PNGBLOGS

Challenge Rejected The Supreme Court in Waigani has dismissed an attempt by the government to stop the Special Reference, challenging the controversial formation of the O'Neil-Namah regime in August this year. Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia handed down the unanimous ruling this afternoon, coupled with a warning that there should not be threats to the Referrer, the East Sepik Provincial Government, to how the case is being conducted in court. The move to strike out the Special Reference was made this morning by the first intervenor Attorney General Doctor Allan Marat, and had the support of the Parliament Speaker, the Prime Minister and his Deputy, as parties. Those parties had argued that because only twelve out of the full fifteen member Provincial Cabinet attended the August meeting, the Reference did not have the full endorsement of the Executive Council. Last week, single Supreme Court judge David Cannings had found that 12 of the 15 member of the Provincial Executive Council w

Challenge Rejected The Supreme Court in Waigani has dismissed an attempt by the government to stop the Special Reference, challenging the controversial formation of the O'Neil-Namah regime in August this year. Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia handed down the unanimous ruling this afternoon, coupled with a warning that there should not be threats to the Referrer, the East Sepik Provincial Government, to how the case is being conducted in court. The move to strike out the Special Reference was made this morning by the first intervenor Attorney General Doctor Allan Marat, and had the support of the Parliament Speaker, the Prime Minister and his Deputy, as parties. Those parties had argued that because only twelve out of the full fifteen member Provincial Cabinet attended the August meeting, the Reference did not have the full endorsement of the Executive Council. Last week, single Supreme Court judge David Cannings had found that 12 of the 15 member of the Provincial Exec

WITH the historical wedding last Saturday in Port Moresby, a man who claimed to be the husband of the bride had claimed she ran off without sorting her legal divorce requirements. Martin Wale claimed he is the husband of Esmie Ereoli, the house-keeping maid who married the Governor General of Papua New Guinea (PNG) Sir Michael Ogio in Port Moresby. The wedding was the first ever state wedding in the history of PNG. But Mr Wale claimed Ms Ereoli left without sorting out their legal requirements which he felt was not right. Mr Wale said he met Ms Ereoli when he travelled to South Malaita in 2007. He said they started dating until he decided to take Ms Ereoli with her to Honiara. Therefore, as a way of tradition Mr Wale said he paid some money to Ms Ereoli’s brothers to marry her. Although, they were never legally married, Mr Wale claimed Ms Ereoli was his wife living under the same roof since 2007 until she moved out in January 2010. “We never argued or had a disagreement over anyt

WITH the historical wedding last Saturday in Port Moresby, a man who claimed to be the husband of the bride had claimed she ran off without sorting her legal divorce requirements. Martin Wale claimed he is the husband of Esmie Ereoli, the house-keeping maid who married the Governor General of Papua New Guinea (PNG) Sir Michael Ogio in Port Moresby. The wedding was the first ever state wedding in the history of PNG. But Mr Wale claimed Ms Ereoli left without sorting out their legal requirements which he felt was not right. Mr Wale said he met Ms Ereoli when he travelled to South Malaita in 2007. He said they started dating until he decided to take Ms Ereoli with her to Honiara. Therefore, as a way of tradition Mr Wale said he paid some money to Ms Ereoli’s brothers to marry her. Although, they were never legally married, Mr Wale claimed Ms Ereoli was his wife living under the same roof since 2007 until she moved out in January 2010. “We never argued or had a disagr

Dilung Gama and her daughter Martina    sit on bed in a small maternity ward   at the  Saidor Health Center.      Martina  who suffers from epilepsy,    gave birth near  their village  a few days ago.     The  child has been given away for adoption and Dilung  - who appears to be in her 60s  - says  they  did that because Martina has too many children.   She doesn’t say how many  children her daughter has   but she points to a boy behind her  and says: “That’s one of them.”              Like many other parts of Papua New Guinea,  stories about the  plight of women and children    is all too common.    We’ve become desensitized  to  images and stories that would cause panic and alarm  in other countries.               Martina is one of the lucky few  who have made it to a health center.   Her village was beside a road and  she was fortunate  that her relatives brought her to  Saidor in time.  Many others aren’t so fortunate.             “…For instance,  we get a  radio message that says

Dilung Gama and her daughter Martina    sit on bed in a small maternity ward   at the  Saidor Health Center.      Martina  who suffers from epilepsy,    gave birth near  their village  a few days ago.     The  child has been given away for adoption and Dilung  - who appears to be in her 60s  - says  they  did that because Martina has too many children.   She doesn’t say how many  children her daughter has   but she points to a boy behind her  and says: “That’s one of them.”              Like many other parts of Papua New Guinea,  stories about the  plight of women and children    is all too common.    We’ve become desensitized  to  images and stories that would cause panic and alarm  in other countries.               Martina is one of the lucky few  who have made it to a health center.   Her village was beside a road and  she was fortunate  that her relatives brought her to  Saidor in time.  Many others aren’t so fortunate.             “…For instance,  we get a  radio message that say

Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau must be thoroughly sick and fed up with the courts in Papua New Guinea because they keep losing legal cases. Yesterday’s ruling in the National Court, dismissing Rimbunan Hijau’s application to strike out proceedings brought by a local non government organisation, was just the latest in a long series of court decisions against the company dating back over the last decade. Rimbunan Hijau consistently denies its logging operations in PNG are illegal and unsustainable and employs a number of highly paid consultants and lobbyists to argue in its defence in the media and an international team of lawyers to argue its case in court. Yet court decisions suggests the allegations of illegal logging are true as are the claims of serious human rights abuses, of which more emerged last week with Rimbunan Hijau accused of flying police into its logging camps to quell protests by traditional landowners over illegal logging in their forests [1]. In 2