By Countryside

My dear grandmother died of thyroid cancer and it was ghastly.  Her tender body rapidly deteriorated and because the cancer had closed her mouth, the only way to feed her was to drill a hole through her stomach and for to breathe, another through her throat.  She had it bad and her odor was very strong, almost similar to putrification.  It was advanced and after 6 months, she went home to be with the lord. 

You see cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth (division beyond the normal limits), invasion (intrusion on and destruction of adjacent tissues), and sometimes metastasis (spread to other locations in the body via lymph or blood). These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, and do not invade or metastasize.

Most cancers form a tumor but some, like leukemia, do not. Cancers are caused by abnormalities in the genetic material of the transformed cells. These abnormalities may be due to the effects of carcinogens, such as tobacco smoke, radiation, chemicals, or infectious agents. Other cancer-promoting genetic abnormalities may randomly occur through errors in DNA replication, or are inherited, and thus present in all cells from birth. The heritability of cancers is usually affected by complex interactions between carcinogens and the host's genome.

The National Fisheries Authority display cancer type symptoms, Corruption.  Designed to manage and facilitate our fisheries resources, it has become a club for the big boys in the fisheries industry.  It has uncontrollable growth of mismanagement, it invades like metastasi where the entire fisheries sector is affected by its chaotic feat and at the end, tragically like my grandmother, it is killing the people of Papua New Guinea. 

Having negotiated various treaties for the government of PNG with competent, passionate PNGns, (who have all but left because of this filth), I am quite perplexed at the current state of affairs in our fisheries negotiations.  Driven by private sector radicals that care absolutely nothing about our people, they have used the kumul flag to profiteer their cause.   Locking in deals with Asia, the EU and many others.  Tragically, these arrangements grossly undervalues our resource and people.  Our access agreements are at best, access fees and the NFA has not been able to use these opportunities to demand socio – economic programmes to develop our people.  The miracles of the Fisheries College, coastal programmes are all aid money and nothing from the access agreements. 

You see for this cancer to sustain itself, it needs to invade and like the corruption in the regulatory services in the US Financial System, the NFA Managing Director is an industry man and wantoks, he’s  been rewarded well.  I’ve watched this man singlehandedly scream down his enforcement officers that were trying to lay charges on a major industry player for demanding them to improve their facilities as they are hazardous for both employees and food safety.    In another incident, spending millions of kina to pursue an unrealistic agenda internationally, that was fueled by wanabee saviors of the fisheries sector.  Indeed the smell of putrification is overwhelming and they are indeed, rot to the core.       

So when I look at the men and women in Madang factories who have lost everything, I cannot help feeling so betrayed by the government I worked for.  We fought the cause for our people in every major global fisheries fora.  From cynical pomp ass green Caucasians, to bitchy Asians who wanted to get what the other guy got, we pushed the agenda for PNG so that NFA will go further in giving our wantoks the opportunity to partake in these relationships.  But instead they have squandered the money for themselves and continue to fight for the Filipinos. 

But if there is any comfort I have is that fish, unlike cancer are mostly highly migratory species.  They travel extensively in packs and traverse the oceans for suitable spawning grounds or condusive environments to habitat.  There is a new breed of PNGns swimming against the current of corruption and as they see the filth and decomposition of what the NFA has become, they are eager to change it.  From the managers, officers to the analysists, keep up the fight guys.  For those of you that still wear the blue shirt or blouse with the fish tick and fighting the fight, God is on your side.  May he give you the courage and wisdom that when you turn your computers on today at 11 Floor Deloittes, you see the 4 million men and women that lean on you for survival.  For it was because of them, the NFA was created.