Guest post by Guest Blogger Troy Rako

PNG is losing its best men and women. PNG is losing its brightest men and women. PNG is losing its righteous and conscientious men and women. It is losing them not to death but to migration.

Good people are desperate to leave this country, and that should scare all of us! Imagine what happens when that happens. A country where only the wicked prosper.

You see, I wish PNG were only corrupt. I wish that was all we had to deal with. But no, PNG is far worst than that. We are not only corrupt. We HATE and FIGHT incorruptible people. We actually hate the few good people amongst us. We see them as a threat to our survival because it seems the only way people get ahead in this country is through corruption. And the reason why so many are against the proposed sit in Protest this Friday.

So, it is no surprise that good people naturally do not find a safe haven in PNG. Good people in PNG are endangered species; not to mention the fact that they cannot even get ahead because the surest and fastest means to getting ahead is through the ‘C’ word – Corruption.

The politicians that win elections are the corrupt ones.

The pastors with the largest congregation and grandest centres are mostly the corrupt ones.

The young guys, girls and youths in general with the best apartments, most exotic cars and material things are mostly the corrupt youths. (Except in cases of inheritance/wealth transfer).

The richest civil servants or employees are usually the corrupt ones. I can go on and on.

Ours is a country where meritocracy is dead. If you want to get ahead and go far, don’t bother honing your craft. Just know how to play by popular rules. Learn to please those in charge. Learn to appease corruption. The result is that good people will excuse themselves. They show themselves the door.

Corruption is not merely a crisis in PNG. It is a culture. To get anything done (and I mean, ANYTHING!) you’d have to tip your way through. Everybody expects a tip. Sorry, scratch that, everybody DEMANDS a tip before they’d do their job! Their salary is not enough motivation. Yet if you fail to promote the same people or send them on international training, you are an enemy of progress. It’s one of the reasons some of us left the Civil Service. Still, we see people being promoted and elevated. The promotion and elevation by corruption.

Yes, in PNG salaries alone do not motivate the workforce. Employers are guilty. Employees are guilty. Civil servants are guilty. Politicians are VERY guilty. Avarice and discontentment have eaten deep into our national consciousness.

There’s absolutely no way good people would thrive in such a hostile and toxic environment. The only option left for them is EXIT! They’ve got to find a place that best suits their moral and intellectual makeup. A place that welcomes normal people. A place where black is black and grey is not half white but grey. A place where talking like a normal human being is not seen as abnormal. A place where you are not nervous to speak sanely!

If you’ve ever thought about leaving PNG you are not unpatriotic. You are truly unwanted. This country frustrates you because you are sane. Only insane people feel at home in PNG. That is the bitter truth.

Haven’t you ever wondered why our best brains and best Papua New Guinean success stories come from abroad? I’m talking about good, personal success stories. That’s because good people always blossom in good environment. They find their niche and nest easily and BOOM! They explode!

Truth be told, the most conscientious, most humane, most affective, most effective, most tolerant, most righteous and brightest Papua New Guineans are abroad. Most of them were here, until they ‘escaped’ in order not to lose their sanity.

Corrupt people cannot survive in incorruptible places and incorruptible people cannot survive in corrupt places.