Leaders should not boast about providing the basic rights of people including education, health care, sanitation, roads and electricity. These were the sentiments of the Kokopo Lord Mayor Isidor Bonga, when differentiating between basic services and initiated programs. He said recently there have been numerous bold statements full of political rhetoric influencing the minds of people with basic services that is already provided to the public as a part of the government’s duty to ensure the welfare of its citizens “The people will not ask or demand the government for these services because it is already entailed in the system and only requires responsible leaders to deliver through efficient and effective planning and implementation.” He said instead, leaders should emphasize on initiating their own plans and programs to address critical issues, outside of what the government has already accommodated for in the budget. “Let us focus on empowering every family unit through the three pillars- education, health and wealth creation.” He said with a healthy, wealthy, and educated population within the society, they cannot go wrong in terms of development because people will realize their potential and have the capability to drive it themselves. He added that strategies must be put in place to effectively drive education, health and wealth creation in Kokopo District and ENBP as a whole. “We need to be more engaged in consultation on how we will drive this focus by compiling a plan on how we are going to achieve in the next 5 years.” Mr Bonga said Kokopo district has suffered from deteriorating law and order issues as youth offenders that have dropped out of school or parents do not have money to pay for school fees, so they end up engaging in illegal activities. “Let us draft policies that will not allow for dropouts but accommodate special coaching lessons to give them a chance to upgrade their marks.” He further stated there must be more effective health awareness across all wards to prevent more deaths from curable diseases. “When we have an educated and healthy population, they will drive the local economy of our province through wealth creation and SMES under agriculture, fisheries and commerce.” “The people’s initiatives and skills must be empowered so they can become self-reliant.”