PNGBLOGS

By LUCAS KIAP The perception of most people in Papua New Guinea is that to see development, everyone should vote for right leaders who will then bring them the badly needed services. People will always urge voters to vote for the right leaders. Even leaders on the campaign trail will always urge votes to do the same. Recently (on Wednesday, July 31, 2013), the Post-Courier reported  that the Prime Minister Peter O’Neil urged voters in the Angoram electorate in the East Sepik province to elect the right leader who will bring the people of Angoram services and implement new government programs. Indirectly, he was telling the voters that, the candidate contesting under his PNC party has every credentials of a right leader – whatever it is. The question is - what do we actually mean when we say, vote for the right leaders who will bring services? Are we trying to portray that in Papua New Guinea we have two categories of leaders – right and wrong leaders? The right leaders will bring servi

By LUCAS KIAP The perception of most people in Papua New Guinea is that to see development, everyone should vote for right leaders who will then bring them the badly needed services. People will always urge voters to vote for the right leaders. Even leaders on the campaign trail will always urge votes to do the same. Recently (on Wednesday, July 31, 2013), the Post-Courier reported  that the Prime Minister Peter O’Neil urged voters in the Angoram electorate in the East Sepik province to elect the right leader who will bring the people of Angoram services and implement new government programs. Indirectly, he was telling the voters that, the candidate contesting under his PNC party has every credentials of a right leader – whatever it is. The question is - what do we actually mean when we say, vote for the right leaders who will bring services? Are we trying to portray that in Papua New Guinea we have two categories of leaders – right and wrong leaders? The right leaders will b

By JASON GIMA WURI After the signing of the refugee resettlement deal between Australia and Papua New Guinea last week Friday, it seems highly likely that Australia has finally succeeded in sending its problem to PNG. The big question Papua New Guinea should be asking here is, why does Australia not want to deal directly with its asylum seekers? We should be asking questions like, hasn’t Australia got a huge land mass enough to build countless detention centres? Or is it because detention centres in Australia are referred to as ”Dog Pounds” that they do not want any more of those kind of centres built on their land, instead sign deals with third world countries like Papua New Guinea? Concluding that we are seen as an underdeveloped country where a “Dog Pound” is fit to be set up. Whatever Australia has agreed to give to the people of remote Manus province in terms of development and infrastructure in exchange for the new deal in building a bigger processing centre to house an increased

By JASON GIMA WURI After the signing of the refugee resettlement deal between Australia and Papua New Guinea last week Friday, it seems highly likely that Australia has finally succeeded in sending its problem to PNG. The big question Papua New Guinea should be asking here is, why does Australia not want to deal directly with its asylum seekers? We should be asking questions like, hasn’t Australia got a huge land mass enough to build countless detention centres? Or is it because detention centres in Australia are referred to as ”Dog Pounds” that they do not want any more of those kind of centres built on their land, instead sign deals with third world countries like Papua New Guinea? Concluding that we are seen as an underdeveloped country where a “Dog Pound” is fit to be set up. Whatever Australia has agreed to give to the people of remote Manus province in terms of development and infrastructure in exchange for the new deal in building a bigger processing centre to house an increas

By JOE BEIG The Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) has for the first time since 1975 enjoys myriad of tangible options to obtain needed financial and material support from Government of Papua New Guinea (GoPNG) and PNG’s main international development partners. The support is essentially to revitalize its outdated and aging equipment and assets including re-equipping and developing of its capability. This development plan has been made possible through PNG’s good political environment and favorable economic future.   The encouraging political and economic environments continue to trigger investors’ confidence.  This confidence is reflected from commitment made by renowned investors to invest in the lucrative LNG project. This project is still in its construction phase but progressing extremely well and it is nearing completion. The next phase will see the project geared into full production and revenue starts to flow into PNG’s coffer around 2014/2015. Similar development plans wer

By JOE BEIG The Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) has for the first time since 1975 enjoys myriad of tangible options to obtain needed financial and material support from Government of Papua New Guinea (GoPNG) and PNG’s main international development partners. The support is essentially to revitalize its outdated and aging equipment and assets including re-equipping and developing of its capability. This development plan has been made possible through PNG’s good political environment and favorable economic future.   The encouraging political and economic environments continue to trigger investors’ confidence.  This confidence is reflected from commitment made by renowned investors to invest in the lucrative LNG project. This project is still in its construction phase but progressing extremely well and it is nearing completion. The next phase will see the project geared into full production and revenue starts to flow into PNG’s coffer around 2014/2015. Similar development pla

By STEVEN ANDRE Dear Chief Secretary, The recent announcements by the Prime Minister and yourself to set up an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is an important initiative as the level of corruption is wide spread and dangerous. Corruption in the form of stealing public funds and the appointment of political cronies and wantoks in key public service and political jobs for the purpose of stealing directly or indirectly through dubious contractual deals is wide spread and deep-rooted. In their haste to steal from the national treasury, a few crooks in this country who are driven by greed are destroying our country while the miseries of the small and disadvantaged people get worse and worse. It's a pity that not one person has be sent to prison since a lot of people have been arrested and charged in relation to the National Planning Dept white-collar crime as reveled by the Task Force Sweep. We are totally supportive of the ICAC concept. But in the meantime, could you i

By STEVEN ANDRE Dear Chief Secretary, The recent announcements by the Prime Minister and yourself to set up an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is an important initiative as the level of corruption is wide spread and dangerous. Corruption in the form of stealing public funds and the appointment of political cronies and wantoks in key public service and political jobs for the purpose of stealing directly or indirectly through dubious contractual deals is wide spread and deep-rooted. In their haste to steal from the national treasury, a few crooks in this country who are driven by greed are destroying our country while the miseries of the small and disadvantaged people get worse and worse. It's a pity that not one person has be sent to prison since a lot of people have been arrested and charged in relation to the National Planning Dept white-collar crime as reveled by the Task Force Sweep. We are totally supportive of the ICAC concept. But in the meantime, coul

Now that the country has simmered down from its initial shock over the refugee resettlement deal, it’s time for the people to face the harsh reality of this controversial arrangement concocted by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Australian counterpart, Kevin Rudd. The burning question is how does PNG  resettle asylum seekers or rather the genuine ones?  Hopefully, O’Neill has the answer. Surely, one hopes, he has considered the issue and all his options before signing the Regional Resettlement Arrangement (RRA) with Rudd. There has been widespread criticism of the agreement, here and overseas, but the prime minister has revealed very little about his plans to implement the RRA so far. When it was announced on July 19, all O’Neill told a press conference in Brisbane was that Papua New Guinea fully supported this major initiative to combat the scourge of people smuggling. He admitted that it was not going to be easy, “but of course, Papua New Guinea is blessed with lots of land mass and