PNGBLOGS

My Dear Prime Minister, It is almost 9 months since your legitimate rise to Power through the Ballot Box putting behind a tumultuous reign of political brinkmanship that brought our country to the verge of collapse – because you used Parliament wrongly to flout the laws of the land. However you are a smart man and it was indeed clever of you to get your new Attorney General to start the process to undo the damage done to our parliamentary democracy; and the separation of power doctrine that you conveniently discarded during the political impasse. History has shown us that nations and particularly the younger generation do not judge their leaders lightly on charges of abuse of power and political corruption. Mubarak in Egypt and Musharraf in Pakistan are the two latest leaders in a long line of Presidents and Prime Ministers hauled before the courts after leaving office to face charges of abuse of power. For you Prime Minister O’Neill that time is still light years away. In the 9 months

My Dear Prime Minister, It is almost 9 months since your legitimate rise to Power through the Ballot Box putting behind a tumultuous reign of political brinkmanship that brought our country to the verge of collapse – because you used Parliament wrongly to flout the laws of the land. However you are a smart man and it was indeed clever of you to get your new Attorney General to start the process to undo the damage done to our parliamentary democracy; and the separation of power doctrine that you conveniently discarded during the political impasse. History has shown us that nations and particularly the younger generation do not judge their leaders lightly on charges of abuse of power and political corruption. Mubarak in Egypt and Musharraf in Pakistan are the two latest leaders in a long line of Presidents and Prime Ministers hauled before the courts after leaving office to face charges of abuse of power. For you Prime Minister O’Neill that time is still light years away. In th

Vanilla Farmer Alan Bird talks about his 2002 Election experience, this article was first published on the National Newspaper's editorial section on the 2nd of July 2002 Being a strongly ideological person, I entered this election race not only confident of winning the seat but also of being a catalyst to the dawn of dramatic, positive change to the economic and social fabric of my Sepik society. My high-minded ideals have taken a real battering in the last three months of electioneering. As we neared the end of the campaign, I became much more philosophical, as the reality of the depths of the corruption that pervades our society dragged me out of my dreams. On the one hand I wept at the total lack of interest that had been shown toward Sepik people on the other side of the Sepik River between our borders with the Highlands and West Sepik. On the other, I was shattered by the attitude of people on my side of the river whose sole drive in life appears to be to live off government

Vanilla Farmer Alan Bird talks about his 2002 Election experience, this article was first published on the National Newspaper's editorial section on the 2nd of July 2002 Being a strongly ideological person, I entered this election race not only confident of winning the seat but also of being a catalyst to the dawn of dramatic, positive change to the economic and social fabric of my Sepik society. My high-minded ideals have taken a real battering in the last three months of electioneering. As we neared the end of the campaign, I became much more philosophical, as the reality of the depths of the corruption that pervades our society dragged me out of my dreams. On the one hand I wept at the total lack of interest that had been shown toward Sepik people on the other side of the Sepik River between our borders with the Highlands and West Sepik. On the other, I was shattered by the attitude of people on my side of the river whose sole drive in life appears to be to live off gov

AAP The government of Papua New Guinea will restructure the management of the Ok Tedi copper mine to ensure its funds are managed in PNG and not in Singapore, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says. In a two-page article written by the PM in Port Moresby's Post Courier newspaper on Tuesday, Mr O'Neill vowed to end what he termed "secret arrangements" between the mine's former owner, BHP Billiton, and the PNG Sustainable Development Project. The PNGSDP was created by BHP in 2002 to manage OK Tedi's profits on behalf of the people of Western Province, following massive environmental damage caused by the mine. OK Tedi's mining lease expires at the end of 2013. "When the lease expires, the national government will put in place management arrangements that end any secret arrangements, and ensure that the people of Papua New Guinea, including the local landowners, have a say in the mine's future and its management," Mr O'Neill said. "We wil

AAP The government of Papua New Guinea will restructure the management of the Ok Tedi copper mine to ensure its funds are managed in PNG and not in Singapore, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says. In a two-page article written by the PM in Port Moresby's Post Courier newspaper on Tuesday, Mr O'Neill vowed to end what he termed "secret arrangements" between the mine's former owner, BHP Billiton, and the PNG Sustainable Development Project. The PNGSDP was created by BHP in 2002 to manage OK Tedi's profits on behalf of the people of Western Province, following massive environmental damage caused by the mine. OK Tedi's mining lease expires at the end of 2013. "When the lease expires, the national government will put in place management arrangements that end any secret arrangements, and ensure that the people of Papua New Guinea, including the local landowners, have a say in the mine's future and its management," Mr O'Neill said. "We

PNG's Growth to Remain Strong but Protection Needed against Future Shocks Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 26 March 2013 – While Papua New Guinea’s medium term growth outlook of 5.5% in 2013, and 6% in 2014 remains strong, provisions must be made to allow the economy to withstand future economic shocks according to the new issue of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Pacific Economic Monitor, released today. The report– a tri-annual economic review of ADB’s Pacific developing member countries —says as the construction phase of the PNG Liquefied Natural Gas Project winds down, economic growth in PNG will be supported by increased government spending and output from mining operations. “It is critical that government plans to increase investment in national infrastructure and social services are balanced with maintaining fiscal buffers that will allow PNG to withstand future economic shocks,” said Aaron Batten, Country Economist of ADB’s Papua New Guinea Resident Mission. The ADB report

PNG's Growth to Remain Strong but Protection Needed against Future Shocks Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 26 March 2013 – While Papua New Guinea’s medium term growth outlook of 5.5% in 2013, and 6% in 2014 remains strong, provisions must be made to allow the economy to withstand future economic shocks according to the new issue of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Pacific Economic Monitor, released today. The report– a tri-annual economic review of ADB’s Pacific developing member countries —says as the construction phase of the PNG Liquefied Natural Gas Project winds down, economic growth in PNG will be supported by increased government spending and output from mining operations. “It is critical that government plans to increase investment in national infrastructure and social services are balanced with maintaining fiscal buffers that will allow PNG to withstand future economic shocks,” said Aaron Batten, Country Economist of ADB’s Papua New Guinea Resident Mission. The

Internet or international network has reduced the size of the global village consi­derably since its big leap in the 1990s. More than a third of the world’s human population, or about 2.4 billion people, have used the services of the internet as of June 2012,  according to Wikipedia, the internet’s “free encyclopaedia”. Papua New Guinea, being part and parcel of the global community, also enjoys the services provided by the internet. In fact, the lives of an increasing number of our citizens now revolve around the internet. Last week, a visiting Uni­ted States government official expressed concern about the high cost of internet services in PNG, which may hinder greater access by our people to this world bank of information. To access information via the internet, we need to have connectivity links, which are directly influenced by two major telecommunication infrastructure fronts. This relates directly to the international undersea fibre cable landings and the nearest high capacity br