PNGBLOGS

by James MAKOP People have instincts or premonitions about events or people which, in many cases, have occurred in the future. In my case, a few events have unfolded over the years which convinced me that one shouldn’t underestimate such gut feelings. In 1989 as a brand new copilot on Air Niugini Fokker-28 aeroplane, I flew with an expatriate captain during the last days of scheduled service to war-torn Bougainville. It was the first time we fl ew together. It was also the last time.  The experience left me troubled. When we returned to base in Moresby, I spoke to the head of flight crew scheduling. I told him never to roster me for flights with the said captain again. I said that day the captain was going to kill someone one day unless he left flying and did something else in life. Some 20+years later he was the captain of the Airlines PNG Dash-8 aircraft which crashed in Madang, killing the majority of passengers onboard. To my recollection, the aircraft was perfectly serv

by SEVA MAURI Advertisement of the Chief Fire Officer closed on Friday 14th of June 2018. A good majority of qualified professionals have applied and we wish them good luck. This is to expose the Devil and his Dark Angels within Fire Service which the Depts. of PLLGA, DPM & Ombudsman Commission have failed to address reported allegations of misappropriation and corruption since March 2018. Acting Chief Fire Officer Bill Roo since November 2016 has defied then DPM Secretary John Kali's Instructions to advertise the Chief Fire Officer Position and no disciplinary action was taken on him. Since then, he has ceased the opportunity to steal, employ relatives, friends, promote relatives, friends, terminate firefighters, engage in business partnerships with whom he has interest in. 1.  While acting in Chief Fire Officer Position, Mr Bill Roo has been receiving HDA and EXL4 salary, which is facilitated by Fire Service acting HR Manager Gilbert Hickie & DPM's Gilb

by BRYAN KRAMER MP Using the power and influence of the people we need to fight corruption by not buying both the National and Post Courier that in my view promote corruption by publishing fake Govt news and ignoring articles on high-level corruption. Fake news that is intended to mislead the public of the real state of the economy and failures of a corrupt O'Neill Government. In a press statement by Minister of Communications Sam Basil, he confirms that journalists and media organisations are being paid by public money. After taking office I also confirmed, a reporter with the National Ms Dorothy Mark received payments from Madang DSIP funds. In 2016 she was paid K3,000 for media supplements and another K890 for financial assistance. In November 2016, I questioned her reporting for being biased and asked the question if she was on the former Member's payroll. She took offence to my question claiming she has never received a single toea. When I re

by BEN NEGINTS Joseph Goebbels was a contemporary of Adolf Hitler and a very smart media personality Hitler used during the Nazi's Reign of Terror.  He was the Minister for Communications and Propaganda and his job was to brainwash the ignorant German population on anti-Semitic views, the superiority of the White and the Nazi race  and many other lies. Through his persistent lies and propaganda, the Jews were nearly exterminated from the face of the earth. Through his persistent lies and propaganda millions of soldiers lost their lives during the WW1. Only God knows the damages done to human lives and properties  as a result of one cunning persistent liar spreading false  news and propaganda. Behind this backdrop of history,  I am saddened to see  a Joseph Goebbels look alike in  Sonja Barry Ramoi who without any shame persistently spreading O'Neill's lies and propaganda  through both Social and Main Stream medias on a daily basis. To be honest,  every time I see a Pres

by RODERICK KANAMA Those of you who condemned the actions of the people of Southern Highlands in Mendi should have been more scared about the judiciary being compromised The demarcation in authority and separation of powers between the three (3) arms of Government – the Judiciary, Legislature and the Executive is there to protect against apprehension of bias which may emanate from just the Government acting alone. Unfortunately, this separation of powers has been breached. Breached in that for the first time in the history of democracy as we know it, ordinary citizens can deduce quite correctly that there is an apprehension of bias in the ruling by the Court. This is quite evident with the recent burning of the Air Niugini aircraft and the Court House in Mendi, Southern Highlands Province. In any democracy, a vibrant, exceptionally strong and independent judiciary and legal system, free of any influences, corruptible or otherwise, sworn to uphold the rule of

by MARK TOKUNAI One of the top brains of this country, Sir Mekere Morauta once described the scale of corruption in this country as “Systemic and Systematic”. Many others have labelled it as having permeated throughout the fabrics of the society. Corruption is said to have widespread in Government and is prevalent in how businesses are conducted both in private and public sectors.  We are experiencing unprecedented number of prosecutions of leaders both by police and the Ombudsman Commission. These are leaders mandated by our people but the law is keeping a check on their exercise of powers. Eventually, their fate will be ultimately determined by the judiciary. Thanks to the Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, who is an unapologetic member of the bench and sending a strong message with the number of people he is sending to jail. Sir Salika seems to be motivated to send wrong doers to jail and has no time hunting escape routes for criminals.  The judiciary, though

by BRYAN KRAMER On Thursday (14/6/18) Waigani National Court dismissed an election petition challenging the 2017 General Election result of Southern Highlands Regional Seat. The petition was filed by the runner up Joseph Kobol challenging Electoral Commissioner's (EC) decision on 28th September 2017 to declare the sitting Member William Powi as the winning candidate. EC issued press statement on its website explaining that upon legal advice, the Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato applied section 175 of the Organic Law on National Elections under “special circumstances” to use the primary count (1 vote) results to confirm the declaration made by the former Provincial Returning Officer Jacob Kurap on Friday, 20 July 2017 at 4:04pm at the Momei Oval in Mendi. "Tally calculations from counts 1 – 462 showed and justified that William Powi exceeded the required absolute majority with 91,745 primary votes to reclaim the SHP Provincial seat. Absolute majo

Peter O'Neill has successfully silenced and neutralised three of his biggest and most vocal critics who were in the opposition benches in the previous term of Parliament. With a highly corrupt and heavily manipulated election process, Don Polye stood no chance as O'Neill targeted his Kandep Electorate with very heavy police and military presence during election 2017. The result is that Don Polye was ousted under a questionable election process, the outcome of which is yet to be decided by the courts to this very day. The court process to hand down a decision on the Kandep seat is being unnecessarily delayed and this indicates that the judiciary may not be operating freely from political control and interference. Kandep was one of the seats that experienced violence during the election and how they managed to conclude the election process and declare a winner remains a mystery. Belden Namah and Sam Basil managed to get through the first hurdle by winning t

When our university students protested against the corrupt government, and got shot by rogue policemen, the nation sat back and watched saying "em samting blong ol sumatin". When policemen were shot and killed in the line of duty during the worst most corrupt elections ever, the nation looked on with disinterest and merely expressed passing sorrow and sympathy. Even comrades of the fallen men within RPNGC have not made any noise and to date, no one knows the status of these cases. When Hela speaks up against the government and threathens to shut down LNG operations, they do it alone while the nation looks on with a shrug of the shoulders and again says with disinterest "samting blong Hela". Now that Southern Highlands have said enough is enough and are protesting because they were denied their democratic rights to elect their leaders in a free and fair election, the rest of the nation simply look on from a distance and again say "pro

PRIME MINISTER SET TO LEAD ONE OF THE BIGGEST DELEGATIONS TO CHINA ON A WEEK LONG TRIP COSTING K6.8 MILLION WHEN THE NATION IS ON THE BRINK OF A CIVIL WAR IN HIS OWN SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS PROVINCE Attached below is the itenarary of perhaps one of the biggest delegations ever to depart the shores of Papua New Guinea. Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and his wife Lynda May Babao O'Neill are set to lead the delegation of 91 Ministers, Members of Parliament and government and business leaders as well as Chinese business men and women on this week long trip from Wednesday 20 June to Tuesday 26 June 2018. The traveling party consists of 41 PNG delegates and 50 Chinese delegates totaling 91, apart from support staff and media personnel. The trip is estimated to cost around K6.8 million all to be paid for by PNG taxpayers. This is well above the K6 million approved to send in police and army to his Southern Highlands province to implement a state of emergency to quell the

by THOMAS LAKA PNG is praying for you. Please exercise great courage n strength in the face of adversity. The SHP people are not your enemies. They are fellow citizens with an issue. The assets destroyed in this unrest are replaceable but human life is irreplaceable. The weapons that we see posted on social media and on main media and you will see with your eyes in the hands of our people have been with them for years. They have been kept hidden until now. These tribal people have amassed an armory like an army. All tribes have weapons to protect tribal territory against real n potential tribal enemies. Tribal members don't normally use weapons for rascal n gang-type activities against innocent people because if they do they know they will create unnecessary tribal enemies. The conflict or unrest today in SHP is not a tribal issue but a political n electoral process one which is involving several tribes from a confined area where the election petitioner n incumbent Governor c

by JAMES MAKOP Joseph Kobol and his supporters have done the unthinkable. They have committed an act which in any one’s book would be classified as an act of terrorism. This is not an isolated act as O’Neill has termed and downplayed. The world is watching. They expect the full force of the law to come bearing down on the perpetrators. This is in view of the fact Papua New Guinea will be hosting APEC this year, attended by some of the world’s most powerful leaders. The credibility of the country hinges upon its ability to rein in radical elements and this has now been subject to the test. Peter O’Neill’s reaction is predictable. He has to be seen to be acting. But his declaration of the SOE has far-reaching ominous implications. 1. Joseph Kobol and his supporters know they have crossed the Rubicon line. There is no turning back. Surrendering would mean the most severe penalty and a very long time in prison. They will not surrender. 2. In suspending the SHP Provincial govern

by DON POLYE Whilst condemning the destruction to state properties, the solution to this incident in Mendi or similar other situations are not emotions or blaming each other! The solution is to analyse and dig out the root cause of such unprecedented insanity in Mendi! The need to root out the main cause of such a chaotic situation must be the National cry!!! Applying the security forces against the civilians is not a panacea. Deploying security to appease volatility is good but only a temporary and band aid solution! The young and the old alike need to assess this situation more intelligently and rationally than emotionally. For example, this shameful and abhorrent thing has happened in SHP where a lot of money has been going into . The SHP, including Hela Province (same) host the international standard petroleum projects...even more similar projects in the same provinces are in the pipeline. This province has produced MPs who are now playing the stewards