Prime Minister Hon. James Marape says he is not in a rush to make ministerial appointments after he was elected by an overwhelming 97-0 in Parliament last Tuesday (August 9 2022). He said this yesterday (Sunday, August 14, 2022) when giving an update on ministerial appointments. “We are not in a rush to make Cabinet appointments,” PM Marape said. “I want to first see who in our current Coalition are able persons to be entrusted with portfolios. “We want to ensure that whilst we satisfy our political obligations to all Coalition partners, the best persons must be appointed to various portfolios. “ Also, as we review individual department and agency performances of the last three years, we want to also look at heads of departments and agencies so that we appoint experienced and capable people. “This is so that we hit the ground running so that we achieve the outcomes we desire.” PM Marape said one of the most-striking things about Papua New Guinea was that the Human Development Index (HDI) had not improved over the last 10 years. “We want to arrest this decline and post a good HDI,” he said. “Vision 2025 talks about us being in the mid income-earning nations at the earliest, and in fact, at the end of the Vision 2050 timeline it talks about us being in the Top 50 nations. “That’s a good goal and aspiration, consistent with my view on becoming the ‘Richest Black Christian Nation’ – a statement which equates to not just money, but about our people being happy and satisfied with life in their own country, blessed with an abundance of God-given resources." Christianity is about all our national character, which must be refined towards Christian values and beliefs, tolerance, love, care, forgiveness, no hatred, to name a few.”