CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS OF DEPOSING PETER O’NEILL HAVE VIRTUALLY VANISHED: THE QUIET DISMANTLING OF DEMOCRATIC STRUCTURES EXTENDS TO THE PNGDF

by JOHN KATI

Anyone still doubting that Peter O'Neill has quietly established himself as PNG's first dictator need only look at 4 different pillars of democracy that he has successfully dismantled in their abilities to provide checks and balances on the abuse of power of the Prime Minister.  He has now dismantled:

1/ investigative units of our country, including Anti-Corruption Task Force and until recently, the Fraud Squad (which has been re-opened in a castrated form),

2/ the courts and their ability to provide quick resolution of cases,

3/ Parliament, specifically through the dismantling of any ability for there to be a healthy sized opposition or advancing motions of no confidence, 4/ Police no longer serve the public but serves Peter O'Neill's interests. They have come down hard twice now on anyone opposing his regime.

4/ the police protection of the public.  The role of the PNG Constabulary has been corrupted to now protect the Prime Minister’s power.   


It is even worse than what you just read.  Another pillar of democracy has been eroded right under our noses, and we never realized:  the military

PNGDF EVOLVING INTO A PETER O'NEILL TOOL FOR A POSSIBLE MILITARY COUP

PNGDF is now dominated by O'Neill cronies and wannabe briefcase carriers. Minister of Defence  Fabian Pok has a track record of corruption.  This once led to his dismissal from office by a Leadership Tribunal (he went on to contest again and win back his seat).   Pok is an old buddy of Peter O'Neill, dating back to the NPF days.   Pok is featured in several places in the Commission of Inquiry on the National Providence Fund (NFP) scandal, and received financial support from the kickback monies secured by Jimmy Maladina, and shared with Peter O'Neill.

Pok knew that O'Neill wanted the PNGDF neutralized.  There was no better way to do this than to stack the PNGDF with ethnic wantoks, from top to bottom, but he needed a head of the PNGDF willing to do this.  

In 2013 Pok found that person, an SHP Defence force officer, Gilbert Toropo.  Toropo had been recently accused of a large PNGDF money theft.

The investigation was quietly forgotten and hushed, and Toropo was appointed Brigadier General.   O'Neill made a lot of noise prior to that about the 'low discipline' of the PNGDF.  He then tasked, through Pok, a cleaning out of the PNGDF and replacement with an army of new recruits........ mostly from Ialibu Pangia area in SHP! Toropo was the man to implement the decision.  

The result, in only 2 ½ years is a PNGDF that is quickly becoming a wall of loyalty to Peter O'Neill. If Peter O'Neill's power is seriously threatened, there is a growing likelihood that the PNGDF would come to Peter O'Neill's defence, physically if necessary.    Since Toropo was put in charge, over 70% of new recruits to the PNGDF come from Southern Highlands Province.  

In that context, it makes no sense for Peter O'Neill to voluntarily step down from office, no matter how much public pressure develops.

BLACK SWAN, THE TEMPLATE FOR A PETER O'NEILL PERSONAL ARMY?

Last week's odd denial that Peter O'Neill owns Black Swan International security didn't come from O'Neill. Instead he used his general manager, Brian Kelly to make the announcement using a newspaper advertisement. That is revealing. First, what was the need? Only on the social media that Black Swan had been revealed as belonging to Peter O'Neill. O'Neill must have been concerned, either because he feels the social media is a growing threat to his dictatorship. Also, there were reports of at least one Black Swan vehicle being stoned after the student shooting. As is typical for O'Neill, he keeps as much distance as possible between him and his companies.

In fact, Peter O'Neill's ownership relationship with Black Swan is of the type that was rumoured on the internet to be occurring with Pokies operations and other businesses years ago. Back then he was accused of putting in place arrangements whereby extremely trusted front people had their names registered as the owners of businesses that were really Peter O'Neill's. O'Neill's personality characteristics as a psychopath include being able to display exceptional fake charm. He also displays a subtle, underlying impression of being ruthless and playing for keeps if things don't go right.

These characteristics set the stage for O'Neill to put up front people as owners of companies without having any real concern that they will become traitors to him. O'Neill's mistress, Yumei Ni Cragnolini had her name first appear on the internet in this context. The recent article in PNG Blogs about Cragnolini's big spending spree in 2012 in Cairns may indicate the handsome rewards that O'Neill dishes out.   It also suggests that the real estate is actually owned by Peter O'Neill, but put into Cragnolini's name. When you have stolen literally hundreds of millions of kina, no one will quibble about who owns what behind the scenes. They're all in it together, it is one big happy family.

Brian Kelly, the supposed CEO of Black Swan, has a known previous business association with Peter O'Neill. He was previously with the Australian military. However, there is another military influence in the development and extraordinarily quick rise of Black Swan International:  That is the shadowy Israeli LR Group, which has been trying to get its fingers into everything from taking over PNG power to growing plants to acting as a suspicious middleman in buying the infamous 2 generators that Peter O'Neill is now in hot water over, for not following tender procedures.

LR Group is owned and founded by former Israeli Defence Force officers. It has been involved in secret military actions around the world, particularly in resource rich banana republics like PNG. An international NGO Human Rights Watch says a subsidiary, LR Avionics Technologies, was behind an illegal gun-running operation to Angola in 2001, at a time when the country was embroiled in a murderous civil war (for more, read: http://www.pngblogs.com/2014/10/png-and-australian-investigators.html).

LR Group consultants have been involved in training and setup of the Black Swan International enterprise. Black Swan exists partly to protect Peter O'Neill properties, and can be expected to vigorously participate in assisting put down any civil unrest that threatens Peter O'Neill's wealth.

The explosion of Black Swan International clients across the board in Port Moresby makes no sense in normal business terms. While they now protect a number of government properties, they also have expanded strongly into the business sector. Even the British High Commission and Chinese Embassy use them.

Why? We believe that the same kind of intimidation used by former, more primitively organised security firms in Moresby of the past, such as corrupt former MP Peter Yama's Yama Security, is no longer the strategy of choice and certainly would not work for an organisation such as the British High Commission. Instead, having the fresh faced Brian Kelly, with his articulate presentations of why Black Swan is best (see http://www.businessadvantagepng.com/security-in-papua-new-guinea-moving-beyond-guards-gates-and-guns-says-black-swans-kelly/), is the main incentive, with the strong possibility that Peter O'Neill is secretly subsidising the company with other stolen wealth, to allow him to undercut and destroy the competition.

One interesting item that we came across in our investigation is a major contract that Black Swan International gave to Vietnam's Niutel company to supply and install an OM3 fibre optic network in Port Moresby. Why would a security company that normally makes most efficient use of phones and 2-way radio to communicate need an expensive fibre optic network in Port Moresby, no less? We have no idea.

Developing Black Swan International into a near monopoly security firm for Port Moresby is exactly the hold on power that is perfect from an aspiring Dictator as Peter O'Neill. It is poised to become the Prime Minister's private police force, similar to what strongarm dictators, such as Robert Mugabe, use in other parts of the world. This is just one more piece of information that points to an overall picture of Peter O'Neill having very sinister designs on our country.

THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR A MILITARY COUP FEATURING NONE OTHER THAN PETER O'NEILL AS OUR NEW GENERAL

What all this disturbingly points to is the Prime Minister’s adding yet another dimension of power to his portfolio.  Peter O'Neill already has the police force under his thumb and enough officers seem to delight in the power to be brutal that has been given to them to not want to change the new status quo.  The cleaning out the longest serving officers, and recruitment of large numbers of young men from Southern Highlands has endeared Peter O'Neill to the Ialibu-Pangia people back home by providing so many new job opportunities to the youth.  It has also achieved something else, in that the rapid transition from diversely skilled and experienced long serving officers to an army of youth, creates a military organisation that is vulnerable to political manipulation.

A PURPOSEFUL DESTRUCTION OF DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES PREVENTING THE ABUSE OF POWER BY A PRIME MINISTER

If Peter O’Neill won’t voluntarily step down, that leaves, in theory, the same options that have always existed:  the normal constitutional processes to depose him.

Unfortunately, Peter O'Neill has insured that these constitutional processes no longer work:

He has managed to obstruct and disarm every one of the major pillars of democratic checks and balances that prevent the accumulation of extraordinary powers by a single individual in government.

Even the vote of no confidence check on the PM's power has been effectively neutralised, with the 2 August sitting coming after the 12 month deadline before elections to mount a vote of no confidence. The judges will likely rule in O'Neill's favour and no vote of no confidence shall be allowed.

Many put their faith in the 2017 elections to depose O'Neill, and O'Neill's cronies such as Peter Ipatas, keep telling that to university students and the people of PNG generally. Unfortunately, the indications suggest the opposite. It appears that he has been putting measures in place behind the scenes to ensure that Peter O'Neill will own the 2017 elections. He is likely to expand the clever behind the scene manipulation of voter rolls that he started in 2012, and which is the same technique dictator Robert Mugabe has used for many years to keep himself in power, accompanied by on site voter intimidation and ballot box stuffing.

The Governor General is the person of last resort. But here we have one of the most corrupted of individuals, Michael Ogio, serving in the seat. It is virtually guaranteed that Peter O'Neill can put more money into Michael Ogio's overseas bank account than anyone else. Ogio stays on O'Neill's side and the crisis escalates.


WHAT NOW?

He won’t step down and there is no longer any constitutional means to remove Peter O’Neill.   This leaves the people of Papua New Guinea with only unconstitutional means to end the national nightmare and remove Peter O'Neill from power.

The military won't remove Peter O'Neill using a military coupe. They have been thoroughly compromised by the Prime Minister during the past 2 1/2 years. The police won't do it.

Only the people can do it, but the results thus far do not look promising.

Should this chronic laziness and inability for the PNG public to get out of their comfort zone and take to the streets be wrong, Peter O'Neill has a way to fight back against the people of PNG.

Turning the tables completely on how a military coupe normally takes place and who leads it, Peter O'Neill can tap into the military to protect him and keep him in power. While this seems constitutional on the service, it actually portrays yet another obstruction of justice for PNG. Thus, O'Neill leads the coupe against the delivery of justice to the people, and remains in charge. If civil unrest causes riots in the street,s he has Black Swan International to keep his personal properties and those of his friends secure.

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