PUBLIC AFFAIRS BY SUSUVE LAUMAEA

Grand deceit of genuine Angore gas field landowners

PAPUA New Guineans are increasingly becoming their own greatest obstacles to better life of improved living standards, happiness, better health standards and wealth creation in a modern monetary economy.

They create trouble where trouble does not exist. They block vital highway accesses needlessly just to force the Government to pay them compensation. Or they forcefully claim property, land and even money that do not belong to them. And then there’s that tendancy also to bad-mouth successful people or seek ways and means to spoil their succeeding or successful business.

Worst of all is the tendancy to use false pretences and impersonation to claim benefits including large amounts of money fraudulently from businesses, government or investors. This statement rings true for the landowner industry.

Call it grand deceit or whatever suits the fancy. The landowner industry is full of deceit, dishonesty and fraud. There is so much thieving, denial of rights and hijacking of benefits destined for genuine landowners by public servants, politicians and pseudo-landowners. Although there has been thorough social mapping to establish rightful landowners they are still denied by fraudsters of their just benefits, writes veteran award-winning journalist Susuve Laumaea, who has been researching the plight of a group of Southern Highland landowners.

THE landowner industry is not just full of deceit, dishonesty and fraud. It’s also full of intrigue, mischief and mystery. Total strangers – unknown to locals -- come out of the woodworks overnight to claim ownership of land as soon as some sort of resource is found at a particular location – even in deep jungle where no one has ever resided. That’s one of the ugly features of the landowner industry and it’s a feature that leads to time-consuming landowner disputes.

The oil and gas industry has created a “scramble” of sorts by shady characters who respect no-one’s right to traditional ownership of land, honest collective bargaining or equal distribution of gains from royalties, tax credit, special support grants and equity participation.

Many groups of legitimate and genuine landowners have been caught flat-footed in this fast-paced quick money scheme and often times have found themselves outplayed and outsmarted by conmen, spivs and fraudsters.

One such group of sincere, legitimate and genuine landowners hail from the Angore gas resource area at Tari-Pori in South Highland Province and it’s their plight that we capture in this article.

They are angered by what they claim to be a plot to dispossess and disinherit them by Port Moresby-based people claiming to be Angore gas resource area landowners.

The actual Angore resource area landowners are persons belonging to the Undupi tribe. They make up 11 council areas in Angore basin at Tari Pore.

They are questioning where the people claiming to be Angore landowners come from and why they have hoodwinked the Government for a payment of K2.4 million to establish their landowner company operations and to stop a “non-existent” tribal fight in the area.

The story of an ongoing tribal fight in the Angore area is a big lie and the Government – through a senior State Minister – fell for the lie.

The real Angore gas resource area landowners know of no ongoing tribal fight in their area. That’s the truth they want the Government to know.

They say that some conmen in collaboration with government officials and politicians were providing false information to the Government to fraudulently make off with a large sum of money.

The real Angore gas resource area landowners have called on the Government not to pay the money to the Port Moresby-based spivs who are backed by a local MP.

“We know of this Port Moresby-based group and their politician friends using political influence to siphon off large amounts of money fraudulently,” one Angore landowner leader said.

“We want to see things done properly and honestly so that everyone – but especially the genuine landowner and our old fathers, mothers, uncles and aunties – benefit before they die. ‘We have patiently waited 20 years to see the Angore gas come into production. “We are not confrontationists. “We are committed to working in unity with the developers and the government to develop the gas resource on our land.

“We are physically residents at the site of the rig-head of the Angore prospect which is sitting on top of our traditional cemetery.” That’s hard and indisputable evidence.

Who in his right mind can deny the Undupi villagers and the three main clans and several sub clans that make up the 8,000 to 10,000 Undupi men, women and children of their inherent traditional rights? Come on!

There has been an emerging trend for bogus traditional land ownership groups being created overnight – often times by conniving and shady characters and persons very far removed from project or resource areas and a lot of the time by so-called “consultants” operating in tandem with gullible and potentially corrupt public officials including politicians in Port Moresby. It’s a major racket.

Their modus operandi has been to register and legitimise a landowner association and a corporate entity via the Investment Promotion Authority in the name of the resource area landowners. These conmen then appoint themselves landowner executives and bingo, they are in business big time.

These registered entities then become vehicles to hoodwink legitimate landowners, resource developers and the State to steal millions upon millions of kina through bogus claims and invoices that are happily attended to and processed by “friends” of the fraudsters in key government departments and agencies. They target monies that government or companies appropriate for payment of royalty, equity, tax credit, special support grants, special purpose authorities, development and public investment funds.

The web of deceit and denial is massive and so extensive that traditionally and legally proven land owners become the victims.

The scam involves politicians, department heads, senior bureaucrats and businessmen. Such is the case in the oil and gas industry. It is akin to a septic tank crawling with any manner of worms.

The mining, forestry and fisheries sectors have their share of problems too.

But it’s the oil and gas industry landowner issues that need to be resolved, appeased and corrected swiftly in the interest foreign investment security, peace and good order in project development areas and ensuring national development goes ahead unimpeded.

By Southern Highland’s Huli or Hela standards the Undupi tribe with its three main clans and several sub clans making up no more than 10,000 people is a relatively small group. Being a small group does not mean they should be dominated or denied their just benefits by unscrupulous city sleekers.

The Undupis have a claim and they want to be heard by the authorities.

Their leaders came to Port Moresby several months ago and have been knocking unsuccessfully on political and corporate doors in Port Moresby since late October this year. No door has opened for them yet so they are taking their grievance to the courts.

They want somebody in authority to hear their predicament and restore their traditional ownership rights over land that is resource rich.

They are Angore-based representatives and leaders mandated by their people to re-state their case, re-legitimise their claim and re-assert their ownership rights over the Angore gas resource project area at Tari-Pori District in Southern Highlands Province.

They have been denied that ownership and rights. The rig-head of the Angore gas field is sitting on top of their traditional cemetery at Undupi Village.

For the last 20 years, people of the three clans and their sub clans that make up the Imika clan of the greater Undupi Tribe generally have been receiving monetary benefits ranging from K1, 000 to K8, 000 annually for rental lease of Imika land upon which the rig-head sits.

Gas was discovered at Angore in 1989. The people registered their landowner association in 1998. Records of Oil Search Limited and the Investment Promotion Authority shall attest to this and other claims advanced herein.

Some time this year some Port Moresby-based people deregistered their landowner association and incorporated something else to deny the real landowners of their benefits. The Angore Kobalu people have re-registered their landowner entity and are seeking to prosecute the people who have dishonestly sought to deny them of their Angore inheritance and ownership rights.

The efforts of the Angore Kobalu tribes people to right the wrong that’s been done to them is tantamount to a scandal.

Their pleas to for a fair hearing by relevant authorities have been falling on deaf ears in Port Moresby.

They have now taken their plight to the courts so that restraint can be executed and authorities hear them fully and conclusively.

The landowner leaders now in Port Moresby are “bush people” and are far away from their 8,000 to 10,000 Imika, Halebura and Telia clansmen and several sub-clans. They may miss spending the festive season with their loved ones in remote Angore Kobalu basin.

Illiterate, semi-literate or literate, a youthful Elijah Timba and a couple of his executives of the Angore Kobalu Resources Owners Association Inc have been in Port Moresby to consult with and seek assistance for their people through the Investment Promotion Authority, Department of National Planning, the Department of Petroleum and Energy and the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

So far there has been no luck in their endeavours. No one – the Department of National Planning and the Department and Ministry of Petroleum and Energy it seems – want to hear them out.

Pseudo-landowners, impersonators and politicians – it seems – have highjacked the Angore Kobalu people’s right of traditional landownership and have also made a submission to the Government to divert payment of monetary benefits that are – by law – supposed to be paid to the Angore Kobalu traditional land owners.

At the heart of the Angore Kobalu-based landowners’ claim – as opposed to the claim by the Port Moresby-based Angore Gasfield Community Association Inc – is a submission by the Port Moresby-based group for K2.4 million underpinned by the Angore gas project.

This Port Moresby-based group has won the support of a local Member of Parliament and has received endorsement from a State Minister and his department head to be paid the K2.4 million. The money – according to documents -- is to resolve an ongoing tribal fight, to mobilize the Angore Gasfield Community Association and to assist set up foundation and seed capital to establish Angore Holdings Limited as the umbrella company to absorb all benefits coming from the Angore gas project development.

All the reasons advanced to justify payment of the K2.4 million are bogus and suspicious.

Letters demanding payment of the funds have reached the Office of the National Planning Secretary and that’s where it’s stuck for the time being.

The name of the department head and the originating correspondences with his signature and that of two senior politicians -- both Ministers – are available for disclosure at the appropriate forum.

The correspondences recognise the Port Moresby-based landowner group purporting to be the rightful one mandated by the people when in fact they are not.

This group needs to be thoroughly scrutinised.

They have applied to the authorities and received recognition – rightly or wrongly – to be the Angore Kobalu people’s landowner and corporate entities in the Angore gas development venture.

Prime Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare cannot turn a blind eye to the ministerial indiscretions and highly irregular conduct of senior officials.

Ministers, vice-minister and heads of departments are the last hope of the people in executive decision making and they must never behave corruptly, betray the public trust or draw attention to themselves in dealings that are highly irregular and illegal, potentially shady, suspicious and smelly.

The documents detailing the Angore Kobalu saga that this scribe has in his possession with copies circulated to relevant legal and judicial authorities for safe-keeping is all-revealing. They are strong enough to bring at least two government ministers and department head as accessories after the fact. For good measure copies of the documents have been put away for delivery to the Ombudsman Commission for their separate investigation under the Leadership Code.

No one must deny the the genuine Angore Kobalu landowners their God-given inherent rights. These are the people who can guarantee supply of gas from Angore to add to what will come out of Hides and elsewhere in Southern Highlands to make the ExxonMobile-Oil Search multi-billion kina LNG project “stack up” and attain the projected level of success and return on investment.

Many Papua New Guineans have seen the landowner industry grow by mammoth proportions since the advent of the Kutubu oil project in 1990.

Indeed the landowner industry has become a multi-billion money spinner for thousands of Papua New Guineans in the nation’s natural resources sectors.

It’s an industry that sprang from a compensatory culture that became fine-tuned and given legitimacy by various laws governing commercial exploitation of PNG’s abundant bio-diversity and richness of renewable and non-renewable natural resources including pristine tropical rainforest, minerals, oil and gas and smorgasbord of marine resources. Some experts say that PNG has to be one of God Almighty’s last frontiers of natural wealth in abundance.

This natural wealth can be value-added, apportioned to last and sustained in perpetuity for the present generation of Papua New Guineans and their children and for generations thereafter.

Government, developers and landowners hold the present and future success or failure of natural resource-based development, resource extraction, resource marketing and benefit sharing in their hands.

They must do the right thing. They must have respect for one another irrespective of who holds the highest equity in a project.

The three main stakeholders must operate honestly and transparently as fair, equal, sharing, caring and participatory partners in all aspects of a project development – be it forestry, fisheries, oil and gas or whatever else involving the abundant bio-diversity of PNG.

• Share your views with the writer at mailto: suslaumaea@gmail.com or read this column at: malumnalu.blogsport.com or send SMS text to B-Mobile #: 684-5168.

Sea swells cause Wewak fuel shortages

PORT MORESBY: Fuel supplies in Wewak have reached “critical levels” following the recent king tides that devastated many northern coastal areas.

The InterOil terminal has exhausted all supplies of gasoline and kerosene and has less than a week’s stock of diesel.

The company believes that it may be Christmas Eve before fresh supplies can be landed.

InterOil Products Limited General Manager Peter Diezmann described the situation as serious.

“The recent sea swells caused severe damage to the Wewak wharf and the structures that support the pipeline used to discharge fuel into our terminal”.

Mr. Diezmann said crews worked around the clock to repair the pipeline and the shore facilities.

The wharf pipeline was pressure tested and then declared in full working order ready to receive petroleum products.

The facility was re-opened to maritime traffic earlier this week.

However, sea swells during the past three days have prevented the tanker vessel (LCT), carrying fresh fuel stocks, from coming alongside.

The master of the vessel considered it unsafe to attempt a berthing in such conditions.

“We accept that the safety of his ship and crew is the skipper’s primary responsibility”, Mr. Diezmann said.

“On that basis he continued his voyage on to Manus and Kavieng in the hope conditions at Wewak will subside in the days ahead”.

“We hope the LCT will be able to return to Wewak on December 24^th”.

In the interim, InterOil is looking at the logistics of transporting emergency supplies of fuel into the affected area.

“It may be possible to bring a small number of drums into Wewak from Madang or Lae, on local coastal vessels, to supplement existing stocks”, Mr. Diezmann said.

“However, at this stage, it is possible we may exhaust all fuel supplies while the sea swell prevents the bulk fuel tanker from berthing”.

For further information

Susuve Laumaea

Senior Manager Media Relations - InterOil Corporation

Ph: 321 7040

Mobile: 684 5168

Email: susuve.laumaea@interoil.com

 

Mount Hagen fuel deliveries resume

PORT MORESBY: InterOil has resumed fuel deliveries to Mount Hagen following the re-opening of the Highlands Highway.

The Highway was cut at Mindima, Chimbu Province, after a landslip destroyed a half kilometre section of the road surface eight days ago.

A temporary bypass has now been constructed, enabling tankers access to the area.

 InterOil Products Limited General Manager Peter Diezmann says four large tankers were dispatched from Lae as soon as the Highway was re-opened.

“They discharged their cargo late Wednesday and immediately returned to Lae for another load”.

Mr. Diezmann says the convoy will make a series of round trips in the coming week to ensure fuel supplies are returned to normal as soon as possible.

“We expect to be able to begin re-supplying our customers from early next week but it may take a fortnight before all of our outlets are fully stocked”, he said.

Mr. Diezmann urged customers to be patient, but assured them supplies were on the way.

The damage caused by the landslip was described as “serious” and made the road totally impassable to heavy vehicles such as fuel tankers.

The region, which also includes the Western and Southern Highlands and Enga Provinces, had been without fuel since last week.

Mr. Diezmann applauded authorities for their work in re-opening the Highway.

“Their efforts have averted a major emergency”.

  “Now the delivery of vital supplies, including a full range of fuels, can begin flowing into the area”.

Last week’s landslip occurred fifty kilometres from where a similar incident closed the same highway for a fortnight in May.

For further information

Susuve Laumaea

Senior Manager Media Relations - InterOil Corporation

Ph: 321 7040

Mobile: 684 5168

Email: susuve.laumaea@interoil.com  

 

 

 

Bulldozed

 NCD police demolish notorious settlement

 

By SAMSON KENDEMAN

TETE settlement on the outskirts of Gerehu suburb in Port Moresby was bulldozed and razed to the ground by NCD police yesterday, The National newspaper reports.

Hundreds of setters have been left homeless, with many fleeing the area with their belongings yesterday afternoon when the police operation started.

The police operation followed a public outcry against the notorious settlement, which has a long history of criminal activity, following the brutal murder of businessman Sir George Constantinou on Tuesday afternoon.

After the killing, police had given the Tete community a 24-hour ultimatum to hand over all the criminals involved.

Police personnel from all stations in the nation’s capital went to the settlement around 2pm and began bulldozing it, setting alight buildings and chopping down trees on one side of the settlement.

They are expected to continue the operation on the other side today after an afternoon downpour disrupted yesterday’s demolition job.

Tete is one of the worst settlements in Port Moresby, where law and order problems have been rife over the years, including murders, rapes and robberies.

Police said other settlements with a similar reputation including Kipo, Garden Hills, Eight-Mile, Two-Mile, among others, would be next on the list.

“Police will do the same to these settlements if they continue on with their illegal activities,” NCD metropolitan commander Supt Fred Yakasa told

The National at Tete while the police demolition operation was underway.

Supt Yakasa said the police were

razing the settlement because its

leaders had repeatedly failed to take responsibility for containing the problems over a long period.

Two D6 bulldozers and a chainsaw machine were used to demolish the settlement.

“I gave the command, and I take full responsibility as the responsible State agency,” Supt Yakasa said.

Supt Yakasa described Nigibata Road in Gerehu, next to Tete settlement, as a dangerous road.

He said the general public using the road were always in fear of being attacked, which denied their right to move around freely.

Supt Yakasa said numerous armed hold-ups, robberies, rapes and killings had occurred on that section of the road.

“Enough is enough, the State has to come in and do everything it can to wipe it out,” he said.

Supt Yakasa said although not all settlers were criminals, everybody paid the price for the actions of the criminals.

He said there was no room for such perpetrators to live there and continuously destroy innocent lives.

Supt Yakasa said since PNG was experiencing an economic boom, Gerehu needed to be cleaned up so that potential investors could come and set up businesses.

“There will be no more resettlement here, proper urban development can take place,” he said.

However, some community leaders from the Motu-Koita district of Central province, who were at the site, said Tete settlement was not State land but customary land.

The National visited the site and saw settlers fleeing with their belongings, while only a few remained to see what was happening.

Many were seeking shelter with relatives in other settlements and in the city.

Looters tried to ransack the burning buildings, but police ordered them out.

According to settler Matthew Kila, from Goilala in the Central province, who was a key figure in apprehending the suspects in Sir George’s killing, community leaders had cooperated by handing over the suspects to police.

He said no proper identification had been done to determine who the real culprits were before police bulldozed everything.

“Some of us are innocent people, we are now suffering. Where do we live and eat,” Mr Kila said.

“Tete is occupied by people from all over Papua New Guinea and where will they go?

“Is the Government going to provide food for those innocent people?” he questioned.

He called on the Government to repatriate the settlers back to their respective provinces in a humanitarian way.

Secretary general of NGOs and Civil Society Policy and Partners, Philip Kepan, said Government services were not reaching many parts of PNG, which had resulted in people flooding into major towns and cities and becoming involved in criminal activities.

Mr Kepan said in order to clamp down on escalating law and order problems, the Government should provide tangible services to every community in every district and province of the country.

 

Constantinou's Murder Shows the Ugly Side of Us

Constantinou’s Murder Shows the Ugly Side of Us

By GEORGE BOPI

George Constantinou’s death is truly tragic for a man who spent his life loving this country. No amount of words, belated actions or reactions and consolations is going to bring this hard working Papua New Guinean back to life. I have never met him or know him personally, but hearing and looking at what he has done, speaks of a humble, hardworking, and self-believing and self-made man. My ideal idol.
Mr. Constantinou’s tragedy is a result of allot of issues allowed to fester by society as a whole and highlights the fundamental problems that awaits all our fate in this country. Now we are told they were going to close this settlement four years ago – sadly it was promised back then that they would close it, only after one more life would be taken, and it was just a matter of time. Why did they not close it when 10 lives were taken back then? This attitude of ‘waiting until a similar worse tragedy hits again to be compelled to do something’ is prevalent in all things we have come to accept in PNG.
In the court rooms offenders are warned, ‘let this be the last time’ and let loose. In the workplace we give a number of warnings to repeat offenders with deficient work ethics. Repeatedly Police do this habitually, ‘neks time, lukaut ah’. Even we ordinary folks casually look the other way on many issues that confront us or that happen right in front of us with a, ‘larim’, no ken bisi’, attitude on incidences that may require our input to resolve or even save a life.
Mother Teresa once said, when posed by a reporter that she was doing a wonderful job bringing people out of slums, that only she physically brought ‘people’ out of the slums but it was God that brought the ‘slums’ out of the people. Conversely, in PNG it seems we bring ourselves out of our villages and clans into towns and cities, but sadly with it, our village and clan ways come with us. Education was supposed to educate us out of our village and clan ways, but not to be. Police, law and justice systems were supposed to acculturate us into a newer modern way of coexistence, but not to be. A modern cash economy with all its flushes and promises was supposed to meet all our needs and expectations for a better, brighter life, the modern livelihood promised, but not to be. Christianity was to liberate and enlighten us into a much better ‘next life’ if we keep ourselves in check in this life by doing the right things including giving up a lot of evil old ways of doing things like killing innocent fellow human beings, but not to be. Then of course modern Politics, the way it works elsewhere, was introduced to make laws to protect the ‘law makers’ from the ‘wrong makers’, and the ‘haves’ from the ‘have not’s’, the ‘schooled’ from the ‘unschooled’, the employed from the unemployed, the good from the bad, females from the males, etc, but not to be.
Mr. Constantinou’s killing has now taken us years back to our Stone Age days of ‘if he is not from my line then he is enemy’ and highlights the depth of backwardness we have come as a people and nation, in a world where the rest of the human race is rapidly moving up in life. I see us going more backward even in the future, when I see young kids (future leaders?!) who are supposed to be in school, directing parking lots in downtown Moresby during the day, while others elsewhere throughout PNG selling wares on the streets, and still others aimlessly walking the streets and highways. It is no consolation when you see youths to grown-up adults aimlessly walking around, congregating on markets and buai stalls whole day just ‘wasting away’. Even a worse trend I notice in Lae and Port Moresby is that there are families, literally living off the street – yes no house, not even a settlement to call home!
I belong to a movement called ‘Leadership PNG’ and our guiding principle is ‘As I am so is my family, clan, organisation and country’. Another word a family, community, clan, district, organisation, province or country is only as good as the people in it. In terms of leadership, ’our community, organisation or country is only as good as the leaders in it’. To put it aptly, where good people and leaders exist, the society is good. On a country level, where good leaders exist, the country is progressive and its people prosperous and live in harmony. Here, by leaders, I am not only referring to Politicians, but to all of us who have someone looking up to us; that are right from a simple responsible father or mother to the Prime Minister – we are all leaders, hence, responsible!
I sincerely do hope (and this is very big hope) and pray that Mr. Constantinou’s fatal tragedy results in our Police being more proactive to prevent similar tragedies form recurring; for our justice system to ensure justice is done to those responsible for this despicable atrocity; for responsible leaders to address the root causes of urban drift which results in ugly and fatal incidences such as this; for all of us to feel compelled to act out of human instinct and care towards those that fall victim to even petty things like hooligans who show lack of humanity to others like pulling their bags, mobile phones, or even pull out a dagger to hurt another human – even if s/he does not come from our village or clan.
When other Papua New Guineans have chosen to invest overseas, thereby create employment elsewhere and erode much needed cash and wealth out of this country, this great man had chosen to stay right here. Many thanks to Mr. Constantinou for his immense contribution to this country he believed in and loved. This is indeed a sad Christmas for a lot of us; even those, such as I, who do not know or have met him. May God grant him eternal peace and rest!

George Bopi
Lae. Morobe Province

Initial reactions to the Sir George Constantinou murder

skantha said...

I am totally shocked, saddened and disgusted at the senseless killing of a prominent PNGan.

Someone who has contributed immensely to nation-building while some cockroach and parasites can just take his life away just like that.

Tete settlement should be made a desert.

More innocent and prominent lives will be lost if we/govt continue to tolerate settlements like Tete.

There should be no ultimatum whatsoever.

The police should just move in, kick out everybody and burn the whole place down.

Totally disgusted.

May Sir George Constantinou rest in peace.

9:51 AM

Malum Nalu said...

I totally agree with you skantha. Tete Settlement has the lowest life scum of Papua New Guinea who must be eradicated if this country is to move ahead.

10:03 AM

Anonymous said...

It is a very sad day. Our thoughts are with him.

10:18 AM

Anonymous said...

No words can express the bitterness, frustration and sadness I'm feeling. Tete settlement should be eradicated. For a person who has contributed to the employment of PNGans this act is uncalled for.

croc said...
Shocking. Brutal. Barbaric. Hideous. Words cannot express my anguish especially for an elderly citizen who has made monumental contribution through business and employment over a period of 54 years in PNG. Sir George was a statesman, a philanthropist and a hard worker who earned every toea he made by sheer sweat and toil. The very fabric of PNG society where respect for the defenceless elderly is a sacred treasured cornerstone of our more than 800 different ethnic cultures is being destroyed by greed, disrespect, lawlessness, disorientation and plain stupidity. We have a generation of "sickos and psychos" conveniently hiding among peaceful, law-abiding citizens. Clean out this low life scum swiftly by any heavy-handed means possible.

4:07 PM

2:10 PM

Mathew Yakai said...
There is no better word I can use to express my shock! Let’s bend the law, move in and eradicate the settlement. The situation does not warrant the notion of human rights. The settlement is breeding outcasts and criminals.

How can PNG move on if we go this way? This is strange. Police must move in right now!

I should also blame the government for failing to provide adequate employment and services to engage young people like those in Tete settlement. Now we are blaming the Tete settlement but the magnitude and nature of the crime is just as same as the teacher chopped in Enga, the BSP bank robbery, rape of young women, and other chain of criminal activities. All boil down to the day’s government for failing to provide what is due for the people. That is basic goods and services and provide some incentives for the people. If this does not happen then we will have more problems. Police raid at this settlement will not solve the problem. However, economic incentives for the ordinary people are the solution, and that’s the role the government must play.

Mathew Yakai
China

Mathew Yakai
China

7:12 PM


Anonymous said...
I work in Papua New Guinea when i was young next to sir George, I have learn many things from him and I am proud to be one of his blood,
All 30 should be tie in the beach in Port Moresby with no food and no water for 365 days and receive for breakfast 50 whips each morning and day, and then give them 5 minutes with a dog to be bitten until they become spastics and put them in the jungle with other animals to die!!!!! That’s what they deserve after they kill my.....
Also who is behind the killing? Have the police made investigation?
Is the girl who he was looking after pay the rascals to do it??
if your in PNG AND YOU READ THIS PLEASE INFORM THE POLICE ABOUT IT, I HEAR SHE TOOK THE GUN TO KILL HIM FEW MONTHS AGO AND HER COUSIN TOLD SIR GEORGE TO GO AWAY, HE DID AND HE SAVE HIS LIFE,
IS SHE BEHIND ALL THIS?????????
WHY THE OTHER PERSON IS STILL ALIVE?????????? TO ME IT SMELLS,
PLEASE ADVICE THE POLICE TO INVESTIGATE HER IF YOU’RE IN PORT MORESBY,
God bless Sir George Constantine,
PNG HAS LOST A GREAT MAN!!!!!!!!!!!

11:15 PM


Anonymous said...
A senseless killing of one of Png’s greatest sons. The knee-jerk reactions of the police to "raze tete settlement to the ground" however must be kept in check, along with the emotions and tensions that no doubt will rise in the coming days, and we must now address the broader issue of squatter settlements in urban areas. It is a shame that this issue could only be brought about by the untimely death of one of our country's great leaders, but it is now upon us, the people, not to avenge the death of sir George, but to address the issue of urban squatter settlements, and the criminal elements that these settlements breed, so that many more lives can be spared, and this country can move forward without the fear and apprehension that grips our urban areas from time to time. Sir George was a great man, and will truly be missed by men and women PNG over. We will find these killers. We will bring them to justice and they will pay. Let us not get too carried away with band-aid solutions that will only further inflame the situation. Work together, bring about a peaceful solution, and let justice take its course. Sir George would have wanted it that way.

11:34 PM


Anonymous said...
I believe in an eye for eye
Kill the cowards and bullies

7:43 AM


Anonymous said...
Pull tete settlement down and build a jail to house the scum

7:44 AM


PNGEMMIYET said...
PNG is no longer a safe haven for tourists, let alone PNGeans to move around freely. It's sad to see all these unfold. Who is to blame? Rascals? Or the corrupt govt of Somare who suppose to make that settlement a desert in 2003?
Sir Constantinou has contributed immensely to PNG and the knight is good at this business. PNG will loose a great leader, and a businessman. RIP.

David U.Ketepa

Michigan, USA

3:49 PM

Anonymous said...
It's interesting to read the various comments on this blog. As mentioned already, knee-jerk reactions are inevitable and they've been seen both by police action and in anger vented through blogs like this one. I have to agree with the anonymous writer, it's this abhorrent act that demands everyone to think sensibly and act pragmatically to solve the problem of urban drift, settlements and lack of opportunities for PNG's youth. Razing a settlement is not the solution and is bound to pose more problems in the future. My sincere hope is that something positive and long lasting comes from this death. How unfortunate that it takes the death of someone prominent to stir such discussions.
4:10 PM

Fiji regime's latest journalist debacle a shame for Pacific leadership: PFF

Wednesday 17 December, 2008 -- The overnight detention on arrival in Fiji and refused entry of NZ-based Pacific journalist Barbara Dreaver on Monday night is a shameful indictment of fear and insecurity by the current military regime there.

That's the view of the Pacific Freedom Forum, an online media network of Pacific journalists aimed at promoting the right of Pacific people to be informed and to speak their minds via a free and independent media. The regional media network says the image of Pacific leadership amongst Forum nations is being seriously damaged by Fiji's army-led government.

"The latest incident involving Ms Dreaver, an experienced Pacific journalist, and implicating her in a secret 'watch list' when she already had clearance from the Ministry of Information to do her job is undermining the credibility of the regime. When leaders state a public commitment to media freedom, and then blatantly set out to silence it, they come off looking ridiculous," says Freedom Forum chair Susuve Laumaea.

"This is a shameful example of insecure leadership in a nation which houses the secretariat for our regional leaders and so many other development partners committed to principles of good governance and the human rights of all Pacific people," says Laumaea.

The Papua New Guinea journalist and media commentator says it is "especially shameful as Ms Dreaver is an award winning journalist whose only reason for being barred from entry was for her commitment to her profession."

Dreaver hails from Kiribati and the Cook Islands, where her investigative journalism won her the PINA Media Freedom Award. She is also a recipient of the New Zealand Qantas media awards and has been involved in training partnerships with Fiji media colleagues.

 PFF co-chair Monica Miller, News Director of 93 KHJ Radio in American Samoa  and former President of the Pacific Islands News Association, says the  latest incident is a worrying trend in a litany of harassment against media workers by Fiji's government.

 "For Dreaver and other journalists, this treatment is just part of getting to the truth," says Miller, "but my heart goes out to the people of Fiji who have to suffer the consequences of such dictatorial leadership."  ENDS   

 

 CONTACT:

 PFF interim Chair

Susuve Laumaea | Sunday Chronicle Newspaper | Papua New Guinea

Mobile: 675-684 5168 | Office: 675-321-7040 | Email: susuve.laumaea@interoil.com

 

PFF interim co-Chair

Monica Miller | KHJ Radio | American Samoa

Mob    684 258-4197 | Office 684 633-7793 | Email: monica@khjradio.com

 

The Pacific Freedom Forum are a regional and global online network of Pacific media colleagues, with the specific intent of raising awareness and advocacy of the right of Pacific people to enjoy freedom of expression and be served by a free and independent media.

We believe in the critical and basic link between these freedoms, and the vision of democratic and participatory governance pledged by our leaders in their endorsement of the Pacific Plan and other commitments to good governance.

In support of the above, our key focus is monitoring threats to media freedom and bringing issues of concern to the attention of the wider regional and international community.

 

 

Sir George dead

Senior businessman murdered at Gerehu

ONE of PNG’s leading businessmen, Sir George Constantinou, was murdered by criminals in Port Moresby yesterday, The National newspaper reports.

The 78-year-old tycoon was killed along Nigibata Road in Gerehu, next to the Tete settlement, as he was leaving his timber yard.

News of the killing spread like wildfire, evoking shock and condemnation from leading citizens, including Sir George’s long-time contemporary, Sir Brian Bell.

Police said Sir George had driven out of his timber yard at Gerehu and was approaching the Tete settlement turn-off when a large group of men armed with home-made guns, knives and stones blocked the road.

He tried to avoid them in his Landcruiser station wagon, but the criminals stoned his vehicle and shot at his tyres.

Sir George lost control and ditched the vehicle on the side of the road, when the raskols set upon him.

Metropolitan police commander Supt Fred Yakasa said Sir George was hit in the head apparently with a stone or a hard object.

He was taken to the Gerehu clinic and later rushed by ambulance to the Pacific International Hospital (PIH), but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Supt Yakasa said Sir George was attacked between 2pm and 3pm yesterday.

It is understood that one person, an employee of Sir George, was with him at the time of the attack. It is not known if he sustained any injuries.

An eyewitness said the criminals shot the tyres of his vehicle, and when it stopped, they quickly stoned him.

The killing of Sir George, a Greek who became a PNG citizen, has shocked and outraged residents in the capital.

Supt Yakasa has given the Tete community a 24-hour ultimatum to hand over the criminals involved in the killing.

“There’s lot of killings, road blocks, kidnappings, car thefts in that area and we are left with little option but to clean out the place,” he told The National last night.

Sir George was born on May 11, 1930. He was educated in Cyprus before he came to PNG in the 1950s.

He owned several businesses including Airways Hotels and Apartments, Lamana Hotel, Hebou Constructions (PNG) Limited, Rouna Quarries Ltd, NTS Timber among others in Port Moresby and around the country.

His latest project was the building of the Heritage Park Hotel in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

The area where he was murdered has a long history of violent crime.

Following a spate of killings, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare had warned in Nov 2003 that if the lawlessness continued, the Government would be forced to repatriate settlers there to their home provinces.

Sir Michael’s warning followed the killing of 10 people in an ethic clash between Taris of Southern Highlands and Goilalas from Central province.

A week later a Gulf man was killed and his body burnt when he tried to protect his family from a mob of rampaging youths. His wife and daughter were

also gang-raped.

 

Why you should use 100% local companies when walking the Kokoda Trail

By DAVE JACKSON who walked the Kokoda Trail in November 2008

 

Hi Malum

My brother and I walked the Kokoda Track at the beginning of November 2008 using a local guide and two local porters from Kokoda Station.

The trip took the commercialism feel of the Ozzy companies away from the trip and gave us a more natural and relaxed trek, which we both found to be much more enjoyable.

Our contact was Edric Ogomeni, eogomeni@bankpng.gov.pg, who arranged the contacts for us.

Tony was a very capable guide and Ray and François were a pleasure to trek with

The Kokoda boys are setting up their own trekking company called ‘Foot Steps, Kokoda’, and I strongly recommend that if you want to go native then trekkers should get in touch with these boys.

Looking forward already to the Black Cat in 2010

Regards

Dave Jackson

Baggi

AGSL

1st Herford Scout Group

BFPO 15

http://www.justgiving.com/baggi2

 

At the end of October 2008, I flew over from Germany to PNG to walk the Kokoda track with my Brother, a resident in Lae.

The trip had been planned a year ahead and my expectations were high.

Having been a Mountain Expedition Leader in the British Army I was looking forward to my first taste of the tropics.

After a few necessary days of acclimatisation, we caught a twin prop “mountain hopper” plane over the Stanley Range to Kokoda Airfield landing at 11:55am.

Little did I realise that Airfield meant exactly that, from up there it looks like a football field.

Kokoda Airfield is pretty much as it was in WWII, getting off the plane there is a shelter of wood and hatched palm leaves to protect from the rain/sun.

This is where most-organised touristy commercial companies stop for the night before starting the 8-9 day trek to following morning.

Once we had collected our packs from the plane and met the rest of our group “Footsteps Kokoda”, our guide Tony and porters Fancais and Ray.

Then we were off back down the runway to the village about 1 ½ km away.

Arriving at new Kokoda station near the original village, we made our way past some of the WWII buildings to the Guest Houses and Pricilla’s Lodge, the house of Tony’s Dad.

Relieving us of our packs, the family set about re-distributing and repacking our packs, lightening us of our sleeping systems and replacing them with water – apparently us soft folk can’t hack the humidity and heat in the mountains and need much more water than the locals – how right they were.

At 12:30 we were off once again heading out of the station and south towards the mountains.

Passing the old WWII hospital and the museum it is easy to see why so many did not make it any further than here once wounded, this place really is at the back end of nowhere, yet home to some of the nicest locals I have met yet.

The track starts just south of the hospital as a two rutted tractor track heading down to Kokoda village proper.

 Having left the clearing, we were straight into the plantations, rubber, cocoa, bananas and Pawpaw.

Before the tractor track starts to descend toward the village, the path turns off south and up an incline to a small settlement called Kovelo; here we filled our camel packs and the Sigg bottles with spring water.

 From here until Deniki is known as the “testing hill”.

It is a civilised 30cm wide track which zigzag’s up a 450 metre incline which takes a good 3 ½ to 4 hours.

Here is where all those nasty toxins that you may have poured into your bodies in the bar the night before, come pouring out of every pore, until even your socks are wringing wet.

As Tony explained, “this is where we find out who in the party is going to make it all the way, and who need to turn around and take the plane home”.

Can you imagine the embarrassment of having to go back to the airfield and catch the plane home, having spent all that time, effort and cash to get there?

We made Deniki at about 16:40, 3 litres of water later.

The guesthouse near Deniki village is built on a knoll that over looks the Kokoda valley, which seems to be a long way down, you can make out the village, but the airstrip and station are lost behind the enormous trees surrounding the clearing.

Near every guesthouse is a cooking shelter with preparation table and fireplace, and Dunny’s – the kind where the precariously placed logs reveal a hole, which drops into a moving and squeaking darkness.

It’s important to get out of your walking clothes as soon as possible and get into warm dry clothes with long legs and sleeves, early evening is mozzi time.

A quick trip to the nearest spring for a cold wash, changed and a 30-minute power-nap later and I was ready for some tucker.

 I had brought with me some ‘boil in a bag’ meals from my local supplier.

 These were frowned at by the local lads, as their meal consisted of lots of boiled rice with Maggi sauce, 2-minute noodles and either a can of Tuna or Corned Beef.

This was to be their evening meal for the next 4 nights, and with good reason.

The mixture of carbohydrate, protein and a full belly feeling is just what is needed to recharge the muscles for the next day.

 Hot cups of sweet tea or coffee go down a treat too.

Nightfall comes quick at about 17:30, and after sitting around the cooking fire for an hour or two, the eyelids get very heavy.

Lacking two decent trees with which to string my hammock in shared a tent with my brother, Paul.

This would be the last time this happened, as the Texas Chain Saw Massacre in full Dolby stereo would not have drowned out his snoring.

Morning came as a blessing; we were up at dawn, breakfasted and off, filling our water carriers on the way.

As the daylight lightened the track we commenced a slow windy ascent through cocoa fields and crossing many small creeks over rickety log bridges, arriving at ‘Two Creeks’ at 07:55 for a wash, brush teeth and fill water.

We made Isurava for 09:40, well ahead of schedule and bought our first luke-warm cokes at 5 Kina (2 Euros) a can (someone has to carry them up there) and fresh passion fruit off the tree that morning.

Isurava is the site of one of the most famous battles of this Kokoda campaign, where amongst the other 75 fallen soldiers, Private Bruce Kingsbury earned his VC by charging the Japanese with a Bren gun in one hand and a Tommy gun in the other, which helped to turn back there advance onto the main village.

The site is now marked with four huge polished granite monuments bearing the inscriptions.

A couple of years earlier the Australian Prime minister had visited with his ensemble, to lay a wreath at the monument.

A helicopter pad has been cleared on a knoll at the top of the hill.

Whilst the boys were brewing up a tea, I had a look around the village.

The gardens were all well tended and the village clearing had been swept.

This is to prevent snakes from loitering under fallen palm leaves or the like.

Just as we were preparing to leave a snake was spotted near some children playing, all of a sudden every man in the village had a three foot long machete and was hacking away at the grass and bushes were it was spotted.

Than same afternoon I witnessed my first flash tropical rain storm. I wasn’t wet enough from the sweat of the track, 10 minutes in the rain and I was soaked through to my undies, and the water was pouring out of my boots.

The rest of the trek was for me a fascinating experience and harder than anything I had experienced in the Army.

The views were incredible and the history lesson from our company were awe inspiring as well as interesting.

Taking on a challenge of this proportion is not for the weak willed, for it is will power as well as fitness that is needed, and above all an incredibly strange sense of humour.

I highly recommend the “Footsteps – Kokoda” company for a well-rounded and local tour of the Kokoda track or any of the other trails in the area, as they are well connected. They can be contacted through Edric Ogomeni in Port Moresby eogomeni@bankpng.gov.pg

There are of course other local companies to choose from, but I can only speak of my experience and these boys are number one.

I am looking forward already to my return to PNG in 2010 to push my ever-aging body along the Black Cat Track and maybe drag some Footsteps along with me.

• David Jackson can be contacted on email david.jackson841@land.mod.uk

 

 

Top businessman murdered in Port Moresby

One of Port Moresby leading businessmen Sir George Constantinou was murdered by criminals in Port Moresby yesterday.

The 78-year-old tycoon was killed along Nigibata Road in Gerehu, next to the Tete settlement, as he was leaving his timber yard.

He owned several businesses including Airways Hotels and Apartments, Hebou Constructions (PNG) Limited, Rouna Quarries, and NTS Timber among others in Port Moresby and around the country.

• More details to come