PNGBLOGS

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

by JAMES MAKOP Less than a week ago I posted an article regarding the deterioration of democracy as we know it in our country. Now the results of the elections are slowly but surely bearing testimony to foul play, rigging and indicative of sinister motives at play. Fellow citizens, we cannot ask for more evidence that what we have now. 1. The Rule of Law no longer applies to Peter O'Neill and his cronies. 2. People who are in positions to make a difference for the better have sold their souls for the proverbial 30 pieces of silver. That includes the Electoral Commissioner, the Police Commissioner, the election managers and returning officers and people down the rank and file. 3. Isaac Lupari had usurped the functions of the election advisory committee and illegally orchestrated the biggest denial of the right to choose elected representatives by citizens. 4. The economy is dysfunctional. Our foreign missions are being boarded up and shut down due non payment of

Former Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta today announced that he had nominated as a candidate for the seat of Moresby North-West. “I nominated this morning as an independent candidate,” he said. “My decision is based on widespread public support for me to use my experience and knowledge to help put Papua New Guinea back on track and help form a new Government that will act decisively to implement plans to rescue and rebuild the country. “It appears to me and other like-minded people that there is a strong desire for change in Papua New Guinea and I want to be part of that change. I want my vote in Parliament to be counted. I want to be part of the rescue team to reconstruct and lay the foundation for future growth and development.” Sir Mekere said if elected he and other independent candidates and small parties will join forces to ensure that the best Government with the best leadership is formed after the election. The characteristics of a new government should include:

by PAUL FLANAGAN The Final Budget Outcome provides surprisingly frank numbers on the O’Neill government’s inexcusably poor management of government revenues, expenditures and debt. This document confirms a budget deficit and debt blow-out during 2016. PNG has never before -even during much worse falls in commodity prices – had such an appalling string of huge budget deficits. The government has no credible path out of the budget mess. Deficit levels are getting larger, not smaller. PNG Treasury states the debt to GDP ratio is 32.6% and so exceeds the 30% limit set out in the Fiscal Responsibility Act (and using the GDP series when this benchmark was created, it is now 42.7% of GDP). As a result of the failure to manage this fiscal crisis, PNG’s debt in 2016 is 258% of its 2012 levels. This will be a painful legacy for  PNG’s future as little of the debt blow-out has been properly invested. The 2016 Supplementary Budget assumed that revenues would increase by K928 million

by YAKAN LEPAKAILI   The action of the deputy and acting Speaker of Parliament in the last Parliament session was well calculated and his action is not surprising but demeans the parliamentary process and democracy to say the least. This is in the light of opposition moving the motion of no-confidence notice. Initially, when deputy opposition leader sponsored the MONC, acting Speaking called it defective. The approach acting Speaker taken to make the ruling was it proper and followed the tenets of the Parliamentary Standing Orders leaves lot to be desired. The acting Speaker then returned the defective MONC notice to the sponsor to rectify the anomaly and surely resubmitted. In the second time, acting Speaker, on a Thursday, received the amended MONC notice. Whilst the opposition camp was throwing heart and soul into moving the MONC, those in the opposing team had counter plans on foot to outpace opposition. Typically, with Westminster system of governance

by PAUL AMATIO The recent reshuffle of the senior police hierarchy and command should not really surprise many. It was mooted earlier by Mr. Baki and has finally been effected. That includes the restructuring of the command structure. I guess that given the expansion in the population of the nation, such a restructuring is timely and beneficial to the constabulary. There only remains the task of finding enough men to fully outfit the various commands – not to mention the infrastructure and logistics required to maintain them and sustain them. But that is a political problem. Will the government give enough funding to ensure that this initiative by the Commissioner indeed fulfils its intention? With the 2017 General Elections around the corner, this structure also makes it much easier in terms of coordination, command and control. The movement of senior officers is also a good move, one would think. Many of those who have been in PHQ need to be moved out so they can effectively imple