PNGBLOGS

Why Ben Micah MP must never allow him to be a member of Parliament again. BY COLIN FILER EMIRAU In December 2006, a SABL over an area of 3384 hectares (Portions 53C–58C) on the island of Emirau in the Murat LLG area was granted to a company called Emirau Trust Ltd (ETL) for a period of 99 years (whose shares were owned by Ben Micahs half sister). The six land portions included in this lease appear to cover the whole of the island, and the state is said to have acquired these land portions from 29 incorporated land groups in January 2005 (The National, 9 September 2008). The island is approximately 130 kilometres north-west of Kavieng, the provincial capital (see Map 1). In May 2005, one of the islanders wrote a letter to one of PNG’s national newspapers expressing concern that the SABL had not yet been granted in April of that year (The National, 9 May 2005). According to this correspondent, ETL was the brainchild of the island’s most well-known political leader, Ben Micah, f

By BRYAN KRAMER Supreme Court (SC) on 26th March 2015 upheld an application filed by National Fraud & Anti-corruption Director Mathew Damaru and his Deputy Timothy Gitua granting them leave (permission) to join the Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and Finance Minister James Marape's Supreme Court appeal staying (stopping) their arrest. Damaru and Gitua were added as sixth and seventh Respondents (parties who are given the right to appear and respond in the proceedings). Marape is named as "Appellant" principle person who filed the SC appeal against an earlier National Court ruling dismissing his case seeking an order of taxation of Paraka bills as well as Prime Minister's application seeking to interim stay preventing police from effecting their arrest. Five other Respondents (parties) in the Supreme Court proceedings include Prime Minister followed by Attorney General, Ano Pala, Paraka Lawyers, PNG Royal Constabulary (Police) and the State

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has taken the top prize in the Pepsi ICC Development Programme Annual Awards 2014, claiming the Best Overall Cricket Development Programme award. PNG had a tremendous 2014, with its senior men’s team achieving One-Day International (ODI) status, while the PNG Women’s side qualified for its first ever ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier. This on-field success has, however, been underpinned by a highly successful domestic development programme that has resulted in significant participation growth over the past decade.  There are now close to 200,000 cricket participants in PNG.  Keith Dennis, former chairman of Jersey Cricket Board, was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement award thanks to his efforts in developing cricket in Jersey dating back to the 1950’s. Mr Dennis sadly passed away during 2014 whilst supporting Jersey in its successful ICC World Cricket League Division 5 campaign. The Spirit of Cricket Award was given to Thailand to acknowledge its work

A Canada-based gold mining company is paying compensation to a group of tribal women and girls who allege they were assaulted and raped by police and security guards at the company’s mine in Papua New Guinea. The 11 women, who were aged between 14 and in their 80s when the alleged crimes took place, are among 137 local Enga women and girls who had previously been compensated by Barrick Gold Corporation, after allegations of sexual violence, including gang rape and imprisonment, by armed security guards and police officers at the Porgera mine. Most of the 137 women accepted the company’s offer of a compensation package under a “remedy framework” set up by Barrick as an alternative to the local judicial system, after a Human Rights Watch report in 2011 identified a pattern of extreme sexual violence by security personnel at the mine. But 11 of the women initially refused and argued that the compensation – on average 23,630 kina, which amounts to $8,743 – was not adequate to remedy th