People
WISDOM
GABRIEL PEPSON FORMER PNG AMBASSADOR TO THE EUROPEAN UNION
BY CARMEL PILOTTI | PHOTOGRAPHS: GODFREEMAN KAPTIGAU
Gabriel Pepson was born the first of three children in Kimininga in Western Highlands Province in 1956. He went to school at Koglamp Primary School, Mt Hagen High School, and then the University of Papua New Guinea to study economics in 1974. His first job was with the Department of Finance in 1978 where he worked under the late Sir Mekere Morauta. He went on to work for the Office of International Development Assistance (OIDA) where he became Director in 1991. He was posted as Ambassador to the European Union in 1995 18 PNG NOW APRIL/MAY 2022
where he served for 10 years until his return to take up the position of Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade. He retired in 2010 and now sits on several boards and serves as a member of the UPNG Council, and Chancellor of the Institute of Business Studies. Pepson unsuccessfully contested the Western Highlands regional seat in 2007 and the Moresby North West seat in the 2021 byelection. One of my earliest memories is being taken to school in 1964 by my mother to be enrolled. I didn’t want to leave her. When the English headmaster came to take me to the other children I cried and held on tightly to my mother.
A boy from my village was brought to talk to me, and I was told other boys from my village were there and I would not be lonely. That was the beginning of my schooling. My two mentors were the late Sir Mekere Morauta, who was my first boss in the Department of Finance, and the first Chief Secretary to Government, Mr Robert Igara. In my early years, the public service was a disciplined, professional and respected authority. Institutions of government maintained good governance and never indulged in corruption. Sir Mekere enforced these virtues in me. Mr Robert Igara became my boss at
