Why let aircraft go when investigations have started?

LAST Thursday night after 8 pm (PNG Time), a Boeing 737 touched down at the Port Moresby Jacksons International Airport and taxied to the international terminal. Airport staff, including Customs were caught off guard because they were not given prior notification, as is the norm under civil aviation regulations.

By the weekend Papua New Guineans woke up to radio news bulletins and social media postings on the detaining of Vanuatu diplomats – brothers Vu Anh Quan Saken and Charles Henry Saken – and their alleged liaisons with two PNG cabinet ministers and Vanuatu Foreign Minister, Albert Calot.

Papua New Guineans took to social media demanding an investigation and criticizing Prime Minister Peter O’Neill for not getting his ministers to tow the line, as negotiations continued behind the scenes between the various parties. While the acting PNG Foreign Affairs Secretary, Lucy Bogari yesterday brushed off any ulterior motives behind the mysterious flight by saying the Vanuatu Foreign Minister and his diplomats were here to see PNG-based US Ambassador Walter North, the office of the Vanuatu Prime Minister in Port Vila advised otherwise when it said “they were not aware of the visit by Foreign Minister Alfred Carlot to Papua New Guinea.”

Sadly the events over the last weekend has become a mishmash of conflicting tales and is somewhat a familiar tune that we get now and then from Waigani, when there needs to be a cover-up of events that have the potential to expose government leaders and their activities. Does anyone still remember the 2006-2007 Moti Affair?

It is in that light that we welcomed the announcement by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill that an investigation is underway into the “unauthorized landing” at the Jacksons International Airport.
“The landing of this aircraft in the country is now the subject of an investigation. Its crew and certain individuals on board are being questioned by relevant government agencies as part of this investigation,” he said.

However, two hours after releasing the statement to the media, the aircraft at the center of the controversy was allowed to leave the country as government agencies claimed that they did not breach any PNG laws.
So what was the rationale behind releasing a statement to the media to assure Papua New Guineans of a full investigation when the decision was already made to release the ‘evidence’? Is this another government cover-up? The O’Neill government was voted into office in the 2012 general election on a strong anti-corruption platform and its handling of this matter does not augur well for its record.

The decision to allow the aircraft and its crew to leave, without subjecting them to a full investigation, raises questions about the government’s activities and whether they want to be transparent and accountable in their actions.

It is only the first month of a new year and this issue and the O’Neill government’s actions in response to it have dampened hopes for what should be an exciting year. While we note that the Opposition has its eye on the matter, we look with concern to another independent institution – the Ombudsman Commission – and hope that they too have taken note of the events over the last couple of days.

OP/ED