Has the Government Lost Control of the Country. By TIV

On the face of it, especially in light of the lack of resolute and concrete response to the rapidly deteriorating Law and Order situation, the answer would seem to be “Yes.”

With silence becoming the main Government response to most of the grave problems now threatening the country more than at any previous time, is it any wonder that the average citizen or resident now firmly believes that our leaders have surrendered the country to the criminals.

The lack of law and order is becoming the single most overwhelming problem facing this nation, the one problem that on its own can destroy this country because without law and order and a feeling of personal security felt by the citizens – all else crumbles.

If it is true that there are now more consultants working in Vanuatu than there are police officers, then the priorities of the government truly are upside down, because all the training, all the education, all the investment can be reduced to dust if people are not safe in the streets or in their own homes.

Despite millions of dollars being spent since Independence on numerous “police support” programs, it is reported that there are no hand cuffs in the country and perpetrators are not even photographed when they are arrested and charged.

Surely it is time to provide what is needed at street level, needed by the ordinary people living in this country, rather than another air conditioned office building and another batch of new vehicles?

This is no longer a problem for the “waet man” or the foreigners. Young ni-Vanuatu women are being raped by ni-Vanuatu men. Ni-Vanuatu are being robbed and battered by young ni-vanuatu men and boys.

The business community is meeting, planning marches, discussing petitioning the government to act. What is the Government doing? The people of Freswota were marching this week in protest at the intimidation they are enduring at the hands of the criminals. What is the Government doing?

Is the lack of any sign of police patrols in the towns, either on foot or in vehicles, a question of resources – human or equipment? Or is it simply a lack of government resolve?

The security station established at the entrance to Devil’s Point Road at Mele after the murder of an expatriate resident there, shows us that it does not take a great deal of expense or “technology” to make a radical improvement. A small roadside shed and a few security guards monitoring traffic movement 24 hours a day has reportedly ended the robberies practically overnight.

Why is there no sign that the outrage and fear presently being felt and expressed by the general public is also being felt equally by the politicians? How many more articles and letters to the editor do officials need to read before they are galvanised into action?

If the ordinary people of this town know who the criminals are – as they do in so many of the cases – what is the problem with the authorities?

It is as if the Government is entirely out of touch with the reality of actual life of the country today.

Real life, as experienced by women and young girls living in fear of being gang raped in their own house. Real life, as experienced by investors who pay hundred of millions of Vatu every year into the Government coffers only to see it being stolen, squandered and paid out to cover the Government losses in Court. Real life, as experienced by women, children and the elderly who 28 years after Independence still cannot get decent health care.
Real life where the cost of school fees is crippling thousands of families, and where children under 10 years old are routinely involved in ever more serious crime.

If any politician, any leader in the Police Force, or any official in any foreign embassy doubts this for one minute, we urge you to get out of the shelter of your offices and talk to the real people of the is country. Talk to the mothers who run the homes throughout this land. Talk to the children who should be the future of this country but who instead seem to be living in a vacuum of hopelessness. Talk to the police officers manning the phones over any given weekend and ask them how often the phone rings reporting yet another rape, yet another home invasion, yet another assault. Talk to the investors who have helped build this country and continue to build it.

Was this the great Independence dream? That within the first generation after “freedom” the country would be in spiritual and moral tatters, without a statesman in sight, without a careful hand being extended to lead the people forward.

We all want and need economic investment and growth, without which employment would barely exist and government coffers would be empty.

However, the downside of Vanuatu’s strong recent economic growth is that the prosperity has helped to conceal the real state of the nation – widespread inequality, lowering health and education standards, alienation from society by tens of thousands of young people, leaders causing losses of hundreds of millions of vatu because of incompetent or illegal actions, ministers arranging the payment tens of millions of vatu in “compensation” to their political friends, without fear of any consequences except perhaps a brief period of personal embarrassment in the event the incident is reported in the media, all of this eroding the sense of community, civic pride and nationhood.

With the Police Force perennially hampered by political interference and competing hidden loyalties, and the Prosecution Office and the Ombudsman so inactive as to be almost invisible in real terms, who is to be relied upon to act as guardian and watchdog? Who in any meaningful way can the people look to for appropriate leadership and direction?

Perhaps the Council of Minsters needs to walk along the road in Seaside between the entrance of Poppy’s on the Lagoon and the former Talimaru Hotel to see the squalor of how some people live.

If it is true that you lead by example, the example being set today in this country is too often atrocious. It has become so commonplace for the public to hear of or witness numerous allegations of misconduct by our leaders that it is almost impossible for them – both the ones who do the actions and the ones who do nothing about it - to be respected.

Is the Government responsible for every serious problem in the country today? Of course not. And of course many of the problems that we are experiencing as we grow are being experienced in most other countries, including the wealthy developed countries.

However as the current managers of the nation, they are the ones who have the power to enforce the existing laws and create the official atmosphere that is necessary to help bring about a desperately needed change in official attitudes.

Is Vanuatu to become like a miniature African country where it is reported in many academic papers and reports that nearly everyone of the more than 50 African countries is worse off today than they were on the date of Independence.- with corruption and government mismanagement at the core of the decline?

In the 28 years since Independence Vanuatu has produced hundreds of educated young men and women. So there is no excuse for doing nothing or for saying, “I didn’t know,” no excuse for the apathy and indifference that helps keep the worst of our leaders in positions of influence and power.

The people born since Independence make up about three quarters of the country’s population. They have no direct experience of colonial rule in any way whatsoever. The country they live in today has largely been created by the politicians who have been in power since Independence.

The children in any country are meant to be the future; instead we are raising a generation of children where realistically most of them have very little chance of becoming productive, contributing members of society.

The lack of access to universal free education is perhaps one of the biggest causes of the breakdown in society because without an education, young people are alienated from the development of the country.

In world terms, Port Vila is a tiny village of around 35,000 people, two thirds of which are legally children (ie: under 18 years old). To say that a Government and the Municipalities benefiting from hundreds of millions of foreign aid and a Police Force of several hundred members cannot bring this situation under control seems absurd.

It may not be realistic for the public to expect decisive action to be taken from a government riddled with accusations of either irresponsible or unlawful actions by its ministers and senior officials? From a government being run by politicians who, tragically for this country’s welfare, routinely ignore or break the laws of the land that they themselves have passed in parliament, where certain leaders systematically breach the Leadership Code with their disgraceful personal behaviour and inappropriate or unlawful professional conduct

So it is perhaps understandable in this context that many of the senior figures in this country would not welcome a strong and independent police and prosecution service.

We are as a nation at a real crossroads – the direction we take now will determine how we live for years to come. Will we continue to be led by leaders who ferret about in the halls of power dreaming up new schemes of how to plunder the meagre resources of the people whose health and welfare they are meant to protect and promote?

The present situation is not new; it is just worse. For years responsible people have been alerting the government to all of the present day problems when they were still much smaller and easier to handle, asking the Government to do something.

Now Vanuatu is standing at a precipice; one push in the wrong direction and we can so easily tumble into the abyss. The need for strong practical and moral leadership has never been greater.

Where is the leader who, like a good shepherd, looks after himself last and his followers first? Where is the leader who cannot sleep at night because of his genuine concern for the people and because his or her conscience will not let them?

Not for the first time, TIV is asking the Government to ACT NOW before it is too late. ACT NOW while it is still possible to take realistic measures to save the country from careering irretrievably out of control.