𝗦𝗶𝗿 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗲: 𝗗𝗿𝘂𝗺𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀

 𝘉𝘺 𝘙𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 - 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯

Michael Somare, bearded, eager, proud and secure within his own remarkable culture, became the face of Papua New Guinea to the world from the time the first daring troublemakers there began to dream of independence in the 1960s. Even more extraordinarily, he remained to his own people the face that mirrored their national aspirations over almost 50 years.

Other prime ministers came and went — Julius Chan and Paias Wingti, twice each — but when Somare returned to the top job in 2002 after a 17-year gap, he began his longest term in power.

He was knighted, and was awarded the top honour, a member of the Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu, after PNG also introduced its own honours system under his prime ministership in 2005. But he was ubiquitously known as “The Chief”.

His political longevity was principally owed to three chiefly skills: as a public speaker, both in the national language, Tok Pisin, and in English; as a chairman of the board, maintaining his fissiparous ministers in some kind of order; and as a parliamentary coalition builder and political numbers man, keeping track of the countless trade-offs required to maintain a majority in the PNG political bearpit.

Celebrating 40 years as an MP, Somare said: “I know what PNG politics tastes like.” And to ordinary Papua New Guineans, he remained the embodiment of their bright hopes, which he articulated at independence.

Why I walked out of Parliament on Friday - East Sepik Governor Allan Bird

By East Sepik - Governor Allan Bird

Tuesday 17th November 2020

Whenever something I consider wrong is happening on the floor of the Parliament, I will walk out in protest.

The Parliament is designed based on a sacred Abelam construct. I am an Abelam elder and I will not stand by when members deliberately abuse their privileges on the floor disrespecting my culture.

I have walked out of Parliament 3 times in protest so far. The first time was when Hon Kramer was referred to the Privileges Committee. I felt that was wrong. The second time was when Hon Yama was arguing on his personal interest against Hon Kramer. I asked the Speaker to send him out. When he did not, I walked out.

Friday last week I walked out for the 3rd time. As soon as I realized after Hon Paita raised a point of order that the Deputy Speaker was in collusion and the Law was about to be broken, I walked out in protest.

In 2011, when the Constitution was abused by MPs, I spoke up for the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

To me the Constitution is a sacred place, not to be trifled with or treated with contempt and disdain. I am not perfect but I will maintain my respect for our sacred places. It is something central to Abelam culture.

In my hausman we are told "Ples tambu, em ples tambu, yu nonap katim diwai, kisim saksak or Kanda long em. Yu nonap lo painim abus tu long hap. Tambu tru"

It is not ours to question why the laws are there it is only ours to obey. So any time anyone breaks the rules to pursue an interest I will not be party to it. You have lost me the minute you do that.

To my mind, anyone who is willing to break the law at one point will continue to break the law if it suits him. It's a principle, once you break into a sacred place, you never stop.

A pig who learns to break a fence and raid the garden will never stop doing it.

Why I walked out of Parliament on Friday - East Sepik Governor Allan Bird

The Porgera Gold Story - Enga's heartbeat

Sam Yockopua

16th July 2020

Stars align in a thousand years. Lightning does not strike the same place twice. And miracles do happen. You will drive through the red light 9 out of 10 times, but that 10th time, you will get it, you will regret why you took risks all the time when others waited for their turns to go.

Just like how criminals & terrorists forcefully blindfold, disable, torture and ridicule their victims in their own safe premises, Porgerans have become the living testament to the loot of their blessed land for 30 years. You don't need to go further than a few meters walk out of the gold mine gate to Yokolama, Kulapi, Pandadaka, Anawe, Yarik, or Apalaka and you for yourself how these SML landowners have lived and continue to squatter in slums and ghettos.

LATE MALIPU BALAKAU'S VISION ON THE PORGERA GOLD MINE DEVELOPMENT / SCANDALOUS MINING CONTRACT FIASCO

Elwyn Pupang Pilyo

May 23 at 1:20 PM

The Porgera Mining Contract of ‘89’ was significantly altered, devoid of the aspirations of then Enga Regional MP, late Hon. Malipu Balakau. The final paper excluded clauses that had been vigorously pushed for by Hon. M Balakau during the forums with the State and Joint Venture Partners months earlier. Had this visionary leader’s radical and nationalistic agenda been captured in the final draft, the course of history, including the socio-economic landscapes, of both Enga Province and PNG, been without doubt positively different.

After his election victory in ‘87’ late Hon. M Balakau set out to do exactly what he had promised his voters during his campaign. He was determined to underpin his dream for Enga’s radical advancement at the back of EPG’s greater participation in developing the gold discovered at Porgera, and therefrom, launch his pitch to be the first PM from Enga Province.

His famed speech ‘to reverse the wind that is blowing’ fanned the hopes of a predominately illiterate but prideful and headstrong people. Though new comers to the outside world the Engan men’s ideals and beliefs of greatness were deeply entrenched in the dynamic and complex cultural setting that had been passed on untainted from a far but traceable past.

Prime Minister Marape urges Oil Search to Pay Tax

Monday, 15 July 2019

Prime Minister Hon. James Marape, MP has urged Oil Search to pay its fair share of tax due to the Government and people of Papua New Guinea.

Mr Marape was speaking at the occasion to mark the 90th anniversary of Oil Search operations in the country last week.

He said Oil Search and PNG Government have been sharing this journey for a long time since PNG gained independence in 1975.

“I like to believe that PNG governments in the past and present have had quite a significant input into what Oil Search is today and without that support, Oil Search shares will still be pegging along the same track as Santos and many of the companies operating in the country.

“I want to pay my respects to the landowners of the entire areas in which Oil Search has operated since 1929, some of them here tonight, me included.

Prime Minister Marape Demonstrates True Leadership In Opting To Resign

Prime Minister Marape demonstrates true leadership in opting to resign It is rare for a Prime Minister, Premier or President of any given nation to opt to resign from office instantly if found guilty of having committed a crime over controversial State deals.

July 4, 2019

It is rare for a Prime Minister, Premier or President of any given nation to opt to resign from office instantly if found guilty of having committed a crime over controversial State deals.

In this case it is PNG’s newly elected Prime Minister James Marape who genuinely told Parliament yesterday he would not have any qualms at all about resigning from office if he is found guilty of having breached any law relating to the scandalous K4 billion UBS loan.

It only takes leaders of integrity, standing and uprightness to openly declare their commitment to the high office they hold to make such a bold and daring statement.

Too often leaders do not readily want to declare themselves subject to the laws of the land but try their utmost best to circumvent and prolong the legal process to ensure they are not subjected to close and detailed scrutiny over scandalous deals involving public money and resources.

The nation is actually watching the new leadership right now in light of the revelations of the Ombudsman Commission report into the UBS loan which highlight the path played by this country’s top leaders and bureaucrats when the money was obtained for the purposes of buying into Oil Search. The deal is so complex that the ordinary person will not have any idea of how these sort of complicated arrangements are made. Why it is complicated is because it involves mega dollars and international financial advisers, financial institutions, banks, legal companies and a host of specialist consultants.

Being the leader of a nation is a special calling, a personal ambition, commitment and sometimes can be by default depending on whatever the political circumstances that prevail at any given time. Other reasons are intentional when there is a need to change the leadership of a country where circumstances are no longer conducive for a functioning democracy or where there is rampant corruption. Other reasons include financial and economic crisis where the leadership of a nation blindly leads its populace into believing well orchestrated announcements of resilient progress to the contrary. Prime Minister Marape exited from the O’Neill government in protest over certain decisions made by the executive government together with his now Deputy Prime Minister Davis Steven.

They both protested actions which seemingly were not in the national interest and perhaps did not adhere to the legal requirements of the laws governing the country. They are both commended for their brave stands despite their having had to forego their ministerial privileges when they did so.

For Prime Minister Marape, he has taken that conscious decision to step down from the land’s highest office if found guilty of any wrongdoing over the UBS scandal. There has to be a bench mark set for leadership requirements of this country where they have to resign instantly from office when confronted with such controversial questions over their ability to hold such high office.

Post Courier Editorial

PNG DIPLOMAT EXPLAINS CHINESE LOANS TO PNG

Commentary by Phil Senginawa

PNG Facebook population is inundated with semi-literate commentators. People need to understand the difference between Aid/Grants and Soft/Concessional Loans.

We can complain and complain till the pigs fly regardless of whatever government is in charge. PNG currently owes China US$634 million (PGK2.12 billion) in soft loan and its insignificant, can be repayable after a brief period whereas Sri Lanka owes China US$64 billion in Loans which is nearly 90% of their GDP.

Countries and Multi-National Corporations rely on loans to pursue their development Agenda. Unless if you have huge financial reserves or substantial sovereign wealth fund to finance your infrastructure developments.

With a narrow economic base like PNG, financing for development is not an easy task. It needs economic diversification and monetary policy realignment.

If advanced economies are not getting loans from international and regional financial institutions, they're issuing treasury bonds domestically and that is a form of domestic loan. Almost all countries are indebted domestically or internationally and they have fiscal deficits anyhow.

If western powers are influencing developing countries not to acquire loans from China then where should they get loans to fund their infrastructure developments, should they stick to IMF and World Bank where they pay annual membership fees to be eligible to get loans that comes with strict conditions and high interest repayments?

China's loans are flexible, however all PNG needs is to strengthen its governance structure against the possible corrupt dealings that comes with the loans. Also be firm on the Terms of Reference and ensure 50/50 benefits to PNG private sector.

Used with permission from https://www.facebook.com/pg/pngbreakingnews

Dare to dream, but in PNG it’s not enough

By Dulciana Somare-Brash

There are many people commenting online on the impacts of decisions taken by the current Papua New Guinea government. Many express their feelings about a looming fiscal crisis, these range from fury to indifference. In the haste for change once again it is easy to assume that a new crop of freshly elected leaders in a newly constituted PNG parliament after 2017 will miraculously create the change PNG needs!

We must not forget that the same laws will apply in the same national parliament and provincial houses of assembly. In the same national and district courtrooms, case law will grow and precedents will continue to be set in the absence of the hard questions that may never get asked about the blatant breaches in our society and adopted system of government.

Our broken service delivery system and our overheated economy will need more than elected candidates with tunnel vision.