When Will Papua New Guineans Be Trusted to Lead Their Own Institutions?

By Bernard Yegiora 

The appointment of Dr Nicole Haley as Papua New Guinea’s Electoral Commissioner should not be reduced to a personal debate about her academic credentials. Dr Haley is a respected scholar who has studied Papua New Guinea’s elections and political system for many years. Her expertise is not in question.

The real concern is institutional and national.

I teach in an Area Studies program that focuses on Papua New Guinea. Every year, we train students to study PNG politics, governance, foreign policy, development, law, society, and public institutions. We encourage them to take their country seriously as a field of knowledge and as a national responsibility.

One day, I would like to see one of my students become Electoral Commissioner of Papua New Guinea.

That is why this appointment worries me.

If Papua New Guineans are being trained to understand their own country, if they are being educated in governance, public policy, political studies, and administration, then they must also be trusted to lead the institutions of their own State.

The Electoral Commission is not an ordinary administrative agency. It is central to constitutional democracy. It manages elections, protects the integrity of the ballot, and helps determine whether citizens have confidence in the political system. Under the Constitution, sovereignty belongs to the people. Elections are the mechanism through which that sovereignty is exercised.

For that reason, the leadership of the Electoral Commission carries both legal and symbolic weight.

The Public Services (Management) Act is also relevant because it reflects the broader principle that Papua New Guinea’s public service should be professional, merit-based, accountable, and capable of serving the national interest. But merit should not be interpreted in a way that permanently sidelines Papua New Guineans from the highest levels of their own public institutions.

This is the deeper issue.

If a foreign academic who has studied PNG elections for many years can be appointed Electoral Commissioner, then what stops a foreign academic who has studied PNG foreign policy from becoming Secretary for Foreign Affairs? What stops a foreign expert in policing from becoming Police Commissioner? What stops a foreign economist from becoming Secretary for Treasury?

At what point does technical expertise become a substitute for national leadership?

Papua New Guinea needs foreign expertise. That is not disputed. International advisers, researchers, and technical partners have made important contributions to this country. But there is a clear difference between advising a sovereign institution and leading it.

Advisers support national capacity.

Commissioners exercise national authority.

That distinction matters.

The earlier appointment of Australian officers as Provincial Police Commanders in Enga and East New Britain already raised similar concerns. Taken together, these appointments risk creating the impression that Papua New Guineans are not trusted to manage their own institutions.

That is dangerous for national confidence.

Since Independence in 1975, Papua New Guinea has invested in building its own public service, universities, professionals, lawyers, administrators, academics, and policy thinkers. The promise of Independence was not simply that PNG would have its own flag and Constitution. It was that Papua New Guineans would govern Papua New Guinea.

If we continue appointing foreign nationals to senior positions in strategic public institutions, we must ask whether we are strengthening the State or weakening confidence in our own people.

This debate should not be emotional. It should be principled.

The Government should explain whether this appointment is an exceptional case or whether it signals a new direction in public service policy. If it is exceptional, what makes it exceptional? If it is not exceptional, then Papua New Guineans deserve to know whether foreign nationals are now eligible to lead other constitutional and senior public institutions.

As a teacher, my concern is with the next generation.

What message are we sending to PNG students studying politics, governance, law, public administration, and area studies? Are we telling them that they can study their country, serve their country, and contribute to their country — but not necessarily lead its most important institutions?

That is the question this appointment raises.

Papua New Guinea should welcome international expertise. But it must also build and trust its own national leadership.

After almost fifty years of Independence, the real test is not whether foreigners understand Papua New Guinea.

The real test is whether Papua New Guinea trusts Papua New Guineans to lead Papua New Guinea.