23 December 2020

Christmas is not a season – it is an action. An action or one action of God that takes a defined season to celebrate it.

This Christmas, let us take an action and lift the game. Christmas is a season where we all come together and celebrate the gift of life.

That life is not about what we have achieved, but what was gifted to us.

We, as individuals, families and communities and people that make up our great nation of Papua New Guinea and others around the world, express our gratitude, gratefulness and joy at the abundance of blessings God has given us.

As we all come together as families and communities to celebrate the birth of Christ, we are reminded of the divine and simple message :“Glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace and goodwill towards man.”

To put this message into action – Christmas is not a season, it is an act of goodwill. It is a choice we not only look forward to, but prepare to make, and sometimes make sacrifices to keep the act of Christmas.

God’s action? He gave his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, as a gift and therefore, this Christmas it is time for joyous action of love.

This Christmas season will be remembered for the actions we all have taken, to bring peace, joy and goodwill toward our fellow mankind, and that will bring glory to our God in the highest.

The challenges this year have been unprecedented, for families, communities, countries and global community.

Humanity is exposed to the extreme in terms of existence, aspirations and future.

The level of fear and fragility clouded the entire Earth but amidst all these, we declare and celebrate the goodness of our God and the resilient capacity of our people, the goodwill of fellow citizens, families, friends and international partners.

We have not only survived – we are thriving. Challenges are not to bring us down, they are there to push us to our destiny.

I want to, on behalf of my family and those in our coalition of leaders – bonded for the common shared vision and committed to the development of the country – thank the people of this beautiful country.

We are grateful to God, who has bountifully blessed us, and gifted us a Blessed nation with such an abundance of resources that cannot measured in entirety.

We are grateful to God for not only creating such a people of diverse ethnicity, culture and resources but giving us one spirit to maintain the unity as a people of one nation.

We are grateful to our people that even bear with the flaws of those in leadership, and being patient, forgiving and forward looking with aspirations.

On the back of the goodness of our God and the goodwill of our people and the one spirit that bonds us together, as we move to celebrate Christmas, we the leaders bonded together for 2020-2022 wish to assure our people:

• We will uphold our declaration of Our God, the creator and Lord of this nation. We will humble ourselves and seek His wisdom to lead the nation;
• We will put people first to build on the boundless capacities of our people and build this nation through unity;
• We acknowledge the capacity of our societies and tribes. Our societies lived well before the modern State we adopted. When the system of modern Government shows weakness, society is able to thrive, provide and continue to sustain communities through its own resources- both natural and spiritual –  through leadership that is built on trust and respect;
• We acknowledge the founding fathers of this nation and are indeed grateful for their contributions. We would not be here had it not for their passion, sacrifices and commitment. We are grateful to them;
• We declare to our people and our God that we will forgive, and forget the events of the last two months, and learn and take decisive actions out of love and care for better management and leadership of the county for us in the next two years. More importantly, we must leave a legacy for our future leaders;
• We will endeavour to give power to our people so that ‘no one is left behind’. We will provide opportunity so that ‘no one is held back’, because when one person progresses, one community progresses, one province progresses, our nation progresses. We will develop this country together as individuals, communities and as a nation. We all have a stake in this pursuit;
• We are a nation of grateful people. And the only way is for us now – is to step up and lift the game;
• We will lift our game as we will forgive and learn from our mistakes and move forward in humility and confidence;
• We will put our energy and fight the common enemy of lack of development and we will thrive and win;
• We will continue paying for our children’s education. Those who left school can continue education through Flexible Open Distance Education (FODE). We will assist university students with Higher Education Loan Program (HELP);
• We will provide very cheap loans to Micro Small to Medium Enterprises (MSMEs);
• We will put additional Kina on top of present commodity prices to encourage agriculture;
• We will cover freight subsidy for commodities to be brought out to market. These are just a few things we are doing for the country;
• We will look forward and move forward with great expectations for we know we can count on our people, and trust in our God.

Christmas is not a season – it is an Action. An Action or one action of God that takes a defined season to celebrate.

This Christmas, let us take an action and lift the game. That is how you, me and all citizens together will take back PNG.

Thank you and God bless Papua New Guinea.