PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) — Former Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Bill Skate says he is not interested in running for the job after winning his Port Moresby regional seat, Radio Australia reports.
The win automatically makes Skate the governor of Port Moresby under the amended PNG Constitution.
Skate said he is content with being governor and would offer his support to anybody who has the numbers to be prime minister, except current Prime Minister Mekere Morauta.
Morauta is leader of the biggest party in the PNG parliament, the People’s Democratic Movement party, which was founded by former two-time Prime Minister Paias Wingti.
Skate claims the recent 6 percent devaluation of the PNG kina was largely due to Morauta’s excessive spending of government funds leading up to the elections.
“The price of goods like rice and tinned fish are increasing and the effect of this is hitting many ordinary Papua New Guineans,” Skate told Radio Australia.
“I’m not interested in fighting for the prime ministership. My ultimate aim is to ensure we get the government back and see that my people live in peace and harmony.”
Skate is a controversial figure, who once claimed during a secretly videoed drinking session to be the godfather of Port Moresby’s notorious “raskal” gangs.
But now, as governor of one of the 10 most dangerous cities in the world, he said he plans to fix Port Moresby’s problems by contracting unemployed youths to clean up the environment around the city.
“We will also engage our church leaders to spiritually educate the community on how to live better lives, and hence cut down the problems of law and order.”
Skate said he would like to see a leadership change in the People’s Democratic Party, preferring Wingti as prime minister over Morauta.
“(Morauta) is a good bureaucrat, but he’s not a politician because he’s very indecisive.”
Skate said the country needed a strong and decisive leader who would vow to fight national corruption and reinstate National Capital District governments.
He said the next prime minister should set up a National Commission of Inquiry to investigate corruption rampant in the government.
