PNGBLOGS

by ALOIS JEREWAI The Prime Minister's announcement to end all engagements of foreign advisers came on the back of the announcement to remove all firearms from our police and correctional forces while it is left to us to guess over PNDGF. All of these dramatic announcements were made in the wake of the mounting allegations of massive fraudulent squandering of public funds no longer limited to the matter of Paul Paraka Lawyers and K71.8 Million. The thwarted arrest of Dairi Vele ( Treasury Secretary) in relation to the purchase of power generators from LR Group links to the PM's directives to Dairi Vele hence is a worry for the PM! The conviction of Jimmy Maladina over the NPF saga on allegations of receiving bribes through inflated / variation in the construction contract is worry for the PM as he is connected also! The PM right now is like a wild pig chased by the hunting party and backed into a tree's sloping trough where it will make its last stand and therefo

by PAUL FLANAGAN   The PNG Government released its Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook ( MYEFO ) on Monday – the update on the 2015 budget. The estimated budget deficit for 2015 blows out from an already high budgeted 4.4% of GDP to 9.4%. This would be the highest in PNG’s history. Public debt levels are expected to skyrocket from the earlier estimate of 27.8% of GDP to 41.3%. In Australia, such a rapid change in the estimated fiscal position would go well beyond being termed “a budget crisis”. PNG’s official figures are much worse than at the time of PNG’s last economic crisis at the end of the 1990s (see graph below). PNG expenditure and revenues as a share of GDP – with updated figures from 2015 MYEFO Note: The gap between the lines indicates the size of the government deficit or surplus. Both lines exclude grants (aid). The drivers for the rapid deterioration in PNG’s fiscal situation are the fall in international commodity prices, a growth slow down as well

by JACK G WAUGLE Peter O'Neill and his out of control government have been running what has been a functional dictatorship.  There is no opposition and nearly all the MPs we elected proved to be docile puppets who spoke not a word of protest or concern, so focused were they on getting their DSIP and other development monies from the PM which in turn, was what they reckoned was their key to getting re-elected.  Hardly ever did nationalism come first or concern for PNG.  There were warnings after warnings about the out of control, loan fuelled infrastructure building for the Pacific games especially, a gigantic waste of money that all has to be paid back with interest.  Made all the more wasteful because of the built in kickbacks to Tom, Dick, Harry, and oftentimes the Chinese themselves.  So many people on the social media just didn't get it.  Maybe the warnings of pending doom all looked like a dreamland, but again and again the evidence was presented: 

Australia's nearest neighbour could be on the brink of a Greek-style fiscal crisis following one of the most spectacular budget blow-outs in regional history. The projected budget deficit in Papua New Guinea's has been revised up, hitting 9.4 per cent, which is more than double last year's deficit and getting close to the 12.3 per cent figure which helped tip Greece into meltdown last year. The commodities price downturn, worsened by poor oversight of the nation's mining industry, has been brutal to Papua New Guinea's budget. Photo: Jon Reid The budget implosion will come as a shock to leaders in PNG and also Australia, who have consistently played down the impact of corruption and sliding commodity prices. In December the top adviser to PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill accused a former Australian Treasury officer, Paul Flanaga

by SUSAN LOKUN The owner of RD Tuna company pretends to be a Christian as does the general manager. However the true feeling they have for the factory workers and for PNG in general is contempt. Look up that word if you don't understand the meeting of CONTEMPT. This is why RD Tuna parent company regularly dumps rubbish tuna onto the shores of PNG. The tuna from certain Dolores and Dolly types of tuna is fit for animal consumption only. However RD makes more money not by selling it as animal food in Australia. Instead they ship it to PNG from Philippines to sell as people food. Having known 2 people who have worked at RD tuna a few years back and heard stories about the way they treat their workers, I stopped thinking favourably of them and don't buy their products. I originally supported them because of the jobs I thought they would bring. I thought no further than jobs and that was my failure. In general you must understand that this company only does public

by SUSAN LOKUN It is amazing how our country could sell a resource that people around the world want and sometimes pay very good money for, then buy back the absolute garbage leftovers that the rest of the world doesn't want. We have some of the last remaining large resources of yellowfin tuna in the whole world.   It is one of our most precious resource.   RD Tuna was the first cannery built in PNG to supposedly develop PNG's tuna resource.   RD Tuna has always been a scam enterprise.     RD Tuna owner Rodrigo E. Rivera and his family who owns a heap of tuna canneries in General Santos and Cebu in the Philippines.   The RD group of companies began in 1976 as a pawnshop in General Santos City. Rivera owns a large fleet of tuna fishing boats named after his wife Dolly.   Those fishing boats go out all over the South Pacific, including PNG waters.   Very few of them dump their catch at the RD tuna cannery in Madang.  Most head straight for Philippines.   

by JOSEPH KAWAGE So a warrant for the arrest of Treasury Secretary Daire Vele has been issued and is to be enforced. Not before time. As Treasury Secretary he has been running a number of illegal operations for the Prime Minister, the two biggest ones being the illegal UBS loan and the illegal purchase of two mobile power generators. Police want to arrest him on charges of official corruption, misappropriation and fraud. The basis of the charges is documents provided to the police, the Attorney-General, the Ombudsman Commission and Task force Sweep by a whistleblower at PNG Power Ltd, and these documents show that a very serious and widespread fraud conspiracy took place at the highest levels of Government, business and State-Owned Enterprises. Most of these facts were detailed In Parliament in early 2014 by the then Opposition Leader, Belden Namah. Responses were supplied by the Prime Minister himself, and his office, in a number of statements. All of the PM’s official state