KEITH JACKSON'S PNG ATTITUDE

Senior public servants are corrupt, says PM

In what sounded suspiciously like his first valedictory speech - to a political rally at Kandep in Enga Province - prime minister Sir Michael Somare has said he believes PNG public servants are more corrupt than politicians.

Sir Michael revealed he had received a report that showed many public servants were stealing from government. This included senior public servants involved in corrupt deals.

Members of Parliament involved in corruption were referred to the Ombudsman Commission for prosecution, he said, but corruption happened everywhere in society.

Sir Michael, 73, reflected that serving the country for 42 years was a very long time and that he was growing old. But he foreshadowed his intention to remain as prime minister for another three years, saying he will quit politics in 2012.

He seemed to rule out the Cairns option, saying he will retire to his village, get involved in village life and watch politics from there.

Sir Michael’s successor may be announced as early as next year at the annual convention of the National Alliance.

He said he had four good deputies representing the four regions of PNG and each of them was capable of taking over.

Morauta puts no-confidence vote back on agenda

The Morauta opposition in PNG will reintroduce its motion of no-confidence in Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare in parliament today.

Sir Mekere Morauta said he would do this because the National Alliance-led government had abused the laws of PNG for its own gain.

He said it has never been more important for an alternative government to take over in PNG.

“PNG desperately needs an alternative to the Somare National Alliance. We need it now,” he told a New Generation Party meeting in Port Moresby.

Sir Mekere reflected that two years ago he described the Somare government as “without direction, lurching from crisis to crisis, breaking laws, wasting public resources and controlled by clique of people whose interest was to use power to increase personal wealth”.

Nothing has changed, he said. Corruption was “more widespread, more systemic and more systematic” than ever and was “firmly entrenched in the private sector as well as the public sector”.

Sir Mekere listed a few of the recent scandals that had gone unexplained, including billions of kina stashed in trust accounts with tens of millions unaccounted for, hundreds of millions of dollars of secret carbon trading deals, the Taiwan cash for diplomacy saga, the Singapore logging cash scam and the Pacific Registry of Ships issue, among many others.

He also referred to the recent reported visit of deposed fugitive Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to Wewak.

“Did he come all the way from exile in Dubai to pay homage to the Sepik River God or to check out bemobile [phone company], LNG deals, timber deals, fish deals, construction deals, or other family businesses?” he asked.

“What is wrong with Papua New Guineans that we put up with such naked abuse and theft?” Sir Mekere asked.

“How much longer will people put up with the miserable state of government services – rundown schools, disillusioned teachers, clinics that are closed, those open with no equipment or drugs, roads with potholes the size of gorges, no clean water, no affordable housing, no jobs for our children leaving school, mothers dying in childbirth and outbreaks of cholera”?

He said the alternative would be a government with vision, an intelligent, hard-working and honest government.

Sir Mekere said the New Generation Party, together with the parties in the opposition, were the safest choice for the nation.

He said the opposition will resubmit a motion of no-confidence in the Prime Minister knowing that the government will use the advantages of being in office to try to block the motion, both through questionable use of procedures and by throwing money public money at MPs “but we will try”.

NBC delegation visits Australia to cement ties

Executives from the PNG National Broadcasting Corporation arrive in Australia today for a week of discussions with the ABC in Sydney and Melbourne.

The delegation is led by NBC chairman Paul Reptario, who is accompanied by board member Moale Rivu [pictured] and board secretary Winterford Suharupa.

The NBC officials are visiting at the invitation of ABC chairman Maurice Newman to build closer ties with Australia’s national broadcaster.

Discussions will be held with ABC executives in Sydney and with Mr Newman in Melbourne, where the group will also inspect ABC facilities.

Mr Reptario will also sign an agreement accepting satellite broadcasting equipment to be installed at Broadcast House in Port Moresby as part of an AusAID media development project.

The ABC is managing the project, which includes attaching specialists to the NBC to provide training in news, programming, engineering, management and information technology.

This year NBC board members also attended a program on the role and responsibilities of directors conducted by the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Opposition withdraws no confidence motion

In a sign that it is struggling for traction against a rampant Somare government, the PNG opposition has withdrawn a motion of no-confidence in the Prime Minister.

The decision came after Sir Michael Somare asserted his dominance over Parliament, mustering a comfortable majority of MPs to pass two bills creating Hela and Jiwaka provinces in the Southern and Western Highlands.

“We have withdrawn the motion because we do not have confidence in the integrity of the process being used by the government,” said opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta.

“We heard from reliable sources that [Parliament’s] private business committee will reject the motion, allegedly on some technical ground,” he said.

“We want the Speaker to tell us what we should do to satisfy the private business committee so we can submit a new motion that will conform to the committee’s requirements.”

The government abruptly adjourned its urgent recall of Parliament yesterday after just two days of a week-long scheduled sitting.

Opposition boycotts early sitting of parliament

PNG’s parliament could become a farce as the Morauta opposition decided to boycott an unexpected parliamentary session due to start yesterday afternoon.

The opposition is protesting against the Somare government’s decision to recall Parliament early – a move described as illegal and in wilful disregard of the nation's laws.

It was expected several provincial governors and government backbenchers will join Sir Mekere Morauta’s protest.

Parliament’s was abruptly adjourned in July when the government appeared to be facing defeat in a no confidence vote. This sparked widespread outrage as it was deemed a deliberate violation of the constitution.

“The provision to recall parliament relates to situations of real emergency in the nation where there is imminent danger of war or natural disaster,” Sir Mekere said.

“But none of these exists in the country, so what is the real motive for the recall?”

He suggested there may be controversial legislation the government had secretly prepared and it needed to get backbenchers together to induce them to support it.

Following the premature adjournment of the last sitting and payments of K2 million each to compliant MPs, the opposition referred Somare, leader of government business Tiensten and speaker Nape to the Ombudsman Commission for possible prosecution for breaching the constitution.

The commission has done nothing and Sir Mekere says parliament should not sit until a deliberation is made.

PNG police crack down on anti-poverty rally

There have been a number of stories in PNG Attitude about PNG police suppressing non-violent acts of civil protest on legitimate issues and supported by respected members of the community.

Some correspondents have said they believe this is related with the RPNGC increasingly being used by the Somare government as an instrument of civil repression.

Such was the case when Port Moresby police recently stopped a church rally organised to support a United Nations Stand Up, Take Action campaign.

The campaign was designed to focus attention on the provision of adequate food, shelter and access to education and health care for poorer members of society.

But the PNG police seemed to think this was a bridge too far.

The Salvation Army and the PNG Council of Churches had planned to join citizens around the world to take a stand against poverty. "We were ordered by police not to do it," said Captain John Kerari from the Salvation Army.

“We do not want to be seen as humbugs,” he said. “We were planning a peaceful rally with prayer and singing.”

He said organisers had followed proper processes and written to the police for approval. But deputy police commissioner Raphael Huafolo had rejected the application without reason or explanation.

Captain Kerari said church representatives were disappointed they could not express their freedom of speech.

“This was an opportune moment to join hands throughout PNG and the world to alert leaders and citizens that there are glaring inequalities in the distribution of the world’s resources which has resulted in gross discrimination and suffering,” he said.

“The Salvation Army‘s mission in PNG is nothing less than to spread God’s word and to ensure that living conditions are improved.”

Melanesian nations unite to rehabilitate Fiji

In a move that will probably cause some angst to  the two main South Pacific powers, Sir Michael Somare has said Melanesian countries will work to end Australian and New Zealand opposition to Fiji's military regime.

The Melanesian position, which followed some golfing diplomacy in Fiji last week, also snubs a decision by the Pacific Forum.

Sir Michael said Australia and New Zealand should stop shunning Fiji’s military leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama.

“It will be difficult for [Australia and New Zealand] to change, but with a lot of explanation and understanding … there could be a change of mind and attitude,” Sir Michael told reporters.

In 2006, Commodore Bainimarama toppled Fiji’s elected government in a coup. Subsequently Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth.

He has cold-shouldered demands for elections that would restore democracy, saying he needs to implement reforms and develop a new constitution, which will take about five years.

Sir Michael was upbeat on the situation in Fiji. “There is no feeling of military regime,” he said. “Infrastructure is in place. The economy is picking up. Fiji is like any other democratic country.”

He also said Mr Bainimarama was trying to end friction with the ethnic Indian minority. “What he wants to see is a real multiracial society.”

The Australian government has not responded to the slight, nor commented on whether it feels in need of "more explanation and understanding"  from Melanesian leaders in prosecuting its Fiji policy.

Climate: hold govt to account says Sir Paulias

In another noteworthy intervention into national politics, PNG Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane has said the government must be held accountable for the effects of climate change.

“Due to the fact that our Government’s finances rarely trickle down to our people as promised,” said Sir Paulias, “our rural people surrender their lush tropical forests to foreign logging operation under the pretext of development – in other words, the destruction of our natural forests.”

He said the effects of logging were seen in soil erosion and landslides and destruction of biodiversity and natural forest habitats.

Other climate change issues such as rising sea levels were a result of the inadequacy and inefficiency of the infrastructure of democratic government that the country had adopted at independence in 1975.

“Many of the social and economic problem connected with deforestation and climate change are direct results of being irresponsive and not resilient enough in implementing the fine principles the government has,” Sir Paulias said.

This year the Governor-General has increasingly injected himself into issues relating to governance, including crime and corruption, inefficient public servants and lack of infrastructure investment.

He has said PNG has suffered from “34 years of ineffective government and public service delivery” and is in an “unfortunate mess”.

In June he led an anti-corruption march through Port Moresby.

PNG govt not meeting obligation: PNG Treasury

The secretary of the PNG Treasury has admitted that even though PNG has experienced strong economic growth in recent years, the government is lagging in its obligation to provide infrastructure and services to the majority of Papua New Guineans.

Simon Tosali said that, unless drastic measures were put in place to address the problem, PNG would not be able to move forward.

“Ports, roads and airports require significant investment,” he said. “The electricity, water and sanitation sectors need to drastically improve.

“Without addressing these needs, PNG will never be able to address the economic imbalances in the country and empower people in the rural areas.”

He said the government is looking at a public-private partnership model as a way of delivering services and improving economic and social infrastructure.

But while these partnerships are an option for the government, Mr Tosali noted they were not the answer to all the country’s procurement issues.

Source: ‘Tosali admits service failure’ by Madeleine Arek, The National

Carbon trading: nice work to turn $1M into $1B

James Kond, PNG's ruling National Alliance party vice-president, was paid 200,000 kina ($85,000) in May to "consult" on future carbon trading deals, AAP’s PNG correspondent Ilya Gridneff has revealed.

The deals are central to a pending PNG government investigation into carbon trade arrangements where money has changed hands well before any international scheme is launched.

Gridneff reports that money from Australian environment firm Carbon Planet was cycled through Hong Kong-based company Forest Top that then paid a number of entities including Australian businessman Kirk Roberts, his PNG company Nupan and its local facilitator, Kond.

The money was apparently part of $1.1 million being spent by Carbon Planet to secure carbon projects projected to be worth a billion dollars a year.

In April 2008, Kond signed a memorandum with Forest Top and was told his work would earn him 10 percent of the cash generated from carbon credit sales.

Kond's Western Highlands-based Koo Management was "to liaise with and advise the PNG government" on deals that Carbon Planet would broker for the global carbon market.

"It is a confidential business arrangement and none of your business," Kond told Gridneff. "I've been deputy NA leader for 10 years and doing my part to improve PNG.”

Adelaide-based Carbon Planet declined to answer questions.

In a series of letters obtained by Gridneff, Kond suggests that large forests in the Western Province and East Sepik are potentially lucrative carbon trading sites.

"I will personally be there to assist you to secure endorsement of these projects for carbon trading from the PNG government as I am part of the PM Somare government," he wrote.

In February 2008, Kond urged Sir Michael to meet him and experts from Australia saying "I am delighted to inform you we have already secured two projects for this carbon trading program (and) I am now seeking a formal appointment ... to brief you on this matter."

But, according to Somare's media spokesperson, Betha Somare, "the PM has never met Kirk Roberts or his associates".

Gridneff reports, however, that Somare's then chief of staff, Theo Yasause, met Roberts and several members of Carbon Planet.

Yasause later became director of PNG's Office of Climate Change but was suspended when the office went bankrupt less than a year after being established.

An investigation will delve into this and so-called "sample" carbon trade documents Yasause signed.

Carbon Planet has announced a merger with a publicly listed Australian company, m2m, claiming 25 potential carbon trading projects in PNG that could generate $1 billion a year.

Photo: James Kond and Kirk Roberts strut their stuff

Challenges, but we changed destiny says PM

In an address to the nation, PNG prime minister Sir Michael Somare has admitted that, while he did not anticipate some of the outcomes of 34 years of Independence, he is still proud of the gains the nation has made.

And he vowed “not to stop until we get it right”.

“Many think that the job of governing a nation such as PNG is easy, even simple,” he said. “Many conveniently forget the difficulty of our terrain… Some of our biggest critics come from countries that do not have these geographical features; their populations are concentrated in urban areas and their infrastructure has been in place for hundreds of years.”

“I want to leave office knowing that PNG is heading in the right direction. I also call on the people to really commit yourselves to serving our nation.”

Sir Michael said much development was hampered by frequent compensation claims. “Our schools and aid posts that costs millions over the years for government to build are being burned down and the communities are not taking any responsibility.

“Instead they place demands on government to rebuild immediately.

“When a natural disaster occurs, opportunists impose illegal fees on roads or claim compensation for something that is an act of God.

“This is disgraceful behaviour we actively seem to condone.”

Sir Michael said the government’s efforts to establish factories and bring in foreign exchange were being obstructed, again by “opportunists who deprive their own people of income”.

He said there was “loose talk distracting us from the fact that we are growing our economy and our rural people are contributing to this growth”.

“We have travelled a long and challenging road,” he said.

“It was my choice in 1968 to run for political leadership and with my colleagues change the course of our history and destiny as a people of one nation.”

Morobe is epicentre of lethal disease outbreak

Alan McLay, president of the Lae Chamber of Commerce, has provided PNG ATTITUDE with this update on the cholera outbreak in the Morobe Province.

There are 320 reported cases of cholera with 24 confirmed and four possible deaths.

The disease seems to have been contained in the original Sio villages but has spread to villages near Wasu. Other affected areas are Siassi, Finschhafen, Kabwum, and Goroka.

Cholera is now in many of the Lae settlements, the hot spots being the Papuan compound, the Maus Markham, Sodas and Wara Tais settlements, the Butibam, Kamkumung and Bumbu settlements, Situm and West Taraka.

Cholera is an acute, diarrheal illness caused by a bacterial infection of the intestine. The infection is often mild, but in 5 percent of cases can be severe being characterised by profuse watery diarrhoea, vomiting and leg cramps. Rapid loss of body fluid leads to dehydration and shock. Without treatment, death can occur within hours.

Poor standards of living and hygiene have resulted in the spread of the disease. A better understanding of cholera and precautions and preventive measures are vital if it is to be contained.

The cholera situation has been complicated by an outbreak of dysentery in the Menyamya area which has spread to the Bulolo, Salamaua and Marawaka in the Eastern Highlands. So far there have been 880 reported cases of dysentery.

There have also been between 4,000 and 6,000 cases of influenza resulting in 59 deaths.

AusAID, UNICEF and Jackson Wells’ client Colgate has been very active in helping combat the disease. Colgate has deployed its own cholera awareness team in most settlements and affected areas in Lae.

AFP gets ready to return to a creaky police force

Reports that Australian Federal Police could be back in PNG in large numbers next year pose the interesting prospect of what they’ll do in the likely event they run into industrial strength corruption.

Four years ago Australia had to withdraw hundreds of police officers from PNG following the collapse of the Howard government's so-called Enhanced Cooperation Program.

Now, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, the AFP is about to go to the Federal Government with proposals for the deployment of 150 police.

But the AFP intend do things differently this time, emphasising human resources, finance, policy making, training and internal discipline – in other words advising the command structure rather than undertaking operational crime fighting roles.

The AFP’s view is that the Enhanced Co-operation Program failed because there was a failure to consult effectively with the Royal PNG Constabulary before the Australian officers were deployed.

This made PNG police resentful that the program had been imposed on them. Eventually the PNG High Court ruled that immunities granted to Australian police were unconstitutional - an issue that has still not been resolved.

The RPNGC is an inadequate, ineffective and ageing force, beset by corruption, and allegations of brutality, and lacking the trust of the community.

There have also been allegations made in the PNG media as well as PNG ATTITUDE that the RPNGC is unduly influenced by politicians and not strong enough to withstand political interference.

The AFP seems to understand that one of its biggest obstacles will be in trying to deal with - and reform if possible - the impact of the wantok culture, where obligations to family and tribe are stronger than obligations to the State.

This makes the imposition of internal discipline and an ethical culture nearly impossible unless police are posted to districts other than their own, which has been difficult to achieve in recent years because of a lack of police housing.

Another huge LNG venture mooted for PNG

Like Australia, PNG seems set to enjoy a protracted resources boom as a third exploration company has announced it will develop a liquefied natural gas production facility and pipeline.

The Canadian company Talisman Energy has followed Exxon Mobil and InterOil in planning to exploit vast LNG reserves.

It plans to combine its gas areas in Papua New Guinea with those of Rift Oil and aggregate as much as 5 trillion cubic feet of reserves.

Talisman will build an LNG facility with a capacity of 2 - 3 million tons a year at an estimated cost of $2 billion.

Leaders hit out at PNG’s culture of bribery

Two prominent Papua New Guineans have used Independence Day addresses to attack the growing practice of bribery in PNG.

Morobe Governor Luther Wenge has said that PNG desperately needs leaders who are as “clean and as white as white paper”.

Addressing a large crowd at Lae’s Kilage Stadium, Mr Wenge said PNG needs leaders who are not corrupt and who do not bribe people to do work for them.

“That is why we are going backwards,” he said. “Leaders want 10 percent under the table first before they work. Many leaders have dirty hands.”

Meanwhile, Mt Hagen local government councillor, Mapun Papol, has said bribery is eating away the credibility of the public service.

Mr Papol said the “rot in the public service” was forcing ordinary citizens to pay bribes to get their inquiries processed faster.

“If you want something to be done for you, you need to pay a bribe or else your enquiry or application will be ignored and then chucked into the bin,” he said. “Bribery is a secret income for public servants.

“It is shameful because the people are forced to pay a bribe if they want a service which is supposed to be received free.”

Mr Papol claimed that if people wanted something done, they had to present their inquiries with some money to “speed things up”.

He said he was in Port Moresby last month to have an application processed and ended up paying K2,000 as a bribe to get it done.

Deaths increase as cholera outbreak gathers pace

The death toll in the cholera outbreak in PNG is now well over 100 with 5,000 other people suffering from the disease or serious influenza and diarrhoea.

Cholera – not seen in PNG for at least 50 years - has spread from its epicentre in a village in the Morobe Province to the provincial capital Lae as well as remote highland areas and parts of the northern coast.

A World Health Organisation official has reported 700 confirmed cases with 133 deaths, although there are fears the toll could be far higher. If the epidemic is not contained, the outcoems for PNG could be extremely serious.

The strain of cholera has been identified as one widespread in South East Asia. The worst hit area is around Menyamya, where 101 people are reported to have died.

Ten people have also died near Wonenara in the Eastern Highlands as the disease spreads to the highly populated mountain valleys,

Vanessa Cramond, medical director of Medecins Sans Frontieres in PNG, says many victims are being ostracised and unable to get treatment. "People don't know what cholera is and don’t know how to respond to it, and how urgent it is to seek care and treatment," she told Reuters. "There is stigmatisation of people with cholera."

Rotary clubs in PNG and Australia have been quick off the mark in offering practical assistance to help curb the epidemic by contributing cash to a disaster fund, tanks to store fresh water and chlorine tablets for water purification.

The national emergency response is being coordinated by personnel from AusAID, the World Health Organsisation, the Australian Army and, after a slow start, the PNG Government.

The Army has erected tents in the grounds of Lae Hospital and established a triage centre. One of the prime concerns is to contain the spread of the disease as many local people have fled from infected areas to their villages and may be promoting the epidemic to otherwise sterile locations.

Source: Reuters, PNG Post-Courier and other sources. Thanks to Murray Bladwell

Of rampaging cholera & oversized rats

The PNG Government has declared an emergency as the country's first outbreak of cholera has become a grave public health issue.

Over the last six weeks 18 people in Morobe Province have died from cholera and 240 others have contracted the disease. At the same time, an outbreak of dysentery has killed 29 and infected 400.

Health minister Sasa Zibe says the emergency declaration will give health authorities greater powers to contain the outbreaks. They will be able to shut down restaurants and prevent people from moving to and from infected areas.

Meanwhile, the world’s biggest rat has been found in PNG by a British scientific expedition.

The Bosavi woolly rat is the size of a small domestic cat, measuring about 80 cm in length. Experts say the rat is the same as those found in city sewers, only bigger.

It was discovered in the crater of the extinct volcano, Mount Bosavi wheere researchers had set up an infra-red camera which provided the first images of the animal.

"This is the biggest true rat in the world - unbelievable," a researcher said. "It's actually so big it doesn't look like a rat ... it just is incredible. This is a really significant find."

Sources: Radio Australia and BBC

Australia pledges $1.8m for Kokoda upgrade

BY DON HOOK

The Australian Government has committed $1.8m to improve safety along the Kokoda Track in the wake of the recent aircraft crash that killed 13 people including nine Australians.

The funding will include safety audits of Kokoda airstrip as well as regular maintenance such as mowing, repairing potholes and clearing drains. 

Windsocks, cones and markers will be installed, and radio communications in the area will be improved.

The work will be first of a planned broader program of joint initiatives between the Australian and PNG Governments.  It will be separate to any recommendations that emerge from the crash investigation.

Cholera returns to PNG with a vengeance

BY ILYA GRIDNEFF

An outbreak of cholera is being blamed for the deaths of up to 41 villagers in Morobe Province.

Scores of other unexplained deaths are expected to be either cholera or swine flu, PNG Health Department Secretary Dr Clement Malau told AAP.

"There has been two outbreaks in two different parts of the Morobe Province, Menyamia and Wasu. We've confirmed cholera in Wasu and are trying to assess whether the other disease is swine flu or an influenza strain," he said.

"We are very concerned and hope cholera hasn't established itself in PNG as it would be another great burden to an already strained health system,"

PNG health officials had been receiving information about a mystery illness causing havoc in Morobe for the past month.

PNG’s last case of cholera occurred in the 1960s. It is thought the disease originated in marine life.

The PNG Government has reported the disease to the World Health organisation as required under international health regulations.

Ilya Gridneff is the Papua New Guinea correspondent for Australian Associated Press

Story of Sir Michael’s death greatly exaggerated

Wild rumours permeated PNG late last week that Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare had collapsed and died while on a visit to Malaysia.

Sir Michael’s daughter, Betha, said the Prime Minister had been mildly ill and that the rumour was circulated by people who had “nothing better to do”.

“It’s something different to play politics but to bring yourself to that level and spread false rumours is really not good,” Ms Somare said. “It is really in poor taste.”

Sir Michael also called the veteran radio talk show host, Roger Hau’ofa, from Malaysia and said he was well and looking forward to playing a round of golf.

Energy Minister William Duma said the rumours were being spread by “evil people”.

“Our Prime Minister is alive and well in Malaysia,” Mr Duma said. “He is one of those unique leaders in the country and God will not allow the Prime Minister to die in a foreign country. He was chosen by God to be a leader and he will protect him wherever he is.”

National Alliance Party president, Simon Kaiwi, said politics had descended to its “lowest form” with desperate tactics being used to create instability in the country.

“To will death upon anyone is unacceptable and non PNG and non Melanesian,” Mr Kaiwi said.

Government members blamed the Opposition for starting the rumour, saying that a personal attack about the age of the prime minister has been touted by the opposition even though there is no age limitation required under the Constitution.

A political aide was quoted as saying that Deputy Prime Minister Sir Puka Temu was ready to be the prime minister if the opportunity arose.

Source: PNG Post-Courier

The Voice works to help PNG communities

BY DON HOOK

Two years ago, University of PNG law students established The Voice, a volunteer movement to help members of their own communities.

And it’s going so well that one of the founders, 24-year-old law graduate Serena Sasinglan, hopes a chapter will be established in every university college and high school in PNG.

The volunteers hold workshops and informal meetings to talk about human rights, PNG’s legal structure, violence against women, HIV/AIDS and other issues affecting the citizens.

In an article in the Australian Volunteers International magazine, Ms Sasinglan says The Voice is made up of like-minded young people at UPNG who are committed to seeing change in their communities.

She said many people did not have access to education and, as a result, were not aware of their basic human rights.

“Through The Voice, we aim to change this by volunteering our time and skills to give these communities a voice.

“Armed with our own knowledge, skills, passion and voice, we’ve reached out to high schools, settlements in Port Moresby, and even some of the most remote parts of the country with our message of hope.

“With so many social issues and high rates of unemployment, it is easy to understand why so many people throughout PNG prefer to concentrate on their daily survival as opposed to helping others in need. 

“But the fact is, if we are not willing to find solutions for our own problems, who will?”

Ms Sasinglan said that through The Voice, the young volunteers experienced the reciprocal benefits of volunteering – from learning a whole new perspective in their own lives, to having the opportunity to contribute to lasting change in their own communities.

She said that by working with organisations such as Australian Volunteers International, the Oaktree Foundation and UPNG, the movement was developing activities that were achieving sustainable outcomes, including the involvement of Oaktree Foundation volunteers delivering training in advocacy, social justice, and project management skills.

War relics have new life in criminal hands

BY ALOYSIUS LAUKAI

The Torokina War Relics Association has said it is intercepting many World War II vintage weapons recovered from Torokina that are being sold to criminals in Bougainville and other provinces.

The ‘mining’ and rebirthing of wartime weaponry and munitions from Torokina have been a major concern to the Autonomous Bougainville Government and the United Nations.

UN Development Program team leader, Howard Wilson, said his organisation was happy to assist the Association contribute to the Bougainville weapons disposal program.

Mr Wilson said the UNDP has been monitoring the developments in Torokina including sending a team to verify reports of youths retrieving wartime weapons.

The UNDP is concerned that the situation in Torokina has become acute in recent times.

Association Chairman, Albert Magoi, said his group, which was established last year, was helping to contain the situation.

He is hoping to send some young Torokina people to the Philippines to train to defuse bombs.

Photo: A member of the Torokina War Relics Association poses with a 'mined' machine gun [Aloysius Laukai]

Women police for tribal peace in the Chimbu

A group of pioneering women in a region of the Chimbu Province has just celebrated ten years of maintaining law and order.

The tenth anniversary of the community policing movement in the Kup sub-district was marked by 60 women graduating as officers.

The Kup area was once peaceful, but tribal fights in the late 1990s resulted in many deaths and the destruction of much government infrastructure and withdrawal of services.

As a result, the community policing organisation, Kup Women for Peace, was established by women from all the warring tribes.

Since then it has sought to stop tribal conflict and to promote women’s rights.

In 2006, it started Kup Ambulkumb Rights Movement for girls and young women.

They learn about leadership, earning money and are encouraged to obtain a basic education.

Source: Australia Network News. Thanks to John Fowke for spotting this

Beauty quest leads to dramatic school shoot-out

Aloysius Laukai

An Asitavi Girls' High School fund raiser near Wakunai at the weekend ended in drama with gunshots and a near riot.

I was there when the incident occurred.

After the crowning of Miss Asitavi, the crowd wanted to dance with students - but the school management refused, leading to rowdy drunks abusing staff and students.

In the ensuing commotion, several shots were fired from high powered rifles. The incident continued until five in the morning.

It has tarnished the good name of the community and several traumatised parents said they will transfer their children to other schools.

The fundraising event got off to a bad start when parents and citizens failed to assist students build pr staff the stalls at the bazaar. Even the community around the school did not participate in fundraising activities organised during the three-day event.

For more Bougainville news you can visit the New Dawn FM website here

The Kokoda air tragedy & memories of others

PNG Attitude has not been providing coverage of the Twin Otter crash near Kokoda, which has claimed 13 lives, because the tragedy has been so exhaustively and capably reported by other media.

Nonetheless, as I'm sure it did for many of you, the crash brought back for me a host of memories of other air crashes and incidents.

There were many, they were regular and they often affected us deeply because we knew one of other of the victims.

Occasionally there would be survivors. A badly burned Kevin Difflo was fortunate to get out of a Twin Otter that crashed while attempting to land near Kainantu. And Fred Kaad escaped with his life, although a paraplegic, from a light plane accident in the Morobe.

Many others were not as lucky. MAF pilot Fr Joe Walachy and his passengers perished in frightful weather in the Bundi Gap when their plane hit a sheer cliff that Joe thought was blue sky. And education executive John Lee and others died when an overloaded Baron crashed after taking off from Gurney.

Returning to PNG on the Electra after my first leave (it must have been early 1965), I sat beside a sad young man. He was going to Moresby to reclaim the body of his brother, who with a fellow Qantas cadet had, in heavy cloud, flown his aircraft into a rocky outcrop between Madang and Goroka.

I recall TAL captain Brian McCook telling me he always flew with the thought in mind that he may be forced to land somewhere. It was always comforting to fly with McCook.

I remember too, with knuckles white still, circling in and out of mist while the driver of the Cessna 180 tried to find a hole in the cloud that would get us to the Bena for a safe landing at Goroka, never taking his eyes off the altimeter and the turn and bank indicator.

It comes flooding back. This and much more.

Flying in PNG can never be taken for granted. It is a daunting country for aviators. The terrain, the weather, the precipitous and rough bush airstrips, the lack of navigation aids. They all contribute to danger.

Our thoughts and sympathy go out to the relatives and friends of the people who died near Kokoda this week.

Investigation into claimed Constitution breach

The PNG Ombudsman is investigating whether the Government has breached the Constitution.

Chief Ombudsman Chronox Manek said the investigation will determine whether Parliament has sat for the required number of 63 days in one calendar year.

Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, Speaker Jeffery Nape and Minister Paul Tiensten face up to 10 years gaol or fines of up to K10,000 if they are found to have breached the Constitution.

If there is enough evidence to prove they breached the Constitution, the Ombudsman will refer the politicians to a leadership tribunal for possible prosecution.

Mr Manek’s office said it received a complaint from the Opposition which claimed the leaders deliberately violated and breached section 124(1) of the Constitution.

The Opposition claimed the early adjournment meant Parliament did not meet for the required number of sitting days and the adjournment was unconstitutional.

Sir Michael maintains his Government did not do wrong and was not in breach of the Constitution, saying that the 63 days can still be met.

Source: ‘Parliament probe in order: OC’ by Pearson Kolo, Post-Courier, 11 August 2009

Multiple calls for Michael Somare to resign

There have been calls in PNG for Sir Michael Somare to resign as prime minister because “he is too old to run the country” and because he has allegedly not addressed the severe increase in HIV/AIDS.

Chairman of the Parliamentary committee on HIV/AIDS, Jamie Maxtone-Graham MP, says there are more than 130,000 people living with HIV/AIDS and that the virus spreading at an annual rate of 5 percent.

Mr Graham said Sir Michael did not know what was happening in his country or he was “simply ignorant’’.

“The National Aids Council budget has been cut by 50 percent this year.

“The Prime Minister and his Government are not seriously concerned at addressing the increase in HIV/AIDS cases.”

Meanwhile, the Opposition claims Sir Michael is too old to run the country.

Sir Mekere Morauta said there is rife corruption, a breach of the constitution and poor service delivery. He said the country and its systems will collapse if the Prime Minister was allowed to continue running the country.

“It is for the betterment of the country and the people that the Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare must resign,” Sir Mekere said.

Deputy leader Bart Philemon said corruption was strangling the systems of the country. “Not long the country will collapse,” Mr Philemon said.

It’s official: PNGns are worse off than ever

PNG’s acting chief secretary, Manasupe Zurenuoc, has admitted that 35 years after independence, Papua New Guineans are far worse off because government has failed to deliver.

Mr Zurenuoc’s blunt admission was made at a press conference to announce a new national strategic plan to try to improve the provision of services to rural people.

“We have been independent for over 35 years and have not fared well in terms of delivering services to our people,” he said.

“We have tried different models and plans to deliver services to our people and experiences have shown that we have not delivered.

“In fact there is total decline of services but we can’t go on trying forever. We have to do something.

Mr Zurenuoc’s comments came in the same week Australia’s Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan, said conditions in PNG are worsening despite Australia’s annual $500 million in assistance.

Mr Zurenuoc announced the formation of a national planning committee headed by Deputy Prime Minister Sir Puka Temu. He said a national task force, headed by Professor David Kavanamur and comprising some of PNG’s top professionals, will develop plans and programs to address issues related to service delivery.

The task force has identified six major issues: administrative and governance reform; wealth creation, climate change; human development, strategic planning; and institutional development.

Mr Zurenuoc also voiced harsh criticism of the PNG public service.

“They are running around in Waigani without any understanding of the real problems in the provinces,” he said. “They are out of touch with the real world. They just collect their pay and could not care about what happens out there.

“There must be a change in the public service culture. There must be a major change.”

Australia delivers literature breakthrough in PNG

When the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs decides it’s going to support a worthy cause it leaves no stone unturned to set the world on fire in its pursuit of the light on the hill, if I may offer a grotesquely mixed metaphor.

Case in point. Yesterday I received, as a result of illicit third party trafficking in propaganda, a media release from the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby. It was entitled (and the caps are theirs) AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSION SUPPORTS NATIONAL BOOK WEEK.

The High Commission, on behalf of us taxpayers, had determined a strategic deployment of funds designed to benefit young Papua New Guineans. As High Commissioner Chris Moraitis expressed it, he wanted to “reinforce the close friendship and cooperation between Australia and PNG”. Good thing too.

This year’s theme, it turns out, is ‘BOOKS … Building Our Own Knowledge Society’. [OL BUK – Kamapim Save Bilong Ol Pipol – my loose translation]. The High Commissioner says sloganeering (sorry, Book Week) is about “recognising the important role that physical books continue to play in PNG society and education.”

“Books will remain a vital source of information and learning for many years to come,” reflected Mr Moraitis in a media release issued by his spin doctor (oops, ‘Public Diplomacy Officer’), Oliver Nombri.

The release advised that, under the PNG-Australia Partnership for Development, both countries had committed to increasing the number of children in primary education from 53% to 70% by 2015 – an extra 300,000 children in primary school.

Two days ago the AusAID report Tracking Development and Governance in the Pacific [see yesterday’s PNG Attitude] informed us, courtesy of Australia’s Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan, that PNG was going backwards in this and other respects.

Well, different strokes for different blokes. Chris was looking to the future, Bob at the recent past. Why be negative, Bob. We’ll go with Chris. He’s got astrology on his side.

Anyway, let’s cut to the chase. The media release in question proclaims “the Australian High Commission is again supporting National Book Week in PNG by distributing 1,000 colourful bookmarks to primary schools across the country.”

Bookmarks?   BOOKMARKS!

As one shrewd observer muttered darkly: “Let’s hope they have the books to put them in.”

Footnote: Media inquiries should not be directed to me but to Oliver Nombri in Port Moresby. You can phone him on 325 9333 ext 454 or email oliver.nombri@dfat.gov.au

PNG going backwards says Australian politician

Australia’s Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan, has called for a new approach to the Pacific, saying that conditions in PNG are worsening despite Australia’s annual $500 million in assistance.

Mr McMullan said Pacific states, including PNG, were “seriously off track” to achieve their development goals.

An AusAID report, Tracking Development and Governance in the Pacific, recommends a new approach to Pacific aid to ensure development assistance is better targeted.

The report says 2.7 million people in the region live in poverty, 400,000 children have no primary schooling and 6.4% of children die before age five. At least 80,000 adults have HIV, a number that is growing by over 40% a year.

PNG Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare refused to comment on the report, and was irritated that it had been released before the Pacific Islands Forum meeting now being held in Cairns.

See Paul Oates’ comment below

Twixt and ‘tween - where from here for PNG?

Paul Oates

"The Pacific region is seriously off track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The people of the Pacific expect us all, donors and Pacific island governments alike, to do much better" - Bob McMullan MP, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance

Before one can work out a solution, the problem must be defined. So what’s the problem here? If, as Bob McMullan believes, the region is ‘off track’, where’s the track? It seems that the map’s been lost.

When we arrived in PNG in the sixties, we were told it was a nation of villages. At the time, that was true. So what changed?

Rudyard Kipling had a unique gift for describing India. But his gift lay beyond description. He understood it as ordinary people saw it. In his fable Betwixt and Between, Kipling depicts a group of animals talking around a campfire.

First, Elephant, talking first because he’s the biggest. “I carry the heavy howitzers of the. Without them, the Army can’t win the battle. Being very intelligent, as soon as I hear gunfire I won't go on.”

“I carry the pack loads over dry deserts,” says Camel, “The Army can’t fight without food and supplies. Still, we’re not much help when the fighting starts,” she confesses."

Mule observes that, while people think he’s inherently stubborn, “we mules carry the guns and supplies and are often casualties of war. But we can break our ropes and escape.”

Charger speaks up. “I carry the Officer into battle at a mad dash and often wind up a casualty myself.”

"Oh, well," says Bullock, "we’re degraded and ignored. We take the guns from the rear, and carry them to the front, slowly I admit. But we don't run away when fighting starts and loyally die in our yokes and traces. No one thinks much about it but, without us, the Army couldn't win its battles. We really are betwixt and between.”

After World War II the Pacific was never the same. The tide of war swept much away. The lament of the Marshall Islanders centres on the contradiction of living on the beneficence of the US, which fought the Japanese In these islands and, after victory, never left. The islanders express a desire to return to their traditional life but can't work out how to do it.

This is a microcosm of the basic dilemma facing Pacific nations today. Can a village way of life be transposed into a modern government? There are precious few examples where it has happened.

When I arrived in PNG, I was told, as many of you were, that we were agents of change. What we did in the sixties was to govern without changing rural PNG village culture. To those who came later, it seemed an easy act to follow. All you needed, it seemed, were an education, the right clothes, a modern house and a car, and you could govern.

So we come to the nub. A nation is not a village and cannot be governed using traditional methods. Leaders need to evolve who can operate at another level.

Overseas aid does not necessarily help this. It can become addictive. It can detract from the perpetual political (and personal) problem of never having enough resources to do what you want.

What is required is a new approach. Bob McMullan is correct when he says the 'Pacific is off track'. But where’s the track? PNG does not lack educated and able people who can govern. It seems the problem is that these potential leaders are not learning to lead. They are ‘betwixt and between’.

PNG workers to pick fruit in Queensland

Don Hook

The scheme to bring seasonal fruit pickers from the Pacific Islands to Australia is being expanded and will include workers from PNG.

The Australian and PNG governments are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding this month, and the first PNG workers could be picking fruit on Queensland farms as early as September.

“Queensland is desperate to have a lot of workers from PNG; they have told us that,” PNG High Commissioner Charles Lepani told the Canberra Times.

It’s understood PNG officials will select about 2,000 potential workers but only small groups will be drawn from the pool depending on demand in Australia.

The three-year pilot program to accommodate up to 2,500 seasonal workers from the region was announced by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at last year’s Pacific Islands Forum.

It’s likely Mr Rudd will announce further details of the program, including its extension to all Australian states, when he hosts this year’s Forum in Cairns this week.

The program has got off to a slow start. The world wide recession cost many Australians their jobs and forced them to seek work in fruit growing areas. As a result, growers were able to justify bringing in only 56 guest workers from Tonga and Vanuatu.

The situation has now changed and, according to the National Farmers Federation, growers will welcome Pacific islanders with open arms.

MP said to have spent $5M on Samoan properties

A former captain in the PNG Defence Force who is a first term MP, having been elected just two years ago, has been reported to have spent over $5 million purchasing three properties in Samoa.

According to reports in the Samoa Observer, PNG Forests Minister, Belden Namah, has negotiated the purchase of three properties in Apia.

Mr Namah’s  Apia lawyer confirmed to the newspaper that what it termed “a venerable company”, Chan Chui Co Ltd, was bought for more than $2 million by Mr Namah.

“The other one is Mrs Freda Andrews’ two-storey house at Papaloa which was bought for $1.49 million,” reported the Samoa Observer. “The third property that he wanted to buy is Mr Ray Bancroft’s home. He agreed to buy it for $1.8 million and made a deposit of $200,000.”

The newspaper said the sellers of the properties were convinced Mr Namah was the purchaser, although he has since denied this saying he was acting for unnamed overseas associates.

Mr Namah told the House of Assembly he has nothing to hide and has instructed his lawyers to commence defamation proceedings against the Samoa Observer and PNG’s The National.

“It is not unreasonable for the public to demand from the minister an explanation how he has paid for this property,” said Transparency International PNG chairman, Peter Aitsi.

“Transparency International calls on the minister, given his role in government, to declare his business interests to the Ombudsman Commission and allow the Ombudsman full access to review and vet the transactions.”

The Samoa International Finance Authority said it was not aware of a PNG cabinet minister buying properties in Apia.

Opposition: govt uses funds to manipulate MPs

Opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta has referred Prime Minister Somare, Speaker Nape and Minister Tiensten to the Ombudsman Commission for an alleged unconstitutional adjournment of Parliament.

“What happened yesterday, when the Government adjourned Parliament to November, is an outrage,” said National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop.

Sir Mekere said: “It confirms what the parties in Opposition have been saying for months: that the ruling clique is a law unto itself. They are clearly scared of facing a vote of no confidence, so they have shut down Parliament,”

He said the Government’s action to shut down Parliament was unconstitutional because Parliament had not sat for the required number of days stipulated by the Constitution.

The Opposition said that, for seven years, the National Alliance Government had used the Speaker’s office as a political tool when this office was supposed to be impartial.

They claim that the reason for the MP's revolt and the no-confidence motion was simply that the Somare Government had not delivered much and, when MP's want to take responsibility and fill the void created by the Government, they are hampered.

“The Somare regime uses project funds to threaten or manipulate members and the decisions they make on the floor of Parliament,” it was alleged.

Source: PNG Post-Courier and thanks to Gelab Piak

PNG in crisis: the citizens express anxiety

In the wake of the suspension of the PNG Parliament this afternoon, as the Somare governmment sought to avoid a vote of no-confidence, tonight's news from Port Moresby has an ominous ring.

“This is politics in the ‘would be dictator’ style and I don't think the people will accept it,” a  veteran observer of Melanesian politics has told PNG Attitude. “We’ll wait and see what happens tomorrow.

“I hope that I’m wrong but I expect disruption as from tomorrow.

“There is no real problem with this, but I might have troubles going to the bank if the people start to walk the streets.”

We'll provide further information from our contacts in PNG as we receive it.

If you're in PNG and have information about flashpoints, actual or potential, email PNG Attitude here.

Somare runs scared: House out for four months

It seems the PNG Opposition had more votes in its pocket than the Somare Government gave it credit for.

AAP’s Ilya Gridneff reports from Port Moresby that angry scenes erupted in the House of Assembly this afternoon after the government avoided a motion of no-confidence by adjourning Parliament for four months until November.

“MPs hurled abuse at each other across the chamber and security officers had to restrain members of the public who voiced their frustration when the government won the adjournment vote on Wednesday,” Gridneff wrote.

Opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta said the Somare government is running scared, so much so that the PNG Constitutional was breached to avoid the no-confidence vote.

"Yesterday Somare said he had the numbers to block a vote of no-confidence, today he adjourned,” Sir Mekere said. “The government is worried, it is fractured. He is afraid to face the music, the Constitution, he will go down in history as someone who has threatened democracy."

Sir Mekere will refer Sir Michael, the Speaker Jeffery Nape and the leader of government business Paul Tiensten to the Ombudsman Commission for violating the Constitution.

Opposition member Sir Julius Chan, a former prime minister, said PNG was not in political limbo but "now in hell".

Some government backbenchers said a series of scandals and corruption motivated them to swap sides.

Yesterday Sir Michael said he had the numbers to defeat a no-confidence vote.

In what was clearly a contrivance, a government spokesman excused the adjournment as allowing for "much needed refurbishments" to Parliament House.

Source: ‘MPs in uproar as PNG parliament adjourns’ by Ilya Gridneff, AAP, 29 July 2009. With thanks to Paul Oates

PNG arm wrestle as both sides claim numbers

The Somare Government’s “days are numbered and they are finding every excuse and obstacle to delay the inevitable”, PNG Opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta has said.

“MPs – mostly from the Government ranks - are in open revolt. We have had enough of the Somare and the National Alliance regime and want out where we can represent our people without domination or intimidation,” he told the PNG Post-Courier.

“The honourable thing for them to do is stand aside. But whatever happens they must face our band and dance to the music we play for them.”

The politicking in Port Moresby has been fast and furious these past 48 hours with the Government playing ducks and drakes with the Opposition, seemingly to delay the bringing on of a no-confidence motion.

It is not clear when the vote will be taken but it has been affirmed that Speaker Jeffery Nape was handed the required notice by Sir Mekere and MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham.

After adjourning Parliament because of a lack of quorum and at first denying that notice had been given, Mr Nape later retracted that statement and confirmed the two leaders had served the notice by in his office.

It could take up to seven days before the no-confidence motion is voted on, and it promises to be a tense time in PNG politics as Government and Opposition struggle to secure the numbers.

The National Alliance Government led by Sir Michael Somare is confident it will survive the vote. At a press conference yesterday afternoon the Government paraded 57 MPs, a majority, to show it maintained the loyalty of the majority of members.

”I call on the opposition to officially surrender on the floor of Parliament,” Morobe Governor Luther Wenge, a strong supporter of Sir Michael, said.

According to the Post-Courier, the Morauta group has 43 MPs and expects more government MPs to join it in the coming days to bring the number up to 58.

Source: ‘Government confident of win’ by Gorethy Kenneth, PNG Post-Courier, 29 July 2009

Somare government says opposition can’t count

In a show of contempt for the Morauta Opposition, the Somare government this afternoon invited journalists into a room to count its members to prove it is not vulnerable to a vote of no-confidence.

Earlier today, the Opposition claimed it had the support of a majority of the 109 members of Parliament and said it would use its numbers to initiate a vote of no-confidence.

But there was no vote, as Parliament was postponed because there were not enough members present to form a quorum.

The Government then invited journalists to a meeting room and asked them to count the members present.

ABC correspondent Liam Fox tallied 57 Government MPs - more than enough to defeat a motion of no-confidence.

It was telling that no Opposition member was available for comment.

Source: ‘No-confidence vote: PNG invites media to count MPs’ by Liam Fox, ABC

PNG opposition says it has the numbers to win

PNG’s Opposition, led by Sir Mekere Morauta, says it has the support of 58 of the 109 Members of Parliament and is set to bring on a vote of no confidence in the House of Assembly this afternoon.

Thirty Members are said to have defected from Sir Michael Somare’s ruling National Alliance coalition.

Today's PNG Post-Courier reports that the first item on Parliament's agenda will be a motion of no confidence in the Speaker.

The Opposition says it gained support of the Government members at a meeting of MPs in the Eastern Highlands last week. The meeting was convened to discuss mining legislation, but turned its attention to national governance.

“The government will just have to face the music,” an Opposition strategist told the Post-Courier. “If you look at this current Parliament, many of these MPs are first timers and they are frustrated that there is nothing good for them, even those in the Government ranks. We also have 13 governors supporting us."

There has been considerable disquiet in PNG recently because of what are seen to be inequities in the distribution of wealth from a range of resource enterprises.

The Opposition says momentum is building for a change of government and that a no-confidence vote could be attempted during this week's sitting of Parliament.

Sir Michael, deriding the prospect of a no-confidence vote, questioned whether Sir Mekere even had the support of his own MPs.

Dangerous Keravat high school faces closure

The board of Keravat National High School in Rabaul says the famous school will be suspended at the end of this academic year if facilities are not updated.

The news has shocked people associated with the school, which has educated PNG leaders since it was established in 1947.

“This report is very serious,” says Sir Paulias Matane, PNG Governor-General. “Please work out something positive for the concerned people to do for our former school.”

It comes within days of the formation of a Keravat Alumni Association and as a history of the school is being published. The book, Tuum Est - the history of Keravat National High School and its students 1947-1986 by Barbara Short, will be launched at Keravat by Sir Paulias on 10 September.

At its most recent meeting, the school board resolved to shut the school because of its dangerous state of disrepair. Many classrooms and dormitories that were condemned in 2004 are still being used.

An electrical company has refused to work on the buildings because the structures are unsound, roofs leak and it is dangerous to run electrical wiring through the building. Last week a student was electrocuted - but survived.

Yesterday principal Lilian Hahai reported that a teacher required medical attention when rotting steps collapsed under him and he sustained injuries to a leg.

Ms Hahai said that, despite the board’s decision, only the Minister for Education has the power to close the school. The board, however, has taken the stand that if nothing is done to improve the buildings, it will have no option but to suspend the school at the end of this year.

In anticipation of this closure, the board has approached the media to advise parents to looking for places elsewhere for current Grade 11 students.

WW2 remains examined by Defence Department

The Office of Australian War Graves, part of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, has said human remains found near Kokopo on 16 June will be buried in the Bitapaka War Cemetery if they are identified as being Australian servicemen.

Responsibility for the recovery and identification of the remains lies with the Department of Defence, which has placed them in secure storage and will forensically examine them in the near future.

OAWG was responding to Bruce Crawford OAM, an executive member of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles and Papua New Guinea Volunteer Rifles Ex Members Association, who expressed interest in the finding of the skeletal remains, suspected to be World War II Australians, in a pit near Kokopo.

“Men of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles (an Australian Regiment) met the Japanese on their landing at Rabaul on 23 January 1942 and, though overrun, continued to engage the Japanese as they retreated down the coast of New Britain,” Mr Crawford said.

“Though it is more likely the remains will turn out to be men of the 2/22nd Battalion, I would be pleased if you could note our interest, particularly if it turns out that the remains are those of men of the NGVR,” he said.

OCDP reports on the real Papua New Guinea

Oro Community Development Project

It is relatively simple to distort the image of Papua New Guinea and its people.  Most media reporting is of unbridled violence and sorcery. As a young, growing country the challenges of governance, public services, employment and opportunity are ever present.

If you spend some time moving about the provinces and talking with the people, you find the real pulse of the place. 

They experience the same emotions as we do – they laugh, cry, become frightened, express compassion, love and joy. They want to be successful, want the best for their children. Now through access to the internet and mobile phones at the village level, they know what is happening around the world. 

While there are signs of worthwhile progress that benefit the majority, there is still a way to go.

After the OCDP team’s visit to Oro Province in April, key decisions were made about the focus of our professional support.

The two village schools to be supported are St James’ School at Hohorita and Holy Cross School at Gona. The PNG outcomes based syllabus is new and soundly based. With extra support for teachers, implementation should become easier. The related curriculum materials are necessary as are the student textbooks. OCDP aims to provide these materials together with the professional support.

Clean Hands, Good Health and Bright Smiles, Bright Futures are health initiatives developed by Colgate-Palmolive. Their target is to improve the health of children and communities around the world through education and prevention. Colgate has agreed to partner OCDP to help implement the basic daily practices of good hygiene.

This involves brushing teeth both day and night, using toothbrushes and toothpaste as well as focusing on regular hand washing at certain times throughout the day. Colgate will become actively involved by both supplying materials and personnel. This initiative will become part of the daily program at the beginning of each school day and will be the responsibility of the class teacher.

The maternal and infant death rates in PNG are the highest of any other Pacific nation and equate to some of the worse rates in Africa. Much of this can be attributed to inadequate hygiene practices during childbirth. For most mothers, the only option is to deliver the baby in the village.

OCDP have become an official Zonta International distributor of the highly acclaimed birthing kits. These are the size of a cigarette box and contain materials that assist in following the six clean methods of delivery – clean hands, clean birth surface, clean ties, clean cut, clean cord care and clean eyes.

The kit consists of a piece of soap for washing hands and mother before delivery, a clean sheet for the child during delivery, a sterile razor blade to cut the cord, clean ties to tie the ‘rope’ and swabs to clean the baby’s eyes after delivery.

The Mother’s Union in Popondetta fully support OCDP and will assist in the distribution of up to 3 000, kits each year becoming an integral part of the program. OCDP health professionals will accept responsibility for the training of the Mothers’ Union volunteers. There is also the vital requirement for the careful monitoring of the effectiveness of the campaign.

Malaria causes more deaths in PNG than any other disease including HIV/Aids.  The use of anti-malaria bed nets dramatically reduces the adverse impact. ‘Rotarians Against Malaria’ has been given major responsibility for organising the distribution of anti-malaria bed nets in PNG. The Global Fund in Geneva have guaranteed to meet the estimated cost of US$175m.

OCDP hope to be involved in this process in Oro Province and has registered its willingness and capacity to meet the project outcomes. 

For further information please contact the Project at info@oropng.org

Source: Newsletter of the Oro Community Development Project

PNG govt taken to task over carbon trading

Sir Mekere Morauta, Leader of the PNG Opposition, speaking in Parliament, has challenged the Somare Government over its putative carbon trading activities.

He has expressed alarm at developments that had recently come to light in relation to premature carbon trading, and unusual agreements with a large number of companies to trade carbon on behalf of PNG “without proper scrutiny and without regulatory policy or legislation in place”.

“If we are not careful, cowboys operating behind the scenes, using our name and wearing our cloak, will reap the lion’s share of carbon revenue,” Sir Mekere said.

“It appears that the Prime Minister and his henchmen, including the Minister for Planning and more recently the Director of the Office of Climate Change, have been hawking these potential assets around the world to all and sundry”.

Sir Mekere said one firm appointed by the government, Climate Assist (PNG), is a one dollar company based in Rockhampton with its sole director, Mr Gregory Corby, providing an address in Toowoomba.

“Another Australian company, Carbon Planet, last year advanced the Office of Climate Change $1.2 million,” he said. “As with Climate Assist, the Opposition wonders what connections Carbon Planet and its Chairman, Mr Jim Johnson have with the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister’s associates.”

“A close relative of the Prime Minister is involved with yet another company, Pacific Carbon,” he said. “The media alleges the PM’s relative has been urging people in East Sepik to sign away rights to land for trading carbon to this company.

“We also wonder why, when questioned about this payment by an AAP reporter, Mr Johnson would say so defensively: ‘I am not explaining at all. I am not having this conversation’.

Sir Mekere went on to say that these three cases were not the only examples of premature carbon trading conducted by the PNG government.

“Apparently last year, the Office of Climate Change authorized a Swiss based broker, South Pole Carbon Asset Management, to market 1 million tonnes of avoided carbon dioxide emission per annum from a PNG logging project based in the Sepik."

He also revealed that Macquarie Bank is the latest company to want to jump on the bandwagon.

“Macquarie Bank has been in discussions with the Office of Climate Change, offering to broker carbon trade deals and retain 15% of profits,” he said. “If the voluntary carbon market turns out to be worth billions of dollars in the next couple of years, as predicted by a number of players, the Bank’s 15% would be very handsome income indeed.”

“It is obvious that the whole situation in relation to carbon trading in our country is a complete and utter mess,” Sir Mekere concluded. “Instead of developing an appropriate policy and legal framework that ensures protection of the interests of landowners and the state, the Prime Minister, Ministers and the staff of the Office of Climate Change have been criss-crossing the globe, appointing ‘brokers’ on who knows what terms, and basically selling people’s and national assets at whim.

“If the funds have not been paid to Consolidated Revenue, we want to know how are they being accounted, and what authority the Office of Climate Change has to raise or to spend these funds.

“Above all, we want to know why the Government is promoting all these deals, when there is no regulatory policy or legislation for carbon trading in PNG."

Cock fighting larrikin now PNG carbon trader

AAP’s Port Moresby correspondent ILYA GRIDNEFF has been doing some digging around the PNG carbon trading imbroglio, and has discovered some colourful characters…

A former Australian horse trainer who ran a Philippines cock fighting business is involved in carbon deals central to an inquiry into PNG's suspended climate change boss.

Kirk William Roberts denies any wrongdoing in his carbon dealings in PNG and claims former business associates are running a smear campaign against him.

"I am a loveable larrikin," Roberts said from his Port Moresby home. "I've done nothing wrong, we're doing good things. I am the most beneficial foreigner to this country right now."

But Roberts' role in a series of carbon deals is now at the crux of PNG's carbon trading woes that includes an investigation in Dr Theo Yasause's role as director of the country's Office of Climate Change.

Dr Yasause gave Hong Kong based company Forest Top and Mr Roberts, a director of another company called Nupan PNG, an official mandate to trade carbon after Roberts locked in local landowners for potential carbon deals.

But documents show Dr Yasause issued the mandate when he was the PNG prime minister's chief of staff, signing documents as interim director of OCC on 12 May 2008, one month before he was officially appointed director.

The documents show Dr Yasause allowed Mr Roberts to go to the world market offering lucrative carbon credits in PNG. On the same day Roberts and Yasause also signed a memorandum of understanding with Forest Top director David Leamey to facilitate international carbon credit deals.

Forest Top then gave Australian company Carbon Planet the exclusive rights to broker the credits and provide technical and scientific input to verify the credits. Forest Top was to be the body that distributed carbon credit sale proceeds to the stakeholders like Nupan, Carbon Planet and landowners.

An Australian Securities and Investments Commission document shows Carbon Planet last year gave $1.2 million for projects in PNG which were associated with Nupan and Forest Top.

Carbon Planet chairman Jim Johnson said they still stood by their PNG deals but declined to comment further. The deal between Yasause and Roberts' company Nupan became public last month, and as PNG does not have any carbon policy nor legislation for such ventures, the PNG government sidelined Yasause and launched a full investigation into the OCC.

The prime minister's media secretary Betha Somare said any of the deals struck were not valid.

Nupan and Forest Top are now in dispute and Leamey and Roberts are locked in various legal battles over wide ranging allegations centred in the Philippines, where Roberts is under investigation by the Philippine immigration department.

"I want nothing to do with carbon credits and nothing to do with Kirk William Roberts," Leamey said.

Source: AAP Report by Ilya Gridneff, 16 July 2009

Rampaging police hold Sepik village to ransom

Gelab Piak

Smain village west of Wewak is still in a state of shock and fear after police raided homes, took the village under control and held it to ransom for four hours on Monday.

The policemen left the village only after they were paid K2,400 in cash and given a pig worth K1,000.

Village councillor Ignas Sual said, when the officers arrived, they appeared drunk and harassed people, fired several shots, destroyed property and threatened to burn houses and rape the women if their demand for money was not met.

The police raid was in response to an earlier attack by several drunken youths from the village on a Forestry vehicle travelling from Vanimo to Wewak on 4 July.

Fearful villagers paid the ransom, and the police ordered the councillor to bring in the suspects the next day.

The suspects arrived in Wewak and were beaten by police before being released after they paid another K400. None was charged.

A detailed report of the earlier incident could not be obtained from police yesterday as the provincial police commander was attending a meeting.

A formal complaint of the incident has been reported to Wewak police for investigation.

Gone, Beeps, in a great flipping flaming flambe

You remember the Burns Philp department store in downtown Moresby? Roughly, very roughly, opposite the rough Bottom Pub. Uptown was the Top Pub, 50 yards away.

Beeps. Remember it? Large canvas punkah ventilation systems punkahing overhead. Relentlessly stirring the humidity. We could have been in Delhi if we’d the imagination for it.

The Burns Philp store burned down the other day. Nothing left except the old clock tower. Until I saw the aerial photo I hadn’t realised just how close to the wharf it was. Everything seemed further away, more spacious, then. Maybe it was because the mind was working faster.

A blogger, Mad Dog of Madang, has written of this final fatal fire…

'We were sitting on the balcony drinking wine and saw a huge plume of smoke from downtown. Like any good PNGer we immediately raced towards the disaster and saw the final moments of the famous yet flammable Burns Philip building...

"There were vast and knowledgeable crowds who were remarkably close to the action and a few brave firemen trying to save Westpac with some very leaky hoses… It was quite a communal affair. Well ordered and quite solemn at times."

I liked the Burns Philp store. Just down from the Chimbu and just married, it seemed like David Jones gone tropical so far had the mind wandered.

The staff were friendly enough. And there were more trade goods than in the entire highlands’ supply of Heagneys. You could easily spend an hour there buying whatever you liked – from jockettes to joke books

Everywhere has an aroma, Moresby had the aroma of sweet sweat. After the first day you got used to it and never smelled it again until you went away for a while.

Until you went into Beeps, where you could smell this musky ambience – and then slip over the road for a beer or three in the Snake Pit, if my memory serves me right. (‘Serves you right’, says my memory.)

If you have stories of the late, great Beeps, pre flambé, write them now while you can. They’ll be appreciated. Link in through Comments below.

Funding problems stall PNG race riot inquiry

It looks like a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ as concerns grow that the PNG Parliament’s bipartisan committee investigating recent anti-Asian riots is going nowhere.

Committee chairman Jamie Maxtone-Graham told Parliament the committee formed in May to investigate and report on the causes of the riots had stalled due to lack of funds.

Mr Maxtone-Graham said the committee would need K3 million to conduct hearings in the four regions of the country and K1 million for the inquiry.

“We are crippled by lack of funds because we have to listen to our people,” Mr Maxtone-Graham said. “If we don’t, we will be seen to be losing touch. It is a time-bomb. How do we solve the problem? We have to go out and defuse the situation. The last thing we want is more destruction, burning and looting.”

Opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta blamed the Government for allowing Asians to come in. “I do not think we need K1 million to solve the problem. The Prime Minister [and other Ministers] have to make statements of loopholes in the net that allowed Asians to swim through,” he said.

PNG Attitude believes this is one of those important issues on which the Australian Government, appreciating the critical nature of the inquiry, could help out our neighbour by offering  logistical and financial assistance.

Our politicians and bureaucrats should see that getting to the root causes of the race riots will potentially provide an important policy input into the thinking of the PNG Government about issues of social harmony and stability.

Anti-corruption rallies in Moresby & Kokopo

An energetic Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane and PNG Transparency International chairman Peter Aitsi lead yesterday’s early morning Walk Against Corruption in Port Moresby. Despite bad weather hundreds of people also marched in Kokopo.

Ilya Gridneff of AAP, who covered the Port Moresby march, said only three Members of Parliament turned up, all of them from the Opposition.

Photo: Ekar Keapu, The National

Thousands to march against PNG corruption

In a spectacular outpouring of public discontent, more than 4,000 people are expected to join Walks Against Corruption in PNG tomorrow.

Around 3,000 people are expected to turn out in the capital Port Moresby and 1,000 others will take part in a march in Kokopo.

The walk is organised by Transparency International in PNG and is expected to raise K325,000 to support TI’s objectives in the fight against corruption.

People from 125 corporations and 93 schools as well as 2,500 individuals will participate in the demand for greater honesty and integrity in the political, public and commercial life of PNG.

Transparency International says it has been “overwhelmed” by the level of interest in the march. It said the response was so big it had to close registration for participants.

TI chairman, Peter Aitsi, told Radio Australia that mismanagement of the country's resources are keeping it poor. "The community is obviously concerned about the current situation,” he said.

“There is an ongoing deterioration of the ability of government to deliver services to its rural majority and out of those concerns has come this overwhelming support by the public to take part in this walk against corruption.”

Marchers will assemble at Murray Barracks Oval in Port Moresby at 5.30 am and the walk will move along 3 Mile Road, Angau Drive and back to Murray Barracks Oval.

The list of sponsors of the walk is a who’s who of PNG public, private and NGO enterprise, including some organisations that probably should take a harder look at their own practices.

PNG criminals are better armed than police

PNG Police Commissioner Gari Baki will tell the Ministerial Committee on Law and Order next week that his police force will grind to a halt unless hundreds of millions of kina are spent to resurrect it.

The PNG National has reported that there is a serious threat that PNG Police will soon be unable to maintain law and order.

Police see the meeting as a last-ditch effort to get Government support. Mr Baki says the lack of adequate funding over the years since independence in 1975 has taken its toll on the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary.

PNG has 4,800 police, half of whom have reached retirement age and, of the remaining 2,400, half are approaching retirement. Mr Baki says the situation has reached crisis point.

The Police require K50 million extra for housing, vehicles and to buy equipment needed to fight crime.

Police say PNG criminals are better armed than they are and, in the event of major civil unrest, Police will find it difficult to maintain peace in the community.

Source: ‘Dying force - Police facing shutdown warns Baki’ by Oseah Philemon, The National, 29 May 2009