Post Courier, Monday February 9, 2015

MINISTER TURNS HEAT ON POLICE CHIEF

REVISED LAW TO CLAMP DOWN ON ‘SEXTING’

PM: TIME TO SPEAK OUT ON WEST PAPUA PLIGHT

MAJOR POLICY SHIFT: PAGE 7

Grace period over

Partners assure PM of support as no-confidence vote rumours surface

BY ISAAC NICHOLAS

THE 30-month grace period protecting Prime Minister Peter O’Neill from a vote of no-confidence has ended and rumours are rife that moves are afoot to topple him.

The grace period expired last week and so far only two key coalition partners had given their reassurance of Mr O’Neill’s continued leadership, further fuelling speculation that a serious chal-

lenge would be made when Parliament starts tomorrow for the first session of the year.

Islands-based People’s Progress Party and Highlands-based United Resources Party said on Friday they were with Mr O’Neill and his People’s National Congress. The other key coalition partner is Momase-based National Alliance led by Treasury Minister Patrick Pruaitch.

CONTINUED PAGE 2

Police Commissioner owes PNG an explanation

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POLICE

Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki owes an explanation to his Minister Robert Atiyafa and to the people of Papua New Guinea for failing to attend the 2015 Leaders’ Summit last week in Port Moresby.

The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) has in the last six weeks come under the spotlight over the actions of his men and the conference last week was an opportunity for him to tell the nation how he intends to address police brutality and other illegal acts perpetrated by his officers under the guise of policing. We applaud Police Minister Robert Atiyafa for publicly expressing his anger at the failure by commissioner to attend the conference. Minister, you are correct, the injection of K275 million into the RPNGC is a lot of money and Papua New Guineans need to know the details on the drawdown of the funds. It is now time for the Minister to do his own assessment of the performance of the Police Commissioner since his appointment and whether he is the right man for the job, in light of his failure to attend that Government-sanctioned conference. Mr Vaki’s absence from the 2015 Leader’s Summit last week also raises questions about the Government’s own ability to address disciplinary problems within the constabulary that continue to trigger criticism and condemnation by ordinary Papua New Guineans. The decision by the National Executive Council (NEC) to approve an additional K3 billion for the constabulary’s police modernisation program – spread out over a five-year period – is a major policy decision by the current Government. However, the benefits and the realisation of that mammoth funding on the constabulary cannot be realised without having a captain who is serious about his job and commands the respect of his peers.

The alleged involvement of RPNGC members in the shooting death of Lae resident Pisimi Moanna, the death of a youth from Tatana Island outside the NCD who was at the centre of a murder investigation and the tragic shooting of two Hanuabada villagers points to years of neglect and lack of command and control within the constabulary. The police have become a law unto themselves and now strike fear in ordinary Papua New Guineans, and if social media is any indication of public opinion, they fear the men-inblue more than criminals. Yesterday the family, relatives and friends of slain Hanuabada villagers Toka Gaudi and Nicholas Rarua moved their bodies to the village in Port Moresby to overnight before they are laid to rest today. Their deaths have started a nationwide movement, which has now placed the RPNGC management on notice to account for the actions of their ill-disciplined officers. It is a movement that could threaten the peace and security of the PNG capital and surrounding areas if justice is not delivered.

We note the priority areas under the constabulary’s modernisation program in housing, a RPNGC database and ICT upgrade as well as logistical support comprising a fleet of vehicles, boats and helicopters. The constabulary’s assets and infrastructure is in urgent need of a major overhaul and funding allocated under this program will achieve that. But the reforms will need a captain who is committed to the task, is respected within and outside the constabulary and is a disciplinarian.

Paula Speakman

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Vaki’s absence at summit irks minister

BY MICHAEL KOMA

POLICE minister Robert Atiyafa is not happy with Police Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki for failing to attend the 2015 Leaders Summit in Port Moresby last week.

Mr Atiyafa said he was quite upset as Mr Vaki did not show up at the meeting as expected to table a report on the progress of the police modernisation program.

The national Government had injected K275 million into the program in 2013.

“Late last year I requested the Police Department to fur-

nish me a report on how the funds were expended under the program. I was dissatisfied with the content of the report, especially on the drawing down of the funds, and directed them to do the report again. The revised

report, if completed, is supposed to be presented before the summit by the Police Commissioner but he failed to do that. If Mr Vaki is busy he should have assigned one of his deputies to attend the gathering and present the report.”

The Henganofi MP told journalists in Goroka last Friday that pressing issues in his electorate has distracted him from attending the summit.

“I informed Prime Minister Peter ONeill about the massive landslide and tribal violence in my electorate. It would have been proper if

the commissioner attended the summit and present edthe report on the police modernisation program.

Mr Atiyafa said the National Executive Council has approved an additional K3 billion for the police modernisation program. “The funding will be spread out over the next five years beginning fiscal 2015.” He said the priority areas under the program are: housing for police personnel, establishing police database and information technology plus logistical support like fleets of vehicles, boats and helicopters.

Micah tells PM: My party is with you

FROM PAGE 1

PPP leader Ben Micah told Mr O’Neill in Tok Pisin that PPP, the party he leads, was “solidly behind” him.

There had been speculations since the grace period ended last Wednesday that Mr Micah was orchestrating moves to topple Mr O’Neill. Another speculation was that Vanimo-Green MP Belden Namah, disillusioned at being unceremo-

niously dumped by Kandep MP Don Polye for the Opposition Leadership, may join Government to bolster its ranks.

Mr Micah is the Public Enterprises Minister, and was chief of staff to Prime Minister O’Neill between Aug 2011 and March 2012.

“I can’t speak for the others but you can be assured of the support of the party that introduced the provincial government reforms in

1995, which you are continuing with district authorities,” he told the Prime Minister.

At the halfway mark of the five-year term of the current Parliament, the O’Neillled Government appeared strong and stable.

A report card of the implementation of its core policies and development programs, presented at the Leaders Summit last Thursday, received glowing

praise from those present, including representatives from the private sector.

Leader of the United Resources Party William Duma, who is Transport Minister, also declared his party’s support for the Prime Minister.

Attempts to get Opposition Leader Don Polye and Vanimo-Green MP Belden Namah for their comments last night were unsuccessful.

MINISTER Robert Atiyafa

Falling oil prices delays gas project

BY PATRICK T WUNDAI

RECENT sharp falls in the oil price, which is presently close to US$50 (K130) a barrel, has reportedly forced the Stanley Condensate Gas project proponents to delay the project up to a year.

The falling oil price is said to have an adverse impact on Project economics, causing the Developers – Talisman, Horizon Oil (Papua) Limited, Osaka Gas Niugini Pty Ltd and Diamond Gas Niugini B.V – to delay the commencement of the Project construction pending a review of the Project’s design and alternative development options.

Minister for Petroleum and Energy, Nixon Duban, with Grant Christie, Vice President of Talisman

The bottom line

Niugini Pty Ltd, revealed in a press conference last Friday it would take a year or so to finalise the review.

They highlighted the importance of the review stating that: “A profitable Stanley Project will benefit the Government, the people and the Developers. The Project design reviews are expected to be completed in 2015.”

The Stanley State Gas Agreement includes a milestone Domestic Market Obligation clause whereby 15 per cent of the gas is reserved for domestic consumption.

Minister Duban said he was pleased with Talisman’s continued progression of downstream monetarisation options for the Stanley

resource and expects agreements to be finalised in 2015.

“The objective is to target local buyers; this includes gas sales to nearby mines and condensate sales to local customers. We are also looking into the feasibility of producing refined products from Stanley to meet local demands”, Mr Christie said.

“We will take the opportunity created by the delay in construction to work closely with local landowners to agree with the Umbrella Company structure and to assist with the development of landowner companies’ skills in order to optimise their participation during the construction phase” he added.

Talisman will also initi-

ate a number of community investment projects in preparation for the Project’s start up.

Minister Duban praised Talisman’s level of commitment to the Western Province.

“Talisman has developed a strong reputation for assisting local communities with education, health and agriculture activities,” Mr Christie told reporters.

“I welcome the leadership and international experience that Talisman brings to this Project and I support them and confirm them as the Operator. Talisman, with their expertise, will bear to ensure this Project works in the best interests of the people of Western Province,” Minister Duban said.

PM WOES DEMOCRACY at work

in the Land Down

Under? Australian MPs are describing the leadership tussle within the ruling Liberal Party as embarrassing. PM Tony Abbott has brought forward a leadership spill motion to this morning.

NEW PM?

OUR neighbours could have a new PM this morning if party members vote to ditch Abbott. Malcolm Turnbull is the pundits’ favourite to step up to the role, though Foreign Minister and Abbott’s deputy Julie Bishop is a possibility.

INSTABILITY

THE change in the PM’s position has become a key feature of Australian politics in the last four years. The last Labour government experienced an in-house revolt which saw the elevation of Kevin Rudd at the expense of Julia Gillard.

REMOVE IT

WHO is supervising the contractor working on the NCD’s Two Mile Hill road?

The foundation for a new light pole is being laid right in the middle of the footpath. There is room outside the footpath but the contractor has thought otherwise.

DANGEROUS

SURELY someone in the NCDC’s engineering service would have noticed the light pole foundation. It is dangerous to pedestrians especially children. Remove it now so we don’t have to live with the hazard for 10-20 years.

BLUNDERS

UK will become the first country in the world to investigate the extent of avoidable deaths in its public health system. Authorities estimate up to 1000 deaths a month from hospital blunders which UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says shouldn’t happen.

PNG QUERY

THE authorities in the UK will revisit 2000 case files of deceased patients as part of its investigation. If the PNG Health Department decided to conduct a similar query it can easily access that information on Facebook.

AFFORD IT

PNG medical history will be made this Friday when the private medical service provider PIH commissions PNG’s first neonatal ICU at Three Mile Taurama. However, the burning question is whether ordinary folk can afford the state of the art gynaecology and maternity service.

Oil is a hydrocarbon derived from organic material typically from seas and lakes buried under great pressure and heat.

THE road to the PNGDF Air Transport Wing, PNG Air Services and the Jackson Airport rescue service is in a state of disrepair! Hallo Ministers for Civil Aviation and Defence? We know public works doesn’t fall under your portfolio but at least talk to your Works colleague. It is an eye sore.

EYE SORE

PENGEE: thedrum@spp.com.pg

MR Duban (middle) with Mr Christie (left) updating on the project last Friday. Picture: TARAMI LEGEI

City hall bemoans demise of reservists

DEPUTY city manager and NCD buai ban controller

Honk Kiap has described the disbanding of the NCDC police reserve unit as a “knee jerk reaction” of the Police Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki.

Mr Kiap was “horrified” that the decision to disband the unit was relayed to the NCDC management through the media and not officially in writing by Mr Vaki.

“Where is the courtesy from the police hierarchy to formally advise us of the decision to disband the NCDC reserve unit?” Mr Kiap said in a media statement. “We prefer to be formally advised on the matter and following the proper protocols than be informed through a third party.”

As reported in the media, Mr Vaki decided to disband the unit on allegations of the unit’s involvement in the Hanuabada shootings.

Mr Kiap saw the move by the Police Commissioner as an “inconclusive attempt by the police hierarchy to put the blame squarely on the NCDC reserve personnel.”

At a recent media conference on the Hanubada shootings, Mr Kiap had insisted that it was premature to be pointing fingers at the NCDC reserve unit.

“Right now it’s a police matter. Until such time the findings are revealed and those implicated identified and referred accordingly we do not know who is involved.”

“I feel the Police Commissioner has acted prematurely to come up with such a rushed decision to disband the unit which is inno-

The bottom line

New bishop of Wewak

A LONG time Polish priest has been appointed as the Catholic Bishop of Wewak diocese.

Fr Józef Roszynski, SVD, was appointed by the Vatican on Friday as the new Bishop of Wewak.

The newly-elected Bishop was born on August 18, 1962, in Nidzica, diocese of Warmia, Poland. After completing his studies at the major Seminary of the Society of the Divine Word in Pieniezno, he was ordained as a priest for the same religious Congregation on April 30th 1989.

BASIS: The raising of auxillary police by the regular police force is authorised under section 199 of the constitution.

ORIGIN: The NCD police reserve was established in 2003 through a memorandum of understanding with the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary.

FUNCTIONS: The NCD police reserve was set up to basically help the regular police force in enforcing the NCD municipal laws.

DISBAND: The police commissioner Geoffery Vaki has reportedly announced the disband of the NCD police reserve.

REASON: The NCD police reserve is disband for allegedly overstepping the board in enforcing the ban on betelnut in NCD.

cent until proven guilty,”

Mr Kiap said and reiterated the position of the NCDC. “If members of the NCDC Reserve Unit were involved in that incident at Hanuabada village, we will take appropriate actions on those involved with the relevant penalties including appropriate compensation to the victims.”

The NCDC reserve police unit was set up in 2013 through a memorandum of agreement with the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary with the primary objective to enforce its municipal laws through appropriate police training by the RPNGC.

SELLING ON WEATHER TASTE

THE continuous raining for the whole of the previous Saturday prompted many street vendors in the nation’s capital swtich to selling umbrellas. Picture:

In 1991 he was sent on a mission in Papua New Guinea, in the diocese of Wewak.

Prior to his appointment as bishop, Fr Jozef has held various positions, including missionary in Wewak; vicepastor in Kunjingini and pastor in Warabung.

He took up studies as well as taught at the Divine Word University in Madang between 1994 and 2002.

The church said in a statement that Fr Jozef served as pastor in the district of Wirui and was made a member of the provincial council of the Divine Word Missionaries in PNG and also a pastor in the district of Wewak in 2002.

In 2005-2008, he was superior of the Divine Word of Wewak district, then in 2009-2010 was temporary provincial superior of the Divine Word in PNG.

Revised law to clamp down on ‘sexting’

THE revised censorship legislation will have provision on “sexting” when it is presented to Parliament, Community Development Minister Delilah Gore said on Friday.

It will also impose heavier penalties on offenders, whether individuals or companies.

Ms Gore said that revised legislation awaits the National Executive Council approval before presenta-

tion to the Parliament to pass it into a law.

The proposed new Act

is expected to have some heavy penalties for industries and individuals who do not comply with it or have been reported for certain offences.

One of the new provisions of the Act is ‘Sexting’.

“I have it ready, once it is finalised I will take it to Cabinet for approval before I can introduce it to Parliament,” she said.

With the changes in technology, the Censorship

Office had embarked on a nationwide consultation last year to get views and suggestions from the public, government agencies and companies in the telecommunication and entertainment industries.

Ms Gore was speaking during the formal announcement of Community Development Secretary Anna Solomon to her position for the next four years,

Police Force to set up auxilary force to enforce a particular set of rules under an Act of Parliament.

I will take the new law to cabinet for approval ...

DELILAH GORE

Port Moresby

TARAMI LEGEI

Australia to continue funding fight against TB

THE Australian government has announced a three-year package of assistance to support tuberculosis control in Papua New Guinea.

The package is an additional $15 million (K31.45m) funding support which intends to continue until 2017.

According to a statement from the Australian High Commission in PNG, the package aims to strengthen TB prevention and improve diagnosis and surveillance through better laboratory facilities, increasing hospital and community treatment and care and providing access to transport, nutrition and counselling services to

At a glance

TB SUPPORT PACKAGE: The Australian government has announced a three-year assistance package to support TB control. An additional $15m (K31.45m) funding support which will to continue until 2017.

AIM: To strengthen TB prevention and improve diagnosis and surveillance, increase hospital and community treatment and care and providing access to transport, nutrition and counselling.

ensure patients complete their treatment.

The funding would also focus on improving management of drug resistant TB, a growing problem due to patients failing to complete treatment, inadequate treatment regimes, and high rates

of transmission within communities.

With the highest rate of TB infection in the Pacific at an estimated 39,000 cases and 25,000 new infections each year, this additional funding will bring Australia’s support for TB control in PNG to

$60m (K125.8m) by 2016-17.

The new funding takes Australia’s overall funding for TB treatment and prevention in Western Province to $44.7m (K93.7m) by 2016-17, and also expands the assistance to the National Capital District, which accounts for 25 per cent of PNG’s TB cases.

While the number of new cases was falling globally, TB remained a serious challenge in the whole of the Pacific region.

Of the estimated nine million people who developed TB in 2013, more than half (56 per cent) were in the Indo-Pacific.

Australia said it continued to support its neighbours to develop and fund flexible and responsive health systems better equipped to combat TB.

The Australian government had also funded partnerships which bring new medicines, diagnostic tests and vaccines to market, with a particular focus on drugresistant TB.

Australia’s pledge of $200m (K419.4m) in core funding over 2014-16 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria has also contributed to 12.3 million new TB cases being detected and treated globally.

THE National Government will continue to transfer more functions and more responsibilities to the provinces.

This is on top of the record resources that are now directly under the control of provinces and districts, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said yesterday.

Mr O’Neill in his opening address to the Leaders Summit in Port Moresby said that key government policies in education, health, infrastructure, land and order and growing the economy were starting to impact on the life of people.

He said government interventions programs like the DSIP, PSIP and LLGSIP had been rolled out giving more resources to provinces to determine their development programs at the subnational level.

He said one other policy that was closer to his heart for 12 years was the establishment of services to the districts.

“The district authorities now play a key part in the genuine decentralisation of decision-making, and as a delivery mechanism of basic services to our people.

“I have travelled widely in our country in the last two years, and have observed first-hand the changes that are happening everywhere.”

“People can see, for the first time, light at the end of tunnel. A light, that is giving hope to our people of a better and meaningful life.”

“This government will continue to supply the resources that are needed through all of our districts and provinces, through the PSIP and DSIP programs that we have as long as we remain in government.”

“We have already spent close to K3 billion in the last two years.”

THE rains have left a mark at the new bus stop that caters for the travelling public to and from the Gordon area in Port Moresby. Commuters and PMV’s alike have no choice but to continue business in the mud, which can also be very unhygenic. Picture: TARAMI LEGEI

MUDDY

Pala: Kavo no longer governor

RECENTLY convicted

Havila Kavo is a prisoner of the State on bail who cannot claim to be Governor for Gulf Province, AttorneyGeneral Ano Pala said.

Mr Pala has written to Kavo saying that pending the appeal against his December 9, 2014, conviction, he could continue as an MP but not as Governor, adding that he had been wrongly advised to insist that he was Governor.

The Attorney-General said the fact was that Kavo had been convicted and sentenced for an offence in respect to the position he held as Governor and the Office of Governor, and he committed the offence in relation to the performance of his functions as Governor.

“Accordingly, it is my considered view that you are now guilty of misconduct in office and do not hold the position of Governor as you are now disqualified by law – that law being Section 27(1) and (5) Constitution – which now disqualifies you from continuing to hold office as Governor,” Mr Pala stated in his letter.

He clarified that Kavo’s appeal to the Supreme Court challenging the conviction and sentence and the resultant operation of Section 103(4) Constitution

Moving on and living in PNG

INDONESIAN fugitive Djoko Tjandra and his family’s’ investment in Papua New Guinea stands at an estimate K5 billion, according to the family’s business records.

Mr Tjandra, now a Papua New Guinean citizen going by the name Joe Chan, is currently building a K2 billion 32-floor skyscraper at Waigani, between the Central Government Building office and the National Mapping Bureau.

At a glance

PRISONER: With his recent conviction Havila Kavo has also forfeited his governorship title. STILL: He however still retains his MP seat and will be allowed to resume as Governor only when his appeal is successful.

PALA: Kavo was notified of this in a letter from Ano Pala, notifying him of his rights to his former positions.

only preserved his status as a Member of Parliament and did not extend to preserve his former position as Governor of Gulf because the issue of disqualification as Governor was addressed by the Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Governments.

Mr Pala said a copy of the letter would be sent to the clerk of Gulf provincial assembly, advising him to call a provincial assembly meeting in accordance with the relevant applicable law, including the assembly standing orders, and elect or appoint an acting governor to take over the duties.

If Kavo’s appeal was successful then he could subsequently resume office as governor, the AttorneyGeneral said.

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL PNG INC.

SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING

Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) is preparing for its Special General Meeting to endorse amendments to its Rules of Association. The amendments were discussed during its Annual General Meeting in June last year 2014.

The Special General Meeting will be held on TUESDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2015

Venue: INA Conference Room, 2nd Level IPA Haus, Konedobu TIME: 2:30pm - 4:00pm

TI PNG members are requested to get in touch with us to update your contact details for meeting documents to be sent to you.

If you or your organization has not renewed your membership for 2015 or you are interested in becoming a member, contact the TIPNG office immediately.

Call us on 320 2182, 320 2188 or 7192 4250 and speak with Yvonne Ngutlick.

Email: comstipng@gmail.com

Authorized by the TIPNG Board Secretary John Karani

UNDER MY UMBRELLA

IT can come suddenly and disappear suddenly these days. Be aware of the weather and come prepared like this gentleman who was lucky not to get soaked by the rain thanks to his umbrella. Picture:

Work on this skyscraper has been progressing since the start of 2014 and already the wanted tycoon has started the process of planning for a multi-billion kina 132-floor skyscraper in Port Moresby’s downtown central business district at Ela Beach.

In 2013, Mr Chan also announced a multi-million agriculture project – Naime Rice – in Central Province which is well underway. He is also eyeing a major building contract at Paga Hill and at several other locations in and around Port Moresby, to build, renovate or maintain some of the city’s major estates. He already has major investments all over PNG as well as Bali, Singapore, Malaysia and parts of the Pacific.

Justice Minister Ano Pala has responded to media reports from Indonesia that Jakarta was making fresh moves to extradite Mr Chan, saying he was a PNG citizen and protected by its laws.

Mr Chan was approached to comment on this but declined, saying he was not interested. He only wanted his businesses in PNG and abroad to prosper, he added.

Polye: Review Tjandra citizenship

THE Opposition has expressed concerns over the granting of PNG citizenship to the Indonesian fugitive Djoko Tjandra.

Opposition Leader Don Polye has described the fast procession of his citizenship, despite extraditable moves made against him, as “a slap in the face to the Indonesian government”.

“I am calling on the Government to review its decision in granting PNG citizenship status to someone with a questionable character,” said Mr Polye. He said such decisions had a high prospect of deteriorating the long-enjoyed mutual relationship between PNG and Indonesia.

“The Oppositions alterna-

tive government policy in terms of PNG foreign affairs under the theme “Enhancing mutual partnership with all” captures respect for PNG’s bilateral treaties and conventions.

“The Opposition truly believes that PNG should have peace, commerce and trade and above all honesty with nations,” he said.

Mr Polye added that if or when the Opposition was in power, it would not promote any disrespectful relations with other nations. He warned the Government to be wary of hurting other nations.

“Papua New Guinea needs to abide by Biblical guidelines with regards to foreign relations,” Mr Polye said.

Police set to see change of laws, policies

BY MICHAEL KOMA

LAWS governing police operations will be reviewed and modified in a bid to make the Royal PNG Constabulary more effective and professional.

Police Minister Robert Atiyafa said a team will be formed to look into police laws within the next six weeks and the amendments would be

handed to him for presentation to the National Executive Council for approval.

Mr Atiyafa said the proposed review would tighten up laws on the use of firearms by the police. He said training of police personnel would also come under the spotlight as the current six month training at Bomana Police College outside Port Moresby “is too

short to produce a professional and a disciplined officer.”

The minister said, “we will re-introduce the police cadet officers training in order to produce professional policemen and women to maintain law and order.

“I will make sure promotion of junior officers (ordinary constables) up the rank and file to inspectors and commanders is ceased. Properly

trained officers should be promoted to senior positions.”

The age group for police enlistment will be increased from the current 18 to 25 years. We don’t want young trigger-happy cops. We want a more mature and disciplined police force.

There is a certain degree of nepotism and favouritism in the recruitment of young people for police training.

TARAMI LEGEI

HOTEL-STYLE TOILETS

O’Neill: 2015 will be a defining year for PNG

THIS year will be a defining year for Papua New Guinea, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has stated.

“2015 is a year when our national economy will reach a new level of growth and development, despite some strong headwinds from the global economy,” PM O’Neill told the Leaders Summit in Port Moresby last Thursday.

“2015 will also be the year when we host significant regional events including the Pacific Games and Pacific Islands Leaders’ Forum.”

“In 2015 we will celebrate 40 years of our nationhood.”

“And 2015 is also a year where the core policy areas of our Government, such as free education, better health care, stronger law and order, better infrastructure and stronger economy will take much deeper root around our nation.”

PM O’Neill said there had been a massive rollout of infrastructure nationally, from large infrastructure projects such as the Lae Tidal Basin, the Kookaburra flyover in Port

PM’s West Papua statement a major policy shift

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill’s bold statement on the struggle and plight of West Papua is a major policy shift by the country after 40 years of Independence. He has pledged to do more to speak out on behalf of Melanesians in Indonesian West Papua.

Mr O’Neill said it was time to raise West Papua oppression.

In the past, PNG had stuck firmly to its position that West Papua is an integral part of Indonesia, and had been reluctant to talk about human rights abuses or to speak on behalf of Melanesian separatists.

Addressing the Leaders Summit on Friday, Mr O’Neill said the time had come to speak about the oppression of “our brothers and sisters in West Papua’’.

“I think as a country the time has come for us to speak about oppression of our people.

Pictures of brutality of our people appear daily on social media and yet we take no notice.”

“We have the moral obligation to speak for those who are not allowed to talk. We must be the eyes for those who are blindfolded,” Mr O’Neill said.

“Again, Papua New Guinea, as a regional leader, we must lead these discussions with our friends in a mature and engaging manner.”

He sad this basing his argument

on the current uncertainties and difficulties face throughout the world on terrorism and human right abuses.

“We have seen in recent months, in our neighbour, Australia, and in one of our friends, France, terrorism at its worst, and we continue to see in the Middle East, and in parts of Africa, terrorism is worsening and the continued persecution of minorities, and especially Christian minorities around the world.”

Mr O’Neill said the country has been spared by such attacks and maintain resolve not to be complacent when it comes to combating all forms of evil.

“We must remain vigilant, we must protect our borders, and we must do so in a robust manner ensure that anyone who arrives in our country does go through the proper immigration and customs processes.”

Moresby, through to the construction of new classrooms, bridges, jetties and airports in rural locations.

“We have been a part of the expansion of our free education program that has placed more than two million children in schools,what a tremendous boost that will be for our nation as these children grow and enter the workforce.”

He said this government had been a part of the delivery of universal healthcare and the upgrade of many hospitals and many housing programs around our nation that are saving lives and keeping families together.

“We have been a part of the improvement of law and order that has come from an improving economy, and very importantly, from a better resourcing and a more structured approach to policing, correctional services and the justice sector in our country.”

“We have been part of a team that is building a strong economy, growing at a steady rate over the years.”

Education an essential right

EDUCATION is an essential human right for everyone in the modern world, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has reiterated.

He said education was not an exclusive right for the rich and for the privileged people, but it should be seen as a right for every person.

He said this at the inaugural graduation of the Enga Institute of Business Studies (IBS) in Ireilya, just outside of Wabag, on Friday.

The occasion saw 27 local students graduate with bachelors degrees in accounting and information, and in technology and communications.

“Enga Province is leading Papua New Guinea in educating its young generation,” Mr O’Neill said to students, families and faculty.

The Prime Minister spoke of the vision of Governor Peter Ipatas, who was first elected by the people of Enga 17 years ago which, he added, had proven to be a wise choice by the people.

“The undying commitment by your Governor in making education a priority for Enga Province is now evident all throughout Papua New Guinea.

“We have Engans working in virtually every department and sector in our country. It was in fact an Engan pilot who flew me to the province from Port Moresby.”

“When we came to Government in 2011, we saw the results of Governor Ipatas’ achievements and adopted many of his policies.”

ABOUT time, the sellers and buyers of Koki market can enjoy the new facilities at the new market. Ladies enjoying the new hotel-style toilet block at the site. Picture: TARAMI LEGEI

PETER O’Neill

Weiss: PNG must utilise opportunities

BY ISAAC NICHOLAS

THE country has missed a lot of development opportunities over the last 20 years when major resource projects came on stream with nothing to show on the ground.

Economist Dr Jacob Weiss also urged the Government not to repeat the past mistakes with the LNG project and called for the immediate set up of the Sovereign Wealth Fund for the benefit of future generations.

Dr Weiss who is also a professor of economics and had been advising government and Bank of Papua New Guinea on the economy, reminded the Leaders Summit in Port Moresby last week of those lost opportunities and challenged them not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

He said Papua New Guinea had two opportunities in its history with one between 1990, 1991 and 1992, during the Bougainville crisis which wiped out 25 per cent of GDP and 32 per cent of exports.

“We had a war in our hand but very immediately, almost overnight, we got Misima starting production, Porgera coming on stream, Kutubu, an oil field producing huge opportunities. What was the outcome? Nothing, all those opportunities they are lost, nothing to show for,” Dr Weiss said.

He said the second came in 2010, just five years ago where K8 million was in the Trust Account because of the very high commodity price.

“K7 billion to K8 billion in trust accounts, what is now in those trust accounts, maybe a couple of K100,000 or zero, where did the money go? What was done with it, what can we show for it?

Mr Weiss said PNG had once again been provided with another major opportunity again through the LNG project.

“We are confronting a huge opportunity again, the LNG project but don’t count your chips until they fall, until we see the results, this is when we count our chips, because what is proven until now is opportunities are there but they disappear, they were lost,” Dr Weiss said.

Govt urged to release funding for health care

BY JACOB POK

THE government has been urged to release a K20 million funding for free health care to boost the implementation of free health care in the country.

Health Secretary Pascoe Kase told the Leaders Summit held in Port Moresby last week that whilst the free health care is being implemented in the country, the funds should be released to ensure the implementation process is boosted in all provinces and districts in the country. He however commended the government for allocating a big budget for medical supply procurement and this has ensured there is no shortage in medical supply in the country.

“For the first time, the government of PNG procured 100 per cent medical supply kits for health centres and aid posts throughout the country. We have had a lot of criticism from our development partners and close friends that PNG cannot make it, but we did make it,” Mr Kase said.

Army prepared to amend Defence Act

BY JACOB POK

THE Papua New Guinea Defence Force has taken steps to make some legislative changes to its Act to ensure servicemen are well looked after when they retire from the force.

PNGDF commander Brigadier-General Gilbert Toropo made this known when presenting his report on the functions of the PNGDF at the leaders’ summit held at Gateway Hotel in Port Moresby yesterday.

He said there had been numerous instances where servicemen continued to front up at the PNGDF headquarters to demand a change to certain provisions of the

CHANGE TO LEGISLATION: The changes the Papua New Guinea Defence Force is looking at is to ensure servicemen and women are catered for when they retire from the force.

REASON: There had been numerous instances where servicemen continued to front up at the PNGDF headquarters to demand a change to certain provisions of the Defence Act regarding when in retirement they are taken care of financially.

AIM: The changes will be implemented to improve the morale of servicemen and women.

Defence Act to ensure those who leave the force were well taken care of financially to sustain themselves.

Brig-Gen Toropo said the necessary process to amend certain provisions had been considered and presented to both the Defence Minister

and Treasury Minister to put to Parliament. He said these changes would at least improve the morale of servicemen and women.

Brig-Gen Toropo also highlighted some routine activities that PNGDF had conducted since 2014 by all ele-

ments of the defence force which included air, sea and land element.

He said there were still many challenges ahead and the force would continue to improve and commit itself to deliver its best to the country.

He said as part of the implementation of the PNGDF white paper, the defence force is looking at increasing the force by 5000 by 2017.

“The 5000 is not an increase, but is a baseline already mandated by the constitution. And for the first time in 10 years, we have recruited 500 defence personnel last year and we will continue to recruit,” Brig-Gen Toropo said.

O’Neill: PNG must increase productivity

BY ISAAC NICHOLAS

THE Government’s management of the economy has been given the thumbs up by international ratings agency, Standard and Poor’s.

This is very positive news for Papua New Guinea with a B+ rating despite the recent energy price drop.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill gave the good news to the Leaders Summit last week that Standard and Poor’s still predict growth levels will reach 20 per

cent, and they expect LNG exports to contribute to economic growth, enabling the unwinding of imbalances in the next few years.

“We are promoting a strong pro-investment approach by all levels of government, and all levels of our community,”

Mr O’Neill said.

“The benefits to come from these investments in Papua New Guinea are clear to our investors. For example, in their fourth quarter report, ExxonMobil highlighted the importance of their Papua

New Guinea investment to meet its global production plan and its annual earnings. “It is by far one of their best investments.”

“We are now looking to secure the development of new LNG plants, and wider gas sector development, as well as empowering sectors that will last beyond the LNG sector. These are sectors like agriculture, fisheries and tourism.”

Mr O’Neill said to build these sectors would require hard work from everyone.

“This approach is also going to require us to do something else. This is something that I have spoken about on a number of occasions – we must lift our productivity and improve the infrastructure which is so vital to the growth of our economy.

“Productivity remains a real challenge for us. We cannot afford to be a highcost producer both in the resources sector, and sectors like agriculture.

“We have to be able to compete not just regionally but

internationally.

“The PNG LNG story is a wonderful success story as a low cost project, but we need to build on that success – with the development of at least two more substantial projects in the years ahead,” Mr O’Neill said.

He said the mining sector also continues to be impacted by low world mineral prices but it also brings challenges as well and that is to be addressed through better productivity and a competitive environment.

He added that the government had also come good with outsourcing distribution of medical supplies to private sectors to relieve the challenge faced by the Health department and provincial health authorities in terms of distribution of medical supplies over the years.

The secretary also highlighted the progress on infrastructure improvements to major hospitals throughout the country and the efforts put in by various provinces and districts to improve their health facilities.

PNG economy growing fast

PAPUA New Guinea is the real tiger economy in the Asia-Pacific region, economist Dr Jacob Weiss says. “We are the tiger. We are growing faster that China, India, all our neighbours and we are growing faster than any other countries around the world,” he said.

Mr Weiss, who was addressing the Leaders Summit in Port Moresby last Thursday used the occasion silence what he called “fear mongers” and critics that PNG would go bankrupt.

He was referring to an article in the Australian media quoting former adviser treasury Paul Flanagan that PNG government in using domestic financing will generate inflation and loss of foreign exchange.

“It did generate inflation, but what can we do as inflation is very reasonable on a country that was growing on an average at above 9 per cent for the past 5-6 years.”

He also said the level of foreign currency is very comfortable and foreign reserves will increase.

LEADERS in Government and business in attendance at the Leaders Summit 2015 at Gateway Hotel in Port Moresby last week.

O’Neill applauds NZ day

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill has written to his New Zealand counterpart John Key to extend Papua New Guinea’s “warm regards” for the commemoration of Waitangi Day today.

Mr O’Neill noted the significance of Waitangi Day , the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 and the rich culture of New Zealand, as well as ongoing engagement between the two countriess.

PM ordered not to table COI report

BY SAMUEL RAITANO

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill has been ordered not to table in Parliament, the report on the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into payment to lawyers and law firms by state agencies.

This followed an urgent application in the National Court for an interim injunction by the Fly Provincial Executive Council, Kisakiu

Posman and others, challenging the contents of the report by Judge Warwick Andrew in his capacity as commissioner of the inquiry.

Acting Judge Leka Nablu issued the orders last Friday after being satisfied that the points raised to have the tabling prevented were valid. This means this week’s parliament sitting will not be deliberating on the report.

The temporary prevention was sought on the ground that the report may contain adverse findings against the plaintiffs, which they did not have the opportunity to be heard or challenge the views before they were made public.

“It is of my view that it is in the interest of justice that an interim order is granted to maintain the status quo, so that those serious issues

can be tried properly, evidence can be brought to court and all parties can be afforded the opportunity to be heard,” said Nablu.

Mr Nablu said due to the fact that the report has been handed over on December 18, 2014 and the requirement is that it will be tabled in the next sitting of Parliament, the status quo should be preserved.

It is understood that the

plaintiffs were witnesses during the COI but were not given the opportunity to view the contents of the final report before it was presented to the Prime Minister for tabling in Parliament.

The parties are expected to appear in court on Thursday for the aggrieved group to seek permission from the court to have a Judicial Review of the COI and its contents.

“As your country commemorates Waitangi Day, I wish to convey sincere and warm regards to the Government and people of New Zealand,” he said in the letter on behalf of his government and the people.

“This occasion indeed observes a significant milestone in your country’s history and provides a time for reflection.

“We join with you in celebrating the rich and diverse culture of New Zealand, and applaud the contribution your nation makes to our region.

“Papua New Guinea and New Zealand continue to share warm and friendly relations through business and cultural exchange.”

PNG Power workers installing new solar lights along the Gordons road. Picture: KENNEDY BANI

NEW SOLAR LIGHTS

Quick thoughts

DECISION NOT GOOD

Steven Kari’s decision to stay out of the high-performance training squad or training centre is not good at all. The weightlifter shouldn’t be considered at all for the upcoming South Pacific Games if he’s not willing to cooperate with the national trainers and selectors.

The gold medallist weightlifter may have a point to prove when refusing to return to training in New Caledonia with former couch, Paul Coffa. But to represent the country, one has to follow set rules and guidelines. This is not a PNG game for him to train on his own without being observed and monitored by national selectors. Maybe the Sports Minister’s decision to hand out cash to gold medallists for the upcoming SPG should be rescinded.

Unhappy fan

RESOLVE KARI’S ISSUE

I read with interest Steven Kari’s story on Friday in the Post-Courier. It takes guts to come out like this and share your story with the country. I cannot believe that he was not allowed to stay back and celebrate his mother’s birthday. It was a fascinating read for me!

Enough of l this nonsense. A neutral party is needed to put a stop to this. I hope a compromise is reached soon. Fan

PLEASE STOP RIP OFF

I went to BSP downtown on Thursday and deposited K5000 plus for my daughter’s school fee. I went back to my office and decided to check my account using BSP internet banking.

To my disbelief, I saw K114 debited as cash handling fee and another K3 as cash withdrawal fee. If that was not enough they sucked another K3 as maintenance fee. I called BSP Online Help Desk and they told me that it was their 2% handling fee. I thought the fee was done away with. Come on BSP. Stop ripping off simple people like me.

Avilly Bina

Looking for someone?

I AM looking for Mr Greg Nigel Philemon of Alotau (Woodlark Island) who resides somewhere in Port Moresby. If anyone knows him or knows his whereabout, please call me on mobile phone: 739 21 259 or 714 83 395

Kwekweina Maiwori

Forgive, stand together

AS I grew up and started my educational journey, I never imagined that one day that journey would lead me to start mingling and be appreciative of the diverse ethnic tribes and cultures throughout this nation called Papua New Guinea.

Right now, I am pausing for a moment as tears have started flowing down my cheeks. I am silently sobbing with tears of joy for this great nation and its primary resource: it’s lovable people.

To the outsiders, it’s up to you how you brand us. But for us Papua New Guineans, we know what we are capable of doing in uniting us into one people, one nation and one country.

For a start, forgiveness can strengthen us to be a united nation

now and beyond. It starts with you and I forgiving each other within our families, in our tribes, our clans, our local communities, in our Christian denominations, in our prison establishments, in our work places, in our educational institutions, in our sporting communities, our respective provinces and PNG as a whole.

Come September 16, 2015 for those of us who are still living, we will be so fortunate to mark 40 years since PNG gained its independence. So, let’s start with forgiveness and see what the Almighty can do to transform this nation into what he wants with us.

Whatever one has done to hurt the other, it is now time to reflect and forgive each other.

We should also not forget to forgive those outsiders who brand us with all kinds of names and have gained illegally and immorally from our people and resources.

Once again, let us all stand tall and be united in our endeavours to progress, promote and proclaim PNG to be what it should be as the envied island in this part of the world with.

God Bless Papua New Guinea.

John Rumet Boas NCD

– Editor

WRITE TO US Text us on 208

A way forward for PNG

Letter of the day

DEAR Editor, I would like to share my thoughts and views about the understanding that is missing in our leaders.

I hope this will clear their minds and make them realise what a true leader should do and how they should act.

One of the myths about leaders is that they are all change oriented, active and fast decision-makers. But research has, surprisingly, suggested that while this may be true of middle managers, it is not necessarily true of top leaders.

Top leaders, it appears, tend to be very careful to listen to a range of views and relatively slow to come to a view.

It seems that judgement is more important for them as it forms the context within which decisions can be made.

Here we get a glimpse of the difference between policy and strategy. Policy is of the whole society, of

the whole community, and shapes the values, beliefs and assumptions of the society. Here a policy statement is one that absorbs uncertainty to create a space of temporary quasi-certainty for the country to function without all issues and events being triggers for more confusion.

In this stance strategy is the process of achieving goals via innovation and change.

If strategy requires analysis and action then policy requires judgement.

Judgement is an art that requires leaders to form a multi-faceted appreciation of ambiguous and uncertain situations with discernment, a search for personal wisdom, the significance of systemic wisdom and a need for flexibility.

This is a nice way of seeing the distinction between policy and strategy, between policy-makers and strategic actors.

For these reasons, some have argued that strategists should never be allowed to be the chairman of

PNG has one of the highest rates of mouth

Text us on 208

a board, but should always be the chief executive officer.

Should the chief executive officer be promoted to the role of chairman, there will be confusion unless the person concerned understands the new demands he or she has to meet.

This particular distinction between policy-makers and strategists is not made in many governments, but it can provide a useful distinction between the leadership required in policy-making and that required in strategy and its delivery. Of course one person or a group such as a board of directors might encapsulate both with clarity and subtlety.

Commercialisation of compensation

THE culture of compensation is becoming a lucrative business in PNG today and as such, drastic measures need to be taken immediately.

It is sad to see that societies, which do not practise this culture before, are beginning to assimilate the ideology of this phenomenon and are now practising it.

The reason being that it is the fastest way of getting free money from the government, corporate entity or group of individuals against whom the compensation claim is lodged.

I am not referring to compensation claims that are genuine against the state, which may be legally authorised by a competent court of law resulting from damages/wrong doing

10 years ago

committed by individual or agents of the state.

However, individuals or groups of individuals demanding compensation from the state - after a pig was killed while crossing the road or drainage system causing the flood to damage food gardens - are such examples of fraudulent claims that are aimed at soliciting funds from the state.

There are also instances where circumstances are intentionally planned and executed, just to claim money from the state, group of individuals or organisations.

I was once told of a situation where a mentally retarded person was deliberately pushed on to the road by

USE LOCALS

The NCDC must clarify its overall state of affairs as it appears to lack capacity to carry on managing Port Moresby.

The people deserve to know the position of their city authority because millions of kina for projects and programs continue to flow into private firms when we have engineers and professionals employed at the commission. This raises serious questions about the existence of the city commission. How can the people in charge allow NCDC to become a gravy-train for private contractors to feed from? We have qualified people working for the commission who are capable of carrying out all the vital services for our city.

Orlando W

INVESTIGATE DISTRICT

Now that Western Governor Ati Wobiro and his administrator have been arrested and tried in court, the National Fraud and Anti-corruption wing of the police should extend their investigations into the Middle Fly JPBPC operations headed by the current member.

his own clan’s men and was killed by an oncoming vehicle.

The compensation claimed for the deceased went over half a million and the justification was that the deceased was a final year law student at UPNG and therefore, the whole tribe needed to be compensated for the loss of their asset.

Believe it or not, such scenarios reflect the current trend of thinking in what I term “commercialisation of compensation” whereby citizens earn money by way of lodging compensation claims.

James Pepi Port Moresby

WHAT A SHAME!

The non-attendance of the Police Minister and Police Commissioner at the 2015 leadership summit leaves a lot to be desired from the two gentlemen, especially at a time when their department is making headlines for wrong reasons.

Papua New Guinea deserves an explanation on the millions of kina being pumped into its police modernisation program, when there is nothing to share for on the ground. The entire constabulary is in chaos with no command and control and is on killing spree in recent times.

These two men should have attended to explain what steps and measures they have taken to tackle these many issues currently faced by the police force, especially the attitude and behaviour of their men, which is out of line. Such a lack of participation in important summits like this by leaders is unwarranted and deserves tough disciplining from the country’s CEO. What an embarrassment for Mr Vaki and Atiyafa!

Wanbel Niape

The authorities should investigate how contracts have been awarded in the district, whether proper tender processes have been followed and how the District Services Improvement Program funds have been used, among many other issues.

The Balimo airport development that has come to a standstill is one of those deals in question.

Many people are scared to lodge complaints at the district office for fear of either losing their jobs or being attacked. Some who raised their voices have been physically assaulted. Over to you fraud squad, fight this corruption for the good of our people.

Concerned Middle Fly

THANK YOU TEACHERS

Few weeks ago, I met one of my primary school teacher Steven Bapi in Madang. He said something which I could not forget. “Achievement is yours but the pride is mine”. How true. This is something teachers and parents value in their heart. I want to say a big thank you to all the teachers across the country for their sacrifice and commitment in developing this great nation. I know many of you are facing challenges and problems, especially with housing, postings, pays, transport, school fee shortage, and not to mention the tough year of educating brains of PNG. God bless you all.

Pagi Toko

Papua New Guinea’s oil production is on the decline and new production wells have to be found to avoid unplanned shutdowns.

PNG has one of the rates of mouth cancers in the world. The ban on the sale of cancers on betelnut in NCD is a step in the right direction

betelnut in NCD is a step in the right direction.

... the ban has a positive effect in the long run.

... the ban has a positive effect in the run.

Health Minister Michael Malabag supporting the NCDC Health Minister Michael the NCDC buai ban ban.

LM East New Britain Province

Fiji to host 4th disability forum

THE Pacific Disability Forum (PDF) will be hosting the 4th Pacific Regional Conference on Disability in Fiji from February 16 – 20.

The biennial conference is a platform for dialogue and discussion of issues pertaining to the advancement of disability inclusive development in the region.

The 4th biennial conference will be the first of its kind in Fiji that will focus on the theme ‘Partnership and Action towards a Disability Inclusive Pacific’ that seeks to forge genuine partnership with development partners and donors to address and advance development in the disability sector.

Disability issues are yet to be fully grounded and mainstreamed into national government policies and translated into action at the national and community levels.

Cancer treatment has long way to go

BY MAUREEN GERAWA

LIKE many other lifestyle diseases, cancer is on the increase but services for screening and treating these diseases are not easily available.

The Cancer Foundation has informed this newspaper as part of marking the Cancer Day last week that it is a long journey for improvement of cancer services in the country but the National Department of Health is paying more attention to cancer now than it has ever done.

“A national cancer policy was drafted and is now with the National Executive

Council (NEC) for endorsement, so that’s a positive improvement in terms of addressing the burden of cancer in PNG,’’ said Ascenata Asi, program manager for Cancer Foundation PNG.

She said cancer services in PNG are limited with the PNG National Cancer

Treatment Centre providing radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment however it does not have screening services such as a mammogram machine.

The centre, however, has ultra sounds for screening for breast cancer and x-rays for lung cancer.

“Mammography services are provided at the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH). It’s K20 for anyone being referred from the private hospital and K2 for the public. They also do ultra sound for breast cancer.

For general cancer screening you can see the cancer clinic at PMGH. For cervical

cancer testing services, in public health, PMGH family planning clinic is open from 8am – 4pm and Mt Hagen Hospital well-women’s clinic also opens from 8am –4pm. With the private clinics in Port Moresby, Karua Medical Services, Pacific International Hospital, Paradise Private Hospital, Port Moresby Medical Service, St Mary’s Medical Centre at FourMile and wellwomen’s clinics.’’

She said in the public health sector, tests for cervical cancer are being done at provincial hospitals in East New Britain, West New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville,

East Sepik, Sandaun, Western Highlands, Northern, Central (NCD) and Milne Bay.

Ms Asi said the Cancer Foundation was formed for the purpose of improving coordination of cancer services throughout the nation.

“The approach addresses the situation of having multiple uncoordinated cancer activities and limited information to both patients and health system stewards on cancer prevention and treatment activities, together with the burden that this places on an already over strained health system,’’ she said.

PDF in partnership with partners such as Disabled People Organisation’s (DPO’s), CSO’s and disability stakeholders will contemplate on the overview of partnership and action towards disability inclusiveness in the Pacific by addressing partnership towards effective disability services in the Pacific.

PDF will engage with Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), University of the South Pacific (USP), UN Agencies, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), CBM Australia, CSO’s, government agencies and DPO’s around the Pacific to develop ways to strengthen their existing partnerships and strengthen action towards its aim.

Preceding the main conference are the Women and Youth with disabilities conferences.

The conferences will unite to discuss experiences and possible ways forward to strengthen effective partnership and action with youth and women with disabilities in the Pacific.

Prof Kevau concerned with increasing lifestyle diseases

BY MAUREEN GERAWA

PAPUA New Guinea’s first cardiologist has raised concern about rising lifestyle diseases and the need for Papua New Guineans to take note and do something about it.

Professor Sir Isi Kevau has raised the concern while giving his support to doctors at the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) who want to set up a cardiac centre.

He says there is a need for

it, although he also called for medical professionals to sit down and talk about it as it will require highly trained personnel and ongoing support, especially when the Government also needs to ensure resources are going to other areas of concern in the health sector.

“We’ve got to look beyond in a resource limited country. We’ve got to address everything,’’ said Prof Isi. He also said that he would be meeting with the National

Department of Health this week to talk about the cardiac centre.

In the last couple of weeks, cardiac surgeon Dr Noah Tapaua, Pediatric cardiologist Professor Nakapi Tefuarani and trainee interventional cardiologist Dr Weson Boko have reported in this newspaper that there is already a team trained at PMGH to set up a cardiothoracic centre that will provide services for heart patients not currently available.

Prof Sir Isi was the first national to graduate from the medical faculty in 1973 and says he remembers that at the time, there were no lifestyle diseases because people lived active lives and relied on traditional foods such as bananas, kaukau, and yam. He said however today these foods have become expensive for most people living in urban centres. They are living on processed foods that have a lot of fat and over time make them

ill with lifestyle diseases.

He said these diseases are also expensive to treat as compared to communicable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and pneumonia. For instance, he said it requires one person to pay K80,000 to get a heart surgery overseas.

At PMGH, he said 25 – 30 per cent of patients admitted at medical wards are patients with lifestyle or non-communicable diseases (NCD) and the number is

expected to increase because of the change of lifestyle in PNG.

He also said globally 60 per cent of the deaths are due to NCDs, of which two thirds occur in third world countries such as PNG.

He said World Health Organisation predicts that by years 2030 – 2050, communicable diseases such as malaria and pneumonia will decline, but deaths from NCD’s will only continue to increase.

THESE brightly coloured Huli Wigmen dancers were part of a welcoming party that graced the Konedobu Post-Courier office last week to usher in an important guest last week.

Picture: TARAMI LEGEI

HULI WELCOME

Teacher database important

BY DONALD WILLIE

THERE are more than 48,000 teachers in the country employed by the Teachers Services Commission, which has a staffing of just 32 to manage the entire teaching workforce.

This was found to be one reason why there are a lot of problems related to the management and welfare of teachers.

In response to queries of the committee that the lack of manpower on the side of the Teachers’ Services Commission was a problem, commission chairman Baran Sori said that some functions of the commission had been devolved to the provincial administration through their education divisions. “The commission has delegated twenty thousand functions to the Provincial Education Advisors to administer teachers’ concerns and welfare, on behalf of the commission,” Mr Sori said.

The chairman said that whether the powers are effectively exercised is an issue but the fact that there are a lot of queries by teachers at Waigani shows how it is not effetely managed in the Provincial level.

“Currently 32 staff of the Teachers’ Services Commission, including the three commissioners to deal with 48 000 teachers in the country is a mama task,” the chairman said.

Special committee member Governor for Oro, Garry Juffa, said that there should be more staff In the Teachers Services Commission to make sure that all teachers are monitored and proper database is kept for budgeting purposes. You need to have an audit capacity to go out there and conduct inspections and find out how schools are operating and what the standards are.

Members of the committee said the commission should have a staff member based at each district.

BACK TO SCHOOL

Funding for leave fares not enough

BY DONALD WILLIE

A SPECIAL parliamen t committee on public sector reform on Friday had a special hearing on the problems affecting teacher’s leave fares and found short givings of funds was top of the list.

The top managemen t of the Teachers Services Commission, Educatio n Department, the Internal Revenue Commission and the Department of Personal Management were interviewed by the committee to work out were the problem was and what needed to be done to resolve them.

West New Britain Governor, Sasindran Muthuvel said that although the teachers’ leave fares are administered by the provincial governments, the budget are comes from national government.

“Every year they (the provincial government) prepare a report anticipating that they, for example West New Britain, need K4million for leave fares but then they only get K1.2 million based on the budget allocations.”

Governor Muthuvel said in the case that the provinces are given less than what is actually required results in teachers being disappointed.

CORONATION Primary school students being picked up by a parent after their first day back at school.

Treasurer okays Gulf budget

GULF Province’s budget of K115.7million has been approved by Treasury Minister Patrick Pruaitch.

Governor Havila Kavo announced the approval last week as he appealed to provincial leaders to put aside their political differences and implement the budget.

“My provincial and local level government passed the 2015 Gulf Provincial and Local Level Government Act in the provincial assembly on January 23.

“The presentation and vetting process took place on January 28 to 30 with the ministerial approval granted on January 30,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The budget was in line with the national Government’s

medium term development physical strategy, Kavo said.

He said it will focus on the six priority areas of macroeconomy, infrastructure development, road construction and maintenance, education, health and agriculture.

A number of projects are already set for implementation. These include the construction and rehabilitation of new and existing provincial road networks; the full establishment of the Gulf University centre in Kerema and a proposed University of Technology Institute of Malalaua; total refurbishment of secondary schools, provincial high schools and top-up primary schools.

BIG, JUICY CUCUMBERS ON SALE

SINCE its recent opening, Koki market has seen an increased number of vendors and customers. It seems many are pleased with its new look and are once again flocking to the popular fresh produce market. Seen here is Cathy Mondo selling cucumbers fresh from her garden.

Join us for a rewarding career

Drilling Engineer Development Program

InterOil is seeking PNG citizens who are qualified engineers to join our Drilling Engineer Development Program.

We are interested in speaking with qualified applicants who ideally have up to three years of postgraduate experience and who are mobile, flexible, achievement oriented, enthusiastic about their development and committed to working with us to build a career and contribute to our success.

As an employee with InterOil you can expect to gain hands on experience in the field and be mentored by industry leaders.

To be successful, candidates must have an engineering degree, ideally from a drilling or mechanical discipline, and have up to three years of post-graduate experience. Recent graduates with no work experience are encouraged to apply.

Contact us at ep.hr@interoil.com, attaching a cover letter of introduction, your resume, and a copy of your qualifications.

Application deadline: 5pm, 21 February 2015.

InterOil Corporation is an independent oil and gas business with a primary focus on Papua New Guinea. InterOil’s assets include one of Asia’s largest undeveloped gas fields, Elk-Antelope, in the Gulf Province, and exploration licenses covering about 16,000sqkm . The company employs more than 2,000 staff and contractors. Its main offices are in Singapore and Port Moresby. InterOil is listed on the New York and Port Moresby stock exchanges.

www.interoil.com

Rains affect highway

HEAVY rains during the past few days have damaged major parts of the Hiritano Highway, affecting traffic into Kairuku district and Gulf Province.

Works secretary David Wereh confirmed yesterday that a number of culverts have been washed away. However he has reassured the public and road users along the Hiritano Highway that the damaged section of the road will be restored in due course.

He also said that the emergency response has taken its course and Dekenai Construction has been deployed to quickly rectify the situation to restore normalcy and allow the traffic to flow freely along this national highway.

He also called on the public and villagers along the Bereina section of the highway to work together with the Department of Works to help speed up these processes of rectification.

If you have a story to tell, call us on 309 1042, or email

If you have a story to tell, call us on 542 2602, or email posthagen@spp.com.pg

District gives K1.7m to fund fees for students

BY MICHAEL KOMA

A TOTAL of K1.7 million has been dished out as tuition fee aid for Henganofi students attending recognised tertiary institutions in Papua New Guinea, courtesy of the local MP and police minister Robert Atiyafa.

The cheque presentation ceremony was held at the Henganofi government station some 25km east of Goroka along the Highlands Highway.

Mr Atiyafa told a crowd of about 6000 people, especially parents and students, his development priorities for the electorate is human resource plus health and infrastructure.

Last weeks disbursement has benefited 650 tertiary students who had their tuition fees paid in full by the MP and his Joint District Planning and Budget Priority Committee.

The tuition fee aid began in 2013.

Hefty fees confuse parents

BY PEARSON KOLO

STUDENTS and parents in schools in the Western Highlands and Jiwaka Provinces are confused by the hefty fees charged by the schools this year.

Students and parents expressed their confusion and frustration in Mt Hagen law week while standing in lengthy bank queues to pay for the school fees.

They said schools are charging students as much as K200 to K400 for project fees before enrollment can be done.

A concerned parent identified as Tapu Puri whose son will be doing grade 10 in a government high school in WHP said he does not understand the free-education policy.

“We the parents and guardians of the students thought we would benefit from the free-education policy but we do not know why the schools in Jiwaka and WHP are charging huge fees from the students,” Mr Puri said.

“The Government and the education department and schools must come out clear on the free education policy so that we the parents and students clearly understand what it means and will prepare in advance.”

Pastors question church

BY PEARSON KOLO

PASTORS from three rural districts in the Highlands have questioned the main aim and purpose of the church they work for.

The pastors, numbering more than 20, said they are confused about the main purposed and aim of the Baptist Church managed under the Baptist Union of Papua New Guinea.

A spokesman of the Baptist pastors identified as pastor Waa Pungi said the church has lost its purpose to save the lost souls through the preaching and spreading of the word of God, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit.

“We pastors are still being paid only K30 by our church,” Mr Pungi said.

“And we still have bush material houses for church buildings which are ill equipped and not fit for Christians to worship in.”

The pastors added they will organise a protest.

At a glance

CONFUSED: Many parents in Western Highlands and Jiwaka provinces are still confused about the government’s freeeducation policy.

HEFTY: The confusion stems from the hefty project fees many are being forced to pay before their children can enroll.

CHARGE: According to some they are paying K200 to K400 each child.

CLARIFY: Many are calling for the appropriate authorities to look into the matter and clarify the conditions of the policy.

Another parent, Otenge Maska whose daughter will be doing grade 12 this year said he has paid K350for his daughter in the fear that she might be sent away if she did not pay the money.

Many parents and students said they are confused with the National Government’s free education policy because they are still paying fees.

“We want the authorities to look into the schools which are imposing fees and to find out why they are imposing those fees,” the parents and students added.

Meanwhile, many school in the WHP and Jiwaka provinces will start classes today (Monday).

HENGANOFI MP and Police Minister Robert Atiyafa addressing a big crowd in Hengano fi last Wednesday during the disbursement of the tuition fees. Picture: MICHAEL KOMA.

K5m for district roads

By JOSEPH DAWAI

FIVE million kina has been allocated for infrastructure projects to Nawaeb district in Morobe province under the national government Public Investment Program funds.

Vice minister for Education and Nawaeb MP Gisuwat Siniwin announced to the people during his visit to Wain/Erap local level government council area last week.

Mr Siniwin said the Nawaeb Joint District Planning & Budget Priority Committee has committed the K5 million funding towards various road projects within the district.

He said road network has been very poor within the district forcing people struggling to get their produces to markets in the city.

He said therefore the Nawaeb JDP&BPC has focus highly on road networks within the district.

Mr Siniwin want to see much of the villages in the

At a glance

OBJECTIVE: Nawaeb MP

Gisuwat Siniwin wants villages in the district to have access to road services.

ROAD FUND: The Nawaeb committee has given K5m

district had access to road services. He said poor road network over the years had seen people suffering by struggling in getting their produces to markets in the city.

He said therefore the K5 million allocated had been committed for road and bridge infrastructures within the district.

He also said that further K2 million has been allocated by his JDP&BPC towards construction of road and bridges in Wain/Erap local level government council area that had been neglected over the years.

He said the road network includes Kasuga/Tinibe road and a new cut high-

way to link Kabwum and Finschhafen districts. He said K1 million each had been allocated for the two road projects.

He said the road would go through Tatin, Kapora, Lowai, Finogan and most likely to Gom Range and link Tapen in Kabwum district.

“The road network will give easy access to the people to get their food garden produces and cash crops to markets in the city,” he said.

Mr Siniwin said another K1 million has been allocated for the Bubung/Karau road but will need additional funding due to the rough terrains.

He said the funds will also make available for Dadam/ Gewoc, Sagaran and Sirabo to Bosa roads.

He said the national government had already committed K10 million for Bukawa/Finschhafen road which work in progress with the help from JICA supplying the machineries.

Administrators have power to hire, fire

BY JOSEPH DAWAI

DISTRICT administrators are now empowered to hire and fire public servants in the districts in the country.

Nawaeb MP Gisuwat Siniwin revealed this to the people of Nimera village in Wain/Erap local level government council area.

Mr Siniwin said the national government has change its structures giving power to the district administrators to hired and fired public servants.

He said the Joint District Priority Committees will be changed to the District Authority which means that MPs and District Administrators now have powers to hire and fire public servants.

He said now the district can approved projects value to K500,000 while K600,000 and above will go

through the provincial government.

Mr Siniwin said public servants like teachers and health workers can be suspended or terminated as they are paid by the government.

He also told the people that death penalty law has now being imposed for those who committed offences such as rape and murder.

He said there are hundreds of people out there awaiting the sentence but the government has not mechanism to kill and impress people.

Mr Siniwin also issued warning to the people of Nawaeb district not to get involved in such criminal activities that may see them facing death penalty.

He said it will be a sad ending for a person to confess before a priest so that he or she can be killed to go to hell or heaven without fulfilling his dreams.

School reopens doors

BY FRANKIY KAPIN

AS the 2015 school year begins with hiccups right throughout the country, the little known Sio Primary School in Tewai-Sisasi district of Morobe province seems to have prepared for the worst.

Sio Primary opened up the 2015 academic year as planned after being closed for the last 10 months since February last year (2014).

The school, through one of its elite locals who had just returned from studying at the PNG Education Institute (PNGEI) wants the Education Department to know that it has resumed this year after being suspended last year following

an ethnic clash. Maunga Adams, the PNGEI student, said as students throughout the country including Morobe province, couldn’t get a seat in class or be allowed to register and even having their results mixed up or misplaced, Sio Primary is more than happy to have overcome a 10 month old crisis that sent children home.

Adams said the return of normalcy and classes for the school on Sio village in the Wasu Local Level Government of Tewai Siassi was significant with the opening of a new Digicel Foundation funded classroom block comprising two classrooms and one office space.

NAWAEB MP Gisuwat Siniwin laying out his road plans to his people.

If you have a story to tell, call us on 982 9186, or email postrabaul.spp@global.net.pg / or call 973 9188, email postbuka.spp@global.net.pg

Call for govt to back farming

BY NICOLE JOANNES

THE Hoskins Oil Palm Growers Association is urging the O’Neill-Dion Government to give equal attention to all cash crop export commodities in the country.

Chairman Patrick Reu said the government has the obligation to support all the industries as they all contribute immensely to the national budget annually.

He said: “On behalf of the silent achievers I call on the O’Neill-Dion Government not to lose focus on a sustainable and renewable industry like oil palm.”

The association is now strongly supporting the Opposition Leader Don Polye’s call for the national Government to urgently consider the floating of the value of the PNG Kina against the US dollar.

CYANIDE THREAT

New Britain is not treating lightly. An emergency authorisation was already being issued to stop or minimise the spillage of cyanide and a hightech team was expected to be in the province to implement this authorisation.

Islanders in need of vaccination

BY PATRICK MINANA

IMMUNISATION for new born babies, infants, children and women of child bearing age is nonexistent in remote Feni island in the Tanir local level government area of Namatanai district in New Ireland Province.

In a recent visit to this resource rich island, it was shocking to see the run-down state of government facilities in health, education, roads and bridges on both islands of Feni.

In an interview with mothers and the locals on the island, it was revealed that immunisation for new born babies and children were non-existent at both the Babase and Matong health posts.

They said immunisation was only carried out at the Namatanai Hospital, which means that only those who could afford to travel by boat also risked their lives across the turbulent seas between them and the mainland while it was very difficult for many of them.

Those new borns that don’t go for immunisation are usually prone to infectious diseases such as measles among and other diseases and with the sorry state of the health facilities on the island, Infant and mortality rates are high.

The mothers told shocking instances of mothers giving birth on the floor of the run-down Labour Ward

Gazelle hosts legal serminar

BY MICHAEL WARTOVO

GAZELLE District is hosting a legal symposium starting today before the opening of the legal year in East New Britain Province.

The event will be held at the Kairak Vudal Centre.

The symposium funded by Gazelle Member Malakai Tabar under the district’s Law and Justice Sector program will be facilitated by law students from the University of Papua New Guinea, including the Dean of Law at the UPNG campus Dr Mange Matui, the chairman of the Constitutional Law and Reform Commission Eric Kua and the National and Supreme Court judge Panuel Mogis.

The three-day symposium is one of three programs in the districts. The first is the Legal Advocacy Program that was held in all five

local level governments in the district which looked at constitutional law, criminal code act, family law, the roles and functions of village court officials at the LLGs and land matters.

Coordinator Reverend Eron Diop said the second phase was this legal symposium in Gazelle district which will end on Wednesday and the he said was the opening of the East New britain legal year coming up shortly.

Mr Diop said the symposium was to help prepare LLG court officials for the new legal year opening 13th February 13.

He said this workshop would also educate people in the rural community in each of the district to understand the court processes and meaning participate in it in the event of any dispute.

At a glance

REQUEST: The islanders would appreciate if they are assisted with a sea ambulance for the safe passage of expectant mothers and a health team is sent immediately to the island to carry out immunisation of the children.

on Babase and Matong health posts.

The mothers also gave instances of mothers giving birth on the sand outside or in bamboo and sago woven kitchen nearby.

The health posts depend on torches and lamps at night but the shortage of health workers does not help.

A concerned local, George Mano said immunisation teams must be brought to the island to carry out mass immunisation for the infants and children in elementary and primary schools as well as women of child bearing ages between 15 and 45 years.

He said this was to prevent diseases such as measles, small pox, tuberculosis and other diseases from spreading to others after infecting a few.

Mr Mano said because there were no immunisation teams carrying out immunisation programs and because both facilities lacked supply of drugs and health workers, there were no clinics carried out on the island.

A HEAP of cyanide covered with canvas near the edge of the ridge of the idle Sinivit Gold mine is an issue East

Major plans for South Nasioi

BY ISHMAEL PALIPAL

SOUTH Nasioi council of elders (COE) vice chairman Abel Tanumei gave a relocation update and outline to the people during the ground-breaking ceremony of Dokotonau Primary School recently.

He also mentioned the progress of the council in support with the constituency member John Ken.

He stated that COE has big plans for the development of the constituency and he appealed to the people to support this development progress.

The first ever development was the successful opening of the Kieta (Aropa) Airport which is in the area of South Nasioi COE. He urged the people to take ownership and look after such developments.

He revealed that plans are

already set for the proposed Aropa High School which will cater for the students from the primary schools within the constituency like Dokotonau Primary School.

“Also five more primary schools are expected to be setup within

the constituency,” he added. “So that schools can be in good walking distance for now many students.”

He also revealed that the COE had plans to build two technical schools and colleges as well to help students further their education so to develop more human resource for the region as a whole.

Some high impact projects proposed for the constituency as revealed by the vice chairman are water supply connections, upgrading of feeder roads and the proposed Aropa mini town.

He appealed for the people to work together and not be divided by the upcoming elections so that their area did not suffer development.

“We must support each other and work together,” said Mr Tanumei.

ANYONE FOR PORK?

Elections only waiting on funding

THE only setback affecting the preparatory works of the 2015 ABG general election is the late release of funds to conduct the election, that’s from the acting Bougainville Electoral Commissioner George Manu.

However, Mr Manu has assured Bougainvilleans that despite this, all programs are still on schedule.

“The only thing holding us up a bit is that the government is yet to release funding for the election,” said Mr Manu.

“As the commissioner I have asked the government to release half of the money which we had requested for in January but we

are still waiting. January is already gone and we are still waiting.

“If they do not give us that money, it will delay the programs that we are supposed to be carrying out.”

Mr Manu recently met with the authority responsible for releasing that money and instructed them to release funding within the first two weeks of February.

Despite this, Mr Manu said, “But as the commissioner it is only I who will press the panic button. Right now we are still okay. Although the money is yet to be released we still have enough time because some of the preparations were done in advance.”

Hooligans terrorising community

BY SEBASTIAN HAKALITS

THE Autonomous Bougainville Government member for Makis Constituency in Buin, South Bougainville is appealing for locals to return hardware materials intended for the building a market shelter.

Newton Kauva said a handful of

his constituency

are taking the law into their hands and destabilising the peace process in their communities.

Mr Kauva said he was disappointed those individuals were terrorising youths and village chiefs on the pretext of trying to enforce the rule of law, even when they are not qualified and trained to do so. They have been known to use excessive force.

hooligans within

WHO’S for fresh pork meat? Joseph Monty Dising seems to be asking as he was caught at the beautiful Loloho Beach in Kieta District of Central Bougainville during the weekend. Monty was part of a family gathering who enjoyed the weekend at the beach formerly known as the Loloho Games Fishing Club. Picture: ROMULUS MASIU

SOUTH Nasioi vice chairman Mr Tanumei speaking at the ceremony. Picture: ISHMAEL PALIPAL

Govt keen on reviving petroleum park project

BY PATRICK T. WUNDAI

THE implementation of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report and recommendations on the mismanagement of the Konebada Petroleum Park (KPP) project trust account and the Department of Petroleum and Energy’s failure, have been watered down by the passing of time and events, the Government is hell-bent on resurrecting the controversial petroleum park.

While the findings and recommendation as well as various referral for prosecution of individuals implicated in the project, the Minister responsible of the current Konebada Petroleum Park Authority (KPPA) Nixon Duban is admant that the petroleum park is resurrected and built to maximise the country’s untapped petroleum sector.

The recommendations and report from the PAC hearing into the management of KPP in 2010 and the Auditor General Office on the same entity is yet to be implemented in which the Report is reportedly collecting dust at the relevant government authority’s shelves in Waigani.

The PAC and AGO’s report stated that the entity (KPP) had operated outside of the Government Accounting System and found to have misappropriated more than K20 million of public funds is now being mooted to resurrect again after the Report was tabled by PAC 5 years ago and recommended for immediate steps taken to recover the funds and prosecute individuals purported to have misused public funds have not been done.

Minister Duban revealed to the media last Friday when asked about the PAC Report as well whether he is aware of the PAC Report and its recommendations in relation to his Departmental Head and the KPP Committee, he answered, “yes I am aware of the PAC Report. It happened under the leadership of the previous Minister and Govern-

The bottom line

ment. Under my leadership, we are working on a policy on gas reservations in the country that will see Konebada Petroleum Park going forward and being built. It’s a National Executive Council policy decision which comes directly under me as the Minister for Petroleum and Energy,” Minister Duban said.

He stressed that the idea of KPP is to optimise the country’s gas reserves potentials and harness it through the Domestic Market Obligation.

He said once the Konebada Petroleum Park is materialised, the Government is looking at processing petrochemical and other downstream processing and sell the petroleum products for domestic consumption.

“The process has started in setting the KPP Authority. A board will be set up and a chief executive officer will be announced in three month’s time,” Minister Duban told reporters.

When the Post-Courier asked Mr Duban on what step he or the Government has taken on the PAC Report on the KPP Working Committee Trust Account where his current DPE Secretary Rendal Reimua was heavily implicated and recommended for the Secretary’s removal and placement in light of the overwhelming report for his failure in coordinating the accounts and operation of the KPP project, Mr Duban replied, “now the KPP will come direct under my ministry and not DPE with a new Committee and management team. DPE has no scrutiny.”

The Madang MP disclosed that at least three Japanese petroleum companies have expressed interest in the KPP project including Marubeni, Sozits and another undisclosed Japanese petrochemical company.

While the Minister and the O’NeillDion Government are adamant on the brighter future and prospects of the KPP project, the mystery

as to how taxpayers money in millions of kina have disappeared in thin air without trace from 2006 through to 2008 under the same project without accounting for and without any prosecutions on individuals implicated by the PAC and AG, remains unanswered.

The PAC Reported of 2010 which a copy was sighted by the Post-Courier among other findings stated;

“the Konebada Petroleum Park Authority Working Group Trust Account (KPPAWGTA) was operated unlawfully and the payment from this account may constitute fraud as the working group had no legal status to operate or apply public monies outside the PNG Government accounting system.

The KPPAWGTA was administered by the Secretary of the Department of Petroleum and Energy who was required to maintain records and accounts and reports in accordance with Public Finance Management Act 1995 – Para.5 Trust Instrument,” the PAC chaired by Timothy Bonga, the then chairman of the PAC stated in the report.

The PAC among many others have recommended that, “the Management Team of the DPE are incompetent and should be immediately removed and replaced; any statue governing the development of the Petroleum Park or its managing authority should be the subject of very careful scrutiny to ensure that it removes all public money from private hands and gives no right of fiscal management, control, authority or discretion to any private individuals at all, particularly those persons who have hitherto presided over the Kondebada Petroleum Park Authority Working Group Trust Account and/or project itself.

“The Kondebada Petroleum Park Authority Group or any future entity which might replace it should be subject of constant oversight, full accountability and scrutinised in all its handling of public monies,” PAC recommend,

Market Snapshot

$A rises as RBA likely to delay more cuts

Nintendo has banked so much money, they could run a deficit of over $250 million every year and still survive until 2052.

BILLBOARD containing commercial and industrial sub-division of the KPP along the Port Moresby to Papa-Lealea Road outside Port Moresby. Picture: PATRICK.T. WUNDAI

Developer praised for completion of gas project

THE National Petroleum Company of PNG (NPCP) has congratulated ExxonMobil for the completion of the PNG LNG Project.

“On behalf of the Board, management and staff of NPCP, we congratulate ExxonMobil as operator of the PNG LNG project on achieving the final completion of the project.

“The project has achieved all necessary milestone certificates and for all intent and purposes, is considered formally complete.

“This is a major achieve-

ment in the Asia-Pacific Region and for PNG. As a significant Co-Venture Partner, NPCP will continue to meet its obligations for the success of the project,” NPCP managin director Wapu Sonk said last Friday through a media statement.

NPCP is the third-largest shareholder in the PNG LNG project with over 16.5% equity, behind Exxon (33.2%) and Oil Search (29%).

Second largest partner Oil Search Limited managing director Peter Botten also congratulated ExxonMobil PNG

Limited saying, “reaching financial completion is a major milestone for the Project, which has now been operating very reliably, and at levels above expectations, for more than eight months,”

Oil Search will receive more than $US700 million in the Project’s first distribution to co-venturers.

This represents the company’s share of cash flow, net of operating costs and the funding of debt service reserve accounts, generated by the Project since it came on-stream in the first half of

2014. Mr Botten said an additional $US107 million of cash currently held in escrow by Oil Search to support its Project lender obligations during the construction phase will also be released and the completion guarantee provided to the Project’s lenders will be terminated. The cash released will be used to help fund our growth activities, in particular, LNG expansion and development, which remains attractive based on the current oil price outlook,” he added.

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PNG LNG ends financial tests

THE PNG LNG Project has announced the successful achievement of its financial completion for the year by satisfying all the requirements of the financial test.

EXXONMobil PNG Limited managing director Andrew Barry said the successful financial completion marks an important milestone in the project’s history.

We have shipped our first LNG cargo months ahead of schedule and have now achieved financial completion.

“With the successful achievement of this important milestone completion guarantees will be release, loan repayment will commence and coventure distributions will be permitted according to the terms of the financing agreements,” Mr Barry said.

He said financing for the project was provided by a consortium of banks and exports credit agencies.

The PNG LNG Project has now shipped 65 LNG cargoes to its customers since the establishment of ExxonMobil in the 1920’s.

The company has interests in fuel marketing, oil production and is also responsible for operating the $19billion PNG LNG Project which is an integrated development that includes gas production and processing facilities, onshore and offshore pipelines and liquefaction facilities.

NATIONAL Petroleum Company of PNG managing director Wapu Sonk.

ROSE Iainos is one of the first farmers to try out the recently uprgraded Koki Market in Port Moresby. Here Rose is selling a variety of greens at K1. Picture: TARAMI LEGEI

AIBIKA OR PUMPKIN TIPS?

JODI HERBERT Country Manager

SHAUNA PAIKE Lending Officer STEPHEN TAERA Senior Lending Officer LOPA ALUA Lending Officer Lae

IMELDA SAMBA Lending Officer ROBERT THADEUS Senior Lending Officer Lae

Reform in Agroindustry needed

THE National Government expects all Agriculture Commodities Boards and Agencies (CB&A) to implement the Functional Expenditure Review (FER) recommendations to reform the Agricultural Sector.

Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Tommy Tomscoll told heads and representatives of Commodities Boards and Agencies that the implementation process of the FER recommendations “is not going to leave anyone unaffected”.

Speaking at a special meeting of this agriculture sector leaders recently, Minister Tomscoll said “it is important that we all must pay attention to what is going to be the outcome of it.”

He said that excuses like “I was not consulted” and “I didn’t understand” later are not going to be unacceptable.

“The Agriculture Sector is not isolated. It is part of a large economy so whatever changes that happen and occur in other sectors has an impact on this sector. This means that we have to have policies and a structure that is responsive and reacts immediately to changes outside,” he added.

“We must also change from within in order to access the new opportunities that come from outside as a result. If we think that we don’t need to change and we will remain the same the changes outside will outstrip the possible opportunities that flow up – flow into - our sector.”

He said that the days of working separately to secure funding as individual organisations is over and the Commodity Board & Agencies forum provides an opportunity to work towards a unified administrative structure or mechanism that works.

At a glance

AGRICULTURE REFORM:

The Functional Expenditure Review (FER). Firstly, the sector is going to shift into an organisational structure and ensure that Departmen of Agriculture and Livestock reflects the kind of structure, in terms of administration Act.

Pointing out the many businessmen in Government leadership including the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Minister Tomscoll said that PNG is now being operated like a business with Government insisting on funds invested yielding profitable outcomes.

“Where we begin to see a strong growth in the outcome, we begin to invest more into it. That should be the normal way to doing business.

“I think we have done enough consultations. This year we are going to make the change. Very clearly, two things stand out. Firstly, we are going to shift into an organisational structure that is more or less the same as Independent Public Business Enterprises (IPBC); where all the boards will be owned by a new state company. They will all be subject to this one single state company. You will have your own board but your board will take and respond to this new state company.”

“Secondly, on the Government’s side in terms of the Department, we want to ensure that DAL more or less reflects the kind of structure, in terms of administration Act, that is in Education and that is in Health so that we must hold people accountable and have them comply even at the district level. Those are the biggest changes that are coming,” Mr Tomscoll said.

Waikele market vendors open accounts

PNG’s Westpac Retail Banking team visited more than 200 residents of Gerehu last month; providing information on products and services and opening new accounts for local vegetable vendors to help them save their daily takings from the Waikele Market .

The first batch of vendors have now received handycards and is using these accounts.

Westpac’s Retail Banking manager Adam Downie said, “Westpac PNG remains committed to banking the unbanked, bringing benefits both to individuals

and the wider economy. The importance of ‘saving for a rainy day’ is emphasised in the free financial education

we provide to thousands of Papua New Guineans,” he said.

“In addition, our very popular Choice Basic Account incurs no fees for deposits and no monthly maintenance fees which is a real plus for savers.

“Further, our convenient In-store, ATM and Mobile Banking networks and people like the vendors at Wakele Market can conduct their banking without even visiting a branch.”

“Waikele market vendors not only sell vegetables; they also sell store items like sweets, toys, clothes and

cooked food. At the end of the day, vendors often take cash home, which isn’t always safe.

“By contrast, having accounts with us allows them to save their takings from their daily marketing activities,” Mr Downie added.

An excited vendor Jenny from Enga Province who sells soft drinks at the market said, “I am just a village lady that came to Port Moresby and never dreamed that I could have an account opened with Westpac but now I have - and soon I will get my Handy Card and start using my account.”

Women vendors save with PNG Women’s Microbank

BY LEONNIE WAYANG

TWENTY women vendors at

the Koki market were able to open their own savings account when a team of officers from the Papua New Guinea Women’s Microbank visited them last Friday.

In a partnership with PNG Women’s Microbank, PNG Women in Business founder and president Janet Sape brought in the officers to talk to the women on the importance of saving and the financial services available at the bank.

It was startling to find that many of the women sellers who gathered didn’t even know the Women’s Microbank even existed until the visit by Mrs Sape and the team.

Mrs Sape told the women that by saving with the bank, they can avoid spending whatever little they earn unnecessarily.

“Many of us dream of living in a good home, to own a trade store, or run our own business but in order for us to do that, we have to save some of our money. You have dreams, you have to save your

US Ambassador meets with Lae business women

BY ABRAHAM AVEDIBA

MANY women in PNG have gone into Small to medium Enterprises (SMEs) but there are still many challenges that they face, a business woman says.

Lae Ever Clean managing director Serah Haoda Todd revealed this and many other experiences of business women’s struggles, during a meeting with United Stated Ambassador Walter North in Lae yesterday. “We’re often faced with the

challenge of negotiating with other male run businesses to form partnerships.

“And business women also have difficulties in trying to secure affordable office spaces to operate on,” Mrs Todd explained.

She reaffirmed that female entrepreneurs in the country are also faced with the challenge of having to deal with polygamous marriages and abusive relationships with their spouse.

According to Mr North women in many parts of the world are suppressed with traditions that prevent them from securing leadership roles and operating their own businesses.

“We believe that one of the most important things that we’ve got to try to do is to identify issues that female entrepreneurs face and how we can connect them with business partners locally and internationally,” Mr North said.

Mr North thanked the women

money and make it grow and you can do that by saving it in a bank,” Mrs Sape told the women.

She told the women that compared to other banks, Women’s Microbank was established especially for them and they should make the most of the services that are offered. Mrs Sape said, “The women have been given a great opportunity to earn an income for themselves with the opening of the market but I also saw the need for them to be financially literate – how to save or access a loan – so

they can grow their own little businesses.”

According to Mrs Sape, in addition to the 20 women who were able to open their own accounts, there are more who want to save with Women’s Microbank.

“Many of our mothers want to open an account so we will be picking 10 of them up each day, starting Monday and transporting them to the bank so that they can be able to open their accounts and access the financial services that are available,” Mrs Sape said.

for their efforts in establishing their businesses and he encouraged them to view various challenges they face as stepping stones for them to move forward.

He also advised the women that the upcoming National Women’s Conference in March this year would have guest speakers Dame Meg Taylor, a US coast guard admiral and an inspirational speaker from the US.

WESTPAC’S Retail Banking Team visited Gerehu’s Waikele market recently to carry out an awareness on the bank’s products and services. They also gave away Westpac umbrellas to vendor’s at the market. Picture supplied

The importance of saving for a rainy day is emphasised in the free financial education provided

ADAM DOWNIE Port Moresby

bougainville business

‘MV Chebu’ service commended

IT’S been a fantastic time for the grassroots travelling public now that MV Chebu has entered service between the main ports of Lae, Kimbe, Rabaul and Buka.

The consumer demand for a cheap alternative travel by sea is now being met.

And now, at 48 metres length and 1,052 gross tonnes, the MV Chebu is a big boat by Coastal Shipping standards. Its size gives extra comfort to the travelling public going through large waves of 2 or 3 metres without any observable rocking.

“It’s a comfortable ride,” say many passengers.

“It’s a smooth ride all the way” said a passenger.

With ten VIP beds in four rooms, its also almost fit for royalty. There are three twin bedrooms and one family room of four.

The Governor-General Sir Michael Ogio and Lady Esmie Ogio took the plunge and experienced the comfort of the VIP cabins themselves. The air conditioning is really fi rst class and you get to share the same food as the Captain’s table.

When his Excellency the GovernorGeneral left the ship he gave glowing remarks about this new ship. “A level of excellence in passenger shipping not previously experienced in PNG coastal vessels.” Or words to that effect.

What is surprising about the shipping service is that the passenger fare may be aimed at the grass roots but the comfort level at the VIP cabins would suit many international travellers as well. It should not be too surprising that the value for money offered means that the VIP cabins are often fully booked.

Also word seems to have gone around that the upper deck has a nice airconditioning and the travelling public is willing to pay an extra K10 per night for that nice air conditioning experience. The upper deck is often fully booked on the LaeKimbe sector as consumers feel that the extra K10 payment delivers in extra comfort.

Overall, consumers take 26 hours to travel the long Lae to Kimbe route and only sixteen hours to travel between the other three ports of Kimbe, Rabaul and Buka. Good scheduling of trips overnighting means you barely feel the hours rolling away.

You get on board in the afternoon, watch a movie or two, go to sleep and wake up next morning ready to arrive in next port.

And of course its easy to sleep with ease on MV Chebu as its large size means a comfortable ride unless going through thunderstorms.

On hiccups and port congestions

There are the occasional hiccups and current problems with wharf congestion.

Wharf availability is good for passenger shipping in Buka and Rabaul.

However there are current problems of wharf congestion affecting passenger shipping in Kimbe and Lae. These may cause delays of an hour or two from time to time.

Lae congestion is still existing as the Lae Ports Extension opened on December 17 has not been implemented due to unknown operational problems. We call them growing problems of PNG ports. The official

opening was just for television and has not yet relieved congestion as nobody is currently using the extension yet. This is expected to be fi xed in a month or two.

Kimbe congestion will last till around August 2015. The Passsnger jetty in Kimbe was shut in early January for extension work for six months work. In the meantime passengers will suffer delays while PNG ports ‘changes into something better”. These are growing problems. Hopefully the travelling public can look to better wharf facilities in Kimbe after middle of 2015.

In the meantime, the travelling public will have to experience inconvenience.

Chebu Shipping Managing Director Fabian Chow says, “These inconveniences in Lae and Kimbe port congestions are outside our control. Passenger shipping services must share one set of port facilities with cargo trade until PNG ports grows its capacity. Delays are costing us extra money and we suffer when Passengers get impatient waiting to get off the wharf.”

“I also hear the fi shing industry of PNG is suffering from port congestion. Its becoming critical for the new Ports Extension of Lae to open as thousands of jobs in the tuna canning industry are also at risk.

Tuna Canning factories are delaying expansion plans due to delayed provision of adequate port facilities. These delays run into cost of hundreds even thousands of jobs. Government wants jobs for mothers and school leavers. They need to fi x up infrastructures so private sector can create the jobs” Says Mr Chow.

On Providing transport services to AROB for PNG games

Mr Chow says, “I am very impressed with the professionalism of the AROB sports management in moving and organising their team under whole lot of constraints. In the end they did it better than a lot of provinces and it really showed in the medal count.

The MV Chebu saved the AROB a lot of money and inconvenience by moving most of the team from Buka to Lae in one go. In the end the AROB transport arrangements proved to be one of the best in PNG. Chebu management is proud to be associated with a very dedicated and competent set of sports administrators. Of course it wasn’t all smooth such as loading passengers and who to tell the bad news that there was not space on the boat.”

We did it for AROB better, faster and cheaper than any alternative. That’s our policy to set the very high standards in the marine trade and create a commitment to safety from top to bottom.

Training is expensive but pays off in better servic es

MV Chebu is committed to work with training partners like Pacific Maritime College and other institutions. Its an ongoing process to meet safety standards.

We like to think that the payoff from better trained staff is better commitment to their work and getting it done right “fi rst-time everytime”.

Staff old and new enjoyed their training in life raft survival techniques.

THE MV Chebu

Jomik serves AROB with pride

JOMIK Trading Ltd is a 100 percent nationally-owned trading company which operates wholesale outlets in Buka, Kokopau and Arawa, as well as a hardware and a retail department store in Buka. The Business is owned by the Huuma family who come from Siwai District in South Bougainville. It started in 1992 under their family house, selling basic items like soap, salt, and food items like rice, sugar and tinned food. These goods were purchased from across the border in the Solomon Islands, due to the sanctions imposed by the National Government as the consequence of the Bougainville conflict. Later when the sanctions were eased goods were purchased from Rabaul.

In December 1996 the family took their business to Buka and settled initially at Kubu from where they started operating a wholesale business from a container. They relocated to a number of locations searching for a suitable location until in 2004 they rented a premises at Katsin Kuri where a retail shop was established. In the same year it also established its wholesale division at its current location.

In April 2010 Jomik Trading Ltd opened its supermarket and department store complex in Buka town which sells groceries, detergent, liquor, electrical items, clothing, stationery, and hair care products and so on.

In the same year, Jomik Trading Ltd was unexpectedly confronted by its biggest challenge in its short history – the passing of their dad, the late Mr. Michael Huuma, who was Managing Director and the main driving force behind the whole Jomik Business concept. But the family refused to be intimidated by this tragedy and have continued to effectively manage the company and make it grow and go from strength

to strength. Through these well established and well stocked distribution networks it offers wide range of products to a diversified cross section of customers throughout the Region which include other major retailers, small village based trade stores, government agencies, schools and individuals.

It is now the biggest Nationallyowned and operated whole sale, retail company in the Region and

it is the distributor of many of the biggest and popular brands such as Trukai Rice, Lae Biscuit, Nestle, Table birds chicken products, Diana Tuna, SP Beer, Gala ice cream and coca cola to name a few.

The company is also active in the community scene and supports many charities and sports activities in both cash and kind.

Jomik is also have wholly owned Earthmoving and Properties divi-

sions. The earth moving division – Jomik Planthire is currently engaged in major upgrading work on 20 kilo meters of the Buka ring road – or the John Teosin Highway, in preparation for eventual sealing. This is a major project funded by the ABG and GoPNG through the Intervention Fund.

The company employs about 300 nationals occupying various positions through its different divisions.

Dekenai assists growth in AROB

DEKENAI Construction Ltd don’t just build infrastructure but also provide technical assistance and expertise for projects for its clients.

While having been in the building and Construction industry for over 20 years, they have been to major towns and other districts in the country carrying out construction work.

At the moment Dekenai is currently doing upgrading of the drainage in Buka Town with work expected to be completed in April. This will be followed by the actual roadworks where Dekenai will bring in their specialists for the next phase.

Their association with Bougainville covers mainland Bougainville as well. One major project is the Upgrading work on the Aropa Airport in Kieta.

According to Dekenai Construction Ltd Construction Manager, Jamie Mitchell, the company is also working in major road projects on Bougainville, which includes Arawa and Kieta.

Mr Mitchell adds that with the Buka town drainage project, it is a partnership with the Autonomous Bougainville Government’s technical team.

“Because the area on which the Buka town sits is mostly fl at land and is swampland also which floods in the wet season. Thus the roads to be built need to be raised. We are carrying out curbing, channel, culverting,” Mr Mitchell said.

He adds that the Buka road projects is an important project in the development history of Bougainville.

Dekenai Construction Ltd wants to make sure its projects once completed are long lasting thus technical consultation by all parties is of utmost importance

New shop targets youths

A NEW shop specializing in the sales of heavy rock and heavy metal music clothes has opened in Buka in the hope of cashing in on the people’s fanatical following of these music genres.

The shop, Metal Empire, opened just before the new year and is selling assorted printed t-shirts printing all sorts of heavy metal and heavy rock bands around the world.

The shop is owned by Clarence and Albertha Sukaliana. They said the idea of setting up the shop was to try something different in Bougainville apart from other businesses that mainly sell food items and clothing that are of the same features.

They said the idea of venturing into this business came about when they saw that Bougainville youths in the past were into metal dressing and music so they decided to cash in.

Both said it is also to bring in services and provide employment opportunities and affordable prices with quality to help rebuild Bougainville.

“Some more other items as videos, magazines, music CDs, long sleeved shirts, leather and jean jackets, wrist spikes, chains, boots and other related products are due to arrive and in two weeks’ time we will also be selling other items.”

PASSENGERS

A HAPPY group of passengers who thanked ‘MV Chebu’ for the great service

Digital resources to affect a website

AS DEFINED by Wikipedia, Search engine optimization is the science and management of digital resources to affect the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s “natural” or unpaid search results.

In general, higher the rankings on the web search results in the search pages, and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will

receive from the search engine’s users.

In current times, economic recession has hit multiple industries.

There is a pressure to cut all the costs, including marketing costs. Same time, patients are getting equipped with more options and are demanding more values.

This makes senior executives to take part in decision making.

Trust and credibility are

essential virtues to convey, but this is not so easy in today’s climate of doubt and cynicism. While budgets are tight, there are new cost-efficient ways to communicate with customers. Internet is one among them. Of all the online marketing tactics, use of search engine optimization (SEO) makes the heart of credible digital marketing efforts. It is a more sophisticated yet user-friendly and

attracts more traffic. Search engine optimization is a long-term, holistic (i.e., ongoing and part of an overall integrated marketing program) approach that uses skilled web site edits and other thirdparty relationships and commentary to influence the ranking of your web site in organic or natural search results. It offers a low cost platform to spread

the awareness about your product/services.

Searching online is ubiquitous, powerful and critical for awareness and leads as a huge volume of data is generated on internet.

Researching on the Customers and Competitors is must to use SEO effectively and direct your messages to the right Target audience. Optimize your website

based on the needs and demands of the users. Manage the site with right keywords that the customers use and check it with your competitors’ content. Also, get the information about the keywords used from the online suggestion tools like Yahoo, Google etc. Fit the site’s contents into the right Search Engines and use right Indexing configurations.

Why search engine optimization?

Learn more about the search engine optimization process and discuss an SEO strategy for your site when you contact a search engine specialist today.

Paid Listings

Yahoo!’s Pay-Per-Plick (PPC) Program shows paid ads at the top and right of the results pages. websites that show up here bid on keyword phrases and pay Yahoo!® a small fee each time the ad is clicked on.

STUDIES have proven that top placement in search engines generally provide a more favorable return on investment compared to traditional forms of advertising such as, snail mail, radio commercials and television.

Search engine optimization is the primary method to earning top 10 search engine placement.

The more you bid per phrase the higher your ad will appear on the results page.

Yahoo! PPC is a great way to help drive traffic quickly to your website.

You can set a daily budget. When you max out your budget, Yahoo! will pull your ad for the remainder of the day.

www.networksolutions.com

Samsungs latest

THE wildly popular Galaxy S has been the flagship for Samsung’s Smartphone lineup for six years. But as competition has increased, the Galaxy S’s stranglehold on the Android market has weakened. The company’s profit slipped by 27% last quarter, largely due to slumping Smartphone sales. Even though Samsung (SSNLF) remains the top-selling Smartphone maker in the world, the sales slump has reportedly served as a wakeup call for the company.

The Galaxy S6 is expected to be drastically different from the previous Galaxy S models. Samsung hasn’t changed its flagship phone’s design much since the 2012 Galaxy S3, and its look has gotten a bit stale.

Here are six things to expect Samsung to announce about the Galaxy S6 during its March 1 event in Barcelona.

1. Better design. Out with the plastic, in with the metal. The Galaxy S series has been bemoaned for its plastic shell, as most high-end smartphones now opt for fancier, shinier, more durable metal exteriors. Samsung hears you. The company has taken up a new design principle called “Project Zero,” signifying a fresh start for the oft-criticized (but well-selling) smartphone. A hint of what could be coming can be found in the well-regarded Galaxy A5, a metal version of the Galaxy S4. But beyond the materials Samsung is likely to use, the phone is also expected to look more modern, including a super-thin bezel, that makes the screen appear to go edge to edge.

2. Better software. Samsung includes a lot of useless software in its phones, including unnecessary app stores and redundant voice controls. With the Galaxy S6, Samsung is expected to make a lot of its add-on software an optional download, freeing up your phone for the stuff that you actually want to use.

3. Color variety ... except for black. Dark blue, blue-green, gold and white are the rumored colors for the new Galaxy S6. Want a black phone? Get an iPhone. Related: A smart necklace from Samsung? Really?

4. Phone with an “Edge.” The invitation that Samsung sent has a conspicuous curve in it. Could it be the rumored Galaxy S Edge?

Samsung is expected to unveil a smaller version of its oddball Galaxy Note Edge, which features a small portion of curved glass that bends around the right side of the phone. That tiny curve on the Edge’s display functions as a second screen. It can display a list of apps, quick settings, notifications, weather and the time. It also serves as a stopwatch, timer, health tracker, Twitter feed and even a ruler. If it’s anything like the Galaxy Note Edge, the Galaxy S Edge will be identical to the Galaxy S6 -- except for the curved screen.

5. Not the latest chip. During its latest quarterly financial report, chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM, Tech30) said its new, latest/greatest Snapdragon 810 chip has lost a major customer -- widely believed to be Samsung.

Galaxy S phones almost always feature the most powerful smartphone processor on the market. But Qualcomm has had overheating issues with its 810 chip, and Samsung likely didn’t want to risk including it in its newest flagship phone.

6. April release date. The Galaxy S5 was announced at the same event in Barcelona last year, and it went on sale in April. Though some analysts expect a late-March release date, April seems like the safest bet.

SAMSUNG has sent out invitations for a March 1 “Unpacked” event, at which it is widely expected to unveil its new Samsung Galax y S6 smartphone.

training & development

For

advertising, call 309 1103 or email lotej@spp.com.pg

For editorial, call 309 1107 or email kialaw@spp.com.pg

Personal assistants’ course in April

AN ADVANCED Executive PA Masterclass training for executive and personal assistants will be conducted by World renown Trueventus at the Grand Papua Hotel in Port Moresby from April 20 to 21.

This course develops the PA’s

and EA’s personal brand and teaches effective strategies for adding significant value to the PA role.

It is essential that PAs cultivate a productive working relationship with their boss so this course shows PAs how to protect

their boss’s personal brand, how to identify their boss’s shifting priorities without being told and how to regularly create ‘do not disturb’ time in their boss’s diary.

This international, intensive hand on training course will of-

fer excellent value for money as a training resource that propels the PA and EA skill-set to the next level. Attendees learn valuable strategies, techniques and essential soft-skills that demonstrate how to approach their role from the perspective of a busi-

ness partner.

This is an excellent 2-day course for PAs, EAs, secretaries and administrative professionals. It is challenging, interesting and insightful.

This is an excellent 2-day course for PAs, EAs, secretaries and administrative professionals.

It is challenging, interesting and insightful. It offers excellent value for money as atraining resource that propels the PA and EA skill-set to the next level. Attendees learn valuable strategies, techniques and essential soft-skills that demonstrate how to approach their role from the perspective of a business partner.

This course develops the PA’s personal brand and teaches effective strategies for adding significant value to the PA role. It is essential that PAs cultivate a productive workingrelationship with their boss so this course shows PAs how to protect their boss’s personal brand, how to identify their boss’s shifting priorities without being told and how to regularly create ‘do not disturb’ time in their boss’s diary.

Today’s Executive PA role is very project-centred so this course develops event management, party planning and problem solving skills. It uses case studies, practical exercises and group work to develop practical skills in project planning, influuencing, presenting and practical win-win negotiation, all of which are essential soft skills for today’s exective business partner. Commitment to continuous professional development is the responsibility of every PA.

As the role of the modern PA is constantly changing and evolving, PAs have to develop manageriallevel skills in order to provide first class personal assistance to their boss.

They also have to be an asset to their organization by increasing productivity and adding value to their working partnership. To accomplish this PAs need the kind of ideas and work-smart techniques that can only be gained from regular first-class PA training.

Training is an investment, not an expense. It is maintenance for PAs. A signi_cant number of senior executives attribute as much as 40 percent of their productivity to their PA; therefore,PAs need maintenance and upgrades even more than machines do. It is prudent that executives give priority to training the PA they intend to keep. Attending this course will provide an opportunity for PAs to discover how other PAs approach common problems.

Western teachers to get leave fares

THE Fly River Provincial Government has assured its teachers that their outstanding leave fare entitlements will be addressed and what is due will be given.

Acting administrator Modowa Gumoi said this last week when responding to media queries that funds totalling more than K1 million were allocated last year for teachers leave fares.

“We now have the money and we will pay out,” he said, noting there had been a backlog which had never been addressed until he assumed office last year.

He said it was the national Government’s responsibility to pay leave fares, the province only assists if there were shortfalls.

Last year, one of the main reasons for the delay of leave fares was late submissions by teachers. He said the provincial government has allocated K5 million annually for students attending tertiary institutions around the country.

COURSE trainer Marguerita King BSc DipPA is the founder and Managing Director of Personal-AssistantTips (London)

pilot

acad-

Private school offers drop-outs second chance

BY ANDERSON.KOPONO

A PRIVATE school has performed exceptionally well by sending students to further education in higher institutions both in the country and overseas.

It is also helping students start up their own projects in their respective communities.

PNG Education Development Services Secondary School is a private permitted institution which was registered in 2011 and recognized by National Department of Education, Office of Higher Education and affiliated to many universities overseas. The school offers the upper secondary PNG Curriculum as well as Small to Medium Entrepreneurship (SME) skills training to Grade 11 and 12 and Grade 12 upgrade students

According to the executive director John Rumints, the institution not only educates students academically but trains students cope with life after school.

“Our aim is to teach students,

school drop-outs and continuing students how to make a meaningful living after their studies”.

They provide compulsory courses like SME courses to help students start up own projects after school.

So far, students who went through this intuition have started their own fish and chicken farming projects in their communities.

Most students have thanked Mr Rumints and all the staff in appreciation of institution’s effectiveness in providing quality education for unfortunate students.

“You are superb. It’s a promising school for the unfortunate ones like me,” Dickson john from Imbongu district in Southern Highlands said. He, together with Daphne James, will be studying to become pilots in the Philippines this year.

“More than 80 percent of our graduates have been accepted to go to universities and colleges in PNG and some have been selected for overseas scholarships in 2015,” Mr Rumints said proudly.

Paru Kongi from Minj in Jiwaka

Province was accepted for a New Zealand scholarship in 2014 to study climate change for four eyars.

Paru was a grade 12 drop-out from Fatima Secondary School in Jiwaka province. He upgraded his marks at PNGEDSSS which had won him the scholarship.

“The institution is very effective in its marketing and commitment to its students needs,” Mr Kongi said.

Drop-outs who need to further their education can email pngedsss. edu@outlook.com or contact the Public Relation Officer on # 71819137

Meanwhile the school has branches in Jiwaka,Werstern Highlands Province, Morobe and National capital District.

The Hagen campus was relocated from Wamp Nga Building to upstairs of Digicel building opposite Brian Bell. Registration is still on with induction last Wednesday. The school will resume classes today.

ISO TRAINING WORKSHOP

ISO training in PNG

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ISO Training Modules Date / Time Cost Quality Management Systems ISO 9001

March 2015

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11

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Road,

MR Rumints, left, presenting a bilum to the Philippines

training

emy representative as a sign of affiliation with institution. This bond is one of the school effective marketing strategies.

Deafness in the spotlight

NEW Zealand film maker Brent McPherson was born deaf, and knows firsthand about the barriers to education and employment opportunities that deafness can pose.

But conversations with Indigenous people in New Zealand, as well as Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia revealed another disadvantage: the difficulty in maintaining Indigenous linguistic and cultural links while communicating in sign language.

McPherson’s new documentary The Forgotten People tells the stories of deaf people from each of these countries and the

challenges they face trying to preserve their Indigenous languages in sign language.

McPherson said the project’s aim was to provide a better understanding of the issues and to bring them to the attention of government agencies and world bodies.

The plan is to present part one, which focuses on the Solomon Islands and PNG, at the World Federation of the Deaf international congress in Istanbul mid-2015.

Much of the story centres around the San Isidro Care Centre in Aruligo, west of Solomon Islands capital Honiara, which

takes in deaf young people for schooling and vocational training.

The centre is similar to a village where residents, aged from their early teens to about 40 years old, live and work.

McPherson said the village was a unique, idiosyncratic society but clearly lacked resources to properly equip students for an independent adult life.

Speaking to the ABC through a New Zealand Sign Language interpreter, McPherson said deaf children seldom had language in their home villages, where they may be the only deaf person. -ABC news

Fiji flag debate

THE designer of Fiji’s current flag says she is disappointed by prime minister Frank Bainimarama’s move to replace it with a new one.

Tessa Mackenzie won the competition in 1970 to design the flag after placing the British Union Jack and the shield from Fiji’s Coat of Arms on a sky blue background.

This week, Mr Bainimarama said they were British symbols that were not relevant to a modern, independent Fiji.

Ms Mackenzie, now 80 years old and still living in Suva, told the ABC’s Pacific Beat program that she disagrees.

“To say that our past is not relevant in any situation if foolish — we cannot get away from our past,” she said.

“I think it’s a non-argument to me to say that we want to get away from the colonial past.

A spokesman for the main opposition Sodelpa Party, Peter Waqavonovono, said many people were against changing the flag, which has been used since Fiji gained independence.

“Although there are segments of our population who are bitter about our British past, we all do not share the same sentiments and therefore cannot be forced to accept their ridiculous laws,” he said.

Fiji Labour Party president Lavinia Padarath said parliament was the proper forum to debate such a change.

“Mr Bainimarama should realise that in a parliamentary democracy issues of national importance should be approved by the house (parliament),” she said.

“The people of Fiji must decide whether they want the flag changed and if so, what the changes should be.”

Ms Mackenzie said she believed the majority of Fijians still embraced their current flag design. “People love it — they really feel proud of it,” she said.

“If you ever watch Sevens Rugby, whether we’re winning or losing people are waving it... and people wear the flag on their T-shirts in everyday life.”

Samson Verma, an expatriate Fijian living in Paris, has started a Facebook page called Keep our Fiji Flag.

“That flag, the way it is, contains much of Fiji’s history and it contains much of what Fiji has gone through in the last 150 years or so,” he said.

“We see that flag as one that flies above all the ethnic differences in Fiji.” Mr Bainimarama said his competition to design a new flag would start this month and run for two months, with the winning flag to be flown for the first time on Independence Day in October. -ABC news

MS Mackenzie said Fijians still embrace the flag while supporting their team at international events like rugby. Picture: ABC/REUTERS

MEMBERS of the community at the San Isidro Care Centre, Solomon Islands. Picture: ABC/SUPPLIED

MPs slam early spill meeting

CANBERRA:- Tony Abbott’s decision to bring forward a meeting of Liberal MPs to vote on his leadership is in danger of backfiring with one backbencher suggesting it smacks of belligerence and hubris.

The prime minister has moved to stave off a possible challenge by declaring a special meeting of the Liberal party room will be held at 9am on Monday, 24 hours earlier than scheduled.

The move has not been

welcomed by two prominent backbenchers while potential leadership contender Malcolm Turnbull labelled it a “captain’s call”.

Teresa Gambaro, a former Howard government minister, said MPs deserved to have their views heard in a parliamentary democracy.

“We cannot govern ourselves in an internal climate of fear and intimidation,” she said in a statement on Sunday, adding that was the “unacceptable situation we

have endured for the past five years”.

“Equally we cannot govern the country through belligerence and hubris.”

Arthur Sinodinos, who resigned as assistant treasurer late in 2014, said MPs should have been given time to discuss the issue.

“Tuesday is the time to do that,” he told Fairfax Media, querying whether Mr Abbott had consulted his deputy Julie Bishop before making the decision.

MPs are also unhappy the first they heard of the decision to bring forward the meeting was through the media and not from chief government whip Philip Ruddock.

Mr Abbott opted for an earlier meeting after speaking to senior colleagues, saying it was best to deal with a leadership spill motion as quickly as possible and “put it behind us”.

“The only question for our party is - do we want to reduce

ourselves to the level of the Labor party in dragging down a first-term prime minister,” he told reporters in Sydney.

Mr Turnbull, arriving at a Liberal fundraising event in his Sydney electorate at which Ms Bishop is a special guest, gave his clearest indication yet that he will contest the leadership if a spill motion was successful.

“If for whatever reason the leadership of a political party is vacant then any member ... can stand whether they are

a minister or backbencher without any disloyalty,” he said.

“The leadership of the Liberal Party is uniquely in the gift of the party room.”

Mr Turnbull dismissed as hypothetical questions about whether he would contest a leadership ballot.

On Mr Abbott’s decision to bring forward the meeting to Monday, he said: “He’s the prime minister and he’s made a captain’s call.”

-AAP news

Australia om heatwave alert

A HEATWAVE is due to sweep Australia, experts warn, as emergency crews battle raging bushfires in the west.

Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of New South Wales and Victoria will see temperatures near or above 40C (104F).

It comes as Western Australia is already experiencing one of its worst seasons for bushfires.

Fire crews say the largest blaze near the town of Northcliffe is still raging but rain has helped contain the flames.

Smoke from the fires was reported to be blanketing the city of Perth on Friday.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said a very large and slow-moving mass of hot air currently over Western Australia was causing a buildup of heat.

“Severe heatwave conditions are forecast to spread to the east, with the Northern Territory seeing temperatures well above average over the weekend,” it said.

Southern New South Wales and north-western Victoria are also likely to be affected.

Forecasters said that Marble Bar, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, will not see temperatures fall below 43C over the next week, and warned of a high of 48C on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, emergency warnings are still in place for Northcliffe, Western Australia, and for another huge bushfire further north, near the town of Boddington.

Hundreds of firefighters have been brought in and the army is erecting tents for them in the nearby town of Manjimup.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has promised government help to help tackle the fires.

-BBC news

SA to assess nuclear production

ADELAIDE: South Australia will hold a Royal Commission to investigate the state’s possible role in the production of nuclear power.

Premier Jay Weatherill said South Australians should be given the opportunity to consider the practical, financial and ethical issues raised by a deeper involvement in the nuclear industries.

“We are home to one of the largest uranium deposits in the world and after more than 25 years of uranium production, it is now time to engage in a mature and robust conversation about South Australia’s future role in the nuclear industry,” he said on Sunday.

He said the Royal Commission was the first of its kind in Australia, as they usually looked backwards at things that had gone wrong.

It will explore the opportunities and risks of the state’s involvement in the mining, enrichment, energy and storage phases for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

“Royal Commissions are a trusted and reliable means to establish the facts with which the people of South Australia can engage in this important debate.”

Independent experts would also be engaged to help in the commission’s work.

“We need a clearer understanding of the world’s demand and use of nuclear energy,” he said.

“We also need a deeper understanding of our state’s and the nation’s energy needs and how they are likely to develop in the future.

-AAP

Taiwan pilots train

TAIWANESE airline TransAsia Airways says it is cancelling 90 flights so that its pilots can attend training, after one of its planes crashed on Wednesday.

Flight GE235 plunged into a river in the capital Taipei, killing at least 40 of the 58 people on board.

Officials are probing why both plane engines were off during the crash.

Data suggests that the pilots, who are among the dead, may have shut one engine off after the other lost power.

Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has ordered retraining for all TransAsia pilots flying its ATR fleet.

“All 71 ATR pilots will take part in proficiency tests carried out by the CAA and third-party professionals for an estimated four days,” TransAsia Airways said in a statement (in Chinese).

The aviation regulator has also ordered engine and fuel system checks on the remaining 22 ATRmanufactured planes currently in active service on the island.

Five more bodies were retrieved from the Keelung River on Saturday, bringing the total toll to 40, the Taipei fire department said.

The bodies were found downriver from the crash site.

Divers and rescuers are scouring the river for three more people who remain missing. Fifteen others were rescued alive from the plane on Wednesday.

Thomas Wang, executive director of Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council, said on Friday that the plane’s right engine triggered an alarm just 37 seconds after taking off from the Taipei’s Songshan airport.

The main pilot could be heard on cockpit voice recordings saying the engine had experienced a “flame-out”, Mr Wang said, which can occur when the fuel supply to the engine is interrupted. However, he said data showed that the engine had in fact been moved into idle mode.

Seconds later, the pilots shut down the left engine, meaning neither engine was producing any power. A restart was attempted, but the plane crashed 72 seconds later.

-BBC news

China seizes HK toilet rolls

CHINA’S authorities have seized 7,600 toilet rolls and 20,000 packets of tissue printed with the image of Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung.

Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, which had planned to sell the novelty items at a fair next week, called the seizure a violation of freedom of expression.

The tissues were confiscated from a factory in mainland China on Friday.

Mr Leung is unpopular with much of the Hong Kong public, and products

mocking him have sold well in recent years. The confiscated tissues depicted the pro-Beijing leader with a variety of expressions.

Some printed the word “lying” on his forehead, while others showed him with fangs - a reference to how his opponents have described him as a wolf.

The Democratic Party said the toilet rolls sold out at Hong Kong’s annual Chinese New Year fair last year, and that they had planned to sell the products again this year to raise funds.

Lo Kin-hei, a vice-chair-

man of the Democratic Party, said that about $12,900 (£8,500) worth of goods had been confiscated, with no reason given. There was no immediate comment from the mainland Chinese authorities. Last year, tens of thousands took part in protests in Hong Kong, demanding democratic reforms.

China has promised direct elections for the post of chief executive in 2017, but ruled that candidates had to be vetted by Beijing, angering many activists.

-BBC news

PRODUCTS mocking CY Leung have been popular in recent years. Picture: BBC

China steps up internet cencorship

CHINA is tightening its grip on the internet by requiring internet users to register their real names for some internet services and disrupting the services of businesses that give people the tools to circumvent the “Great Firewall”.

According to China’s internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the new registration rule will apply to people who use services such as blogs, instant messaging services and online discussion forums.

It is partially aimed at weeding out users with misleading online handles such as “Putin” and “People’s Daily”.

The onus will be on internet companies to enforce these new regulations which begin on March 1, meaning they will incur extra costs in order to comply with the order.

Chinese internet companies that run Weibo, the country’s equivalent of Twitter which has 60 million active daily users, were ordered to implement real name registrations in 2012.

Jason Ng, who analyses online censorship at The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, said that caused some online users to selfcensor because of the added risk of getting into trouble.

East Timor PM offers to quit

EAST Timor’s prime minister Xanana Gusmao has sent his letter of resignation to the country’s president.

Mr Gusmao has served as either president or prime minister since East Timor gained independence in 2002 after a 24-year struggle against Indonesian occupation.

The 68-year-old leader has long signalled his desire to step down and speculation has been mounting in the past week that he would soon

resign after he started talks with the president on a government overhaul.

“It is now for the president of the republic to consider

and respond to the letter of resignation,” government spokesman Taur Matan Ruak said in a statement.

In an earlier statement, authorities said talks were under way on a “major restructure of the government”.

Authorities want to “reduce the size of the executive to create a more efficient and functional body focused on results, and allow opportunities for a younger generation of leaders to make a contribution to the nation,”

the government statement said. Analysts said that the reshuffle could be aimed at getting rid of ministers from Mr Gusmao’s coalition who had been accused of corruption, before he steps down.

Mr Gusmao led the military wing of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETILIN), which fought against Indonesian occupation. Before Indonesia invaded in 1975, Portugal had ruled East Timor for centuries.

He was imprisoned in Jakarta towards the end of Indonesian occupation, but continued to lead the struggle for independence from behind bars.

After the Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence in a UN-backed referendum in 1999, he returned to his homeland a hero and was elected the country’s first president in 2002. He has been prime minister since 2007.

-ABC news

The latest announcement follows a disruption of three providers of virtual private networks (VPN) that are popular in China.

Internet users who install VPNs on their mobile phones or computers can access content that cannot be seen or used in China such as Facebook, Google, and some foreign news websites.

Having a VPN also means users can read posts that have been erased from Weibo.

This is because VPNs create a path that enables people to jump over the virtual Chinese firewall. China blocks access to VPNs periodically and internet connections become even slower in the lead-up to a political event.

“VPNs were highly prized because they were fairly robust when they did work,” Mr Ng said.

-ABC news

Women’s imminent executions to revive death penalty debate

THE imminent execution of the first women to receive the death penalty in India since independence is likely to revive long-standing debate in the country about its use of capital punishment.

The two sisters, Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit, kidnapped 13 children under the age of five in the early 1990s and brutally murdered at least seven of them in the state of Maharashtra.

Human rights lawyer Asim Sarode, who worked on the sisters’ mercy plea, does not expect the executions to take place until at least next month. Although personally opposed to the death penalty, Mr Sarode said given the nature of the sisters’ crimes, he did not believe the Indian public would be in a hurry to see the laws change in this

bottom

case. “India as a society is not very much concerned about the way of punishment,” he told the ABC “They are of very general thought that punishment should be hardened and it will create [an] impact and fear on people not to commit offences. This is a very traditional way of thinking.”

Some, however, have spoken out against the sentence.

The MP for the sisters’ home state of Kolhapur, Dhananjay Mahadik, told The Independent that while the women’s crimes were “very serious”, he believed women should not face the death penalty. The sisters’ case has also been championed by human rights groups which have long campaigned for capital punishment to be abandoned.

“We oppose the death pen-

alty altogether because it’s irreversible, inhumane,” Meenakshi Ganguly from Human Rights Watch told the ABC.

“Every time there is a serious incident like the gang rape in Delhi in 2012, almost always the demand in the protest is for a hanging.

“That to me is the concern, it is the maximum punishment that anyone can receive so therefore people ask for it when they’re outraged by the crime.”

But the punishment also has many supporters in India’s legal and political system.

“Nobody values anything more than his or her life, and any system that takes away your life will terrify you,”

Pinky Anand, a Supreme Court lawyer and politician, told the New York Times last year. -ABC news

and died (in most caes) for what they believe is good for their people.

INDIAN murderers Seema Gavit (L) and Renuka Shinde (R) are due to face execution in weeks. Picture: ABC/MURDERPEDIA

A CHINESE Kazakh eagle hunter arrives for a competition in the mountains of Qinghe County, Xinjiang, north-western China. The training and handling of the large birds of prey follows a strict set of ancient rules that Kazakh eagle hunters are preserving for future generations. Picture: BBC

EAGLE HUNTING CONSERVATIONISTS

The president will now respond to letter of resignation ...

TAUR MATAN RUAK East Timor

Foreign fighters mapped

THE number of foreigners who have travelled to Iraq and Syria to fight has topped 20,000, surpassing the number attracted to Afghanistan in the 1980s, according to the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR).

Centre director Peter Neumann, who has advised the United Nations Security Council on the foreign fighters issue, said the conflict had become a “truly international” fight.

Counting the number of Western fighters was “no exact science”, Professor Neumann said, but his estimates were based on more than 1,500 sources, including media reports, government estimates, social media profiles, statements from jihadist groups, direct interviews and fieldwork.

The 20,000 figure is an esti-

mate of the total number of foreigners who have joined the fight over the course of the conflict, rather than the number currently engaged in Iraq and Syria.

The centre’s research suggested up to one-third of foreign fighters, or nearly 7,000, had already returned to their home countries and between 5 per cent and 10 per cent had been killed.

“There has been actually only one mobilisation of foreign fighters that has been similar, and that is of course the Afghanistan conflict in the 1980s, which has also produced up to 20,000 fightersalbeit over an entire decade, whereas in the case of Syria and Iraq we’re now talking about the same number in just three or four years,”

Professor Neumann said in a speech at the London School of Economics. -ABC news

Nigeria postpones presidential vote

THE electoral commission in Nigeria has postponed the 14 February presidential election by six weeks over concerns about the security situation.

Commission chief Attahiru Jega said he had been told troops would not be available to help patrol the ballot because they would be fighting Boko Haram militants in the north-east.

Nigeria and four other states plan to deploy a joint force of 8,700 soldiers.

The election will now be held on 28 March instead. President Goodluck Jonathan is facing a strong challenge in the contest.

The postponement is a highly contentious move, the BBC’s Will Ross reports from Lagos. Officials from the main opposition party accuse the military of forcing the electoral commission into the delay to help the sitting president’s campaign.

It looks set to be a tight race between Mr Jonathan and the former military ruler, Muhammadu Buhari, our correspondent says. The postponement may well increase the tension which is already palpable, he adds. -BBC news

THE Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least four children were among 35 people killed in air raids in and around the Syrian capital Damascus. United Nations figures show that more than 220,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Picture: BBC

Peace plan a ‘last chance’ before war breaks out

A PEACE plan devised by France and Germany aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine has been labelled “one of the last chances” to put a stop to fighting in the eastern European country, despite Russian president Vladimir Putin’s assurances that Russia did not plan to wage war.

French president Francois Hollande said the initiative was a last-ditch effort to avoid the months-long conflict turning into a war.

“If we don’t manage to find not just a compromise but a lasting peace agreement, we know perfectly well what the scenario will be,” Mr Hollande said.

“It has a name, it’s called

Lawyer seeks meeting with Sisi

PROMINENT lawyer Amal Clooney has requested a meeting with Egypt’s president to push for the release of AlJazeera reporter Mohamed Fahmy, a letter obtained by news agency AFP shows.

Ms Clooney, who married Hollywood star George Clooney last year, has thrown her legal clout and celebrity behind Fahmy to secure his release.

An Egyptian government official said Fahmy, a Canadian citizen, would be freed soon after his Australian colleague Peter Greste was deported on February 1.

“Since Mr Greste’s release, Mr Fahmy’s Egyptian counsel has been informed by Egyptian government officials that his release was to follow, and that it was imminent,” Ms Clooney wrote in the letter addressed to president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his foreign minister.

“This was to be expected, given that Mr Fahmy has been the victim of the same injustice as Mr Greste,” wrote the Britain-based lawyer who has represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and taken on other high profile cases.

At a glance

TALKS: Russian President Vladimir Putin is to discuss a peace plan for east Ukraine with the German, French and Ukrainian leaders by phone. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are pushing a plan to end bloody fighting between government and rebel forces. -BBC WAR: NATO’S military commander does not preclude possibility of military option while Hollande described the situation in Ukraine to have a name called ‘war’ if the last-ditch effort fails.

war.” German chancellor Angela Merkel said the plan, which was brought to Mr Putin at a five-hour meeting in Moscow on Friday, was worth trying but there was no guarantee the initiative would work.

“It is uncertain whether it

will lead to success but from my point of view and that of the French president it is definitely worth trying,” she told a security conference in Munich on Saturday.

“I believe we owe that much to those who are affected in Ukraine.”

The United States joined Saturday’s Munich Security Conference, which focused on an emerging rift between America and Europe over how to confront Mr Putin as Moscow-backed rebels gain territory.

NATO’s top military commander, US Air Force general Philip Breedlove, gave the strongest signals yet that he wanted Western allies to consider sending weapons to Ukraine.

“I don’t think we should preclude out of hand the possibility of the military option,” he said, adding that he was referring to weapons or capabilities and that there was “no conversation about boots on

the ground”. But Ms Merkel ruled out sending weapons to the Ukrainian government to fight pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east.

“I understand the debate but I believe that more weapons will not lead to the progress Ukraine needs. I really doubt that,” she said.

“There is already a large number of weapons in the region and I don’t see that this has made a military solution more likely.”

Mr Putin said Russia did not plan to wage war on anyone, although a world order where one leader tells others what they can do would not suit Moscow.

-ABC news

“Since this has not yet occurred, however, I now write to request a meeting with you, or your designated officials, as soon as possible to discuss the status of the case,” she wrote.

Fahmy and Greste, along with Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed, were arrested and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison after being convicted of aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood in their coverage, a charge rights groups called absurd. The court sentenced them to up to 10 years in prison. An appeals court overturned the verdict and ordered a retrial.

Fahmy had to drop his Egyptian nationality in order to be eligible for release under a Sisi decree that allows the deportation of foreign prisoners.

-ABC news

News anchor Brian Williams temporarily steps down

US NBC anchor Brian Williams has said he is temporarily taking himself off air, days after apologising for wrongly saying he came under fire in Iraq.

Williams said it had become “painfully apparent” that he was too much a part of the news.

He repeatedly told a story about being shot down in a helicopter in Iraq but veterans disputed his account.

Williams, the most-watched network anchor in the US, blamed the “fog of memory” for the lapse.

In a statement, he said he

would not be presenting his nightly show for several days while the network investigated his claims.

“Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us,” he added.

Media analysts approved Williams’s decision.

On Wednesday, Williams made an apology on air over the Iraq story.

“I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago,” he said. “I want to apologise. I said I was travelling in an aircraft that was hit by

RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] fire. I was instead in a following aircraft.”

His apology came after veterans who were on the helicopter that was hit challenged his version of events.

One of them, Flight engineer Lance Reynolds, wrote: “Sorry dude, I don’t remember you being on my aircraft.

I do remember you walking up about an hour after we had landed to ask me what had happened.”

Some critics were not satisfied by Wiliiams’s apology, calling for his resignation.

Questions have also been

is the end of the world if full scale war breaks out among

raised about his coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with one health official challenging a claim he contracted dysentery reporting on the event.

Paul Levinson, professor of communications and media studies at New York City’s Fordham University, called Williams’s move a good idea for him and NBC News.

“It gives him a chance to catch his breath and, on a human level, it must be excruciating to get on the air and report the news and not say anything about this,” he told AP News agency.

MR Williams is the most-watched network anchor in the US.

Picture: BBC

Picture: ABC/REUTERS

The Orders of Papua New Guinea

NOMINATIONS FOR AWARDS IN THE 2015 QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY AND INDEPENDENCE DAY ANNIVERSARY HONOURS

PAPUA NEW GUINEA HONOURS AND AWARDS NOMINATION FORM

crossword: 10843

Complete the grid so that every row, column and 2x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 6 inclusive

Solution to puzzle SL0847

stars

ARIES

March 20 - April 19

Few things annoy you more than those who, instead of acknowledging there’s an issue and tackling it head on, pretend all is well. Unlikely as it seems to you, they may be genuinely unaware there are problems. Not everybody is as quick at picking up on such matters as you are.

TAURUS

April 20 - May 19

Giving up ground in existing arrangements or plans you’ve worked hard to organise may seem unfair. But, actually, once you begin asking a few questions, you’ll realise these necessary changes are saving you from problems of a far more serious nature later. They are, in fact, doing you a favour.

May 21 - June 20

The news that your ruler Mercury’s retrograde cycle concludes Wednesday may be welcome. While you’ll have fewer mistakes to deal with, certain misunderstandings are the result of exactly that, one person not fully understanding another. This has nothing to do with Mercury. Every sign deals with such matters, and every day.

June 21 - July 21

It’s been nearly a week since the Full Moon, yet there’s still considerable emotional fallout and confusion on the practical front, for you and others. Actually, this is no surprise, since everybody’s experiencing rather dramatic changes. Tempting as talking these through is, for now, be sympathetic but save serious discussions for later.

July 22 - August 22

From your perspective, an offer isn’t of much interest if it’s not what you had anticipated. Yet certain recent discussions are still very much on your mind. They should be. These may venture into unfamiliar territory. Still, do a little exploration. What you learn could intrigue enough you’ll explore more.

August 23 - September 22

Hopefully by now you’ve realised that despite frustrating discussions, certain contentious individuals were actually listening to your ideas. The real problem is they don’t recognise the potential in new ideas or offers as swiftly as you. Once they’ve had a chance to think these over, they’ll realise how right you were.

September 23 - October 22

Initially, it seems you thought it best to simply ignore tensions involving one particular individual or, perhaps, organisation. But you’re not recognising you really must talk things through. Waste no time figuring out what you’ll say. Simply ensure that you have the relevant facts handy and raise the issue in question.

October 23 - November 22

While some discussions involving certain tricky domestic matters have gone well, others have accomplished little. As you rightly suspect, this is because in those situations, certain individuals would rather avoid committing to anything. Ironically, that may be best for you, as well. At minimum, it’s worth some serious thought.

November 23 - December 22

It’s rare, but once an event or, perhaps, confrontation brings out your stubborn streak, you can be unbelievably determined. This is the case now with setbacks in existing plans. You want these to proceed, no matter what. Think carefully about this. You would win but the price would be high.

December 21 - January 19

Although Mercury’s retrograde cycle comes to an end on the 11th, you’ll face fallout in the form of undetected errors for some weeks. Knowing that, continue to double check facts and ensure plans are flexible. Ironically, what you learn now and over the coming weeks could prove amazingly informative.

January 20 - February 17

By and large, the best way to deal with challenges is to take action. At the moment, however, you’re better off doing nothing. Unwise as this sounds, with things moving so swiftly, you need a couple of days to catch up. In being still, you’ll have the time you need to note those changes.

February 18 - March 19

Long ago you learned that disputes about how things should be done can go on forever. But if, instead, you proceed slowly, taking small steps each day, you can make considerable progress and without rousing anybody’s objections. Employ that approach now. It will make your life a lot simpler.

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Tabubil Engineering Ltd is seeking the services

HARDWARE STORE MANAGER

Service, Stock Control, Stock Ordering, Staff

The General Manager Tabubil Engineering Ltd P.O. Box 431

Tabubil, Western Province Fax: 6499108

GUNNERS NAILED

Tottenham Hotspur have jumped ahead of local rivals Arsenal in the table, thanks to a very impressive 2-1 comeback victory in Saturday’s North London Derby. Arsenal took an early lead and defended well for most of the match, but couldn’t contain Harry Kane, who netted a brace, including an 86th minute winner.

NZ BEATS ENGLAND

Schoolboy Rieko Ioane scored two tries as New Zealand beat England 27-21 in Saturday’s Rugby Sevens final, taking out the home round of the World Series for the fourth time in five years.

Roosters recruit stands-out

BLAKE Ferguson is officially back and if his barnstorming two-try effort in Saturday night’s trial against the Penrith Panthers is any indication, the troubled former Canberra centre can recapture his brilliant best at the Sydney Roosters in 2015.

Just on 18 months since he scored a double against the Roosters in his final NRL match before being sacked by the Raiders in September 2013, Ferguson starred for the Tri-Colours’ feeder club the Wyong Roos in a trial in Wyong.

The former Origin representative started at right centre and crossed for his two tries in the second quarter of the match, before coming off after half-an-hour.

Ferguson fended off three defenders to score his opening

try with a powerful charge to the line, while he added to his tally just five minutes later after Tyler Cornish put him through a gap.

The Roosters’ recruit was equally potent in defence, leaving Penrith’s Ratu Luke Nadurutalo gasping for air after a big tackle under the ribs in the first quarter.

Ferguson’s standout performance, even though Wyong lost the match 36-8 to Penrith, follows a strong pre-season from the ex-Raider.

Roosters’ staff say he has been the club’s most consistent performer this summer based on GPS system results, while he has also gone toe-totoe in the speed stakes with Test and Origin star Michael Jennings.

For Ferguson though, just returning to the football field after so long on the sidelines was his main motivation.

The Sunday Telegraph asked Ferguson for comment post-match, but chose not to speak.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson did talk and he was highly impressed with Ferguson’s first-up performance.

“That was a good start for Fergo,” Robinson enthused.

“It was important to get him back in before our last trial because he has had so much time off.

“He has been preparing to get back into a team environment for a long time and he started his pre-season last November, so it has been long for him.

“But he has worked hard with lots of speed and strength work and a lot of running, so he has set himself up well.

“He had really good energy in both attack and defence, so he went well. “It’s his first trial, it’s 30 minutes, but it’s a

good start for him.”

Robinson said it was always the plan to play Ferguson for 30 minutes, but he hopes to give him more time in the club’s final trial against Manly in Gosford on February 21.

“Fergo has shown that he is ready to get more time in the next trial, so hopefully he’ll play 60 to 80 minutes when it comes to Manly,” he confirmed. “He can then get his combos going with the guys he is going to stand next to in the NRL team.

“We just wanted to play him half-an-hour, but if for some reason he didn’t get touches we would have extended it.

“But he got a good amount of defence and attack done, so it was the perfect for him.”

Ferguson left the field after 30 minutes with ice strapped around his left ankle, but Robinson said it was just precautionary following a broken

ankle suffered while training last year.

While the Roosters coach was rapt with the performance of Ferguson, he was also impressed with a number of the club’s other players.

He praised prop Martin Kennedy in his first match back at the Roosters after a one-year stint with Brisbane, while former Canberra hooker Matt McIlrick also delivered in his maiden appearance for the Tri-Colours.

“It was good to give Matty some good time at hooker and he controlled the ruck really well, so I was really happy with that,” he said.

“Then it was good to see Kenno get back in the colours and getting some carries and going forward.

“So it was really nice for a few of those guys who have played a bit more NRL to get a good run.”

Cowboys too strong for Broncos in pre-season trial

RUGBY LEAGUE

COWBOYS recruit Jake Granville came back to haunt the Broncos on Saturday night after scoring a late try to sink his former club and clinch North Queensland’s 18-6 trial

victory in Mackay.

Stuck behind hooker Andrew McCullough last season, Granville made the brave decision to quit the Broncos in search of a fresh opportunity under Cowboys coach Paul Green. And the move is

paying early dividends, with Granville’s energy and dummy-half spark proving the difference in a scrappy hit-out between Queensland’s fierce NRL foes. With scores locked 6-all for 30 minutes, Granville broke the stalemate, winning

Moseley to join Titans

RUGBY LEAGUE

KIERRAN Moseley spent four years working as a carpenter in western Sydney, so the Titans’ new hooker should be in love with the stunning beaches which surround him.

No, don’t expect to see the Cloncurry kid shopping at City Beach in Cavill Avenue.

He will not even swim in the ocean lapping at his front door. “You won’t see me surfing any time soon. I’ll get taken out on a rip or something,” Moseley told The Sunday Mail.

New Zealand outscored England five tries to three to post their first tournament win in four World Series rounds this season and to rise to second place behind South Africa on the Series standings. South Africa beat Scotland in the third-place playoff to retain the Series lead. New Zealand had beaten England 24-5 in pool play and their win in the final was equally emphatic.

PLAYERS CHARGED

The reason behind John Sutton’s captaincy stripping and Luke Burgess’s exit has become clearer after the Rabbitohs released a statement about an incident that happened during the club’s preseason camp in Arizona. According to a statement released on South Sydney’s website today, both players were charged with “disorderly behaviour” over the mystery incident, although the charges have since been withdrawn. In the last fortnight premiership captain Sutton has been stripped of his leadership duties by the Rabbitohs, with Greg Inglis promoted to the captaincy.

CHELSEA LEADS

the race to a kick in the 68th minute to seal a fine debut in Cowboys colours.

Winger Kyle Feldt then delivered the coup de grace three minutes from time, crossing out wide to put a dampener on master coach Wayne Ben-

“I’m not comfortable swimming in the sea. I will swim in dams, creeks and rivers, freshwater only. “This is my first time at the Gold Coast. I just didn’t grow up doing any of that beach stuff.”

The Titans great recruitment tool, the Gold Coast, had no sway on Moseley. His move north from Penrith was motivated purely by opportunity.

Moseley has a good chance to become the Gold Coast’s starting hooker this year and was given an opportunity to claim the position in last night’s Toowoomba trial against the Warriors.

nett’s return to the Broncos.

The speedy Granville was ably supported by Robert Lui, who staked a claim for the five-eighth jumper, scoring a slick solo try and outpointing Broncos rival Anthony Milford.

Chelsea extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points after seeing off an Aston Villa team who finally ended their Premier League goal drought after 11 hours. With nearest rivals Manchester City held at home by Hull, Branislav Ivanovic’s winner secured a vital victory for the leaders. Villa, who had not scored in the league since 20 December, responded well after falling behind to Eden Hazard’s early goal and levelled through Jores Okore’s header at the start of the second half. But Ivanovic restored the Blues’ advantage after 66 minutes and they went on to secure Jose Mourinho’s first win at Villa Park at the sixth attempt.

RUGBY LEAGUE

BLAKE Ferguson palms off a defender on his way to his first try.

KIERRAN Moseley in action for his former club the Panthers

Telikom National Soccer League pictorial...

HEKARI captain David Muta (right) clears the ball as Besta’s Papalau Awele closes in on him. Hekari won 2-1

FC Pom striker Felix Bondaluk (left) is about to have his kick charged down by Madang’s Vincent Worio.

MADANG replacement striker Gerrad Lashel (right) heads in the equaliser in extra time despite the attention of FC Pom’s Abel Pedenut.

COME fly with me...Madang’s Nigel Malagian (left) and FC Pom’s Niel Hans.

FC Pom goal-keeper Charles Lepani collects a high ball

MADANG striker Alwin Komolong (right) is challenged by FC’s Abel Pedenut the match was drawn 1-1.

PNG receive baptism of fire in New Zealand

RUGBY UNION

THE Papua New Guinea Pukpuks sevens team got their baptism of fire in their return to the HSBC World Sevens Series circuit in Wellington, New Zealand.

After seven years, PNG certainly has a lot of catching up to do after losing all five matches.

PNG being pooled amongst eventual Cup finalists New Zealand and England, plus top 10 nation Canada, didn’t help their cause either.

In the pool matches, PNG did well to keep Cup winners New Zealand to 38-7, went scoreless against England 29-0 and the heavier Canadians ran ramshod over them 41-0.

From there PNG entered the Bowl quarterfinal and went down 41-0 to Wales and then bowed out in the Shield semi-final to Samoa 47-5.

With another lead-up hit out in Borneo before the Hong Kong Sevens, the performance will test the team mentally especially without Fijian coach Fereti Verebula, who has understood to have resigned due to personal reasons. This is all part of PNG’s lead-up towards the Pacific Games in July.

The PNG team is made up of a host of new talent that Rugby PNG has identified throughout rugby playing centres over the past two years.The lack of regular top quality competition has restricted the players learning curve, and the quality of the Wellington Sevens would have been a huge reality check for the majority if the players.

Stand-in coach Billy Rapilla wasn’t expecting any surprises considering the pool PNG was put in and the results reflected that.

The PNG team was led by co-captains Butler Morris and Hubert Tsereha.

Hekari United undefeated after 2-1 win

BY HAIVETA KIVIA

Hekari United remains the only undefeated team in Papua New Guinea’s premier competition, the Telikom National Soccer League.

This follows their 2-1 win over second-placed Besta PNG United at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in Lae on Sat-

Emo brothers reign

BY MICHAEL KOMA RUGBY LEAGUE

WEST Goroka’s EMO

Broth-

ers snatched the first prize in the Coca Cola Ipatas Cup rugby league challenge in the Eastern Highlands’ capital yesterday.

Brothers won all their matches over the past two weekends to themselves a ‘gold pass’ to the next stage of the play-offs.

They sealed their victory with a 36-4 mauling over Okapa raw talents Jaka Hawks. DGH Brambies, Zomaga East and Angra Dragons were also rewarded financially for participation in the converted nationwide off-season competition.

Coordinator Michael Jopa said Brothers are now set to lock horns with other centres in Lae this week and stand a strong chance of making it to the finals in Wabag if they are successful.

Jopa thanked Enga Governor Peter Ipatas and Coca Cola Amatil plus the joint sponsors for continually sponsoring the competition. The former Goroka Lahanis strongman has also thanked the spectators and other stakeholders for their corporation this season.

He further appealed to local MPs in the Eastern Highlands province to sponsor teams in their respective electorates to partake in the challenge next season.

urday. A couple of defensive errors from Besta early in the piece gifted Hekari new signing Emmanuel Simon with a brace of goals to set the tempo of the match. Besta could only manage a late goal to midfielder Freddy Steven for the hosts. Besta head coach Bob Morris rued the mistakes in the first half and the missed

opportunities his side had in the second half when they dominated the game.

Morris said his charges contained the champions well as the match wore on but their early defensive errors came to haunt them in the end.

“We could have won this game had Papalau (Awele) put away a definite goal with only

the keeper to beat and Freddy (Steven), Isaac (Lalo), Alex (Kamen) and Manu (Yawi) were given every chance to score as well,” Morris said.

Hekari coach Jerry Allen after the match conceded that it is an area of their game that needed to be fixed before they enter the Oceania Champions League.

Oro beats Admiralty in NSL

SOCCER

FC POM gutted themselves in letting a win slip away and Oro finally got on the winners circle in a welcome double header to the Telikom National Soccer League (NSL) in Port Moresby.

FC Pom were held to a 1-1 by Madang and Oro finally have something to smile about with the only goal of the match from Jacob Sabua to beat Admiralty

1-0 at the Bomana Correctional Services Training Oval on Saturday.

Oro’s new signing Ian Yanum took on the leadership role well and looks to be settling in well.

FC Pom had the match in the bag and much sought after winning points there for the taking.

After leading 1-0 from a Felix Bondaluk goal in the first-half and looked to dictate terms

FC Pom and former international Reginald Davani can’t believe he is being penalised for a tackle on Madang’s Nigel Malagian (on the ground). Picture by MARK TALIA

for most of the match, the tide changed at the death with crucial changes proving to work against them. The inclusion of former internationals Andrew Lepani and Reginald Davani in the final quarter to steady the ship, backfired on coach Robert Popat.

It may have been wiser to maintain the status quo as Madang’s fresher legs in Eluida Pohei and Gerrad Lashel poked and probed into injury time to score the leveller. Lashel headed in the goal from a cross from the right-flank.

FC Pom goal-keeper Charles Lepani had a great game until then, as the latter pressed with mounted pressure on a weary defence-line headed by Cyril Muta and Ronald Bala. Madang in fact should have levelled the match earlier and gone for the killer blow had mid-fielder Max Sengum not missed a penalty.

PNG Sevens speedster Henry Liliket (with ball) in action against New Zealand in the pool round

CCIC Eastern Highlands coordinator Michael Jopa.

Kari rises

WEIGHTLIFTING

THE hatchet has been buried.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Steven Kari does not want to dwell on the past.

The 21 year old from Hanuabada Village made that point clear and proved a lot of doubters wrong when he registered 140kg in the snatch and 190kg in the clean and jerk with ease during the monthly competition at the High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) on Saturday.

And to stress his point, he performed before Oceania weightlifting coaching supremo Paul Coffa and weightlifting administrator Sir John Dawanicura as well.

There were initial worries that Kari would not return to his best being trained under his uncle and mentor Douglas Mea at the Hanuabada Weightlifting Club at Taora.

That has been resolved following his five-star performance.

Unlike other potential lifters who are being trained under newly appointed national coach Dika Toua at the HPTC Mea yesterday said that Kari lifted near to his personal bests with ease.

“His progress is going on well and the issue that has been troubling him is now all water under the bridge,” he said.

Mea said Kari met with Coffa following the competition and must have cleared the air, as he is feeling better now with a huge weight off his shoulders.

“We also shook hands and he is happy that Steven (Kari) can still produce the goods and urged him to train harder,” he said.

“He (Coffa) didn’t expect Steven (Kari) to perform as well as he did,” he added.

The monthly competition is being used to gauge the lifters progress towards finalising the PNG team before they go into a training camp in preparation for the XV Pacific Games in July.