PNGBLOGS

by JOHN ENDEMONGO KUA What is your opinion on this man who had the audacity to tell the residents , of the city of Port Moresby that he had a million ideas , to improve the city, the nation and perhaps the whole world of his ingenious ways. Lo and behold - even the heavens would open up to receive such a saintly character as as it is proclaimed, that the streets of heaven are only paved in only one colour, which off course is gold. Well, after ten ( 10 ) solid year's in office as a lawmaker , he had become a turn coat from a human rights lawyer and anti- corruption campaigner to being an accomplished Yoga Master, neglecting, deflecting or abandoning his primary duties as a parliamentarian. After distancing himself from Melanesian Solidarity ( MELSOL) a non government organization which he founded to fight social and economic injustice, he had opted to join the pin stripe club of the bourgeois, with his new found power to control the supply of money and jobs. He craft

by TREASURY INSIDER The State Solicitor performs a key role in the country. One of those functions is to clear State contracts for payment etc. The Attorney General can outsource some of the functions of the State Solicitor, such as providing advice on State negotiations etc but not the function of clearing contracts for payment by Finance and Treasury Department.  There is a good reason for it –for check and balances. When the State Solicitor clears the contractual debt, it legitimizes the transaction on behalf of the State hence an entity other than the State Solicitor cannot legitimately replace that function. Sources within the Department of Treasury have advised that the controversial law firm –Twivey Lawyers – had been contracted by the sleazy Attorney General to usurp the powers of the State Solicitor and perform the non-delegable function of clearing contracts before Department of Treasury could pay. The request to engage the services of Twivey Lawyers came from none

PNGBLOGS In news just received from the Court House, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill's legal warrior, Tiffany Twivey herself got committed today by the District Court to stand trial in the National Court. Mr Twivey who employed all manner of legal techniques to protect and prevent the arrest of her high profile clients including Peter O'Neill and Daire Vele had got herself entangled in the justice drag-net. Ms Twivey was charged with perverting the course of justice last year and today, the District Court found that she has a case to answer. This case relates to her trying to save her boy-friend Daire Vele. Details will be out soon. (Source: Court House Waigani)

by BRUCE HORRY Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s latest display of incompetence to abandon the much talked about Commission of Inquiry (CoI) and instead appoint an internal administrative inquiry into the controversial Manumanu Land deal comes with little surprise for a number of reasons. Firstly, as the Prime Minister, you should have been briefed prior to the announcement on which effective inquisitive avenues are to be invoked to attain maximum justice, if ever he was so interested in justice. Making a grand announcement for a CoI and later abandoning it raises so much suspicion. One that comes to mind is the fact that in an open commission of Inquiry, all persons would be compelled to testify openly. Information circulating within the corridors of power is that if they appoint a credible Commissioner for the CoI, it would unravel the different players in this deal and would inescapably incriminate Peter O’Neill himself. This to me proves to be a compelling reason for the abor

by    GARY TEMO If you want to see the direction of the country, look no further than the Department of Works under the leadership of the Minister for Works, Francis Awesa MP, his Secretary David Were and Mr. John Kaiyo, the person responsible for all Aid monies coming into PNG directed towards the Department of Works. In a series of articles aims at exposing the corruption inside the Department of Works, we will be exposing three of the key people involved with the Works Department, The Minister responsible, the Department Secretary and the person responsible for all Aid Monies coming into the Department, these three have been identified to be involved in monies being diverted to areas outside the intended. Recent news and events about the collapse of the Highlands Highway has compelled us to look further into the government department responsible. Via cronyism, the Minister his secretary and key people inside the department are still at it, giving contracts to fake/paper compani

by BRYAN KRAMER PNG has recently made the headlines across the globe for being in a financial debt crisis and struggling to pay its debts. It is no secret the O'Neill Government has a cash-flow crisis and only managing to keep its head above water by not paying its bills. What little tax income it earns each month is being used to ensure public servants are paid every fortnight and any difference is directed to propping up the failed free education policy. Meanwhile Peter O'Neill claims the country's financial crisis has been caused by dramatic fall in world commodity prices placing a strain on economies around the world. So is Peter O'Neill telling the truth? Short answer is No. PNG Government funds its operations, development projects and services its debt obligations through the collection of taxes and overseas grants (donor funding). Tax collection or revenue is categorized into three main parts. 1) Tax on Income and Profits (company, wages tax etc)

PNG COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS UNION PNG Communication Workers Union with its members, staff and management of TPNG call for Hon. Prime Minister – Peter O’Neil to immediately terminate and revoke the appointment of Mr Mahesh Patel as Chairman of Kumul Telikom Board, on these following reasons: 1.   Mahesh Patel, ‘in his term as Chairman of Telikom PNG Limited in 2013, told lies to Union Executives that under his term as Chairman, that there won’t be any mass retrenchment taking place in TPNG, similar to what happen to 500 employees who were retrenched under VES-Voluntary Exist Scheme in 2012. After one year, seven months; he introduced ‘SPILL & FILL’ in TPNG, which resulted in some 300 plus employees who were forced retrenched’. This was a minuted meeting at Chairman’s office on third floor of Telikom Rumana. 2.   Mahesh Patel, ‘in his term as Chairman of Telikom PNG, period 2012 to 2016 ran down TPNG, the company did not declare any substantial dividend profit and faili

by GEORGE SMITH There is a particular group named Toale Hongiri, a sub clan of the Imawe Bogasi group, who have been abusing the government Printery in attempt to revoke several gazettals and ministerial determination over the past few months. They have being using the government printer as a private printer to demonstrate their cowardly act, thinking the public and institution may not go notice. They are the same group of people who have come out in the media (Post Courier) several times making baseless accusations on the principal landowners of Gobe Project. They have even gone to the extreme with the intent of bribing a state Minister but was out rightly refused a dozen times. And their final act on this, their sins have caught up with them. First and foremost, a ministerial determination was made by the DPE Minister- Nixon Duban recognising Wolutou ILG as the principal landowners of Gobe Petroleum Project PDL 3 through Gazettal NG. 25 of 2017 on Jan 19th 2017. A minimum of

by PAUL FLANAGAN This is the third and final posting on PNG’s 2016 IMF Article IV report.  The two previous posts have focused on PNG’s growth rate being much lower than claimed by the O’Neill government and PNG’s weak external position. The focus of this blog is on fiscal and monetary policy. The IMF report estimates the 2016 budget deficit will be K628 million greater than estimated by the government (so reaching 4.4% of GDP), and this feeds into greater debt levels. Government debt at the end of 2016 is estimated to be K967.3 million greater than stated by the government (and this does not include build-ups in off-budget debt such as the K3 billion in borrowings for Oil Search shares). While commending the government for its actions in the 2016 Supplementary Budget and “prudent” 2017 budget, there are concerns about where expenditure cuts have been made, the lack of effort on raising revenues (in particular from the resource sector), and the need to improv