Authoritarianism and Corruption in Papua New Guinea
Photo credit: https://36th-parallel.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Somare-ONeill.png Introduction In its 43-year history, the Pacific Island nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is at the cross-roads yet again. PNG’s ruling People’s National Congress Party (PNC) leader and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s (O’Neill) political dominance has been shaken. His coalition government’s solidarity and numerical strength has been weakened and will certainly be tested in a looming vote of no confidence (VONC). Two weeks ago on May 7, 2019 the Alternative Government, led by the Opposition filed a Motion of No Confidence against PM O’Neill. The Speaker is expected to inform Parliament whether the motion is accepted on May 30, 2019. The drive to grapple the PM office away from O’Neill is growing momentum on the back of a string of alleged cases of high-level corruption coupled with economic mismanagement which O’Neill has and continues to downplay and denies any wrongdoing. He is a hard ...
