PNGBLOGS

by PAUL FLANAGAN PNG’s government must be embarrassed by the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) assessment of its economic performance. In an extraordinary step, and the first time in PNG’s 41 year history of Independence, the PNG government has refused to release the IMF’s 2016 summary of the PNG economy. 98% of countries agreed to release this information in 2015 – so the PNG government has moved to the bottom 2% of governments when it comes to economic transparency. In the IMF’s final press release (see here) before Christmas (generally seen as a good time to bury bad news), the International Monetary Fund indicated that “The [PNG] authorities need more time to consider the publication of the staff report and the related press release.” This appears to be polite IMF diplomatic speak for the PNG government not wanting to release the information. The IMF mission visited in mid-2016. An early draft asking for PNG government comments would have been provided about two months ago

by PAUL FLANAGAN In an article for the ANU’s Development Policy Centre eighteen months ago (see here) , I congratulated PNG’s central bank (BPNG) for its very constructive stance in stopping its effective printing of money to fund the government’s budget deficit. I noted how this reflected positively on the independence of BPNG, an independence built into its charter by Sir Mekere Morauta (PNG’s former Prime Minister) and Sir Wilson Kamit (PNG’s central bank governor from 1999 to 2009) in response to PNG’s last major economic crisis in the late 1990s. Unfortunately, this independent role appears to have been reversed from the start of this year. Based on the latest Quarterly Economic Bulletin released on 18 November 2016 and its accompanying tables (esp Table 2-3 for BPNG’s assets sheet see here ) PNG appears to have returned to a very slippery slope of effectively printing money by back-stopping auctions in government securities – a practice initially warned about in September 2

PNGBLOGS WHO IS RESPONSIBLE, LUPARI, THE CHINESE, OR WHO? IF PNGBLOGS GOES BLACK ON PNG COMPUTER SCREENS NEXT WEEK, WE WILL KNOW WHY - IT WILL BE THE RE-CREATION OF A P AUL PARAKA BANANA REPUBLIC STYLE THREAT THAT FINALLY WORKED: In 2010, Paul Paraka, the number one corrupt lawyer in the country according to the Commission of Inquiry into Department of Finance fake payment scams, did something that even today goes down as one of the most banana republic kinds of reactions ever seen in PNG. Here's what happened. When the government Commission of Inquiry on massive theft totally hundreds of millions of kina submitted their report in Parliament, Paraka immediately obtained a court injunction to make it illegal for any Papua New Guinean to read or be in possession of the report and learn about the allegations against him and 18 other lawyers. Included amongst the accused is current Chief Minister Isaac Lupari, alleged to have stolen more than K2.7 million. Paraka's strateg

by PNGBLOGS Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s greed and corruption is on show again in the 2017 Budget, with K40 million allocated for his personal use. The slush fund is a new allocation, under the Treasury and Finance Miscellaneous category, entitled Prime Minister’s Commitments. Also in this category is K3 million for “PM’s Official Staff Determination Payouts”. Treasury and Finance Miscellaneous can be viewed on Page 187 of Volume 2a, 2017 Budget Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for National Government Departments http://www.treasury.gov.pg/html/national_budget/files/2017/Vol2a-Revenue%20and%20Expenditure%20National%20Govt%20Depts.pdf No details of the new slush fund have been given. No reference was made to it in the Treasurer’s speech. No details are available of who or what the K40 million is to be spent on. There is no evidence of any acquittal requirements. This is a slush fund pure and simple and the Prime Minister and his Treasurer are trying to keep it secret

by PNGBLOGS   Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch have been caught out in a massive Constitutional breach over state borrowings and repayment of the national debt in 2015 and 2016. Their failure to comply with Section 209 of the Constitution means all domestic debt – Treasury Bills and Inscribed Stock - issued in both years, and repayment of that debt, is technically illegal. The unlawful amount involved will be about K10 billion by the end of this year. The Constitutional breach and the failure to acknowledge and correct it highlights the incompetence and lack of integrity of the Prime Minister and Treasurer. It highlights the complete disregard by the Prime Minister and his Regime for the laws of Papua New Guinea, including the Mama Law. The Constitutional breach was identified by blogger Kessy Sawang, a financial analyst and former Deputy Commissioner of Papua New Guinea Customs Service, and Head of Secretariat of the Tax Review Se

by LOWEY INSTITUTE The 2016 Budget was  one of emergency  for Papua New Guinea. Adjusting to a 20% collapse in revenue caused by plummeting commodity prices and an economic slow-down, the government has implemented expenditure cuts  that are harsher  than those contained in Greece’s austerity package. In many ways, the 2016 Budget was the one PNG had to have. While commentators, including myself, have questioned the severity and the way in which cuts have been made, all agree the government could not keep spending at the pace it has been given the collapse in revenue and rapid increases in public debt. But will expenditure actually slow? And what is the true level of public debt in PNG? We can shed some light on these questions by focusing on a specific, big-ticket item of expenditure: PNG’s hosting of the APEC leaders’ meeting in 2018. Port Moresby is going through a massive transformation in preparation for this event, driven by a confusing mixture of public, private and

Congratulations, Mr Polye, on winning the re-count for Kandep district!  We realise sinister political forces were at work to bring about the re-count.  Thankfully you won. PNG needs your leadership now like never before.  As you know we are currently saddled with a limping-along economy that is likely due to corrupt government.  The eyes of all Papua New Guineans are on you to take the lead in challenging the O’Neill administration.       One year ago in the October 8, 2015 edition of the Post Courier you were spot on in your claim that the PNG LNG funds were being parked in an account in Singapore, and not in the Bank of PNG as claimed by the O’Neill administration.  Thank you for bringing that to the light of day. You can’t rest now.  You need to continue to hammer away and demand transparency of  government finances.  In particular you need to focus on the UBS loan, now rolled into a Credit Suisse loan.  Secondly you need to demand full disclosure of the PNG LNG income.

by NOLPI BUKA The Member for Imbongu and Minister for Works Francis Awesa has consolidated his village support by engaging in early vote buying to ensure base votes from his village of Kiburu and surrounding areas are locked in come election day next year. The Imbongu District Administration under the guise of road improvements have approved questionable road improvement projects based around the Works Minister’s home village. Most of this road projects are non-existent or work not done payment for the MPs village of Kiburu and two neighbouring hamlets were done to ensure his tribesmen would have no choice but to cast their votes at Kiburu. This was done to ensure the two Ballot Boxes earmarked for Kiburu were fully exhausted by his support base. The MP is not new to controversy as it has been public knowledge that he is a known “kickback king” since being appointed Minister for Works under Peter O’Neill’s government. His traits for “Pay-for-Play” are commonly known within the wa

by MICHAEL J PASSINGAN There is a particular Member of Parliment who according to the constitution lost his PNG Citizenship upon reaching the age of 19 by maintaining an Australian Passport. He then spent several years living and working in Australia as well as in PNG working as an "expatriate" on a work visa and work permit, It wasn't until he when reached the age of 45 that he renounced his Australian Citizenship and quietly started using a PNG Passport again. The following year, 2012, he stood for election and became a member of Parliment.  Now back then there was no dual citizenship law and the constitution was very clear. If you were a child with one forgien parent you had to choose which citizenship you were to maintain after your 19th Birthday. If you maintained a forgien citizenship after this time you automatically lost your PNG Citizenship as a matter of Law. So what this means is that we have a sitting member of Parliment who lost his PN

by ROBERT MORUMBU Several defenders of Peter O'Neill and his infrastructure scam commented on PNG Blogs when the article comparing dictator Kim Jong Un's (North Korea) infrastructure infatuation with Peter O'Neill's infrastructure infatuation. The point made was that both countries have been emphasising iheadlong dedication to infrastructure creation. North Korea has been doing it for years and it hasn't achieved much in improving their integral human development for the people as a whole. PNG is basically following the North Korea model and the results as a far as real development is concerned, is likely to be the same disappointment as North Korea is getting. Peter O'Neill's infrastructure boom is a scam for several reasons. First, a lot of it is built with loan money, which all has to be paid back with interest, using the taxpayer's money. Second and worse, when the infrastructure is built poorly, it falls apart before the loan money used to bu

by SOLOMON KEPAS The mystery of who murdered former MP Peter Waieng illustrates how badly the formal justice system of both courts and police has failed the people of Papua New Guinea.   An informal replacing system of seeing justice done has started to appear as a result, just like it has in so many places overseas.   Indications are that Peter Waieng’s murder investigation was quietly abandoned in the hopes that the people of PNG would forget.  This strategy probably would have succeeded if not for the rise of the PNG social media and internet access by hundreds of thousands of Papua New Guineans.  Just as social media outside of PNG has created Courts of Public Opinion that ultimately have convicted and punished well known personalities from their countries, PNG’s social media is producing sites and activities for citizen involvement.  The Peter O’Neill government complains about defamatory, slanderous speech and unfounded rumours.  Looking at the overall picture, it only has