PNGDF is heavily politicized

Relieving the Papua New Guinea Defense Force Commander Major General Gilbert Toropo on the basis of age doesn’t sit well especially when considering set precedence and the manner in which the Marape administration is dispensing executive order. And this comes amidst the Marape led government’s sweeping changes across key state institutions in the twilight of its fading tenure.

People are asking since when did a PNG government considered going pass the age limit was a serious impediment to performance in the public service?

Particularly on the premise that not so long ago a retired Colonel by the name of Yaura Sasa was rushed into the citadel of the PNGDF command and control.

PNGDF Commander Toropo was well into the first part of his second term as the country’s top military advisor and commander of the army when some paper pushers in Waigani decided that the military must bend to political convenience.

Commander Toropo, is among the few, or if not the only special force soldier trained by the United States army and is acclaimed by many as a smart, measured and energetic military leader who dragged the aging army into modern discipline and command and control.

It is not about the question of who commands the army but concern on the detriment of the army’s honour and sanctity from the dirty hands of politics.

If PM James Marape has done nothing else in his troubled, turbulent tenure, he has sensitized us anew to concerns about the politicization of the military ­— along with the diplomatic corps. As much as the subject demands our attention, it has largely escaped the level of scrutiny and understanding it deserves.

Ours being a system of governance based on popular sovereignty — rule of, by, and for the people — the military, belongs to the people it is charged with representing.
Can the government do whatever it wants with the military? Our chosen form of government, representative democracy, is built of constitutionally empowered, co-equal institutions charged with checking and balancing one another.

Our army has been the most trusted institution for decades. It has managed to remain above the partisan political fray that has consumed many once-trusted cornerstones of constitutional offices.

Like all things crumbling from the tainted touch of this government the military is increasingly politicized in recent times, in ways that profoundly threaten its reputation for nonpartisanship. Left unchecked, this may gravely endanger the army to remain apolitical — which would have disastrous consequences for the nation’s security.

Using the army to score political points let alone to shop for votes will set a dangerous trend that will compromise its integrity and reputation as the cornerstone of our democracy.