PNGBLOGS

by DAVID LEP I While the PM’s warrant of arrest saga has dragged into another kaleidoscope of a turn, valuable lessons can be learned from this experience. I particularly came across two important lessons. First and foremost, it is extremely important to note that never allow personal vendetta and political ambition get in the way to overthrow a mandated government by using state apparatuses and slip in the law. Perhaps not only legitimate but the most dignified and honourable manner in taking on a government in our parliamentary democracy is on the floor of parliament and square it out using smart political maneuvering, tactical statecraft or popular policy intervention in amassing the required strength in numbers to form a government or overthrow a government through the vote-of-no confidence. Resorting to other shabby and malicious means is for the weak and desperate. It is said that in natural selection the weak always try to bring down the strong given their a

by JOE PETER JOKSEY The mandatory SIM card registration peddlers are trying to sell you an old, costly and discredited idea. They say it is needed to fight crime. But a closer look would reveal that the measure suffer from the following fatal flaws: 1. It is impossible to implement: We have millions of SIM cards in circulation, with millions more roaming SIM cards used. These SIM cards are used not just for mobile phones, but also for tablets, payphones, landlines, modem, routers, and other devices. We also have thousands of tourists and visitors going into the country bringing in roaming SIM cards. Exactly how would all these SIM cards be registered? Is this even possible? Would it disrupt government services and businesses – for how long? 2. It is costly: The tedious registration process is expected to be costly, and there would be separate costs for setting up, maintaining and safekeeping the database. Who will pay for these costs? The telcos? The taxpayers?

  by JOE NARONG "For the benefit of the public" a coin has two sides ; As far as this case is concerned the petition filed by Peter Yama against Nixon Duban for the 2013 Madang Open By Election has gone as far as the 3 men bench Supreme Court and slip rule . Nixon Duban scored 18,000 votes,  Bryan Kramer 7000 votes and Peter Yama 5000 votes. That’s the final 2013  By Election result. Peter Yama filed an election petition on errors and omissions and requested a recount . His arguments were centered around 6000 papers found at his mother’s grave yard.  The 2013 By Election was done without any issue of missing ballot boxes or ballot papers either during the counting or polling . How the 6000 papers ended up at the cemetery remains a fraud matter to be fully investigated. On record the ballot papers were never part of the Madang Open By Election. All candidates who contested the election are fully aware of this fraud . Since Madang Open 2013 By Election was completed without

by APO KEFAMO Words cannot fully express the disgust that is now felt throughout EHP on the stupidity, immaturity and criminality of the new governor of Eastern Highlands Province, Peter Numu. His ascension to power was never though a honest and fair game, Mr Numu himself cannot deny this fact! He was the only candidate in the 2017 National election in EHP that extensively used deceit, bribery, sorcery and external forces to get to power. Most of us at the counting venue know about these facts and also know that the petition case filed against him is a very competitive one, thus passing through listing and pre-trial hearings last month at Waigani National Courts without a single challenge to its competency and is listed early in February next year for trial. Just as this court was reaching its peak, Numu led mobs, street drug bodies and opportunists into looting the shop of the fellow candidate, who is also the petitioner. What a way to be a governor! Numu was alway

by DANIEL POLONSKI IEA school system has been hitting the headlines on the dailies in the last few weeks, and all for wrong and dubious reasons, it would seem. In doing so they may have unwittingly exposed a greater evil that belies IEA. It was only a matter of time anyway. IEA and its Board, admitted its Chairman, Mr Mea Ravu, (Post Courier 1st Dec 2017), has voluntarily made press statements to a female National Newspaper journalist who published under the headline “ K7 Million Gamble Hits IEA”.  That article was published by Mr Ravu and Mr Joe Lali the CEO, to explain why National IEA teachers had to suffer pay cuts and reduction in terms and conditions, while the Chairman himself, the CEO and Management, and expatriate teachers enjoyed pay and benefits increases at the same time. The level of exchanges in the media has sparked my interest in this organisation and I started digging and asking around. I have an interest in this school system because I am a fee-paying parent, and o

by PAUL FLANAGAN The new Treasurer released his first budget on 28 November. This was an opportunity to demonstrate the second term of the O’Neill government would help turn the corner on PNG’s economic mismanagement. So how did it do? Overall, there are some wonderful sentiments in this first Abel budget. My sense is that he is very genuine in what he is trying to achieve. But he seems to be let down by the realities of PNG politics. Protecting politicians electoral funds, finding money for APEC, trying to regain the upper-hand on the rhetoric of protecting health and education – all within the confines of fiscal responsibility – was simply too much. What has given way in this equation of trying to be responsible while dealing with the political spending pressures has been revenue credibility? Ultimately, he fails in his attempts to explain why we should believe his claim that revenues will suddenly jump by over 20 percent in 2018. This is an increase of over K2.2 billion and

Outlined below are some of the most serious allegations that warrant the immediate termination of Mahesh Patel and appointment of a new Board chairman to take charge of the SOE. We will provide evidence once an internal investigation is set up. SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS AGAINST MAHESH PATEL.(Evidence Available) 1.    2012- VES (voluntary exit scheme). Mahesh Patel, being chairman of HR Sub- Committee went ahead and implemented the VES under the pretext of Government Reforms. The exercise was poorly planned and executed, which resulted in the termination of employment of approximately 500 qualified technical staff, engineers and support staff from their employment. As a result a skills gap was created, Telikom never recovered and recorded consecutive loss in revenue and never declared profit and paid dividends to the state up till 2017. The affected staff under VES in 2012 took Telikom PNG to court seeking damages to be awarded to them. In 2017, a three men Supreme Court Bench upheld the N

by DAVID LEPI Descending into Jackson’s on a hot shimmering Port Moresby afternoon I see the once peculiar sun tanned brown savannah is now replaced by sprawling suburbs after suburbs of modern design of compelling style. The mirage or an optical illusion created by the hot surface below made it look like undulating waves of melting steel and glass cascading into an unforgiving white-hot furnace of the fast approaching tarmac. On the hills to the left, you see excavators carving terraces and flattening land for trenches for foundations, utility conduits, and drainage piping. And swarming with carpenters, electricians and plumbers and all manners of tradesmen eager to pitch in to permanently change the once periphery of National Capital District. This is the growth of a remarkable landmark that is now fast defining the Port Moresby landscape. And who is behind all these concrete pouring and sounds of rhythmic hammers and whining power saws? Is it by some charity group or some long-

by KLEO LEORNADE With improvements in Health, Wealth, Education and Justice in the 20th and 21st Century most countries in the world have to a large extent moved on from accusing and burning of witches in medieval Europe to accepting Wica (witchcraft) and sorcery in the west as mere “curiosities” that in reality are non-existent extensions of a warped mind. However, in few emerging (or ‘yet to emerge’) states where poverty and social oppression within an environment plagued with deficiencies in Health, Wealth Education and Justice, there continue to be strong beliefs in witchcraft, sorcery and the occult.  This is because the people find comfort in the supernatural to explain their ill fates because of their ignorance or deficiency in explaining the causes of deaths, loss of jobs, exam failures, passing the blame, bad luck, bad weather patterns, and crop failures, are all easily explained by Science nowadays. There is a regression in society’s development with people embracing

by BRYAN KRAMER MP This morning I put the question to Prime Minister Peter O'Neill who I should submit evidence to establish he had misused public funds. On account I had material evidence supporting the view he was guilty of conspiring with the former Member of Madang and a key member in his party to commit bribery and undue influence during 2012 General Elections. My question was in response to O'Neill's statement the day before in Parliament when responding to Member of North West Sir Mekere Moratua. O'Neill announced to Parliament that he would resign should the opposition produce a single shred of evidence that he has misused or benefited from a single toea of public funds. In March 2012 Peter O'Neill signed a letter in his capacity as Prime Minister to the then Chairman of Gaming Board instructing that the Board consider funding Yagaum Rural Hospital's project submission. Gaming Board issued a K300,000 cheque payable to Yagaum Rural Hospital.

by KIN OPOSEPA Manumanu Land Deal: Aftermath The Manumanu Land deal issue has subsided through time and all stakeholders affected have seemed to move on, the dust has settled. Let me refresh your memories on the issues again. The purported Manumanu Land Deal (MLD) for the relocation of the PNG Defense Force is alleged to involve five different transactions totalling an amount of K46 million. However, the dealings did not comply with established processes. The MLD issue was raised in Parliament by Member for Kairuku –Hiri, Peter Isoaimo that eventually led to the sidelining of 2 Senior Ministers and suspension of 6 Departmental heads, CEO of State Owned Enterprise and chairman of CSTB. In a media statement on the 6th of February 2017 PM, O’Neil had announced a Commission of Inquiry (COI) headed by a retired Judge to investigate the claims made, referred the matter to the National Fraud Squad and the Ombudsman Commission also for potential breaches of the Leadership Code. He further

by:  PROFESSOR  Kristian Lasslett     In 2016 eyes turned to Singapore. Close personal friends of Sir Michael Somare were imprisoned, for among other things, defrauding the PNG public. It was claimed American national, Philip Doehrman, and his Singaporean wife, Lim Ai Wah, defrauded the country in order to bribe Sir Michael, his son, Michael Somare Jnr, and a number of Chinese business people. Understandably, at the time, coverage focused on the scandalous nature of the case, given that it implicated the country’s greatest political grandee in a bribery scandal. But the devil is in the detail. Image:  Sir Michael Somare, one of the nation’s founding figures. For the first time, full access to the court decision is now provided. Delivered by Judge Hong, the decision features evidence which appears to show how elites amass fortunes, through practices that significantly increase the cost of living for the PNG public, and distort how national resources are applied. The case of