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"A bitter and disillusioned nation" Somare

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PNG EXPOSED BLOG Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister has gone on the record to complain about criticism of him and his family (see the Radio NZ report below) . “People are bitter. PNG has lost its sense of decency and it is a poison that could destroy the country” says Michael Somare. But his attempts to somehow paint himself as the victim of outside forces betray the fact that he, more than anyone else, is responsible for this sorry state of affairs. Michael Somare has been Prime Minister for the last eight years. As well as ignoring the corruption of his fellow Ministers and senior bureaucrats, he has tried to place himself and his family above the law by fighting Leadership referrals through the courts and ignoring inquiry findings. Somare and his family have enriched themsleves at the expense of ordinary Papua New Guineans and show no compassion – his K130 million private PMV is only the most obvious example.  Somare is the one that has treated Parliament with complete cont

"A bitter and disillusioned nation" Somare

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PNG EXPOSED BLOG Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister has gone on the record to complain about criticism of him and his family (see the Radio NZ report below) . “People are bitter. PNG has lost its sense of decency and it is a poison that could destroy the country” says Michael Somare. But his attempts to somehow paint himself as the victim of outside forces betray the fact that he, more than anyone else, is responsible for this sorry state of affairs. Michael Somare has been Prime Minister for the last eight years. As well as ignoring the corruption of his fellow Ministers and senior bureaucrats, he has tried to place himself and his family above the law by fighting Leadership referrals through the courts and ignoring inquiry findings. Somare and his family have enriched themsleves at the expense of ordinary Papua New Guineans and show no compassion – his K130 million private PMV is only the most obvious example.  Somare is the one that has treated Parliament with complete

Cargill exits palm oil in Papua New Guinea with US$175 million leaving a trail of trade union rights abuse

AFW In November 2005, Cargill announced the acquisition of palm oil operations in Indonesia and PNG through the purchase of Pacific Rim Palm Oil Limited (PRPOL), a company owned by the CDC Group (an entity for British state investment in the developing world). According to CDC’s public reports, the Group received £80.2 million (equivalent to US$141 million at 2005 exchange rates) for PRPOL. The company was bought by Cargill in a joint venture with Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government sovereign wealth fund, in which Cargill maintained a majority share (public records of the exact breakdown are not available). The name of the joint venture company was CTP Holdings. In purchasing PRPOL, Cargill gained control of approximately 55,000 hectares of palm oil plantations in Indonesia and PNG. At the time of the purchase Cargill owned one palm oil plantation in Indonesia. The purchase allowed Cargill to enter significantly into the rapidly growing and highly profitable palm oil busi

Cargill exits palm oil in Papua New Guinea with US$175 million leaving a trail of trade union rights abuse

AFW In November 2005, Cargill announced the acquisition of palm oil operations in Indonesia and PNG through the purchase of Pacific Rim Palm Oil Limited (PRPOL), a company owned by the CDC Group (an entity for British state investment in the developing world). According to CDC’s public reports, the Group received £80.2 million (equivalent to US$141 million at 2005 exchange rates) for PRPOL. The company was bought by Cargill in a joint venture with Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government sovereign wealth fund, in which Cargill maintained a majority share (public records of the exact breakdown are not available). The name of the joint venture company was CTP Holdings. In purchasing PRPOL, Cargill gained control of approximately 55,000 hectares of palm oil plantations in Indonesia and PNG. At the time of the purchase Cargill owned one palm oil plantation in Indonesia. The purchase allowed Cargill to enter significantly into the rapidly growing and highly profitable palm oil bu

One more wasted budget, says Philemon

Jeffery Elapa The opposition yesterday criticised the 2011 Budget as another example of the government doing the same thing over and over again with little result. Shadow Treasurer Bart Philemon said the government had wasted eight years of political stability and has nothing to show for more than K55 billion it had spent during this period. Holding up The National newspaper and pointing to the front page which had a picture of an overcrowded ward at the Port Moresby General Hospital with mothers sleeping on the floor to illustrate his point, Philemon said social indicators had deteriorated under this government. He said with the budget showing a lot of microeconomic holes, it was built on “shifting sand” and not “solid rock” and would collapse. Philemon told the government to realign their unproductive expenditure to a productive expenditure while looking back of the past experiences and comparing of how effective it would work when the K9.3 billion was implemented next year. “They a

One more wasted budget, says Philemon

Jeffery Elapa The opposition yesterday criticised the 2011 Budget as another example of the government doing the same thing over and over again with little result. Shadow Treasurer Bart Philemon said the government had wasted eight years of political stability and has nothing to show for more than K55 billion it had spent during this period. Holding up The National newspaper and pointing to the front page which had a picture of an overcrowded ward at the Port Moresby General Hospital with mothers sleeping on the floor to illustrate his point, Philemon said social indicators had deteriorated under this government. He said with the budget showing a lot of microeconomic holes, it was built on “shifting sand” and not “solid rock” and would collapse. Philemon told the government to realign their unproductive expenditure to a productive expenditure while looking back of the past experiences and comparing of how effective it would work when the K9.3 billion was implemented next year. “The

Former PNG PM wants Aust aid to focus capacity building

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ABC Pacific Beat Papua New Guinea's former Prime Minister, Sir Rabbie Namaliu, has called on the Australian government to put more aid money into training and education to help PNG cope with the enormous brain drain being created by PNG's resources boom. In the PNG budget delivered last week, Treasury and Finance Minister, Peter O'Neill announced big increases in spending on education and health. Sir Rabbie Namaliu says these were made possible by the increasing revenue going to the government from the resources boom, but he says that is not enough to deal with the scale of the problem. The former Prime Minister, now chairman of Kina Asset Management, says money currently being paid to high-cost Australia aid advisors would be better spent on training Papua New Guineans. In Port Moresby today, Papua New Guinea's parliamentarians are debating the budget as Sir Rabbie Namaliu explains. Presenter: Pacific Economic and Business reporter, Jemima Garrett Speaker: Former PNG P