a lot of our foreign relations.

Now we must look to foreign policy to boost our trade, to mutual cooperation with other countries rather than trying to go against them because of their foreign policies or their colonial policies.

On nuclear testing: We have our stand: that we would like

a total ban on nuclear testing in the Pacific. We have to reassess the pros and cons of such a policy, we have to draw a line where it’s beneficial and where it’s not.

On specific projects or changes he would introduce?

Our immediate income earner is tourism.

It is quite important that it be given more consideration as far as looking at more benefit that could come out of it possibilities of developing more resorts or hotels and the kinds of activities which the people of Vanuatu can participate in.

We would put a lot more emphasis on economic development and if we have enough money we can look into areas of social development. That does not mean we should restrain on social development projects, there is a lot of room for that, but we need to sustain the recurrent cost ... otherwise we build up a lot of projects and cannot sustain them.

There is also a lot to brush up in education administration, law, profes sional development and curriculum.

On the difference between his ad ministration and Lini’s?

Basically we would have an open govern ment in which everything is laid out for members of the public to know exactly what is going on. □