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Showing posts with the label Gulf Province

PM REFUSING TO FUND TB FIGHT WHILE WASTING MONEY ON SHOWPIECE EVENTS

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by PAUL REINBARA Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Health Minister Michael Malabag are allowing Papua New Guineans to die because of their refusal to fund the national fight against tuberculosis. A secret letter from O’Neill to Malabag shows that the Prime Minister would rather spend money on wasteful showpieces and events than preventing TB and saving lives. Cabinet approved urgent tuberculosis spending of K20 million more than six months ago, but the Prime Minister is refusing to release the funds. Instead, he has directed Malabag to commit K8 million of existing funds. But this is only for Daru in Western Province – and TB experts say it is nowhere near enough to tackle the TB crisis there. Many more Western Province people will die because of  the refusal of O’Neill and Malabag to approve new funds for the nationwide TB campaign. There is also a TB crisis in NCD and Gulf and Central Provinces. But O’Neill and Malabag have decided that people there can die, too.

Fix the Landowner Issues

JAMES MONDOLAME The $16 billion Exxon Mobil-led LNG project is hyped to double PNG's gross domestic product with at least 30 years of gas sales to Asian buyers once it comes on line after 2014, but now we hear there is carnage and continued tension amongst landowners. Only yesterday the National reported that a raiding party consisting of frustrated landowners who were overlooked for employment and spin-off benefits raised fears about this project when they attacked and burnt equipment belonging to a company tied with the developer. This raises a lot of questions to everyone including myself, was there proper social mapping done to ensure everyone who lived on the project were accounted for? We need development, we do, but development that is carried out without properly assessing everyone affected affects us all. Since the Oil in Kutubu started flowing out of the Southern Highlands Province in1989, we have not seen anything as a footprint left by the oil and gas giant Chevron. Not

Fix the Landowner Issues

JAMES MONDOLAME The $16 billion Exxon Mobil-led LNG project is hyped to double PNG's gross domestic product with at least 30 years of gas sales to Asian buyers once it comes on line after 2014, but now we hear there is carnage and continued tension amongst landowners. Only yesterday the National reported that a raiding party consisting of frustrated landowners who were overlooked for employment and spin-off benefits raised fears about this project when they attacked and burnt equipment belonging to a company tied with the developer. This raises a lot of questions to everyone including myself, was there proper social mapping done to ensure everyone who lived on the project were accounted for? We need development, we do, but development that is carried out without properly assessing everyone affected affects us all. Since the Oil in Kutubu started flowing out of the Southern Highlands Province in1989, we have not seen anything as a footprint left by the oil and gas giant Chevron.