PNGBLOGS

Whether you talk about merging the two airlines or the decision to terminate the Project Agreement with Interoil, or even to sack and appoint certain controversial persons to Boards of statutory corporations, this O'Neill Namah government does not have the legitimacy to govern this Country while the Jury is still out in the pending legal cases. Peter O'Neill does not have the democratic legitimacy to govern. His position is somewhat similar to Frank Bainamarama of Fiji who is a leader by the point of the gun, who usurped democracy. Australia and New Zealand have consistently upheld the rule of the law and disengaged with Frank Bainamarama. What has happened in the PNG Parliament is no different. What has happened is the subject of court proceedings at the Country's Highest Courts. We therefore in effect have a care taker government, not a real government with the legitimate mandate of the people of Papua New Guinea. The people will express themselves at the po

Whether you talk about merging the two airlines or the decision to terminate the Project Agreement with Interoil, or even to sack and appoint certain controversial persons to Boards of statutory corporations, this O'Neill Namah government does not have the legitimacy to govern this Country while the Jury is still out in the pending legal cases. Peter O'Neill does not have the democratic legitimacy to govern. His position is somewhat similar to Frank Bainamarama of Fiji who is a leader by the point of the gun, who usurped democracy. Australia and New Zealand have consistently upheld the rule of the law and disengaged with Frank Bainamarama. What has happened in the PNG Parliament is no different. What has happened is the subject of court proceedings at the Country's Highest Courts. We therefore in effect have a care taker government, not a real government with the legitimate mandate of the people of Papua New Guinea. The people will express themselves at

I refer to the on-going public media releases by the Managing Director of MRDC, Mr Augustin Mano. It is clear that he is using resources of the landowners to defend himself from all accusations leveled against him. I have been interested as a landowner in following his media releases and public information through MRDC websites and prints. There is only two points he seems to say in all of these media releases. First that he followed proper financial management procedure for all the landowner investments and secondly, he has improved the value of shareholders asserts since taking office as the Managing Director. While this may be true, he should wait patiently for normal investigation which has already been ordered to prove himself rather than constantly defending himself over the media. This investigation will confirm whether or not proper financial management procedure was followed. The Terms of Reference (TOR) should also find out if any ‘kick backs’ or bribes (as we commonly know

I refer to the on-going public media releases by the Managing Director of MRDC, Mr Augustin Mano. It is clear that he is using resources of the landowners to defend himself from all accusations leveled against him. I have been interested as a landowner in following his media releases and public information through MRDC websites and prints. There is only two points he seems to say in all of these media releases. First that he followed proper financial management procedure for all the landowner investments and secondly, he has improved the value of shareholders asserts since taking office as the Managing Director. While this may be true, he should wait patiently for normal investigation which has already been ordered to prove himself rather than constantly defending himself over the media. This investigation will confirm whether or not proper financial management procedure was followed. The Terms of Reference (TOR) should also find out if any ‘kick backs’ or bribes (as we commonly k

BEHIND Papua New Guinea's resource-fuelled growth - 9 per cent this year - and its febrile uptake of mobile phones and social media lies a world, hidden in misty valleys and on remote islands, of grinding poverty. We might have learned more of such poverty's true dimensions from a national census conducted in mid-year. But there are growing signs that the census, already postponed for a year because of inadequate funding, has effectively failed. Such issues need to weigh on the minds of leaders from PNG and Australia as they meet in Canberra today. While Julia Gillard holds talks with new PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, eight PNG ministers, including former prime minister Mekere Morauta, will be meeting a group of Australian counterparts. The Australians, who will include Finance Minister Penny Wong, Trade Minister Craig Emerson and Pacific secretary Richard Marles, will be led by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd. They will discuss replacing the 12-year-old bilateral aid agree

BEHIND Papua New Guinea's resource-fuelled growth - 9 per cent this year - and its febrile uptake of mobile phones and social media lies a world, hidden in misty valleys and on remote islands, of grinding poverty. We might have learned more of such poverty's true dimensions from a national census conducted in mid-year. But there are growing signs that the census, already postponed for a year because of inadequate funding, has effectively failed. Such issues need to weigh on the minds of leaders from PNG and Australia as they meet in Canberra today. While Julia Gillard holds talks with new PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, eight PNG ministers, including former prime minister Mekere Morauta, will be meeting a group of Australian counterparts. The Australians, who will include Finance Minister Penny Wong, Trade Minister Craig Emerson and Pacific secretary Richard Marles, will be led by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd. They will discuss replacing the 12-year-old bilateral a

Developers hover as 5 million hectares, and national pride, are signed away in 99-year leases that have raised fears of corruption. A LAND grab of 5 million hectares of Papua New Guinea, 11 per cent of its territory, has taken place quietly and apparently bloodlessly since 2003, half of it being signed over in the past two years. But tension over one of the controversial leases has reportedly turned violent in the past week, with police chiefs investigating allegations of brutality by officers flown into the site in Pomio, East New Britain, by a logging company. Police confirmed in an ABC news report that loggers financed the crackdown against local protesters who claim their traditional land was taken without their authority. The Pomio lease is one of 72 deals being investigated by a commission of inquiry in Port Moresby. Under the deals, title to the land, most of it densely forested, has been transferred from local customary ownership to the state and vested with a range of landown