PNGBLOGS

By: Simon Simbiken Belden Namah has unique leadership qualities that is lacking in PNG’s political arena. He demonstrates good attributes of no-nonsense, spot-on and straight shooting rather than beating around the bush, especially when it comes to fighting corruption. He embraces transparency and good governance. He works hard and is disciplined character with a military background. He is free from the books of corruption and he discourages systemic and systematic manipulation of due processes which has been responsible for malpractices and corruption. Namah is the answer to PNG’s political and administration problems. He will deliver PNG out of evil men who feed from Haus Tambaran and Morauta Haus. He is here to fight corruption and promote good governance, transparency and unity amongst diversity Through unique leadership of Namah, Papua New Guineans can now distinguish between: good as against evil, transparency as against corruption, straight as against crooked, patriotic leadersh

By: Simon Simbiken Belden Namah has unique leadership qualities that is lacking in PNG’s political arena. He demonstrates good attributes of no-nonsense, spot-on and straight shooting rather than beating around the bush, especially when it comes to fighting corruption. He embraces transparency and good governance. He works hard and is disciplined character with a military background. He is free from the books of corruption and he discourages systemic and systematic manipulation of due processes which has been responsible for malpractices and corruption. Namah is the answer to PNG’s political and administration problems. He will deliver PNG out of evil men who feed from Haus Tambaran and Morauta Haus. He is here to fight corruption and promote good governance, transparency and unity amongst diversity Through unique leadership of Namah, Papua New Guineans can now distinguish between: good as against evil, transparency as against corruption, straight as against crooked, patriotic lead

By MIKE PEPPERDAY  Australia and New Zealand have propped up Pacific countries since their independence. They can go on propping up the micro-states indefinitely but Papua New Guinea, with its 6million people and its resources wealth, is becoming independent of our handouts. Private security companies are moving in and guns are flooding the country. The prospect is for civil strife and takeover by the colonels. The news stories of slush funds and “big man” chicanery indicate a terrible misapprehension. The reason that the government of PNG has deteriorated since independence is not the locals’ innate cultural defects. PNG’s problem is its unworkable political structure. In 1975, the Whitlam government set up PNG with a single chamber of parliament (a “unicameral” system) to which MPs were elected from single-member electorates (so-called “majoritarian” representation). This design – a single chamber composed of electorates each represented by a single member – has never w

By MIKE PEPPERDAY  Australia and New Zealand have propped up Pacific countries since their independence. They can go on propping up the micro-states indefinitely but Papua New Guinea, with its 6million people and its resources wealth, is becoming independent of our handouts. Private security companies are moving in and guns are flooding the country. The prospect is for civil strife and takeover by the colonels. The news stories of slush funds and “big man” chicanery indicate a terrible misapprehension. The reason that the government of PNG has deteriorated since independence is not the locals’ innate cultural defects. PNG’s problem is its unworkable political structure. In 1975, the Whitlam government set up PNG with a single chamber of parliament (a “unicameral” system) to which MPs were elected from single-member electorates (so-called “majoritarian” representation). This design – a single chamber composed of electorates each represented by a single member – has

By JOHN FOWKE The published comments of foreign writers/journalists unknown in PNG may be annoying to many but are not worth wasting time upon. I refer in particular to the piece recently printed in the Australian Financial Review. Anything by, for instance, Rowan Callick or Sean Dorney, to mention two Australian journalists who have longstanding connections with PNG are worth considering. Others are to be ignored. But more to the point, ol lain PNGBLOGS followers, there is, right now a glimmering of the start of a real discussion upon the need for, and the best form of, a reformed political structure for PNG. This discussion is starting to take place on the blogs of a number of erudite PNG'ans. The discussion may go on for long, but one hopes that it will build  momentum and arrive at a logical conclusion where a much better, fairer, more culturally-aligned system of representation, execution and administration  arises in PNG. PNG is firmly set on the path of democracy because a

By JOHN FOWKE The published comments of foreign writers/journalists unknown in PNG may be annoying to many but are not worth wasting time upon. I refer in particular to the piece recently printed in the Australian Financial Review. Anything by, for instance, Rowan Callick or Sean Dorney, to mention two Australian journalists who have longstanding connections with PNG are worth considering. Others are to be ignored. But more to the point, ol lain PNGBLOGS followers, there is, right now a glimmering of the start of a real discussion upon the need for, and the best form of, a reformed political structure for PNG. This discussion is starting to take place on the blogs of a number of erudite PNG'ans. The discussion may go on for long, but one hopes that it will build  momentum and arrive at a logical conclusion where a much better, fairer, more culturally-aligned system of representation, execution and administration  arises in PNG. PNG is firmly set on the path of democracy because

IT seems the overriding perception of Papua New Guinea by some in Australia is that we are an unsalvageable democracy on the downward slide to oblivion. A recent article by columnist Geoffrey Barker in the Australian Financial Review has put a not too flattering conclusion on the ills that plague the Pacific’s largest indigenous sovereignty. We are, by Barker’s estimation, a grossly mismanaged, politically and administratively corrupt, incompetent, dysfunctional and violent country. Anyone reading this would automatically assume PNG to be a country somewhere between the extremes that are Afghanistan and Somalia. This is indeed a dismal picture that one can paint of a neighbour. But Barker, we must admit, has displayed a candor and journalistic license to berate and critique that only one who has watched from afar can attain. It is true that Papua New Guinea faces many problems, the least of which is the contempt of some individuals in Australia. We make no bones about the fact that we