PNGBLOGS

ISLAND BUSINESS Papua New Guinea’s high profile bank robber William Nanua Kapris and 12 of his accomplices have been found guilty for stealing K2.4 million cash from Madang town’s Bank South Pacific in 2008. Madang National Court judge Justice David Cannings pronounced the verdict in March after a two-year trial that captivated the nation. The robbers are currently being remanded in custody in Madang’s Beon prison awaiting their sentencing. The sentence was to be handed down last month but was postponed to this month because submissions were not ready. The robbery remains the biggest ever in PNG which cleaned out the local branch of PNG’s largest bank and was executed to perfection. No one, including the police, was aware of it until after the robbers had disappeared. However, quick police action resulted in Kapris caught at a roadblock in Central Province 13 days after the robbery. He was shot and locked up at Bomana prison. However, the drama did not end there. On January 12, 2010, h

ISLAND BUSINESS Papua New Guinea’s high profile bank robber William Nanua Kapris and 12 of his accomplices have been found guilty for stealing K2.4 million cash from Madang town’s Bank South Pacific in 2008. Madang National Court judge Justice David Cannings pronounced the verdict in March after a two-year trial that captivated the nation. The robbers are currently being remanded in custody in Madang’s Beon prison awaiting their sentencing. The sentence was to be handed down last month but was postponed to this month because submissions were not ready. The robbery remains the biggest ever in PNG which cleaned out the local branch of PNG’s largest bank and was executed to perfection. No one, including the police, was aware of it until after the robbers had disappeared. However, quick police action resulted in Kapris caught at a roadblock in Central Province 13 days after the robbery. He was shot and locked up at Bomana prison. However, the drama did not end there. On January 12, 201

OP.ED PAPUA New Guineans are now pondering the real possibility that due to his serious heart condition, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, the country’s most dominant political figure, will almost certainly not be able to resume his job as prime ministership. In the worst case scenario, if the man fondly referred to as the “father” of PNG passes on, Parliament will have to elect a new prime minister but should he recover from the heart operations and return, it will then be a question of whether his ill health can allow him to continue in office as prime minister. During his hospitalisation in the past six weeks, in Singapore, no one, even his doctors, have come out to say whether the Prime Minister will be physically fit to continue as Prime Minister when he recovers. Up to now, no one knows that. Sir Michael is 75-years-old and he has been in Parliament for 43 years and prime minister for almost half of the 36 years PNG has been independent. Six weeks ago, he was flown to Singapore, wh

OP.ED PAPUA New Guineans are now pondering the real possibility that due to his serious heart condition, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, the country’s most dominant political figure, will almost certainly not be able to resume his job as prime ministership. In the worst case scenario, if the man fondly referred to as the “father” of PNG passes on, Parliament will have to elect a new prime minister but should he recover from the heart operations and return, it will then be a question of whether his ill health can allow him to continue in office as prime minister. During his hospitalisation in the past six weeks, in Singapore, no one, even his doctors, have come out to say whether the Prime Minister will be physically fit to continue as Prime Minister when he recovers. Up to now, no one knows that. Sir Michael is 75-years-old and he has been in Parliament for 43 years and prime minister for almost half of the 36 years PNG has been independent. Six weeks ago, he was flown to Singapore,

ONE COUNTRY In John Howard's 11 year reign of Australia we witnessed some of the most corrupt scandals of all time. He was involved in the bribing and corrupting of Saddam Hussein in the AWB Wheat Board scandal. Howard and Downer paid no less than 1 Billion Kina to Saddam Hussein in bribes and chose to ignore UN sanctions. Fortunately when the scandal broke, he appointed the Chairman of the Cole Inquiry with terms designed to protect himself, Downer and other of his Ministers involved. The Cole Inquiry only caught the little fry, the big fish got away. Another scandal was that of the Weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq. On the 4th of February 2002, Howard addressed the Australian parliament, echoed London and Washington, and sought to make the connection between Iraq and 'the war on terror'. He lied to the Australian parliament and misled the Australian people, and took Australia to war in Iraq. Every drop of Australian blood spilled, along with the rivers of blood that t

ONE COUNTRY In John Howard's 11 year reign of Australia we witnessed some of the most corrupt scandals of all time. He was involved in the bribing and corrupting of Saddam Hussein in the AWB Wheat Board scandal. Howard and Downer paid no less than 1 Billion Kina to Saddam Hussein in bribes and chose to ignore UN sanctions. Fortunately when the scandal broke, he appointed the Chairman of the Cole Inquiry with terms designed to protect himself, Downer and other of his Ministers involved. The Cole Inquiry only caught the little fry, the big fish got away. Another scandal was that of the Weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq. On the 4th of February 2002, Howard addressed the Australian parliament, echoed London and Washington, and sought to make the connection between Iraq and 'the war on terror'. He lied to the Australian parliament and misled the Australian people, and took Australia to war in Iraq. Every drop of Australian blood spilled, along with the rivers of blood tha

ROWAN CALLICK Papua New Guinea’s founding father Sir Michael Somare, now aged 75, was suspended for 14 days from April 4 for failing to provide annual reports on his assets and business dealings to the Ombudsman Commission as required. It is Sir Michael’s skills as a leader and player of the PNG political game—at once ornate and brutal—that have held his ruling coalition together for almost 10 years. He has been at the centre of PNG’s parliaments for 42 years. But this long-anticipated court case ended up appearing more like a part of the passing of the old independence era, rather than a decisive centerpiece of the PNG story. For regardless of Sir Michael’s fate, PNG is on the cusp of an extraordinary economic, social and political transition, one which the country has not seen since gaining independence from Australia in 1975. Where this change will take it, remains utterly uncertain. But that it is undergoing a convulsion is clear. A new generation is on the move, one which has bee

ROWAN CALLICK Papua New Guinea’s founding father Sir Michael Somare, now aged 75, was suspended for 14 days from April 4 for failing to provide annual reports on his assets and business dealings to the Ombudsman Commission as required. It is Sir Michael’s skills as a leader and player of the PNG political game—at once ornate and brutal—that have held his ruling coalition together for almost 10 years. He has been at the centre of PNG’s parliaments for 42 years. But this long-anticipated court case ended up appearing more like a part of the passing of the old independence era, rather than a decisive centerpiece of the PNG story. For regardless of Sir Michael’s fate, PNG is on the cusp of an extraordinary economic, social and political transition, one which the country has not seen since gaining independence from Australia in 1975. Where this change will take it, remains utterly uncertain. But that it is undergoing a convulsion is clear. A new generation is on the move, one which has

OP ED Only in Papua New Guinea do we find regulators that charge inordinately high rates for services which are more than affordable by the average consumer in other countries. There is any number of products and services that are taken for granted by people in the global community but seen as a luxury here. Take, for instance, internet usage and web access. In virtually every Western country, and an increasing number of developing nations, this service is relatively inexpensive for individuals, institutions and businesses alike. Yet, here in PNG, one cannot say the same. The reality is that rates charged by internet service providers here are proportionately higher on average than what you would find in Australia, Malaysia, Fiji and other neighbouring countries. Some say we charge the highest fees in the world. One must critically ask whether the laws regulating this service are there to enable or prohibit access to the worldwide information network. Entry into cyberspace should com

OP ED Only in Papua New Guinea do we find regulators that charge inordinately high rates for services which are more than affordable by the average consumer in other countries. There is any number of products and services that are taken for granted by people in the global community but seen as a luxury here. Take, for instance, internet usage and web access. In virtually every Western country, and an increasing number of developing nations, this service is relatively inexpensive for individuals, institutions and businesses alike. Yet, here in PNG, one cannot say the same. The reality is that rates charged by internet service providers here are proportionately higher on average than what you would find in Australia, Malaysia, Fiji and other neighbouring countries. Some say we charge the highest fees in the world. One must critically ask whether the laws regulating this service are there to enable or prohibit access to the worldwide information network. Entry into cyberspace should c

SOUTH PACIFIC POST William Nanua Kapris did not deliver K1.2 million of the Madang BSP heist to his Port Moresby-based sponsors within the time requested resulting in his capture along the Magi Highway. In a lengthy allocutus he delivered to the National Court sitting in Madang last Thursday, Kapris said soon after the heist on the Metals Refinery Operations in Port Moresby and his escape from custody he returned home to Kimbe He said it was while there that he got a call from Port Moresby that he would execute another robbery in Madang - the BSP Branch – and he was to travel there. He told the court a sum of K20,000 wired for his movements through a Helen Minape’s bank account in Kimbe. He described the woman as his big sister having grown up with her in Kimbe. He said one of his nephew’s hired a banana boat for him from a Talasea man and he travelled to Lae via Finshhafen. His boat skipper was Elvis Bala Aka and his other companion on the trip was Kito Aso. Kapris said they had no k

SOUTH PACIFIC POST William Nanua Kapris did not deliver K1.2 million of the Madang BSP heist to his Port Moresby-based sponsors within the time requested resulting in his capture along the Magi Highway. In a lengthy allocutus he delivered to the National Court sitting in Madang last Thursday, Kapris said soon after the heist on the Metals Refinery Operations in Port Moresby and his escape from custody he returned home to Kimbe He said it was while there that he got a call from Port Moresby that he would execute another robbery in Madang - the BSP Branch – and he was to travel there. He told the court a sum of K20,000 wired for his movements through a Helen Minape’s bank account in Kimbe. He described the woman as his big sister having grown up with her in Kimbe. He said one of his nephew’s hired a banana boat for him from a Talasea man and he travelled to Lae via Finshhafen. His boat skipper was Elvis Bala Aka and his other companion on the trip was Kito Aso. Kapris said they had no