PNGBLOGS

By BRYAN KRAMER Part 2 - STATE VS FRANCIS POTAPE (extracts from National Court Judgement) Francis Potape is the Member for the Komo Magarima Open Electorate in the Hela Province. He is a second term member, first elected at 2007 National Elections and re-elected again in 2012. By virtue of being the Member of Komo Magarima Open Electorate he is also appointed Chairman of the Electorate Joint District Planning and Budget Priority Committee (JDP Committee). This is in accordance section 33A of the Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Government. In contrast a Regional member who automatically assumes the Provincial Governor's position also chairs Joint Provincial Planning and Budget Priorities Committee. Every Electorate (Open Seat) JDP Committee consists of the Member of the Parliament representing the open electorate who is the Chairman of the Committee; Presidents of Local-level Governments (LLG) in the District; and any three other members appointed by the Member of the

An Essay By GABRIEL RAMOI Is Prime Minister Oneil , Treasurer Pruaitch & Minister Micah as leaders of the three biggest coalition partners in Government today capable of utilising the wealth generated from our extractive industries to provide cheap power, water & durable shelter for all our people on the scale achieved in Iraq and Libya before their destruction. [in what is now judged as the most serious blunder by the United States and Britain in the middle east] Is this Government capable of building new post independence national water and power projects on the scale achieved in Ghana on the Volta River under Dr.Nkrumah and on the Aswan on the Nile under Nasser of Egypt or in the magnitude of the three Gorge dam Project in China on the Yangzi River under the direction of Mao Tse Tung, all directed at lifting their people out of Poverty by providing affordable power and water to their growing cities & populations . Will this Government be able to harness the Power of

    24 January, 2015 An Open Letter to His Excellency Mr. Peter O’Neil, Prime Minster of Papua New Guinea Dear Prime Minster, I am a friend of Papua New Guinea (PNG). As a friend, I have full respect to the people and the state of PNG. However the news that is coming out of Manus is very disturbing and frustrating. I writing this open letter to your Excellency because I am concerned about the negative effect of such political development could have on the image of PNG globally. Dear Sir, I am writing this letter to protest against the way the asylum seekers are treated and held in the detention camps of Manus province. They are inhumanly treated and traumatized. Your government is punishing these innocent refuges for the crime which they did not commit. The condition in which these asylum seekers are held is miserable. Dear Sir The asylum seekers were apprehended on the soils and waters of Australia and they sought protection in Australia. Therefore, the issue of these a

By BRYAN KRAMER It seems many are still confused about the background, facts and the legal issues surrounding the above three cases. For the benefit of the readers I have provided an insight and analysis covering the three cases their distinct differences as well as their commonalties. Part 1: STATE VS PAUL TIENSTEN Background facts: Paul Tiensten former Member for Pomino Open Electorate East New Britain Province and former Minister of National Planning was also a member of the kitchen cabinet in Somare Government and heavy weight in National Alliance Party. In November 2011 he was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud by conspiring with Eremas Wartoto, William Sent and Ruby Zarriga in 2011 to defraud the Independent State of Papua New Guinea by fraudulently causing it to pay K10 million to Travel Air. He was also charged with one count of dishonestly applying (misappropriation) to the use of Travel Air K10 million the property of the State. .

PNG NEWS PAGE Crowds build up outside the NASFUND Lae Office as early as 6am every morning. By 8am there are 200 people outside and by 9am when the Office opens, there are 400 people trying to rush into the office to be served. Lot of tussles and arguments go on in this daily occurrence. Two people interviewed on video (today, 20.01.15) said they were following up for 2 years and 3 years respectively. One came to try his luck in the queue last week arriving at the NASFUND Office before 6am. It took him to be in line till 3pm, he wasn’t served and the office closed. He came back today and said to try his luck again. The second person said the queue and crowd of people defeated him psychologically so he gave up and will not join the queue. He goes around to the NASFUND Lae Office a couple of times hoping he’ll be in front of the queue because there’s no point being in the middle as you will still be in queue when the office gets closed at 3pms. NASFUND MEMBER LOSES ALL OF HIS

 By JOHN PASSINGAN The rich and greedy, not the poor and needy, are benefitting from the Prime Minister’s latest corrupt financial deal. He is giving a K415 million dividend from the National Petroleum Company direct to his pet MPs through the DSIP slush fund. Mr O’Neill’s personal bag man, Finance Secretary Ken Ngangan, made this known on Friday. The DSIP slush fund is used by the Prime Minister to buy support from politicians, who in turn steal it to buy alcohol, prostitutes, luxury cars and high-priced real estate (often overseas), stay in expensive hotels, bribe public officials and corporate sector executives. They grow fat and greasy while their constituents - who are the ones who should benefit from this money -  live in poverty and hardship. Dr Ngangan also stated that the Government has been facing “revenue shortfalls” while the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, Mr Marape, have said there is no revenue shortfall. So who is lying? Mr Ngangan said the “revenue short

By  BRYAN KRAMER On 8th January 2015, the National Court (NC) Judge Justice Cannings granted interim injunction (temporary stop order) preventing the Public Prosecutor (PP) and Leadership Tribunal (LT) from convening on 26th January 2015 to inquire into allegations of misconduct against the Prime Minister. The request to stay (stop) the LT was made by the PM's lawyers on the grounds that PP exceeded his Constitutional powers in the manner in which he referred the PM to the LT. They argued the LT should be stayed until the Supreme Court (SC) first determines (answers) the Constitutional questions whether PP exceeded his Constitutional powers in the manner or procedure in which he referred the PM to face the LT. The Court upheld the PM's request to stay the LT and it remains in effect until the Supreme Court (SC) interprets a number of Constitutional questions to assist the National Court to determine whether the PM is correct or not. I'm sure many are asking the que

By JOHN PASSINGAN Another purpose of the O’Neill-Micah declaration of a State of Emergency in the power sector is to gift-wrap PNG Power Limited for LR Group of Israel, which was secretly behind the Prime Minister’s illegal financial transaction to buy two diesel-powered generators for PPL. The K104 million transaction is the straw that broke the camel’s back for PPL, and sent it into bankruptcy.  PPL, like all other SOEs, has been destroyed by the Prime Minister’s cronies and puppets on the boards and management of IPBC and the other State Institutions. They have ripped so much money out of SOEs that not only can they not deliver services, they are now barely able to operate at all. PPL is a case in point, and the fact that the state of emergency is another smokescreen to hide the Prime Minister’s hands is evidenced by the fact that unpaid power bills - especially by other State Owned Enterprises -  can be recovered through other means. For example, they can be recovered, as in the

By JOHN PASSINGAN   PPL has been bankrupt for years,  often having to borrow to keep its operations going. The only difference now is that the Minister responsible, Ben Micah, and his conman boss the Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, have ripped so much money out of it that it is now impossible to rescue. No, there are two reasons for the O’Neill-Micah emergency action. The first is to get the police and the army out in force before, during and after the Leadership Tribunal to ensure that no matter what the finding, the Prime Minister remains Prime Minister. It is well known in political circles that O’Neill has taken legal advice on various options for declaring a State of Emergency, and possibly issuing a Defence Force Call-Out, and there is no doubt that this most evil of Prime Ministers will do anything to keep hold of the reins of power. There is no reason at all to take emergency action to collect Government debts to SOEs. The most effective method -

By MARTIN NAMORONG  NAMORONG REPORT As the Roman empire declined, the ruling elite in ancient Rome held more and more spectacular events to try to distract the masses and stem the inevitable fall of Rome. History has relegated that once mighty empire that ruled for centuries into a museum artefact. 2015 is indeed the year of one of the greatest gladiatorial events in PNG – the South Pacific Games. The Games come at a time when the ruling elite realize they squandered the gains from the oil, mining and LNG boom. Following over a decade of unprecedented economic growth, our national debt stands between K14 billion and K17 billion depending on whom you want to believe. One may ask, what happened to all the gains of economic growth? It is important for young Papua New Guineans who are aspirational about getting that dream job and buying a house and car - that such a dream job remains a dream. The reason for this is that the fruits of economic prosperity have been sucked up by a