Sir Mekere Morauta (12 June 1946 – 19 December 2020) was a Papua New Guinean politician and economist who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1999 to 2002. Inheriting a depressed economy and a fractious legislature, he embarked on fundamental reforms of the country's economy and political system.
Before entering politics, Morauta led the post-independence process of building financial infrastructure in Papua New Guinea as Secretary of Finance, Managing Director of the state-owned Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation, and Governor of the central bank. As a member of parliament, he represented Port Moresby North West from 1997 until 2012, and again from 2017 until his death in 2020.
Morauta remained an active opposition leader during the successive governments of Sir Michael Somare and Peter O'Neill, especially focusing on the politics of natural resources.
Personal background
Sir Mekere was born in 1946 in Kukipi, a coastal village east of Kerema in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea. He was educated at local primary schools, at Kerema High and at Sogeri National High School. He went on to study at the University of Papua New Guinea, where in 1970 he became the first student to obtain a Bachelor of Economics. He was also an exchange student at Flinders University in South Australia.
After graduating from university he worked as an economist in both the public and private sectors. In 1975, he was the first Papua New Guinean to be appointed Secretary of the Department of Finance, a position which he held until 1982. Other positions he held included Managing Director of the government's commercial bank, the Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation (1983–1992), and Governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea (July 1993 – September 1994), PNG's central bank. Morauta was also a successful businessman after he retired from governing the central bank. From 1994 to 1997, he was executive chairman of Morauta Investments, Ltd. (Delta Seafoods and Morauta and Associates). After entering politics he withdrew from actively managing the firm and his wife Lady Roslyn Morauta took over the management of his businesses.
Sir Mekere was a member of the so-called "Gang of Four", a group of influential young civil service chiefs who played a leading role in holding together public administration and public policy in the formative decade or so after Papua New Guinea's independence in 1975., Time Magazine, 26 July 1999. The other members of the group were Charles Lepani, Sir Rabbie Namaliu and Sir Anthony Siaguru. Namaliu also later went on to become prime minister. Morauta maintained from that period a strong professional and warm personal relationship with the Australian economist Ross Garnaut.
Political career
Sir Mekere entered the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea in July 1997 as the member for Moresby North-West. He was in 1998/99 Minister for Fisheries in the government of Bill Skate that emerged from the 1997 elections. The Skate government did not cope with the economic and political crises that beset PNG then and the government was defeated in a vote of no confidence. Sir Mekere was then, in July 1999 elected by parliament as prime minister with a huge majority : 99 votes for Sir Mekere and 5 votes for his challenger. His government was a reforming government and developed policies to deal with the crises. Sir Mekere was re-elected in Moresby North West in 2002 and 2007.
However, he was manoeuvered out of government by Sir Michael Somare after the 2002 elections. Somare's National Alliance Party (NA) was the biggest party with 19 out of the 109 seats as compared to 12 for Mekere's People's Democratic Movement. Somare excluded Morauta in the coalition building after the elections and Morauta became leader of the opposition. However he was also deposed from that post by a coup within his party and spent 2004–2007 on the government bench. This is in PNG distinct from being in government.
He was in government again in the period of the 2011–2012 Papua New Guinean constitutional crisis. Morauta was then Minister for Public Enterprises in the Peter O'Neill/Belden Namah cabinet that was formed in 2011 after a vote of no confidence put an end to the Somare/Abal government.For an example of Morauta in office:
In May 2012, he announced that, after fifteen years in Parliament, he would not stand for re-election and so left Parliament in June 2012. However, he became during the O'Neil/Leo Dion government in the period 2012–2017 a player in major controversies. This resulted in calls for him to stand again.; He decided therefore to give in to major pressures and stood again successfully in Moresby North-West in 2017.
Party identification
He joined parliament in 1997 as a member of the People's Democratic Movement (PDM). PDM was founded by Paias Wingti who lost his seat in the 1997 election and Morauta became the party leader.
During his time as prime minister, between 1999 and 2002, Morauta was also leader of the PDM. When Sir Michael Somare took over as prime minister after the 2002 general elections, it was expected that Morauta would be leader of the opposition. However, he was challenged from within his own party by John Muingnepe, the deputy leader of the party. Muingnepe dismissed Morauta as leader of the party in favor of Paias Wingti who had succeeded in returning to parliament in 2002. PDM split then into two groups. After being deposed as leader Morauta left to form his own party, the Papua New Guinea Party. Morauta had advocated already to change the name of PMD to indicate a fresh start. Morauta was installed as leader of the opposition after a successful appeal to the Registrar of Political Parties and the Ombudsman Commission against the actions of Muingnepe.
He did not gain acceptance among his colleagues in the opposition and became part of the government bench. After the 2007 election, he became again leader of the opposition until he joined the O'Neill/Namah government in 2011. He stood as an independent in the 2017 election. Morauta then joined the ranks of the Pangu Pati under the leadership of Sam Basil together with 4 other Independent MP's.
This did not last long: the Pangu Pati joined the government bench and Morauta was again an independent. Party identification and formation is not a determining factor in PNG politics: coalition building is crucial. Morauta was a politician who had a strong regional base in Gulf and Western province because of the economic importance of his fishing interests as well as the benefits brought by the Ok Tedi mine.
He had also a solid base in Port Moresby. He was elected four times in the same constituency. However, power eluded him often because of difficulties in forging coalitions.
Morauta government
The Morauta government was in office from 14 July 1999 until 5 August 2002 and deployed far reaching initiatives. The most urgent task when coming to power was macro economic stabilization. Morauta looked back with satisfaction in his last budget speech before the election in 2002 on lower interest rates, lower inflation and a more stable currency. This had been achieved with the support of the International Financial Institutions and the Australian government.
Second, the financial structure of PNG was reformed. The independence of the Central Bank was restored and reinforced. The government withdrew from the banking sector. Government used to be a major player in the banking sector through the Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation (PNGBC). This bank was privatised. The state owned enterprises (SOES) were brought together under a holding company called the Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC). This was supposed to be a shell company that refrained as much as possible from direct management of the businesses under its control. Its core function was to stimulate the privatisation of SOES and managing the dividends that came from those enterprises.
Thirdly, there were major political reforms aimed at strengthening party formation. MPs used to shift allegiances easily and created therefore political instability. The Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC) had as its main provision that MPs had to remain loyal to the Prime Minister they had chosen whether they had supported the PM on a party platform or as independents. It proscribed crossing the floor on virtually all issues. It also laid down a framework for the organisation and registration of political parties. Similarly the electoral system was changed from a First Past the Post system to a system of Limited Preferential Voting. The idea was that candidates under such a system would approach other candidates searching for support in voters casting second or more preferences. This would stimulate cooperation between candidates and encourage stable party formation.
Fourthly, government involvement in the natural resources sector was reorganised. Previous governments had involved themselves more and more with managing such resources through equity participation. Orogen Minerals Ltd was the major vehicle to bring government and private investment together in natural resources projects. The Morauta government sold the government's 51% controlling interest in Orogen to Oil Search Ltd. Government withdrew therefore from direct management and was merely drawing dividends from Oil Search. A different vehicle was created for the big Ok Tedi mine in Western Province. BHP was the controlling interest and manager of this mine. A tailings dam broke and BHP was faced with big claims of environmental damages. BHP wanted to avoid these and these were settled by transferring their shares to an entity representing the people of Western Province : the Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Fund. Income from these shares was used for development projects in Western province and Papua New Guinea as a whole. However, one third of that income was paid in a trust account in Singapore as a reserve for the people in Western Province when the mine would be exhausted. The Mineral Resources Development Corporation (MRDC) remained in existence. It was originally also a vehicle for government equity participation. However, its mission was limited when Orogen was established. MRDC's task was merely to administer the equity interest of landowner groups and provincial governments in natural resources projects.
The Morauta government faced stiff opposition after the first benefits of macro economic stabilization were realized and economic reforms were on the table. This opposition was primarily directed against austerity and privatization demanded by the International Financial Institutions and the Australian government. Soldiers rebelled when a report was leaked proposing the curtailment of the army and even merging it with the police into a mere paramilitary force. Soldiers protested not only against these plans but also strongly against the terms of retrenchment.
A widespread protest movement of soldiers, workers and especially students emerged against the influence of the World Bank, IMF and the Australian government. During student protests against the privatizations in 2001, three students were shot dead by police. At a meeting with the parents of a dead student, Sir Mekere referred to the previous loss of his son and he described the events as "the blackest day in our nation's history".