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Showing posts with the label Southern Highlands

IS TOXIC LEADERSHIP DESTROYING SHP IN THE MODERN ERA?

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by Felix Hamdaan Oltomo There is a growing incidence of toxic leadership in organisations across the world. This is clear from anecdotal evidence as well as research which suggests that one out of every five leaders is toxic. My own research shows that close to three out of every ten leaders are toxic. This cancer of toxicity threatens the well being of both individuals and organisations. It also affects the performance of a society and country. That’s why there is a pressing need for leaders to understand the nature, dynamics and evolution of toxic leadership and organisations. The word “toxic” comes from the Greek “toxikon” which means “arrow poison”. In a literal sense, the term in its original form thus means to kill (poison) in a targeted way (arrow). Toxic organisations and leaders, therefore, are those who deliberately destroy the fabric of the institution. What makes a toxic leader? and Why? Toxic leadership represents the “dark” side of leadership. It affects indi

ELUH AS S.H. PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATOR?

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by KIN POLOWA The appointment of former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Thomas Eluh, as the Acting Provincial Administrator of Southern Highlands Province will not go down well with many of us who have been following him closely in his commitment to combat corruption as a police officer. He was appointed by the National Executive Council on 2nd November 2017. The NEC decision comes a week after Mr Eluh’s court challenge against his dismissal from the police force was handed down. Although the National Court Invalidated Police Commissioner Gari Baki’s decision to dismiss Mr Eluh from the Force, the Court refused to reinstate Mr Eluh –which effectively puts Eluh on the street as an ordinary person. When I heard the NEC decision news, the first thing that came to mind was –Eluh has now been compromised, just like many others. Instead of taking my judgmental rant to social media, as usual, I decided to do some background check on Eluh. You have to know the person and the facts

Rival Ialibu Pangia candidates accuse O’Neill of ‘rigging’ PNG general election

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by PETER S. KINJAP   Candidates contesting Papua New Guinea’s Ialibu/Pangia Open Electorate in the Southern Highlands province have accused Prime Minister Peter O’Neill of “rigging” the country’s national elections. “Today confirmed everyone’s worst fears – these elections were deliberately rigged from the start,” said Stanley Liria, one of the candidates who signed a formal protest letter with election manager David Wakias before polling began in the electorate. The open electorate is where Prime Minister O’Neill is the incumbent MP. The rival candidates claimed in their letter the electorate was not ready for polling today. The candidates are Jerry Kiwai, Nepoleon Rema, Tua Yasa, Stanley Liria, Justus Rapula, Leonard Pangepea and Dr Sam Kari. At a meeting at Ialibu District Office, they unanimously agreed that certain issues be “properly addressed” before polling started. Their letter was registered with the manager Wakias. ‘Treating people like dirt’ Candidate Liria said people

EXCITING TIMES YET CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR PNG EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY SECTOR

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by KOMBOL GIBSON   PNG is endowed with a $19bn oil and gas industry. The size of this industry is set to double and almost triple. It’s an exciting prospect for PNG but challenges remain for delivering that blessing to every man, woman and child in PNG. In fact the opposite is happening. PNG should be concerned. There is a large focus on Government-funded programmes in the Hela and Southern Highlands Provinces instead of a more equitable arrangement for all 21 Provinces in PNG. That is a story for another day and a subsequent article, but the upshot of this focus on Hela and SHP is that the vast majority of it ends up in the hands of elites from these Provinces that reside elsewhere, access health services in Port Moresby or overseas, send their children to school overseas, maintaining multiple wives and mistresses and invest in Port Moresby or overseas. So roughly 80% of funding that gets diverted to Hela and SHP ends up in the pockets of Ministers, MPs, senior public servants, a

WILLIAM POWI'S 5 YEAR MASTER PLAN FOR NOTHING

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by PNGBLOGS William Titipe Powi contested for Southern Highlands Provincial Seat under Peter O’Neill’s party – People’s National Congress (PNC), in the 2012 election. On the race with him were Joseph Kopol (independent), Vincent Mirupasi (independent), Silvester Harry Komba (independent) and others. They were contesting for the seat left vacant by Anderson Agiru (current Hela Governor). At the end of the final elimination, Powi was declared winner on 27 July 2012 with a total votes of 139, 308. Before switching code into politics, Powi has been the serving as the Southern Highlands Provincial Administrator for about 10 years. Under his belt as the administrator, he delivered absolutely NOTHING to the province. He only manipulated and controlled all the administrative functions of the provincial government to suit his business and political interest. Development funds were used to pay ghost projects and then diverted into personal account to run election. For i

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.

AGIRU SELLING SHP TO GROW URP

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BY JAMES MONDOLAME It has been reported in today’s National newspaper that a number of Opposition MPs including firebrand opposition spokesman on Finance and Treasury Imbongu MP, Mr Francis Awesa, his son in law and Mendi MP, Mr. Isaac Joseph along with John Garia (Chimbu), Ferau Orimyo (Henganofi) and Steven Kama (South Bougainville) deserted to Mr. Agiru’s URP (United Resources Party). While media reports are sketchy about the confrontation with the current party leader and Hagen MP Mr. William Duma, a lot of questions are now being thrown to the Prime Minister if he is aware of this new move. Is this a ploy to shake the current partnership and test the possibility of wrestling the Deputy Prime Minister post away from NA? Is this a scheme setup by the opposition as a Trojan horse to snatch the numbers in government and breaking the bond with the current coalition? Many questions need asking, but at the same time, the quality of opposition is legendary with the brain trust at helm ri

AGIRU SELLING SHP TO GROW URP

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BY JAMES MONDOLAME It has been reported in today’s National newspaper that a number of Opposition MPs including firebrand opposition spokesman on Finance and Treasury Imbongu MP, Mr Francis Awesa, his son in law and Mendi MP, Mr. Isaac Joseph along with John Garia (Chimbu), Ferau Orimyo (Henganofi) and Steven Kama (South Bougainville) deserted to Mr. Agiru’s URP (United Resources Party). While media reports are sketchy about the confrontation with the current party leader and Hagen MP Mr. William Duma, a lot of questions are now being thrown to the Prime Minister if he is aware of this new move. Is this a ploy to shake the current partnership and test the possibility of wrestling the Deputy Prime Minister post away from NA? Is this a scheme setup by the opposition as a Trojan horse to snatch the numbers in government and breaking the bond with the current coalition? Many questions need asking, but at the same time, the quality of opposition is legendary with the brain trust at helm

LNG WORKERS STILL A PROBLEM

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OP/ED THE PNG gas agreement was signed between the state and ExxonMobil in May 2008. At that point, it was almost certain that a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project would become a reality, at least in so far as the government was concerned. Along the way, several other agreements were negotiated and signed, including the two benefits sharing agreements, finalisation of markets, the environmental impact study, front end engineering and design, execution planning, project financing, gas marketing and all the regulatory and permitting work including community and landowner consultation and financial closure. Despite all that, two years on and PNG is still struggling to get sub-contractors organised for the project and is critically short on manpower. Already, there is talk about recruiting welders from neighbouring Fiji and even heavy equipment operators from overseas. This would indicate to us that the government was so concerned with getting the project off the ground that it neglected

LNG WORKERS STILL A PROBLEM

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OP/ED THE PNG gas agreement was signed between the state and ExxonMobil in May 2008. At that point, it was almost certain that a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project would become a reality, at least in so far as the government was concerned. Along the way, several other agreements were negotiated and signed, including the two benefits sharing agreements, finalisation of markets, the environmental impact study, front end engineering and design, execution planning, project financing, gas marketing and all the regulatory and permitting work including community and landowner consultation and financial closure. Despite all that, two years on and PNG is still struggling to get sub-contractors organised for the project and is critically short on manpower. Already, there is talk about recruiting welders from neighbouring Fiji and even heavy equipment operators from overseas. This would indicate to us that the government was so concerned with getting the project off the ground that it neglected