PNGBLOGS

POST COURIER Island of New Hanover sold for K4 million THE entire Island of New Hanover in New Ireland Province has been sold to foreigners for US$1.6million (K4m) in what has been described as the biggest scandal in the country’s short history. Documents obtained by Post-Courier clearly give details of the sale, entered between Tutuman Development Ltd (seller) and a Singaporean Company identified as Palma Hacienda Ltd (buyer) in June 2009. The documents are the Sale and Purchase Agreement and a Supplementary Agreement entered between the two parties. The deal to sell the island by Tutuman Development Limited whose directors include a former premier of the province and the foreign company was done without the consent of any authority from the landowners Documents show the purchase price was paid into a director‘s personal bank account with the Citibank Singapore Ltd. Ishmael Passingan, who is the company secretary for Central New Hanover Ltd, a landowner company, confirmed to this pape

POST COURIER Island of New Hanover sold for K4 million THE entire Island of New Hanover in New Ireland Province has been sold to foreigners for US$1.6million (K4m) in what has been described as the biggest scandal in the country’s short history. Documents obtained by Post-Courier clearly give details of the sale, entered between Tutuman Development Ltd (seller) and a Singaporean Company identified as Palma Hacienda Ltd (buyer) in June 2009. The documents are the Sale and Purchase Agreement and a Supplementary Agreement entered between the two parties. The deal to sell the island by Tutuman Development Limited whose directors include a former premier of the province and the foreign company was done without the consent of any authority from the landowners Documents show the purchase price was paid into a director‘s personal bank account with the Citibank Singapore Ltd. Ishmael Passingan, who is the company secretary for Central New Hanover Ltd, a landowner company, confirmed to thi

FRUSTRATED CITIZEN Papua New Guinea as we know is now totally corrupt, the Judiciary the last beacon of hope for PNG is not as impartial as it used to be. In recent months we very experiences Judges sitting in the National and Supreme Court have been made to quit without having their tenures extended only to be replaced by senior lawyers who have been part of this government’s grab of power and statutory corruption at the beginning. The recent appointments of Justice Kassman and Justice Murray is a slap in the face to the Judiciary, it paints a picture of how cheap the judiciary has become by allowing two lawyers involved with the government given preference to become judges. The Chief Justice handling of the Somare Tribunal is also a signal that the mechanisms held in place in the Judiciary is crumbling and so it seems when you hear of other Judges coming out in the national media lamenting decisions made is a signal that we have a country on the verge of falling like those with a dic

FRUSTRATED CITIZEN Papua New Guinea as we know is now totally corrupt, the Judiciary the last beacon of hope for PNG is not as impartial as it used to be. In recent months we very experiences Judges sitting in the National and Supreme Court have been made to quit without having their tenures extended only to be replaced by senior lawyers who have been part of this government’s grab of power and statutory corruption at the beginning. The recent appointments of Justice Kassman and Justice Murray is a slap in the face to the Judiciary, it paints a picture of how cheap the judiciary has become by allowing two lawyers involved with the government given preference to become judges. The Chief Justice handling of the Somare Tribunal is also a signal that the mechanisms held in place in the Judiciary is crumbling and so it seems when you hear of other Judges coming out in the national media lamenting decisions made is a signal that we have a country on the verge of falling like those with a

ROWAN CALLICK Plans are under way for the opening of one of the world’s biggest copper and gold mines, with resources worth about $US50 billion, as the China-driven commodities boom keeps rolling on. So far, so predictable, if awesome. But few people expected ever to hear of this vast pit ever again—except those canny investors who hung on to their shares for decades.   It is the Bougainville copper mine in Papua New Guinea, where production was suspended—the owners insist, not closed—on May 15, 1989. Bougainville Copper Ltd—which is 53.58 percent owned by British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd, 19.06 percent by the Papua New Guinea Government, and 27.36 percent by other shareholders—believes it will cost about $US3 billion to reopen the mine.   The vast trucks and electricity pylons may have been blown up or rusted or cannibalised, but the resources in the mine have not, of course, been damaged or diminished over the last 21 years. It contains 3.5 million tonnes o

ROWAN CALLICK Plans are under way for the opening of one of the world’s biggest copper and gold mines, with resources worth about $US50 billion, as the China-driven commodities boom keeps rolling on. So far, so predictable, if awesome. But few people expected ever to hear of this vast pit ever again—except those canny investors who hung on to their shares for decades.   It is the Bougainville copper mine in Papua New Guinea, where production was suspended—the owners insist, not closed—on May 15, 1989. Bougainville Copper Ltd—which is 53.58 percent owned by British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd, 19.06 percent by the Papua New Guinea Government, and 27.36 percent by other shareholders—believes it will cost about $US3 billion to reopen the mine.   The vast trucks and electricity pylons may have been blown up or rusted or cannibalised, but the resources in the mine have not, of course, been damaged or diminished over the last 21 years. It contains 3.5 million ton

SCOTT WAIDE For two years, brothers Peter and John Kepma from Kurumbukare have been resisting attempts by the Chinese owned Nickel Mine to force them onto a temporary camp site. In September 2010, a group of armed police accompanied by mine workers forcefully evicted them from their ancestral home. The brothers documented how their huts were demolished and their lives destroyed. On the morning of the 8th of September 2010, John Kepma was suddenly awakened by noise outside his hut. He peered through the cracks in the wall and saw several policemen who had begun pulling down his dwelling. He came out of his hut and was confronted with a sight he had come to both dread and expect. Armed policemen had begun an eviction of remnant members of the Maure clan who had refused to move to a temporary relocation site. His clan members included his father, his uncles his older brother, Peter and several children.  “One of the ‘officers of the state’ told us that we were w

SCOTT WAIDE For two years, brothers Peter and John Kepma from Kurumbukare have been resisting attempts by the Chinese owned Nickel Mine to force them onto a temporary camp site. In September 2010, a group of armed police accompanied by mine workers forcefully evicted them from their ancestral home. The brothers documented how their huts were demolished and their lives destroyed. On the morning of the 8th of September 2010, John Kepma was suddenly awakened by noise outside his hut. He peered through the cracks in the wall and saw several policemen who had begun pulling down his dwelling. He came out of his hut and was confronted with a sight he had come to both dread and expect. Armed policemen had begun an eviction of remnant members of the Maure clan who had refused to move to a temporary relocation site. His clan members included his father, his uncles his older brother, Peter and several children.  “One of the ‘officers of the state’ told us that we w

Concerned Citizen I am compelled to write because I have lost my respect for someone I used to look up to. Sir Arnold Amet was a man of stature and integrity and he has become the latest casualty in a long line of leaders, including the pre­vious governor-general to have lost their integrity because of their association with the prime minister. These leaders, including Sir Michael Somare, have built their integrity over time but one wrong act in the public’s eye has destroyed their integrity and reputation. This, I believe, is of a great concern not only to me but many Papua New Guineans. Only a handful of leaders like Powes Parkop and Dame Carol Kidu have remained untainted. No matter how Sir Arnold tries to justify the sacking of acting Public Prosecutor Jim Wala Tamate, the public are no longer as ignorant as before and will not swallow such nonsense. We have come a long way, almost 36 years since independence, and our people are now better educated to see through any cover ups and