THE DEMISE OF WORKS DEPARTMENT UNDER FRANCIS AWESA, DAVID WERE AND JOHN KAIYO – PART 1

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 companies, companies that pay kick-backs and wantoks, in this article we look closely at the Minister for Works FRANCIS AWESA.

As PNGBLOGS have reported in its earlier investigations over the past 2 years, Minister Awesa has savaged and plundered the department of as his own cash cow. His selective awarding of contract through stealth and through pressure has made him a multi-millionaire, he was a millionaire before he entered parliament so it is claimed by his supporters, but his history is stitched with patchwork so we would like to put some of this to record.  His rise to power came at a time when he was premier of Southern Highlands, he started diverting monies to a Lodge he built in his Kiburu village. He was never into construction, he saw the opportunity when he saw the last Australian Army Engineering unit based in Mendi (12CE Works) leave Mendi. With Mick Jepson, he started Global Constructions, to be honest the company had its share of screw-ups, they got all the work in Mendi leaving the Department of Works to nothing, but the work they did in Mendi and around the province was amateurish, very unskilful or inept in every way. Awesa however survived and kept looking for escape holes out of Mendi, Mendi was too small for him. Luck came in 1997 when he supported the late Bill Skate as PM, he was rewarded for his support again via various dubious contracts to his company, he started expanding out  and established Global Constructions (now WildCat) as a reputable company opening bases in Hagen and Lae and finally hitting Port Moresby. 

His political ambitions never left him, he saw the opportunity to silence his critics and did so by stealth to his rivals, putting them out of business and taking over state properties like the Department Of Primary Industry farm adjacent to his Kiburu Lodge.  He put his hands up for Southern Highlands Regional seat in 2002 and lost heavily to ANDERSON AGIRU. He tried again this time the Imbonggu seat in 2007 under PNG Party and won the seat after heavily spending monies from Global Constructions. He spent a good 2 years in the opposition with Morauta and then when the time came he ditched PNG Party and joined up with Peter O’Neill to overthrow Somare in what is now known as a soft coup d’état. In his time in politics, he has kept a close family member as his bagman, or moneyman, his trusted confidant, his stepson and Alex Awesa, Alex is a graduate of Wollongong University, he is an accountant by profession and has been running the family business and interest for over 20 years. Awesa’s cronyism has been in full flight in all the deals he has made with his son.

Alex Awesa does all the audit and cover-up work for Imbonggu, he has made sure there are no paper trails to linked Awesa in all the crook deals he has made over the years. Son Alex Awesa stole up to 6 Million Kina in a fake Coffee Factory project called Epipa Coffee Factory in his native Wakwak village, there is no such coffee factory and it was another paper project which Awesa used to pay himself. Francis Awesa, David Were and John Kaiyo have been heavily cashed up by mushroom construction companies, companies sprouting overnight with no roadworks or construction experience, these three have benefited heavily in the awarding of contracts, one such company is Oceanic Constructions. Current owner on paper Sape Molumi was a struggling student at the University of Technology in Lae doing 3rd year repeats until finally graduating in 2004/5. Oceanic was started by the late Ambassador DOMINIC DIA, MICHAEL NALI, FRANCIS AWESA and SAPE MOLUMI. Oceanic was created as a cash cow for the three man team of Nali, Awesa and Dia to siphon government money. Under the leadership of Awesa money is regularly funnelled  to Mendi Works Department for payment of political supporters.

The stealing does not stop, K2 Million out of a K10 million allocated by NAC for the Olama airport which was identified as the area where Mendi Airport was to be relocated was drawn by District CEO Joe Ingipa and Awesa’s son Alex and district treasurer Waita Wepi. Through Awesa, Joe Ingipa (current Imbonggu District CEO) and Timothy Buka Tala (NBC Chairman) all rivals for the Imbonggu  were given tax-payer funded job to keep quiet. Francis Awesa’s other son Richard Awesa collected K450,000 last December from the Mendi Airport Relocation Funds. Is he not a land owner from the Oloma area.
He went on a spending spree in Australia last year and is now planning on getting more from the IDA office. John Kaiyo who is the boss of IDA is his tambu. We ask Landowners from the Oloma area to demand an investigation into this fraud.

We look closely at DAVID WERE in PART 2 and JOHN KAIYO in PART 3.

We invite anyone with information to come forward, information can be posted anonymously via our website using the contact or via e-mail: pngblogs@gmail.com

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