FORMER forest minister Belden Namah yesterday raised serious allegations of corruption and questionable deals involving some government ministers, The National reports.
The prime minister tried to get the speaker to stop Namah raising the allegations publicly in parliament, claiming the former minister could not divulge confidential cabinet information for five years.
But, speaker Jeffery Nape allowed Namah to speak out.
Namah, former deputy prime minister Sir Puka Temu and culture and tourism minister Charles Abel walked out of government on Monday and were sacked by the prime minister yesterday.
When parliament resumed after 2pm, the three walked in with the opposition and sat in the opposition’s middle benches.
During question time, Namah told parliament he was fed up with corruption in government, and decided to walk out.
The Vanimo-Green MP alleged a number of corrupt practices by the Border Development Authority (BDA). One of them involved buying boats at inflated prices.
He said the BDA bought six border vessels for six border provinces for
He also alleged that a company that was awarded a contract to set up VSat communication in the border areas did not have technical capacity.
He said the company was owned by a senior government minister.
He claimed that an Icelandic company was awarded a contract of K15 million to do the town planning for Aitape, with no work done so far.
Namah said such deals and transactions showed that the BDA had lost its way and was not serving the purpose it was set up for.
He said serious issues still remain to be addressed at the border areas, including the deteriorating border posts and closure of police posts, border incursions, illegal drugs, firearms and human smuggling.
He said BDA was established to build infrastructure like bridges, police posts and roads in the six border provinces but that had not happened.
In his questions to acting Finance and Treasury Minister Arthur Somare, Namah asked whether the minister was aware that BDA had not carried out its functions and roles to build infrastructure.
He asked the minister if he was aware that last Friday, K14 million was released to buy another two vessels.
He said one of the vessels had been allocated for the prime minister’s use in East Sepik and questioned whether
Namah also alleged that BDA was buying properties in
“Institutions and infrastructure in the border areas are in dire condition and we are doing things for our own personal gains.
“There is supposed to be proper facilities built at Wutung. Where is our priority?
“The reason I moved over here is because of corruption on the other side.”
In response, Somare said he needed to be briefed on the BDA operations before he could reply to the allegations.
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