Pay The 'Kings And Queens' Of 'Charity' Their Dues

In economics government spending and consumer spending contribute to aggregate demand or total spend into the economy.

The economy does not loss by paying citizens their dues. The cost to the government becomes government spending into the economy. The payment the citizens receive from the government coffers, they will then spend into the economy and becomes part of the consumer spending into the economy. These spendings are injections into the circular flow of cash that power on the economy.

Those making decisions on PNGn workers' payments must understand the grander business economics which will give them the justification and assurance to do the right thing and pay out our PNG workforce their dues. In fact, in a collectivist society such as ours, PNGn workers are kings and queens of charity. Even the payout we will get does not stay only with us but is spread thin across our extended families and relatives. These people, our extended families and relatives, happen to be the very people our government is set up and we pay taxes to so they can be served.

Equitably serving the people is one of the aims of government besides social efficiency and saving money should be a least concern. In fact if you underspend on the money allocated to you in a budget then you are inefficient in making use of the limited resources that has been allocated to you. That resource could have been well spent elsewhere than locked up and under utilised by a department. So department of personnel management (or whichever department that is responsible for paying the nurses their entitlements) should spend the money and should not aim to impress as a 'cost savings' GoPNG department. As I commented above in the first paragraph, in the bigger picture, it doesn't hurt the economy for a GoPNG Department to spend into the economy.

Below is an extract from the writings of the late Bernard Narokobi in his seminal work 'The Melanesian Way'.

"We are often preached at by missionaries to be charitable and to give and not to count the cost. We are often urged by service organisations to engage in community work as if we have never known community service in our villages. In saying this I do not deny that the village 'closeness' is no longer true for towns and cities. Wantoks don't live close to each other any more or have the time and resources to help each other. There is definitely a need for organisations like St. Vincent de Paul, Red Cross, the Port Moresby Development Group and Apex. I cast no aspersions on the sincerity of their members and am a member myself of some of these. I often wonder, however, whether some of these organisations exist as elite clubs to propagate themselves and to justify many smart business deals and activities that cannot measure up to either Christian or Melanesian standards of care and concern for one's fellow.

"We must be careful not to destroy the Melanesian values of self sacrifice for the benefit or others, or make beggars and dependents out of our people by good works and deeds. Let me emphasis this point. I am not against charity organisations. There is certainly a place for charity organisations like St. Vincent de Paul in Port Moresby where for whatever reasons tribal and "wantok" links have broken down, and a need for government or publicly financed institutions for the aged, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the lame and the disabled throughout Melanesia. Relatives and "wantoks" can no longer look after their physically handicapped without help, and need the support of all of us.

"Too often we join charity organisations for wrong reasons. Our foreign brothers and sisters seem to undertake charity or welfare work to justify their financially advantageous positions. Papua New Guineans are often made to feel that volunteer service is something imported to our shores and planted in our hearts. How wrong this attitude is. It is nothing more than "Euroegocentricity". Many Papua New Guineans support their aged parents, infant school relatives, widowed parents, and divorced sisters without ever asking for financial support from the Government, the Church, private enterprises or charity organisations. They do this because tradition dictates it."

So pasim eye na paim tasol our PNGn workers, who are the 'Kings And Queens' of 'Charity', their dues.