Posts

Showing posts with the label abuse

DAL ‘ADMIN’ SUCKS K7.6 MILLION OF PRICE SUPPORT FUNDS

Image
by CYRIL GARE  Port Moresby,  Only 250,000 public servants (plus or minus) out of 8 million Papua New Guineans eat up 30 percent of our national-common wealth or K5.2 billion of the national budget every year through their pay packets. That’s a huge burden on the shoulder of a struggling developing nation where all socioeconomic indicators on the United Nation’s Human Development Index (HDI) scale speak low of PNG, even lower among the regional neighbors - Pacific Island Nations (PIN). This excludes the costs of public servants’ traveling allowances, office rentals, utilities, vehicle hire, and such other costs that leech on public funding. As if that’s not enough, departments and state agencies have developed a systemic tendency to ask for more and loot from the people’s share each time the pie is available. A case in point: - The Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) is handling of 2022 K15 million price support/freight subsidy program funds. Originally, K20 million was allo

Will Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia settle the law on Powers?

Image
by YAKAN LEKAPALI Will Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia settle the law on re Powers, functions, duties, and responsibilities of the Commissioner of Police? The grant of interim stay orders by the Supreme Court instituted by Chief Justice Sir Salamo has not settled well with many frustrated citizens. This is understandable given the grave negativity with the recent incidents involving senior judges. But hold on and be patient for now. Was the grant on the stay orders legal? In short, YES. Like other citizens, Peter O'Neill has the right to appeal as allowed by the law. Hence, among other factors, the execution of the warrant of arrest stay in the interim is in order. Without the temporary stay order, the whole purpose of the appeal could stand defeated.  Note that the time gap between execution of the warrant by police lapsed when Police Commissioner Gari Baki delayed executing warrant of arrest on PM. Prime Minister Peter O'Neill must, therefore, thank Gari Baki for the de

ALLEGED MASSIVE FRAUD OF PUBLIC FUNDS IN WORKS DEPARTMENT & KOROBA LAKE KOPIAGO DISTRICT

Image
by PETER HEWAGO As proud citizens of this country, we applaud the concerted efforts of ONeill Dion Government for implementing its coalition partners' major development policies put together in the Alotau Accord. These policies are; better infrastructure, Tuition Fee Free education, Free Basic Health, Addressing Law and Order and the government's emphasis on SME to propel our economy in this trying times amid economic difficulties as a result of sliding world commodity prices putting strain to our National Budget. These policies especially TFF within the rheem of education sector, infrastructure development and SME have stood out among others which have directly impacted lives of the people in most parts of this country giving glimpses of hope for better and encouraging PNGeans to be wealthy. However, certain self-centred Members of Parliament (MP) and senior State Ministers have taken  advantage of the complacent and ignorant attitude of our people and have decided

PMIZ MAKE SLAVES OF LOCALS

Image
Madang Sunrise ; Photo Credit Jan Messersmith by MARINA WAITA PMIZ promises spin-off business for landowners but would not allow locals to participate. When one talks of project development, three major parties are involved; the investors, the government and the landowners.  There would be consultation and understanding before any agreement is signed, finalized and launched before operations begin. But has this been the trend here in Papua New Guinea? For the case of Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) in Madang Province, the answer is a big NO. There has never been proper consultation between the National Government and investors with the landowners of the Vidar site where the PMIZ project is located. The landowner’s constant struggles to make the government understand that they do not want the project seem to be falling on deaf ears. As they continue to raise concerns for the environment, potential creation of social problems and lack of real benefit in regards to

Gang Rape on the Rise in Papua New Guinea

TRUSTLAW A gang of security personnel at one of Papua New Guinea’s largest gold mines allegedly brutally beat and raped a woman and left her for dead at one of the mine’s waste dumps. When her husband discovered what happened, he demanded a divorce while she was still bedridden and recovering from her wounds. Another woman told Human Rights Watch (HRW)  that one of the guards at the Canadian-owned Barrick Gold mine in Porgera – a lush, remote and impoverished part of the country’s highlands – kicked her in the face for resisting a gang rape, shattering her five bottom teeth and three top teeth. Yet another said she and three other women were raped by 10 security personnel, one of whom forced her to swallow a used condom he had used while raping two other victims. Their stories and others, recounted by the rights group in a recent report on alleged abuses at the mine over the past three years, make for a harrowing read. Even worse, after apparently suf

Gang Rape on the Rise in Papua New Guinea

TRUSTLAW A gang of security personnel at one of Papua New Guinea’s largest gold mines allegedly brutally beat and raped a woman and left her for dead at one of the mine’s waste dumps. When her husband discovered what happened, he demanded a divorce while she was still bedridden and recovering from her wounds. Another woman told Human Rights Watch (HRW)  that one of the guards at the Canadian-owned Barrick Gold mine in Porgera – a lush, remote and impoverished part of the country’s highlands – kicked her in the face for resisting a gang rape, shattering her five bottom teeth and three top teeth. Yet another said she and three other women were raped by 10 security personnel, one of whom forced her to swallow a used condom he had used while raping two other victims. Their stories and others, recounted by the rights group in a recent report on alleged abuses at the mine over the past three years, make for a harrowing read. Even worse, after apparently

NO REASON TO CELEBRATE

Image
DAVID MURI WHILE Papua New Guineans nationwide saluted our flag with happy celebrations, in Nipa district of Southern Highlands, two sisters publicly asked a question few politicians will take seriously. Sisters Ruth and Janet Sol wore black on September 16, PNG’s 35th Independence Anniversary to protest what they see as a lack of real development, prosperity and improvement in law and order and advancement for the common people. Their question was simple - why celebrate when all around, there is little or nothing to show for celebration? It’s a question that nags at the fabric of PNG’s economic growth and prosperity, a question politicians sweep aside with political rhetoric that would rather paint a rosy picture for a country anchored by its natural mineral resources but well known to be mismanaged and poor. Its poor are faceless that Ruth and Janet Sol so courageously stood up for on a breezy mountainside in Nipa, not far from where the nation’s oil and gas wealth will be extracted

NO REASON TO CELEBRATE

Image
DAVID MURI WHILE Papua New Guineans nationwide saluted our flag with happy celebrations, in Nipa district of Southern Highlands, two sisters publicly asked a question few politicians will take seriously. Sisters Ruth and Janet Sol wore black on September 16, PNG’s 35th Independence Anniversary to protest what they see as a lack of real development, prosperity and improvement in law and order and advancement for the common people. Their question was simple - why celebrate when all around, there is little or nothing to show for celebration? It’s a question that nags at the fabric of PNG’s economic growth and prosperity, a question politicians sweep aside with political rhetoric that would rather paint a rosy picture for a country anchored by its natural mineral resources but well known to be mismanaged and poor. Its poor are faceless that Ruth and Janet Sol so courageously stood up for on a breezy mountainside in Nipa, not far from where the nation’s oil and gas wealth will be extrac