A RANT ON SOME SUGGESTIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT


IF THE GOVERNMENT TOOK NOTE AND ACTED WOULD MAKE ALL PAPUA NEW GUINEANS CHEER AND WEEP WITH JOY


BY GOVERNOR GARY JUFFA MP

We are now at the halfway mark of the 9th Parliament. Apparently much has happened by way of significant infrastructure development. Contractors especially have walked off with oodles of money from their inflated contracts. Not all but a fair few. No doubt the horde of con men and consultants who wander the corridors of Waiganis Government Offices and parliament, who brokered such “great” deals, got their finders fees. Of course no doubt some politicians benefitted from these “great deals” directly or indirectly. The 2017 elections are not far off and many parties and individuals are already preparing for that. Horses are now being reviewed and stables are being prepared for the big race where many in PNG are taken for a ride…by the same horse…

A substantial number of bills have been passed in parliament, supposedly all for the good of Papua New Guinea and Papua New Guineans. But many in PNG remain unconvinced. Perhaps the constant reminder that the economy is doing so well is not convincing given that the cost of living as a Papua New Guinean for the average Papua New Guinean is simply far too much for the liking of citizens. They are struggling to eat the load of sugar coated excrement served to them by politicians via the media about how great the country is doing. Virtually no savings, high taxes, high rentals, high cost of an average basket of goods, increased violence leading to even greater costs, poor health leading to increased costs, increased security situations leading to greater costs and poor wages and a corporate sector that is unwilling to pay Papua New Guineans more but are very generous with their expat staff who are paid all manner of allowances for living in one of the top 10 most dangerous cities in the world. I know, I know, I will be accused of being an expat basher and all the expats who are doing great work and those who are not really and the true friends of PNG and the neo colonialists too will be somewhat agitated by this statement but it’s true.

And it’s not their fault.

It’s ours. Yes, US. You and me known as the “PEOPLE”! Not even the Government. Well, they are the ones who are hired to do the job but they aren’t doing it are they? So who do we blame? US! Why not? Well who hired them? For 5 minutes of beer and lamp flaps at the last elections? Exactly!

But I digress. Calm down expat community, friends and not so friendly, I am NOT attacking you, I am merely ranting on a few thoughts that have occurred to me this quiet Sunday. Read on and you may actually agree. And if you don’t, well let it not disturb you from your usual moaning and groaning at the Yacht Club.

So what was I talking about? Well, I was this day thinking about the few things that could have been done. Actually I have been thinking of these things for some time since I took office but I keep thinking of them. These few things would have demonstrated to the people of Papua New Guinea that regardless of the various political negativities surrounding any Government of any economy, THIS Government actually cares for its people.

The list is of course not exhaustive. But its’ a few matters I believe touch the heart of the majority of Papua New Guineans. There are no doubt more and readers will add their own specific concerns to this wish list. Yes, it’s a WISH list because after you read through it, you will WISH that the matters of the list had been attended to. I don't mean the complex policies that need legislative reforms that require tedious amounts of time and committees and subcommittees and no doubt consultants (show me your watch I will tell you the time and charge you a fee characters) but a few simple no brainers that could be done in cabinet and in parliament and NO ONE would oppose these efforts I guarantee.

1 –Ban round log exports and engage in sustainable tree farming in areas already deforested and preserve the remaining forests while negotiating with global partners on carbon credit arrangements or other forms of sustainable agriculture activities and collect the outstanding Taxes in the Billions Due to the State

The banning of round log exports is absolutely necessary to preserving our rainforest resources and there are so many alternatives as to how to utilize these forests for greater good in a manner where the benefits will be tangible for more! The forestry industry in PNG has since the 1980s gradually fallen in the hands of a few big players who with their brokers, agents and their minions and their corrupt public officials and whoever they can buy in parliament. These characters have devised clever and ingenious methods of tax avoidance usi8ng transfer pricing systems that have ensured that they have paid virtually a pittance in taxes due on the actual volume and quality of their exports whilst ensuring that a patch the size of several football fields of the world’s third largest rainforest in the world disappears daily. A company engaged under dubious means to “verify” the exports, SGS LTD, only checks 10% of all shipments and even then highlights in every report it has produced since, significant discrepancies in exported volumes and species that the companies are NEVER penalized for. WHY? One wonders. So how hard is it to ban round log exports, audit the activities of these companies and force them to pay their taxes and prosecute them for the various acts of criminality they have engaged in to achieve their transnational criminal objectives (make profit at WHATEVER cost).

So here are a few simple solutions:

- Action the SABL Report recommendations. Have the PNGDF impound all the machines and detain all the illegals throughout PNG and have the IRC Audit the companies involved after freezing ALL (yes, companies, property, shares, liquid assets etc) and come up with an assessment and have them pay in 7 working days
– make this absolutely non-negotiable.

- Prosecute and jail all who are illegally in PNG and all who have somehow been involved in the frauds uncovered by the SABL Reports. This should include the public servants named who are still in their positions of power and in fact many have been promoted including one to Departmental Head!

- Auction off all the property and blacklist the individuals involved after they have served their jail term (we should deport the PNG citizens too who helped them along with them)

2 – Deport Djoko Tjandra. This is a no brainer. The guy is a listed INTERPOL FUGITIVE wanted for crimes in INDONESIA. Who cares if he has his own jet and funded a few pollies elections and is suddenly a citizen of PNG? DEPORT HIM!

3 – Review all fishing licenses and again, have them all pay their backdated taxes! This industry is also in the control of transnational criminal entities that have managed to manipulate this nation’s leaders and bureaucrats and are virtually harvesting our marine resources for FREE! Mother ships conveniently anchored just outside our EEZ feed several fast boats who enter PNG waters and fish at will and whim using banned techniques and equipment and raping our seas. They are now so brazen that they attack our own people and threaten them. We need to take a leaf out of INDONESIA’S book on how to deal with illegal fishing by simply dropping bombs on these floating crime sprees. Meanwhile review all those on shore and revoke all the tax holidays we have granted which DO NOT benefit PNG as much as they claim they do. Ban all travel to PHILIPINES by bureaucrats who seem to love going there to negotiate deals to sell off chunks of our marine resources with virtually no thought to the future. Again, like the forest sector, we can develop alternative means to developing our marine resources that would earn us far more if we simply made the effort and cared.

4 – Revoke Seabed Mining. Again, this is a no brainer. I am told by not a few politicians that we could NOT get out of this deal because it would result in PNG being sued internationally and the fear of having to pay oodles of money. That’s crap. We are simply making excuses. This ridiculous and dangerous project will earn us near nothing and yet endanger our marine resources and threaten the well-being of our coastal communities who rely on marine resources to be self-sustainable. It is an untried effort and many learned scientists have spoken against the unknowns. Of course, we in parliament know best and have agreed to it claiming amongst other things that it is an opportunity to get into a pioneer industry. Really? This is why we refuse to accept that every other economy turned it away because they simply were not going to take the risk and they actually listen to their people? Yes, that’s the arguments in parliament being thrown around. Many members are against it but say nothing. And we don’t even have the laws in place to regulate or administrate or enforce the activities. But when has that ever stopped us from bulldozing ridiculous policies that oppress our people? Yes, hardly ever. This is why Mining Minister accepted 20,000 signatures of concerned landowner groups of most of the coastal provinces in October 2012 and promised to respond in 2 weeks. He still hasn’t responded two and a half years on. Meanwhile the company is moving full steam ahead with funding from PNG…so here we are instead of listening to our people, actually ignoring them and then funding the very activity they are against! How crazy is that? Well, its to be expected, in the land of the unexpected. I predict fracking will be next and woe befall us as greed will turn PNG into the land of Chaos and Anarchy.

5 – I already stated a separate rant about taxes but I will repeat: reduce taxes for PNG taxpayers, remove all taxes on retirement and retrenchment payouts, review all tax holidays to giant multinationals and grant subsidies for PNG owned companies. Prepare a list of PNG only businesses and force an improvement in standards and enforce and administrate these. Many more ideas on taxation but it would take so long we would lose ourselves in this rant.

6 – Prosecute all those implicated in ALL inquiries. A great number of our problems and the people that cause these problems would simply be in jail. All their ill gotten assets could be seized via the Proceeds of Crime Bill and used to fund serious investigations into fraud. Here I offer my help and experience and knowledge FOR FREE! YES! FOR FREE!

7 – Revamp Police Force and build a credible force with strong discipline, values, honour, respect and discipline earning the respect of our people. Even if we have to star from scratch and bring in foreign experts to rebuild our Police it will be WORTH it. Security costs and law and order situations are a major chunk of our budget

8 – Revamp Public Service and modernize – for a start, remove the ridiculous K7 per fortnight housing allowance (are you serious!???YES! I was paid that for much of my 16 years!) and pay them with reasonable wages and benefits and have all of them – tea boy to head of department – on performance based contracts

9 – Increase minimum wages for PNG workers and the trade off would be improved security (see no. 7) and provide incentives for companies investing in PNG downstream processing and manufacturing

10 – Review the ridiculous Interoil Deal and Eda Ranu and Hanjung Power Supply deals all of which are costing PNG HUGE volumes of revenue and charging the highest rates in the pacific for the worst services

11 – Build an army of real credibility to patrol our waters and land border and bomb any ship – ANY SHIP – illegally fishing in our waters and SEIZE any property and assets used by TRANSNATIONAL CRIMINALS and convert to state use for funding Defence and National Security related activities

12 - Take the matter to West Papua to the UN and present to the UN Council and DEMAND that they rectify the mess they made in 1965 by illegally handing over West Papua to INDONESIA

13 –Finally, take BACK ALL THE LAND ILLEGALLY OBTAINED STARTING WITH THE JACK PIDDIK PARK area and PAGA HILL

I could say more such as Education, Health, Agriculture and the Banking laws but this will do for now. Part 2 is in the pipeline. Somewhere.

My question is this: WHY CANT THE GOVERNMENT ACT AND MAKE THIS HAPPEN? EVERY THINKING PAPUA NEW GUINEAN WOULD SIMPLY WEEP WITH GRATITUDE I PREDICT! ANY GOVERNMENT WHO DOES THIS WOULD REMAIN IN POWER INDEFINTELY ONE WOULD EVEN GO AS FAR TO SAY! RIGHT??

Well, in summary, I am sad to say, the 9th parliament like others before it, has fizzled out into a gathering of mediocre efforts. I hang my head in shame. I am part of that parliament. I raged and shouted and ran off and turned around to see myself very much alone. I still am. But I won’t stop the ranting and raving. I can do that still at least, until 2017 anyway. Then I am packing up if my people don’t want me and going to paint and sell my art and write children’s books and sell energy drinks derived from betelnut (NOT Boo! Real energy drinks derived from actual buai thereby creating lots of jobs for buai growers and turning this filthy habit into a clean healthy wholesome much sought after product!)

Anyway, happy 2015…NOT…maybe…perhaps….and NO, I am NOT throwing in the towel before people conclude…mi stap yet, wantaim wan man pati blo YUMI!

PS: After this rant, I predict a few things: 1) I will get all manner of impediments to my efforts in building my province, 2) no doubt all affected parties will gather and find a way to simply make sure that people like me, are NEVER allowed to get into a position where any of the suggestions made could ever be done…

But let me tell you, whether its’ me or someone else…I have planted a seed in some mind…someone will do it….I guarantee it…

CHANGE THE TREND: NO MORE 5 MINUTES BEER AND LAMB FLAPS HAPPINES AND 5 YEARS MISERY! START NOW! PREPARE NOW! VOTE INTELLIGENTLY!

VIVA PNG!

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