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O’Neill’s Economic recklessness Affecting Students

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by STEVEN ANDRE   CALL TO STUDENT PROTESTS As the country is plagued by the consequences of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s economic mismanagement and corruption, it has now reverberated to places that no developing country would dream of –the education sector. NO MONEY FOR TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS To start with, the Government does not have the money to drive the commencement of this academic year. As was revealed by the Office of Higher Education recently, the Higher education needs K45 million to kick-start the schooling year and there appears to be no indication on the availability of those funds. Given the shortage of cash and the competing interests, the last thing O’Neill would want is for the students to take it to the streets in protests. UNEXPECTED INCREASE IN GPA The increase in GPA benchmark for scholarships was never communicated to the students last year so as to incentivize the students to worker harder to pass it. The students had a legitimate expe

Court House SAGA: Tender Evaluation Committee recommended Fletcher Morobe, worms in CSTB recommended Foreign Company for Kickbacks

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by MARK SAULEP A lot has been circulated about the Waigani Court Complex project and we need some straight talk here. Only last month, the Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Leo Dion came out publicly concerning the corruption issues surrounding the Provincial Supply & Tenders Board (PSTB) in the provinces. From social media, we are being advised that he will now chair NEC to award the Waigani National Court project to a contractor recommended by the Central Supply & Tenders Board (CSTB). A lot have been said in the News media and the social media with regard to the Waigani National Court Complex tender. The allegations of political interference was also circulated in the social media showing the letter from the Chief Justice to Min. Ano Pala and a copy of part of Tender Evaluation Committee Report (TEC). The tender for the Waigani NCC court is a public tender put out by CSTB and there was public opening. Tenders were in two parts, technical submission and financi

NEW TWIST IN THE AWARDING OF CONTRACT OF NEW COURT HOUSE - PM's LADY NII DOING EVERYTHING IN HER POWER!

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by NANCY GORO   The awarding of contract of the construction of the new Supreme and National Court Complex in Waigani worth K430 million that was being heavily politicised has taken another twist.  The twist now sees the Prime Minister getting directly involved. The National Executive Council (NEC) is set to meet this week and one agenda will be the awarding of contract for the construction of the new Court House complex Waigani.   The Prime Minister is said to be traveling out of the country when NEC meets. He has appointed Deputy Prime Minister Leo Dion to chair NEC.  This sly tactic by PM is totally uncalled for and is seen to be corrupt practice and tactic. Prime Minister before travelling out has has directed his PNC Party members to support the awarding of the contract to L&A Construction a company.  L&A Construction is closely linked and associated with the PNC Party and Prime Minister O'Neil. Although L&A Constructions bid was out of the budget,

PM REFUSING TO FUND TB FIGHT WHILE WASTING MONEY ON SHOWPIECE EVENTS

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by PAUL REINBARA Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Health Minister Michael Malabag are allowing Papua New Guineans to die because of their refusal to fund the national fight against tuberculosis. A secret letter from O’Neill to Malabag shows that the Prime Minister would rather spend money on wasteful showpieces and events than preventing TB and saving lives. Cabinet approved urgent tuberculosis spending of K20 million more than six months ago, but the Prime Minister is refusing to release the funds. Instead, he has directed Malabag to commit K8 million of existing funds. But this is only for Daru in Western Province – and TB experts say it is nowhere near enough to tackle the TB crisis there. Many more Western Province people will die because of  the refusal of O’Neill and Malabag to approve new funds for the nationwide TB campaign. There is also a TB crisis in NCD and Gulf and Central Provinces. But O’Neill and Malabag have decided that people there can die, too.

The Bastardization of the Frieda Project by Pan Aust Ltd

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The  Bastardization of the Frieda Project by Pan Aust Ltd- US$50million  Settlement Over Due -Since Nov-2015-Up Date on the Frieda Project – February 2016  On the  30 th of August  2013 a deed of settlement was entered into between Pan Aust Ltd and Xstrata-Glencore Mining  for the sale of EL 56   covering the Nena -Frieda Deposit. On the signing of the Deed ,  US$25m  exchanged hands between the two  with US$50m now Due and outstanding since November 2015.. The payment of the additional US$50m rides on the back of Pan Aust obtaining approval from  the PNG Government to proceed with its Bastardized Version of the original Mine Development Concept first proposed by Xstrata Mining   to the  PNG Government in 2012. In 2012  Xstrata Mining Ltd proposed to  develop the world class Frieda Mine with a Capital Expenditure Budget of US$5.4 Billion which consist of the plan to develop a fully integrated open cut copper  mine with a potential life  of 40 years with a 68 MW Hydro Power Plant

PRIME MINISTER'S LAWYER ISSUES THREAT TO SUE ME FOR DEFAMATION

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by BRYAN KRAMER I received a report that the Prime Minister’s Lawyer Ms Tiffany Twivey has issued a threat to sue myself and the Administrators of PNG News over the publication of my last article headlined: So PM's Lawyer Claims Fraud Squad are Rogue Cops; Politically Motivated? Ms Twivey emailed the administrators of PNG News, claiming my article was just a ridiculous lie about her and extremely defamatory. She also went further to state she is going to sue me and every single admin on PNG News for defamation and also complain to the police for us to be charged criminally for defamation and harassment unless we remove all lies and defamatory statements about her. To support her claims Ms Twivey noted three main grounds: 1) She said nothing, posted nothing in no media medium. She hasn't even issued anything, she is not even on Facebook any more. 2) That I said Mr Hamou should get a more reputable and competent lawyer to replace her. 3) That I said that s

SO PM'S LAWYER CLAIMS FRAUD SQUAD ARE ROGUE COPS - POLITICALLY MOTIVATED?

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by BRYAN KRAMER Prime Minister Peter O'Neill’s infamous lawyer Ms Tiffany Twivey and for-hire political publicist Ms Merrell claim the recent arrest of Deputy Secretary of Treasury Mr. Aloysius Hamou was carried out by rogue cops though intimation and based on political motives. Director of National Fraud & Anti-corruption Directorate Mathew Damaru and his Deputy Timothy Gitua laid formal charges against Mr. Hamou on Thursday 28th January 2016 under Section 92(1) of the Criminal Code (Abuse of Office). He was charged for his alleged part in the illegal procurement (purchase) of two turbine generators for K50 million paid to Israeli company LR Group by the Department of Treasury. I broke the story on social media on Friday afternoon (29/1/16). An immediate response was issued from Ms Merrell and Ms Twivey. This was expected on account that their client, Peter O'Neill, is heavily implicated in the unlawful transaction. Ms Merrell posted a rather conv

POLITICAL STABILITY -V- ECONOMIC STABILITY

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by SAM KOIM Is Political stability the main driver of investor confidence? I have been led, and I believe many are, to believe that political stability is needed to give investor confidence and growing the economy. This misconception of synonymising political stability to economic stability has it’s seldom appearances in public grandstanding and political discourses. This is what I've discovered in debunking this illusion. Political stability talks about the length of time a government is in power. In terms of investor confidence, it means the investors can count on the current (negotiating) government for durability and certainty of the current position. Yes, in countries and time periods with a high propensity of government collapse (political instability), growth is significantly lower than otherwise but is it really political instability that really caused decline in growth? Economists may articulate it more clearly than I, but I gather that economic s

FRAUD CHARGE DEPUTY SECRETARY OF TREASURY OVER LR GENERATORS.

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by BRYAN KRAMER Deputy Secretary of Treasury Mr. Aloysius Hamou was formally charged by Fraud Squad yesterday (28/1/16) for allegedly approving and facilitating the unlawful procurement of K50 million to purchase two turbine generators. The funds were drawn from the Department of Treasury back in December 2013 at the direction of Secretary of Treasury, Dairi Vele acting on the instructions of Prime Minister Peter O'Neill. Hamou w as charged under Section 91(1)(b) of Criminal Code, (False Claims by Officials). The provision states that a person employed in the Public Service who makes a return or statement touching any such matter that is, to his knowledge, false in any material particular, is guilty of a misdemeanour. Penalty: Imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years. Current Secretary of Treasury Dairi Vele is also facing criminal charges in relation to the same matter after the District Court issued a warrant for his arrest in July 2015. To-date V