PNGBLOGS

by IAN S JOHNS The National Broadcasting Corporation(NBC) has been an iconic institution ever since the pre-independence era. It is the largest media organization in PNG. This organization has provided vital news and information through its broadcast to the general population such as Government policies, the school program broadcast, current affairs, sporting news, health information, entertainment, weather reports and much more. The population of this country has been kept abreast with vital information from NBC over the last 40 years. This once prime media organization has seen its demise in the last decade since the exit of MD Dr. Ninkama. Successive management has further pushed this organization deeper into oblivion. The current management had its acting Managing Director is confirmed by the cabinet to the position for a period of 3 years, the MD and his new batch of senior management inclusive of the Board were seen as the savior of this organization. However, this is on

by PNG BLOGS 1. Marked Boxes in Kandrian Gloucester in West New Britain were set aside and not counted for Sunday polling WHEREAS all boxes containing votes cast on Sunday for Ialibu Pangia Electorate in Southern Highlands were counted and the winner declared. 2. NCD Election Manager was caught red-handed with more than K180,000 cash and marked ballot papers with a purported agreement between a candidate. Secretary for Finance who administered funding for elections stated that all payments of allowances for electoral officials were directly remitted to their bank accounts WHEREAS Gamato claimed the substantial cash was for allowances for election officials (in a metropolitan area where most have their personal bank accounts???). 3. Joseph Tonde’s declaration for the Port Moresby North East Electorate was rejected because the Returning Officer was not the one on duty WHEREAS Nick Kuman’s declaration by a dead Returning Officer for Gumine Open was accepted. 4. William Duma’

THE TRUE STORY OF THE UBS LOAN AND OTHER DEALS BETWEEN THE O’NEILL GOVERNMENT AND OIL SEARCH Part 2 – Sweetheart  deals cost taxpayers and landowners BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT IN SINGAPORE Comments by Oil Search executives and directors at the company’s annual general meeting earlier this year raise serious concerns about its knowledge of many specific instances of corruption in Papua New Guinea relating to its business, and its corporate behaviour. These instances are separate to the illegal UBS Loan which Oil Search helped to arrange, as detailed in Part 1 How Peter O’Neill and Peter Botten cost Papua New Guinea at least K1 billion. Some of these issues were the subject of questions in in the Australian Senate, but no satisfactory answers were provided by the Australian officials responsible. For example landowners in the PNG LNG project are owed hundreds of millions of kina in royalty payments and other entitlements, much of which is paid to the Government by Oil Se

by DAVID LEPI Whilst the recent Oil Search share offloading by the government is attracting a vast array of discussions that are now gaining momentum by the day and the Prime Minister said to make public the facts surrounding the share sales perhaps it might be good we go back where all things started and take a look at the chronology of events. IPIC Loan It started in 2009 from what is known as the largest investment decision ever made by any PNG government. The Somare led government was investing in the 11 billion Exon-Mobil led LNG project in taking up equity of 16.8 percent by borrowing 1.68 billion Australian dollars from a little-known fund called International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) in the Middle Eastern oil state of Abu Dhabi. This took place at a time when the economy was feeling the global credit crunch and a dramatic drop in commodities prices that had made finding funds for new resource projects very uncertain. Arthur Somare, the then state enterprise m

BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT IN SINGAPORE Part 1 – How Peter O’Neill and Peter Botten cost Papua New Guinea at least K1 billion The Oil Search Annual General Meeting in Port Moresby earlier this year confirmed that the company is acutely aware of the extent of corruption in the Papua New Guinea government of Peter O’Neill. Oil Search executives privately commented to attendees after the AGM closed that "... everything here in PNG is corrupt …" “… the government is so corrupt …”, "… PNG has a lot of corruption issues …" and others in similar vein. The cost of O’Neill Government corruption is high, estimated to be several billion kina a year. Now the contribution of Oil Search’s own questionable dealings with the O’Neill Government has come under public scrutiny. Late last month stockmarket trading announcements revealed that the nation has lost at least K1 billion in an illegal sweetheart deal organised in secret between Prime Minister O’Neill and O

by Belden N. Namah MP As in the game of Chess, O'Neill’s opening in assuming power was indeed truly remarkable because people like me made it possible. While he did not take us all to the moon it was still a remarkable ride. Two major loss he suffered recently may perhaps lead to the beginning of his end game. The two major losses he suffered recently are of his own making. First, by dragging his foot on an Electronic Election with the hope of influencing the outcome of the 2017 O'Neill woke up after the 2017 election results started coming in to see his majority in Parliament decimated from 60 members to only 23. We also saw for the first time under his leadership unprecedented level of election-related violence in the Capital of all the highlands Provinces with over 25 deaths and millions in losses and damages to property. The election violence continues unabated today in his own Capital of Mendi where he remains powerless in restoring normalcy and where the enti

by MAIA WAMENE Felix Kange hails from Maia Village which is about two kilometers from Pangia Station, Southern Highlands Province. The village is made up of 3 council wards.It is a village that has produced more than 300 University & other Tertiary institution graduates and well over 10 millionaires. Felix Kange is the son of Former Ialibu/Pangia MP, Mr. Pundia Kange(1982-1987)  & chief of Maia Village & Ialibu/Pangia District. People in this village including Pundia Kange has got much bigger influences in previous elections, both in open and regional seats.  They have been seen as the power brokers for this electorate, given this influence support was desperately needed by O'Neill to win in this years election. Peter O'Neill reached out to get their support and in doing so he submitted to their (Maia) demands after meeting them before the elections and was happy to meet what they wanted in order to gain their support.  Peter O'Neill submitted to

The real story behind this and now details coming in the open is Felix Kange was caught with his pants down having sex with his late wife's sister, while the late wife and some other friends were in the car waiting to go out partying on that fateful F riday night.  He had ran back to the house to pick up something but went to his sister in law's room and started having a romp, a few minutes went by and he did not show up in the car and the late wife being suspicious went back inside the house to check, she found her sister's door locked and head moans and groans coming from inside, he had no way of escaping, he got busted by his late wife deep inside his sister in law, out of his shame and from the arguments that followed he took out his side arm and released a round on his wife.  With all the ill-gotten millions he got via stealing from the state through various false claims he paid off his in-laws not to sue and bought them all out, no one wants thi

by KEN MONDIAI PNG Govt Oil Search Shares held by KUMUL Holdings "SOLD" with K100 million deal but what about the loss if you look at it closely.....there is a huge coverup here clearly all done in secrecy just for the interest of FOREIGNERS in PNG. Peter O'Neill was at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York and secretly flew to Houston Texas. Home of Exon-Mobil ....my contacts in Texas USA told me ... that is a Dangerous Move ... effectively Exon-Mobil is trying to gain grounds in the PNG Oil & Gas sector by strategically doing behind the scene deals by providing advice and using the power of the media which they control to cover the truth. They already played their games by having a "powerful dictator" in place and soon another small powerful dictator in the seat of HELA, then they will effectively control everything. Other investors in the sector like TOTAL, REPSCO and others who have interest in PNG Gas & Oil Fields will be bought out b

by HOPE PNG The sale of Oil Search shares by UBS resulted in it recovering part of its principal from the US$1.2 billion (K3 billion) loaned to PNG Government to purchase the shares initially. Of that K3 billion loaned to PNG Government, UBS only recovered K2.22 billion from that sale. Simple math dictates that UBS made a loss of K780 million on the principal amount loaned. • The first shipment of PNG LNG was made in the last week of March 2014 (source: PNG Business Advantage) • PNG LNG proceeds were held in a UBS bank account as collateral in Singapore. • The State offloaded (by directing UBS) the Oil Search shares and made a loss of US$250 million (or K780 as stated by Wapu Sonk). • The actual loss would be well over K1.8 billion when calculating collar costs, commissions to advisors and all other costs associated with the UBS loan. • O’Neill claimed Government made a net gain of K100 million from that sale. • The only logical conclusion one can draw is that UBS dippe

The Member for Moresby North-West, Sir Mekere Morauta, said today that the International Monetary Fund Article IV Summary Report was a timely wake-up call for the Government and that he hoped the Supplementary Budget to be brought down in Parliament this sitting would deal with the issues raised. He said the Supplementary Budget should be the start of a long journey to repair the Budget and public finances and lay the foundation for sustainable growth, especially in the non-mining sector. The IMF pointed out that the 2017 fiscal deficit would need to be reduced significantly, but that further reductions would need to occur in future years. It also said that the Government needed to stop borrowing and printing money, reduce liquidity in the system – which means reduce expenditure and that it needed to urgently address the foreign exchange shortages and allow the kina some measure of flexibility to determine its own value in terms of other currencies. Sir Mekere said people shou

by PAUL FLANAGAN The press release from the latest mission of the world’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) – see here – highlights the difficult road ahead for PNG in dealing with recent years of bad luck and economic mismanagement. Challenges On the fiscal front, the IMF considers that the government will fail in the Supplementary Budget to bring the 2017 budget deficit back to the target of 2.5% of GDP. Rather, it estimates the deficit will be “a little over 3%” – so a gap of some K370 million relative to the 100-day target. The goal to reduce the debt to GDP ratio back to the legislated level of 30% as part of the 2017 Supplementary Budget is also recognized as infeasible. Instead, the suggestion is a medium-term objective of moving to a balanced budget by 2020 (and GDP growth will work to reduce the ratio). So the first two targets in new Treasurer Abel’s 100-day plan are likely to fail. Expected growth is also wound back from the 2.7% estimate in 2017 down to 2.4%.