Marape’s SME “Accountability” Is Pure Spin — The Rot Starts at the Top

By PAUL L. KEBAIJA

The PANGU Pati statement dripping with self-praise exposes the Marape government’s favourite trick: boast loudly about “commitment” and “transparency” while the rot festers right under their noses. Since 2019, they claim SME development has been “a foundation of its economic agenda.” Yet in mid-2026, after years of this “foundation,” we suddenly need a “swift review” into the K200 million flagship programme because of serious allegations of misuse under the very ministry led by PANGU MP and Minister Win Bakri Daki.
The statement insists the party wants funding channelled “away from political intermediaries and directly through trusted… Mama Bank, National Development Bank and BSP.” Noble words. But the allegations backed by IPA records circulating publicly, show companies linked to Minister Daki’s wife, Charlene Monpi Daki, and other associates allegedly received substantial sums. Opposition Leader James Nomane has detailed payments to defunct entities, household staff, family members, and repeat big-ticket recipients while genuine SMEs in the districts got nothing.
This is not “protecting integrity.” This is the government’s own minister allegedly at the centre of the very political capture they now pretend to fix.
PANGU President Eigere Singin says the review will “confirm that the programme was operating correctly or identify areas requiring improvement.” Translation: we’ll investigate ourselves after the scandal broke on social media and the Opposition demanded action. Where was this “leveling up” and “shut down potential irregularities” when the money was actually being disbursed? It only appears once whistleblowers and IPA screenshots force the issue into the open.
Prime Minister James Marape poses in the accompanying photo with Deputy PM John Rosso, projecting calm leadership. Yet his Commerce Minister, a core PANGU figure responds to allegations not with full independent investigation but by telling critics to bring evidence to Parliament instead of “social media.” That is not accountability. That is deflection.
The statement ends with the pious line: “When leadership values truth and accountability, the whole nation wins.” Under Marape, the evidence suggests the opposite. Public money meant for grassroots entrepreneurs has allegedly been captured by politically connected networks. The same government that claims to champion “every eligible Papua New Guinean” now scrambles to contain damage from its own minister’s orbit.
This is not strengthening SME funding. This is classic damage control dressed up as reform. Marape and PANGU had years to get this right. They only found religion on transparency after the stench became impossible to ignore.
Genuine accountability would mean Daki stepping aside immediately for a proper independent probe not a party-led “review” and full public disclosure of every recipient and approval. Until that happens, the government’s lofty words remain exactly what they look like: empty PR propping up a system that protects the connected while ordinary Papua New Guineans continue to lose out.
The rot in the SME programme didn’t appear overnight. It grew under Marape’s watch, in a ministry run by his own party man. No amount of hashtagged spin changes that.