3. Mekere Morauta
Sir Mekere Morauta, KCMG is a Papua New Guinean economist and political figure. Sir Mekere was born in 1946 in Kukipi, a coastal village east of Kerema in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea, and was educated at local primary schools and at Kerema High and Sogeri National High.
He went on to study at the University of Papua New Guinea, where he obtained a Bachelor of Economics in 1970. He was also an exchange student at Flinders University in South Australia.
After graduating from university he worked as an economist in both the public and private sectors. In 1975 he was the first Papua New Guinean to be appointed Secretary of the Department of Finance, a position which he held until 1982.
Other positions he has held include Managing Director of the government’s commercial bank, the Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation (1983–1992), and Governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea (1992–19993), PNG’s central bank. Morauta was also a successful businessman after he retired from governing the central banFrom 1994 to 1997, he was executive chairman of Morauta Investments, Ltd. (Delta Seafoods and Morauta and Associates). After entering politics he withdrew from actively managing the firm and his wife Lady Roslyn Morauta took over the management of the firm.
Sir Mekere was a member of the so-called “Gang of Four”, a group of influential young civil service chiefs who played a leading role in holding together public administration and public policy in the formative decade or so after Papua New Guinea’s independence in 1975.
The other members of the group were Charles Lepani, Sir Rabbie Namaliu and Sir Anthony Siaguru. Namaliu also later went on to become Prime Minister. Morauta maintained from that period on a strong professional and warm personal relationship with the Australian economist Ross Garnaut.