PNGBLOGS

PNGBLOGS Motu-Koitabu customary landowners around Port Moresby and Ahi landowners around Lae face new land grab threats if Peter O’Neill and his PNC party are re-elected this year. Customary land in the two cities is the choice target to be the home of new factories, offices and residential areas planned through his Small-Medium Enterprise Policy and Master Plan. In addition, Motu-Koitabu landowners face further threats from NCDC’s Poreporena-Napa Napa Local Development Plan, which was publicly revealed only after the election of the O’Neill Government in 2012. It had been kept secret by Governor Powes Parkop in the lead-up to the election. Parkop, O’Neill, his crooked lawyer friend Jimmy Maladina, their former partner in crime Ben Micah MP, and their political and business cronies, have been working on ways to profit from the redevelopment of Port Moresby. They have been doing so mainly through kickbacks from inflated contracts, secret partici

by PHILIP TEE Should we all join the Minister for Justice, Hon Ano Pala to welcome the establishment of an office in Port Moresby by the global legal firm, Norton Ross Fulbright?. The Minister in charge of Justice matters in the country did so. The firm which was founded in 1794 has about 58 branches around the world and PNG will now be added to the franchise. The firm’s turnover for 2014 alone was around US$ 1.815 billion. It is believed the firm’s Sydney Office had been very instrumental in opening the Port Moresby Office. Whilst the firm’s long standing reputation as a global franchise in the legal industry is unmatchable, the firms Sydney Office has a special connection with PNG, especially the Peter O’Neill Government. There is a Sydney Partner of the firm called Anthony Latimer who has a very special relationship with two known fraudsters, namely Jimmy Maladina and Peter O’Neill. He had been facilitating a number of “legal work” for Jimmy and O’Neill for a number of ye

by STEVEN ANDRE Renowned Economists monitoring our economy are telling us that the "free health" policy is costed at only K20 million a year.  Clearly, this is nowhere near the level that would be required to actually deliver a "free health" service of any quality in PNG.” The National Budgets of 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 do show us that the Free Health Services was allocated only K20 million in all those years. The highly-acclaimed Vision 2050 envisions that PNG will be a healthier nation by 2050. Are we heading there? Has Peter O’Neill’s Government worked towards that goal? The reality is that, all the health services in PNG have deteriorated since O’Neill got into power. There is acute shortage of medical supplies, both equipment and drugs. Kundiawa General Hospital and Daru General Hospital were among the few that hosted fundraising dinners in Port Moresby to raise much needed funds for their daily operations in 2016. Recently, Dr Jacob Yackopua, directo

by JOE NASANOL Mr Mahesh Patel's high level appointments to Govt positions, Chairman, Director and such of our country's largest scale, most complex SOE, prompts curiosity about his qualification suitability and caliber. A simple check on his Linkedin bio reveals little, but education cited as "Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Education" - what is this you ask, further inquiry reveals somewhere between a online course and a live in course with acceptance criteria being payment of a fee, and NO post nominal qualification of anything whatsoever on successful 'graduation',, not even a lowly MBA qualification. Additionally he boasts a "Diploma in Pharmacy - Central Institute of Technology New Zealand" - what is this one - it is a Certificate level course allowing individuals to be an assistant in pharmacy work, a store assistant or similar, presumably to get a trading business underway in Fiji importing 3rd grade pharmaceuticals fro

UN announcement highlights recent problems with the PNG Government's payment of bills Comes after state-owned electricity provider cut services to several government agencies over failure to pay bills Five other countries — Venezuela, Libya, Sudan, Cape Verde and Vanuatu — have also lost voting rights for non-payment Papua New Guinea has lost its vote in the United Nations General Assembly because it failed to pay its annual contributions. Papua New Guinea has lost its vote in the United Nations General Assembly because it failed to pay its annual contributions. PNG needs to pay the UN at least $180,000 to regain voting rights. It is one of six countries whose voting rights have been suspended for non-payment — the others being Venezuela, Libya, Sudan, Cape Verde and Vanuatu. The UN's announcement highlights recent problems with the PNG Government's payment of bills. It comes after the state-owned electricity provider, PNG Power, cut services to the country's n

by PNGBLOGS STAFF WRITERS   It seems ICCC is in bed with Telikom’s Chairman Mahesh Patel on the so called merger of Telikom, Bmobile and DataCo issue. A number of key points for the public to note here: Telikom Board’s term of office has expired. As such, Telikom effectively has no Board to act on its behalf at the moment until a new Board is sworn in. How can Mahesh Patel claim to be speaking on behalf of the Board when insider information has it that there has never been a Board Meeting convened for this purpose? He therefore is acting alone, and for whose interest? Clearly, if you link the dots together, it would be in the interest of the team: The Prime Minister Peter O’Neill , Mahesh Patel himself, John Mangos and Michael Donnelly , the ousted CEO of Telikom PNG. This article has it that Mahesh, the Chairman of Telikom PNG went into discussions with ICCC boss, Mr. Paulus Ain. How can he, Mahesh, discuss the merger while acting as the Chairman of another

by MICHAEL PASSINGAN The Government’s Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari who heads the Country's Public Service machinery has once again come under the spot light of corrupt activities. Lupari who not long ago was identified to be at the center of the K3.7 million fraud by the Finance Department Commission of Inquiry. (but was never prosecuted). This time Lupari has been seen to be using the office of the Prime Minister and his position as the Chief Secretary to steal. On December 2015 Chief Secretary  Isaac Lupari advised the Prime Minister's Department by writing that the Prime Minister approved K1 million from the PM's Commitment Funds for the Ipatas Foundation Inc in which he is the Executive Chairman. The Ipatas Foundation Inc is a non-profit organisation established by the Enga Provincial Government. The foundation is registered and certified under the Association Incorporation Act of PNG and is run by a board who are appointed by the Enga Provincial Executive C

by STEVEN ROLLAND As the country is fast sinking into debt and economic ruin, we are seeking answers. We know Prime Minister Peter O'Neill is a failed businessman, having failed in three (3) businesses he started before joining politics. His true success in business came when he put his hands into the public coffers. The rest is history. We cannot expect miracles from him. He is like an inexperienced mechanic who enjoys stripping all the parts of a vehicle in the pretext of fixing it but really does not know how to fix it. It will be moments when he will disappear without fixing the mess he created. Behind O'Neill's shonky economic management were a number of spivvy characters. One that PM O'Neill relied most was Dr Jacob Weiss, who provided most of the advise on structuring and procuring more loans. Jacob Weiss would attend Government Caucus meetings and mislead all the clown/naïve Members of Parliament that it was okay to borrow excessive from overseas and domes

by STAFF WRITERS 1.  PIH is a business entity whose primary goal is to make money. No money, No treatment. 2.  PIH does not care about your health. 3.  PIH recruits a few good doctors only to boost its public relations image, just like any business. 4.  PIH  thrives on the health misfortunes of Papua New Guineans to a large extent. 5.  PIH is just part of  network of corruption that extends to government agencies and companies. Pacific International Hospital (PIH) was registered under suspicious circumstances. When the issue of registration came up with the Medical Board of PNG (chairman late Dr Pangatana), there were many issues the PIH had to fulfil before a licence was granted to operate as a hospital. The Health Minister at the time used his ministerial power to order the Medical Board of PNG to grant the licence. It was common knowledge at the time that the particular minister a “very close” friend of the principal owner of PIH. The ownership issue of PIH has to b