Why Papua New Guineans should be on high alert over Government's emergency power coup.
PPL has been bankrupt for years, often having
to borrow to keep its operations going. The only difference now is that
the Minister responsible, Ben Micah, and his conman boss the Prime
Minister, Peter O’Neill, have ripped so much money out of it that it is
now impossible to rescue.
No, there are two reasons for the O’Neill-Micah emergency action.
The
first is to get the police and the army out in force before, during and
after the Leadership Tribunal to ensure that no matter what the
finding, the Prime Minister remains Prime Minister. It is well known in
political circles that O’Neill has taken legal advice on various options
for declaring a State of Emergency, and possibly issuing a Defence
Force Call-Out, and there is no doubt that this most evil of Prime
Ministers will do anything to keep hold of the reins of power.
There
is no reason at all to take emergency action to collect Government
debts to SOEs. The most effective method - used in the past - is for
Treasury to pay PPL directly and then debit the relevant SOE. So the
Government’s action is a smokescreen to hide the Prime Minister’s secret
plans.
That
he is prepared to go to any lengths is evidenced by the wide powers
available to him under the Essential Services Act 2002. The Act entitles
him to limit many basic rights and freedoms:
- The right to liberty of the person conferred by Section 42 of the Constitution; and
- The right to freedom from arbitrary search or person or property and entry of premises, conferred by Section 44 of the Constitution; and
- The right to freedom of expression and publication conferred by Section 46 of the Constitution; and
- The right to peacefully assemble and associate and to form or belong to, or not belong to, political parties, industrial organisations and other associations conferred by Section 47 of the Constitution; and
- The right to freedom of choice of employment in any calling for which person has the qualifications (if any) lawfully required conferred by Section 48 of the Constitution; and
- The right of reasonable access to official documents conferred by Section 51 of the Constitution; and
- The right to move freely throughout the country, to reside in any part of the country and to enter and leave country conferred by Section 52 of the Constitution
The
way the O’Neill Regime has gone about its declaration of an emergency
in the power sector means it can also declare emergencies in other
sectors so that in effect the Prime Minister, though the police and
Defence Force, would be in total control of the nation. Most
importantly, he would be able to control all the media, not just
Government media such as NBC and Kundu. Sectors that he could control
under the same arrangements include:
- Water;
- Sewerage;
- Postal services;
- Civil aviation services;
- Radio and television services;
- Health services;
- Transport services;
- Telecommunications;
- Ports and harbours;
- Any other prescribed service sector