3 BILLION KINA LOST OR STOLEN UNDER O'NIELL, HIS POLITICIANS AND CRONIES
by MICHAEL PASSINGAN More than K3 billion a year is likely being stolen and wasted by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, his politicians, and their public service and private sector cronies. Over the five-year life of the O’Neill regime, they have likely stolen or wasted more than K15 billion. These estimates are based on figures made public by the Prime Minister himself, Works Minister Francis Awesa and the head of Task Force Sweep, Sam Koim. They demonstrate the enormous cost to the nation and the people of Papua New Guinea of O’Neill’s corruption and incompetence. They show that the rate of theft and other forms of corruption and waste under Peter O’Neill continues to increase. If O’Neill and his cronies had not stolen or misused K15 billion, Papua New Guinea would not be suffering from the current economic crisis. If the O’Neill regime had acted honestly, responsibly and competently, the decline in national development and service delivery could have been reversed. Instead, there h