Port Moresby's new fountain

This is Port Moresby's new fountain at the suburb of Gerehu, which was opened on Christmas night by National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop.

It is a major attraction, especially at night, with different coloured lights.

Wobblies and Roosters

From PAUL OATES in Queensland, Australia

We've just had some very welcome rain and although no run off yet, the grass has started to grow. There's a patch of grass just outside the backdoor that seems irresistible to the wobblies and kangaroosters. Mrs Wobbly is busy keeping an eye on her spouse while Mummy roo has a Joey that is about to outgrow her favourite refuge. The blue crested pigeons are hanging around for some stale biscuits.

Sorry...

To my faithful followers, and particularly the critics, I have had two digital cameras either stolen or lost from me, or wrecked, over the last two months, hence, my slowness in getting you pictures.

However, I now have a new digital camera, so you can be assured of a personal touch of photographs and stories from me, from Port Moresby and Papua New Guinea.

I can assure you of the best in 2010.

Malum

 

Papua New Guinea poised for a surge in growth

By MIKE STEKETE in The Australian

PAPUA New Guinea has largely slipped off Australian radar screens, even though it is our nearest neighbour and was our responsibility as a former colony.

So you may be surprised to hear that it has bright prospects by developing world standards, which could see it rise rapidly through the ranks. But whether those prospects can be fulfilled, particularly in terms of benefits to the mass of the people, is another matter.

The nation of 6.3 million people is enjoying its longest run of economic growth since independence in 1975, seven years and counting. The government set a target many saw as fanciful: growing by 5 per cent a year after inflation by the end of this decade. This year, despite the international recession, it grew by 6.2 per cent and last month's budget forecast 8.5 per cent next year. But that is just warming up.

A few weeks ago, the PNG government signed a deal that promises to earn $35 billion in the next 30 years through the export of liquefied natural gas. The gas fields are to be developed in the Southern Highlands, with pipelines running 300km to the coast, then another 415km underwater to a processing plant outside Port Moresby, from where it will be exported.

The project, a partnership between ExxonMobil, Australian company Oil Search, the PNG government and others, involves an investment of $16bn; this in a country whose gross domestic product was $13.7bn last year and whose exports are less than $6bn a year. Visitors say signs of the new affluence already are apparent in Port Moresby, with new hotels and expensive housing springing up.

Yet there is a sense of foreboding among many experts on PNG. What are the chance of the benefits from all this development flowing through to the mass of the population?

"Right now, I would say very little," says Jenny Hayward-Jones, a former Australian Department of Foreign Affairs officer who runs the Melanesia program at the Lowy Institute. But, she adds, there is time between now and 2013, when export revenues are due to start flowing, for things to change.

It is just that the past does not provide a great deal of confidence. At the time of independence, PNG ranked 77th out of 150 countries on the UN Human Development Index, which measures not only income but also factors such as education and life expectancy. Now, despite big projects such as Bougainville, Ok Tedi and Lihir, PNG comes 148th out of 182 countries, just above Haiti and Sudan.

Average life expectancy is 54 years and the infant mortality rate 64 per 1000 live births, much worse than the figures for indigenous people in Australia. Using the benchmark of living on less than $US1 a day, 37.5 per cent of people suffered extreme poverty in 2004, compared with 25 per cent in 1996.

Prime Minister Michael Somare bridles at such figures, saying people in the villages always have plenty to eat. But in a paper commissioned by the Lowy Institute, Laurence Chandy, a former senior economist with the PNG government, says those in extreme poverty typically are malnourished, vulnerable to infectious diseases, poor harvests, natural disasters and crime and lack access to jobs, land, education, health care, clean water and transport.

Chandy quotes the PNG government's data: 35 per cent of births are supervised by healthcare professionals, 45 per cent of those of school-leaving age completed primary education and 27 per cent of the road network is considered to be in good condition.

Keith Jackson, a former teacher in PNG who subsequently held a senior position in the ABC, and Paul Oates, a former patrol officer, have calculated that health spending per person in PNG averages $38 a year, compared with $5461 for indigenous people in the Northern Territory.

John Kleinig, a former teacher, says the school where he worked in Rabaul 40 years ago was better resourced than most schools in NSW at the time. A prime mover in a private charitable project in Oro Province that has set up a community-based program to provide resources and teacher training for schools, as well as health and agriculture programs, he says schools these days lack even the most basic resources, such as paper and pencils. "Teachers write lessons on the blackboard because, although textbooks exist, there generally is no money to purchase them," Kleinig says. Staffing schools is a problem, with teachers often suffering from diseases such as typhoid and malaria.

The Chandy paper points out that, despite recent high economic growth rates in PNG, in only three of the past six years have they exceeded the rapid rate of population growth. On one estimate, extreme poverty fell by 8.8 percentage points in the five years to 2008, though this was not enough to make up for the increase in the late 1990s and early part of this decade. Gross domestic product per capita remains below its 1996 level and will not catch up until 2014, assuming the government's growth forecasts are accurate.

Chandy diagnoses PNG's problem as the equivalent of bad circulation. Limited financial development and a rugged geography mean most transactions occur locally. Government revenue in the five years to 2008 rose from 23 per cent of GDP to almost 31 per cent but little has found its way to poor areas. Chandy says lack of public infrastructure isolates the poor and creates "a series of geographical poverty traps".

Some, including an urban elite, are benefiting. So are some landholders: Exxon recently handed out the equivalent of $500 per person to 1000 people under a benefit sharing agreement in an area where the company is building a large airstrip. This is more than the average annual household income of people in the area.

Corruption is one problem in PNG: Transparency International ranks it 151st out of 180 countries and says it is slipping further. The way the government does business does not help. Chandy says it justifies channelling funds, including cash transfers for individuals, through MPs and landowners as the best way of getting money to the poor. This method of distributing funds has grown from 15 per cent to 35 per cent of the development budget but there is no effective monitoring of the spending.

Chandy urges the PNG government to evaluate future foreign investment not just in terms of government revenue but its contribution to creating jobs. In the absence of a radically different approach by government, the LNG project and the high rate of economic growth accompanying it "will reinforce the existing structure of the economy in which the poor are largely excluded".

Canberra has a stake in the outcomes. In line with his penchant for targets, Kevin Rudd has tied future aid to PNG making progress towards achieving the UN's millennium development goals. These include halving the proportion of people living on less than $US1 a day by 2015, cutting the mortality rate of children under five by two-thirds, universal primary education and halting the spread of HIV-AIDS. They are big asks, particularly in the absence of effective leverage by Australia. Somare is looking for the country's coming riches to free PNG from dependence on the annual $390 million in Australian aid.

The time has come to assert more responsibility over PNG's national development, he said earlier this year, and part of that would involve an "aid exit strategy".

Hayward-Jones says that, while this makes sense in the long run, aid from Australia and elsewhere fills the gap in systems that have broken down. "In health, if it wasn't for Australia and other donors delivering medicines and vaccines and other services, a lot more people would be dying," she adds.

Internet filtering introduced without much discussion

From PAUL OATES in Queensland, Australia 

It would appear that the Federal Labor government has introduced Internet filtering without any big fanfare. The rationale is that this legislation will prevent people from accessing bomb making and child porn sites. While on the surface this is perfectly reasonable, it begs the age old question: 'Who will watch the watchers?'
George Orwell in his classic book '1984' described how the government of the day monitored all incoming electronic traffic (read government propaganda) on the wall high tv screens in every house and through monitoring each person's mandatory responses from a camera on each wall, ensured everyone conformed to government dictums.
Could this newly enacted legislation just be the thin edge of the wedge? Do we want nameless and blameless public servants deciding what we can watch on our computers merely based on someone's interpretation of the government's views of the day? What happens if the government's views start changing and prevent any alternative views from being 'aired'?  E mail and internet news communication is now recognised as a fast and inexpensive way of informing people about issues. But what if the daily news was monitored and filtered to suit the wishes of the government of the day? Who would know?
We are constantly bombarded with 'filtered' news even now. What might stop that process from getting worse? Look at what happens today in China?
Have we as a species progressed from the time of Juvenal (63 -130) when he uttered those famous lines "Quis custodiet ipsos! Custodes? (Who is to guard the guards themselves?)
http://www.whirlpool.net.au/
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/tags/censorship/
http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/12/23/stephen-conroy-dear-crikey-heres-why-youre-wrong/

Papua New Guinea now gravely ill with the disease of corruption

By ROWAN CALLICK, Asia-Pacific editor, The Australian

A FORTNIGHT ago, Papua New Guinea's top corruption fighter, Chief Ombudsman Chronox Manek, arrived home in his Nissan Patrol from a function at about 10.30pm, and stopped in front of the gate to the Port Moresby house.

Two cars, which had followed him, suddenly turned off the road and hemmed his vehicle in. He rammed one of the other cars, but three men leaped from the second, and began shooting at him.

A bullet went through his shoulder, and he slumped forward. He had hit his car horn to alert his family, and the attackers drove off. Manek said they had left him for dead. It was a miracle he survived, he said. Despite being dizzy from loss of blood, he drove to hospital.

He returned to work this week. But neither the police nor the Ombudsman Commission are saying where the investigation is heading, beyond Police Commissioner Gari Baki's routine pronouncement: "We are determined to get to the bottom of this."

Such violence might have been an opportunistic robbery, or a planned act over personal issues unrelated to Manek's job as corruption-buster.

The alternative is that it was a "professional" assassination attempt. That should be easier to solve, since the suspects would be limited to those under investigation by Manek -- though they include some of the country's most powerful politicians.

It would also fit into a pattern of politically motivated violence that has long marred PNG's public life.

Assassinations are not new to PNG. Before independence, in 1971, Australian district commissioner Jack Emmanuel was stabbed to death near Rabaul as the push for independence intensified. Prisons commissioner Pious Kerepia was also stabbed to death, at his home in Port Moresby, in 1990. Bougainville leader Theodore Miriung, viewed by some as saintly, was shot in front of his wife and five children at home in 1996. In 1997, another Bougainville politician, Thomas Batakai, was shot in front of his wife in the garden of their home.

In 1989, there was an attempt to kill Australian judge Tos Barnett as he concluded an inquiry into corruption in the forest industry.

If the Manek shooting was politically driven, it encapsulates the cause of PNG's frustrating failure to improve living standards significantly over the past 30 years.

That cause is corruption. It is no coincidence that global corruption agency Transparency International rates it 154th out of 180 countries on its annual rating, with the 180th being the worst.

At independence in 1975, PNG was a reasonably well-run country with a great deal of optimism and an easy self-confidence. Civil society was strong, and crime rates modest. It caused a sensation when the Ombudsman announced a tribunal to consider the first minor leadership code breach for corruption, against a junior minister, Moses Sasakila. The "Gang of Four" top public servants, two of whom -- Mekere Morauta and Rabbie Namaliu -- went on to become prime ministers, were politically blocked when they went out on a limb to urge a tough new leadership code to contain such incipient corruption.

This, in hindsight, was the nation's crucial turning point. Corruption has turned into the virus which has undermined governments' capacity to deliver the services essential for the progress in living standards to which Papua New Guineans feel entitled, given the country's stream of successful resource projects, its massive aid injections, and its underlying agricultural base. What chance is there, then, that PNG can manage effectively the huge Exxon Mobil-led liquefied natural gas project, which will be by far the biggest the Pacific Islands region has seen?

Construction, which starts next year, will cost almost double this year's $9.4 billion gross domestic product.

Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare -- who has championed a second LNG project -- acknowledged the extent of this challenge in a speech to his own staff Christmas party on Tuesday.

He admitted: "We have not trained our people for the projects, which will require between 8000 and 10,000 workers."

Exxon, he said, was asking for 500 drivers. "How do we get 500 drivers in a day?" The answer is that they will come from largely Asian guest workers, likely to live in a camp to be built near Port Moresby. The prospects for heightened violence in a city full of unskilled, unemployed, frustrated young men are immense.

How, Somare asked, can PNG plan to use the vast funds that will start to flow when the Exxon project begins producing in 2014? The answer is by setting up a sovereign wealth fund to capture revenues deemed as surplus to routine requirements, and investing them for the longer term.

But recently, when the 2010 budget was handed down, Treasury Secretary Simon Tosali described the massive drawdowns from trust accounts this year as "excessive government spending".

A high proportion of government spending is now paid out by cheque to individual MPs, who provide little or no accounting for the development projects they claim to assist.

Last year, the Auditor General said corrupt officials had stolen about $360m annually in recent years. Isaac Lupari, the government's top bureaucrat, was sacked for failing to establish an inquiry into $80m missing from the finance department's accounts.

Freedom House, a Washington-based organisation that researches democracy and freedom around the world, said in a recent report: "The Ombudsman Commission has named the police department PNG's most corrupt government agency. The correctional service is short of staff, and prison conditions are poor. Prison breaks are not uncommon.

"Serious crimes, including firearms smuggling, rape, murder, and drug trafficking, continue to increase. Weak governance and law enforcement are said to have made PNG a base for many Asian organised crime groups

"Tribal feuds over land, titles, religious beliefs, and perceived insults frequently lead to violence and deaths. Inadequate law enforcement and the increased availability of guns have exacerbated this problem. Violence against women is widespread. Attacks on ethnic Chinese and their businesses have become more frequent in recent years."

Chronox Manek is unlikely to be the last victim.

Stolen aid and charitable donations in Sri Lanka

From John Fowke

Malum: Regarding this item, I myself gave K2000 -( I was born in Sri lanka and my family goes back there to around 1660)-to a fund raised in Mt Hagen by a Sri Lankan and never received any news of what happened to the money. Most unsatisfactory- it happens too often.

John

COLOMBO – Nearly half a billion dollars in tsunami aid for Sri Lanka is unaccounted for and over 600 million dollars has been spent on projects unrelated to the disaster, an anti-corruption watchdog said Saturday.

Berlin-based Transparency International demanded an audit of the money received by the Sri Lankan government to help victims of the Asian tsunami which hit the island on December 26, 2004, killing 31,000 people.

The group's Sri Lankan chapter said the public have a right to know how the aid money was spent as the tropical nation marked the fifth anniversary of the tsunami.

The group alleged that out of 2.2 billion dollars received for relief, 603.4 million dollars was spent on projects unrelated to the disaster.

Another half a billion dollars was missing, the group said.

"There is no precise evidence to explain the missing sum of 471.9 million dollars," the Transparency International statement issued in Colombo added.

An "audit should be done by the government to explain the utilisation of the money received and the challenges faced," the group said.

An government official declined comment Saturday on the allegations but Colombo has consistently rejected such accusations in the past.

An initial government audit in 2005 found that less than 13 percent of the aid had been spent, but there has been no formal examination since, Transparency International said.

This post was submitted by AFP.

Papua New Guinea Livestock officer trained in Japan

Wandamu Palau of NARI (right) and poultry training participants on practical in Japan

Wandamu Palau of NARI on a practical during poultry training in Japan

Wandamu Palau of NARI (standing second from right) with poultry training participantsin Japan

A Papua New Guinea livestock research officer returned recently from Japan armed with new and improved skills and information on poultry production.
Keravat-based National Agriculture Research Institute officer, Wandamu Palau, attended a three-month poultry training at Fukushima, facilitated by the Japanese National Livestock Breeding Center (NLBC).

The training, sponsored by the Japanese International Corporation Agency, eventuated from Sept 1 to Nov 28.
Mr Palau said some useful information he learnt from this training which would be useful to NARI poultry development initiatives, especially at its Islands regional centre at Keravat, including specific skills in:
· Nutrition physiology in poultry;
· Feed analysis methods;
· General hygiene management and inspection methods in broiler and layer farm;
· Manure fermentation and utilisation;
· Science in chicken meat;
· Breeding local specialty chickens;
· Artificial insemination;
· Vent sexing of day-old chicks; and
· Sensory testing of different poultry meat.
Mr Palau said all or most facets of Japan’s poultry production system were mechanised and there is limited human input in poultry operation.
It was an experience to see and compare how PNG differed from the developed world like Japan, as far as production systems are concerned.
A number of field activities were undertaken as part of the training.
One practical was in disease prevention technology in which fecal samples of pintail migratory birds were harvested in Lake Towada in Northern Japan and HA and HI lab tests for detection of HPAI virus (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus) were performed.
The Pintail migratory birds migrate to North of Japan to rest in winter season and travel widely between Russian, California, and Alaska.
Nine countries benefited from this training which included Bangladesh and Ghana in West Africa (two participants each) while Malawi, Uganda, Egypt, Myanmar, PNG, Sri Lanka and Ukraine (former Russian Republic) had one participant each.

I have a quite Christmas

I had a quite Christmas with my children and am now back at work here at The National newspaper, all fired up and raring to face the New Year 2010.

I pretty much stayed at home with my kids over the last two days, as well as caught up on some much-needed sleep.

At Gerehu, next to where I live, we had the launching of our new fountain by National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop on Christmas evening.

My elder son, Jr Malum, is still in Lae, has been since my Mum’s passing in September, so I only had Gedi (7), Moasing (5) and Keith (2) to keep me company.

I’m looking to Jr joining us later this week.

 

Malum

A farmer in the making

Story and picture by  SOLDIER BURUKA of Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL)

 

Seith Nick is a six-year-old and attends elementary class at Erap primary school near Lae, Morobe province, Papua New Guinea.

He stays with his parents at the Department of Agriculture and Livestock station at Erap.  where dad works as a laborer taking care of sheep, goat and cows.

For young Seith his spare time is spent tending to the livestock as this picture shows.

700 YEAR OLD VILLAGE IN IRAN

Troglodyte village in IRAN  700 years old - In the north west of Iran at the foot of Mount Sahand in Kandovan, The villagers live in cave homes carved out from the volcanic rock. The age of some houses is more than 700 years.

Release of 'Through The Eye Of The Storm'

 Dr Limbie Kelegai's much-acclaimed autobiography Through the Eye of the Storm (http://malumnalu.blogspot.com/2009/10/weathering-eye-of-storm-book-review.html) has been released and is now available from the Christian Books Melanesia at Garden City, Boroko, Port Moresby.

This powerful book by Dr Kelegai tells of how he overcame being a quadriplegic to achieve his dreams.

Dr Kelegai, from Ialibu, Southern Highlands province, sustained a spinal injury in 1980 in a rugby league accident in Lae and became a quadriplegic while studying at the University of Technology.

On the night of Sept 22, 2005, Dr Kelegai received his PhD in information technology from the vice chancellor of the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.

His two sons were on either side proudly groomed in their traditional Ialibuan attire.

The rest of his family was very close in the rows soaking the accolade with pride and joy - it was a momentous evening.

This was the pinnacle in Dr Kelegai’s career.

This is the story of how this young man lived through trauma with hope to achieve his dreams: never giving up regardless of the enormity of the trauma.

It is a love story of how he met his wife Rose, a nurse at the Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae, and how she stuck with him through good and bad times,

In these times, this book reminds us of the values we have lost: self-worth, self-belief, courage in the face of adversity and the power of hope.

It is a celebration of our heritage and our people and is a much-needed source of inspiration to instil hope in the hearts of many throughout this country

Sri Lankan tsunami aid misappropriated - watchdog panel

From PAUL OATES

It's very hard not to be cynical when you see these reports. I wonder what happened to the billions sent to other countries in the region?
This is an excellent example of what happens when 'guilt' money is extracted from so called developed nations and given to so called developing nations. There is a very close parallel between this example and what will happen to any carbon credit money extracted from the 'developed' nations and given to the 'developing' nations.
No wonder the 'developing' nations don't want any independent monitoring of where the money goes. If they are worried about so called 'sovereignty' issues, why take the money in the first place? Since when did 'sovereignty' ever worry the leaders of these countries anyway when there was a quick, non accountable billion to be made?
_________________________
Sri Lankan tsunami aid misappropriated - watchdog panel
Article from: Agence France-Presse
December 27, 2009 07:45am

NEARLY $537 million in tsunami aid for Sri Lanka is unaccounted for and over $686 million has been spent on projects unrelated to the disaster, an anti-corruption watchdog says.
Berlin-based Transparency International has demanded an audit of the money received by the Sri Lankan government to help victims of the Asian tsunami which hit the island on December 26, 2004, killing 31,000 people.
The group's Sri Lankan chapter said on Saturday the public have a right to know how the aid money was spent, as the tropical nation marked the fifth anniversary of the tsunami.
The group alleged that out of $2.5 billion received for relief, $686.23 million was spent on projects unrelated to the disaster.
Another $536.68 million is missing, the group said.
"There is no precise evidence to explain the missing sum of $536.68 million," Transparency International said.
An "audit should be done by the government to explain the utilisation of the money received and the challenges faced," the group said.
A government official yesterday declined comment on the allegations, but Colombo has consistently rejected such accusations in the past.
An initial government audit in 2005 found that less than 13 per cent of the aid had been spent, but there has been no formal examination since, Transparency International said.

Papua New Guinea's future: Em ol wanlain bilong yu ia; yu mas trastim ol

From John Fowke

IN AN EARLIER contribution, I suggested that the social, developmental and fiscal malaise which holds PNG in an unbroken grip, proceeds from something deeper and more elemental than the existence of public service, fiscal, and political corruption.

The implication I intended was that the situation is due to an inherent weakness in Papua New Guinean society.

Whilst this view was contested both in posted commentary and by Reginald Renagi in one of his opinion-pieces, I'm afraid it holds true, no matter how humiliating or irritating the suggestion may be.

As a foreigner who has spent by far the major part of his life in rural PNG, I well know the sensitivities and have always tried to avoid the habits of the 'Ugly Expatriate', to borrow from Graham Greene.

In that nice old Motuan phrase, I have always endeavoured to be tauna mai manada. In other words, a gentleman.

But having been urged by our revered Blogmeister to contribute a succinct prediction of "things that'll happen" in PNG in the coming year, I am going to spoil any good impression I may have left behind and be provocative.

The coming year needs to be the year in which the educated PNG middle class stands up, stops hiding behind pen names, overcomes residual cultural fears of offending clan and family or attracting 'payback', and speaks with one voice, bound together by a strong but hitherto unrecognised common interest.

The educated middle class must - loudly and forcefully - state what it wants for itself, its families and its descendants. It is long past time for this to happen.

Come on PNG, grow up, stop hiding and complaining and putting forward pie-in-the-sky solutions. Put your shoulders to the load, men and women, coastals, islanders, highlanders, all the educated middle-class together!

You will make it happen. Just do it. You are the Party of Power!

All of you who read and contribute to various blogs and who read the PNG papers, you are the ones who must get up and be the first on the dance-floor, the first to speak, embarrassing as it may be.

Stop whingeing and making covert comments about each other. Stand up and say what you want to be done to get the nation going. If you act as one, forgetting all residues of cultural antipathies and suspicion, you'll be surprised how fast things will change.

I thought for a while that the Christians would get it together in the last couple of elections, but they didn't. Perhaps they too are weakened by that old, old characteristic of PNG, the 'people over the hill syndrome' - "em ol lain nogut ia – noken trastim ol!"

This weakness is shown in the currently fashionable view that a split into semi-autonomous regions will solve the problems. Be real, blokes; it'll be even more disastrous than the present set up.

No, you, the well-educated, largely urban dwelling middle class of PNG, you are the future.

You have influence back home in the village because you are members of a support-group. Make your position in life, your ambitions for yourselves, your kids, and the bubus to come the glue that forms another, far more influential and fruitful commonality. Forge a huge linkage of common interest of class and aspirations for the future, as opposed to the bonds of common ancestry that help perpetuate the problems.

This is the future. Mini-states are meaningless states in the context of the wider world.

Make PNG the paradise it should be. It'll be hard, it'll take long, but remember…only you (with the others) can do it. If you love your country, you must raise your voice and show your face without fear.

Christmas Day drug bust

Caption: Inspector Michael Periwanga (5^th from right) and members Operation Bright Star with the marijuana plants they uprooted in an early morning raid on Christmas Day at Vunapalading No. 3, East New Britain. The plants will be destroyed.

 

By LYTHIA SUITAWA in Kokopo

 

A FATHER and his two sons are now in police custody in East New Britain after more than K300, 000 worth of marijuana plants were found in their family garden during a police raid in the early morning hours of Christmas Day (Friday).

The raid which took place at Vunapalading No. 3 was part of a special Christmas New Year Operation code named Bright Star by Kerevat and Livuan police with assistance from Tomaringa’s Mobile Squad 18.

Acting Police Station Commander (Kerevat) Inspector Michael Periwanga who led the raid said the marijuana plants were inter-planted with the family’s food crops such as peanut and Chinese taro.

Inspector Periwanga said the family even had a nursery for the marijuana plants.

Police uprooted 30 matured plants ranging between 1.5 to 2m and weighing a total of 19kg.

Officers from National Agricultural Research Institute’s Islands Regional Centre in Kerevat estimated the local street market value of the plants to be around K310, 000.

Inspector Periwanga said the successful raid was a result of a drug and illegal substance abuse community awareness that he and his men conducted at the start of the operation.

“I am glad that the awareness we conducted encouraged people to come forward with information about these illegal activities but there is still more to be done,” he said.

“More people must realize the damaging effects of these substances and inform us so that we stop the use of these drugs.”

Inspector Periwanga also voiced concerns that the use of marijuana and homebrew are becoming more and more prevalent within Papua New Guinean communities.

“Particularly in East New Britain, in the past, people sourced marijuana from the highlands but now they are growing it themselves and this is quite alarming,” he said.

More than 30 people have been arrested and charged for drug related offences since Operation Bright Star commenced on December 18.

The three and two other suspects are in custody at Kerevat Police Station waiting to appear in court.

Report from an observer at Copenhagen

From The Guardian

Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful "deal" so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. How do I know this? Because I was in the room and saw it happen.
China's strategy was simple: block the open negotiations for two weeks, and then ensure that the closed-door deal made it look as if the west had failed the world's poor once again. And sure enough, the aid agencies, civil society movements and environmental groups all took the bait. The failure was "the inevitable result of rich countries refusing adequately and fairly to shoulder their overwhelming responsibility", said Christian Aid. "Rich countries have bullied developing nations," fumed Friends of the Earth International.
All very predictable, but the complete opposite of the truth. Even George Monbiot, writing in yesterday's Guardian, made the mistake of singly blaming Obama. But I saw Obama fighting desperately to salvage a deal, and the Chinese delegate saying "no", over and over again. Monbiot even approvingly quoted the Sudanese delegate Lumumba Di-Aping, who denounced the Copenhagen accord as "a suicide pact, an incineration pact, in order to maintain the economic dominance of a few countries".
Sudan behaves at the talks as a puppet of China; one of a number of countries that relieves the Chinese delegation of having to fight its battles in open sessions. It was a perfect stitch-up. China gutted the deal behind the scenes, and then left its proxies to savage it in public.
Here's what actually went on late last Friday night, as heads of state from two dozen countries met behind closed doors. Obama was at the table for several hours, sitting between Gordon Brown and the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi. The Danish prime minister chaired, and on his right sat Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the UN. Probably only about 50 or 60 people, including the heads of state, were in the room. I was attached to one of the delegations, whose head of state was also present for most of the time.
What I saw was profoundly shocking. The Chinese premier, Wen Jinbao, did not deign to attend the meetings personally, instead sending a second-tier official in the country's foreign ministry to sit opposite Obama himself. The diplomatic snub was obvious and brutal, as was the practical implication: several times during the session, the world's most powerful heads of state were forced to wait around as the Chinese delegate went off to make telephone calls to his "superiors".

Shifting the blame

To those who would blame Obama and rich countries in general, know this: it was China's representative who insisted that industrialised country targets, previously agreed as an 80% cut by 2050, be taken out of the deal. "Why can't we even mention our own targets?" demanded a furious Angela Merkel. Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was annoyed enough to bang his microphone. Brazil's representative too pointed out the illogicality of China's position. Why should rich countries not announce even this unilateral cut? The Chinese delegate said no, and I watched, aghast, as Merkel threw up her hands in despair and conceded the point. Now we know why - because China bet, correctly, that Obama would get the blame for the Copenhagen accord's lack of ambition.
China, backed at times by India, then proceeded to take out all the numbers that mattered. A 2020 peaking year in global emissions, essential to restrain temperatures to 2C, was removed and replaced by woolly language suggesting that emissions should peak "as soon as possible". The long-term target, of global 50% cuts by 2050, was also excised. No one else, perhaps with the exceptions of India and Saudi Arabia, wanted this to happen. I am certain that had the Chinese not been in the room, we would have left Copenhagen with a deal that had environmentalists popping champagne corks popping in every corner of the world.

Strong position

So how did China manage to pull off this coup? First, it was in an extremely strong negotiating position. China didn't need a deal. As one developing country foreign minister said to me: "The Athenians had nothing to offer to the Spartans." On the other hand, western leaders in particular - but also presidents Lula of Brazil, Zuma of South Africa, Calderón of Mexico and many others - were desperate for a positive outcome. Obama needed a strong deal perhaps more than anyone. The US had confirmed the offer of $100bn to developing countries for adaptation, put serious cuts on the table for the first time (17% below 2005 levels by 2020), and was obviously prepared to up its offer.
Above all, Obama needed to be able to demonstrate to the Senate that he could deliver China in any global climate regulation framework, so conservative senators could not argue that US carbon cuts would further advantage Chinese industry. With midterm elections looming, Obama and his staff also knew that Copenhagen would be probably their only opportunity to go to climate change talks with a strong mandate. This further strengthened China's negotiating hand, as did the complete lack of civil society political pressure on either China or India. Campaign groups never blame developing countries for failure; this is an iron rule that is never broken. The Indians, in particular, have become past masters at co-opting the language of equity ("equal rights to the atmosphere") in the service of planetary suicide - and leftish campaigners and commentators are hoist with their own petard.
With the deal gutted, the heads of state session concluded with a final battle as the Chinese delegate insisted on removing the 1.5C target so beloved of the small island states and low-lying nations who have most to lose from rising seas. President Nasheed of the Maldives, supported by Brown, fought valiantly to save this crucial number. "How can you ask my country to go extinct?" demanded Nasheed. The Chinese delegate feigned great offence - and the number stayed, but surrounded by language which makes it all but meaningless. The deed was done.

China's game

All this raises the question: what is China's game? Why did China, in the words of a UK-based analyst who also spent hours in heads of state meetings, "not only reject targets for itself, but also refuse to allow any other country to take on binding targets?" The analyst, who has attended climate conferences for more than 15 years, concludes that China wants to weaken the climate regulation regime now "in order to avoid the risk that it might be called on to be more ambitious in a few years' time".
This does not mean China is not serious about global warming. It is strong in both the wind and solar industries. But China's growth, and growing global political and economic dominance, is based largely on cheap coal. China knows it is becoming an uncontested superpower; indeed its newfound muscular confidence was on striking display in Copenhagen. Its coal-based economy doubles every decade, and its power increases commensurately. Its leadership will not alter this magic formula unless they absolutely have to.
Copenhagen was much worse than just another bad deal, because it illustrated a profound shift in global geopolitics. This is fast becoming China's century, yet its leadership has displayed that multilateral environmental governance is not only not a priority, but is viewed as a hindrance to the new superpower's freedom of action. I left Copenhagen more despondent than I have felt in a long time. After all the hope and all the hype, the mobilisation of thousands, a wave of optimism crashed against the rock of global power politics, fell back, and drained away.

In defence of Regi Renagi

From PAUL OATES in Queensland, Australia

Anonymous said...

Reg Renagi writes about everything and nothing and long ago turned himself into the sourest grape who should not be given serious consideration. This man carries a huge chip on his shoulders against people who succeed in life or outmanouvre him. He also carries a equally huge hangover from his less than colorful military tenure. Get real, Reggie Boy.

______________

Paul Oates said...

 

While Reg's military career is a matter of the past, his comments appear to many to be a very pertinent view on PNG today. They provide an excellent perspective on his country after 34 years of PNG Independence. They also appear to be based in fact. So when the issue of reality is considered, one must logically ponder on just who is in the REAL world and who is off in one of their own fantasy? Err.. Wouldn't you agree Mr Anonymous? At the very least, Reg has the guts to make his comments public under his own name. That's more than the person who made these comments about Reg is prepared to do. It therefore begs the question of why?

Potential for vegetable production in mid altitudes of New Britain

NARI staff harvesting potatoes at Wildog, Sinivit LLG in East New Britain

A Wildog Mine field worker showing off potatoes harvested at Wildog, Sinivit LLG in East New Britain .-Pictures by NARI Keravat

By SELWYN HARIKI of NARI

Introduced vegetables like potato, broccoli, carrot and cauliflower are important food and cash crops in the highlands of PNG.
The cool climate in the higher altitude and central highlands allow for the cultivation of these crops by farmers.
The demand for these vegetables in the lowlands, particularly the New Guinea Islands region, is high presently.
Together with transportation costs, the prices are relatively high in most supermarkets. Andersons Foodland in Kokopo, East New Britain province (ENBP), sells its potato, broccoli, carrot and cauliflowers produces at prices ranging from K4 to K7 a kilogram. Papindo is selling cauliflower at K6.40/kg, broccoli at K8.80/kg, and carrots at K4/kg. Most of these products are transported in from the highlands of mainland PNG.
However these crops can also be grown in the mid-altitude areas of PNG’s Islands provinces, ranging from 300 metres above sea level and higher.
Preliminary research by NARI in 2006 has proven that potato, broccoli, carrot and cauliflower varieties can be produced in the region.
These crops did well in the study, giving yields of 5-8 tones per hectare.
These are short-term crops which take three to four months to mature and are highly nutritious.
However they are hardly found in everyday meals of people or in the local markets.
With the current demand for potatoes and other introduced vegetables and the opportunity for their production in the mid-altitude areas of the islands provinces, NARI is currently carrying out more research work on these crops in the region for further development.
More information can be sought through NARI Islands regional centre at Keravat, ENBP.

Merry Christmas to one and all

A Very Merry Christmas to followers of this blog from all over the world, and thank you for your unwavering support, which has seen this blog be named by the Papua New Guinea Media Council as the '2009 Papua New Guinea Blog of the Year'.
Also yesterday, the number of visitors to this blog soared past the 100,000 mark since I installed a counter in July 2008.
On behalf of my four young children, I wish one and all a Blessed and Very Merry Christmas.
You can contact me on email malumnalu@gmail.com.

GOVERNMENT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA SIGNS INTEROIL'S LNG PROJECT AGREEMENT

GOVERNMENT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA TO TAKE 22.5%

 

InterOil Corporation (NYSE: IOC) (POMSoX: IOC) yesterday announced that the PNG National Government has signed the Company’s Project Agreement for the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Papua New Guinea.

Following approval of the Project Agreement by the National Executive Council on December 10, the Minister for Petroleum Hon William Duma and acting Governor-General Dr Allan Marat signed the Agreement securing PNG’s second LNG project.

The signing was witnessed by the Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.

The Agreement sets fiscal terms for a twenty year period, which include a 30% company tax rate and certain exemptions applicable to large scale projects of this nature.

 It also provides for a 20.5% ownership stake to be held by the Government of Papua New Guinea’s nominee, Petromin PNG Holdings Limited.

A further 2% ownership stake will be taken by landowners directly affected by the plant.

As previously announced, the proposed LNG project would be developed by InterOil and its joint venture partners Pacific LNG Operations Ltd. and Petromin PNG Holdings Limited. The project targets a $5 to $7 billion LNG facility, with multiple trains.

Additionally, the Agreement provides for the expansion of the plant up to 10.6 million tons per annum (mmtpa).

While current plans call for first production of LNG towards the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015, InterOil is progressing a proposed liquids stripping plant, to be located in Gulf Province, in late 2011/early 2012, which would provide an attractive revenue stream prior to the commissioning of the LNG plant.

Sir Michael Somare, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, stated, “The government of Papua New Guinea, through its long standing partnership with InterOil, has secured an ownership stake across the entire value chain from wellhead to LNG offtake in a world class energy development project that will significantly contribute to national prosperity and fiscal security for many years to come.

“The national equity interest, to be held by the state’s nominee Petromin PNG Holdings Limited, aligns the Country’s economic interests with its partners and provides strategic assets for national security.”

Phil Mulacek, Chief Executive Officer of InterOil, commented, “The Government of Papua New Guinea has firmly demonstrated its commitment to delivering a stable, long-term supply of energy to a growing Asian market.

“The recent agreements set the stage for PNG to become a significant new Asian

energy hub.”

 

About InterOil

InterOil Corporation is developing a vertically integrated energy business whose primary focus is Papua New Guinea and the surrounding region. InterOil’s assets consist of petroleum licenses covering about 3.9 million acres, an oil refinery, and retail and commercial distribution facilities, all located in Papua New Guinea. In addition, InterOil is a shareholder in a joint venture established to construct an LNG plant on a site adjacent to InterOil’s refinery in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. InterOil’s common shares trade on the NYSE in US dollars.

About Petromin PNG Holdings Limited

PNG Holdings Limited is an independent company created by the State of Papua New Guinea to hold the State's assets and to maximise indigenous ownership and revenue gains in the mineral and petroleum sectors. It is empowered as the vehicle to better leverage the State's equity holdings and encourage more production and downstream processing of oil, gas and minerals in PNG through proactive investment strategies either wholly or in partnership with resource developers. Petromin provides real opportunity for Papua New Guineans to increase ownership of their resources in mineral & petroleum assets.

Copenhagen a big waste of money for PNG

BY REGINALD RENAGI

THE DAILY news is very discouraging to the people of PNG. They hope for a better future for their children and grand children one day. But that one day is a long way off.
There are many problems affecting their livelihood and want the government to address their immediate needs. But the mass media hype in recent months is mostly about the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen and what we will tell other world leaders.
It’s no big deal. Everyone's being hoodwinked - ordinary people that is, but not intelligent PNGeans. It is one big cop out by the people running this country.
We have many important national priorities to address. Lately, however, these are being constantly overshadowed by a smokescreen of public statements about the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (or REDD) scheme, a global plan to slow down or eliminate the deforestation responsible for 20 percent of global emissions., as if it is the only viable policy option available.
REDD is only one aspect of a complex global phenomenon. PNG's delegation in Denmark seemed to have no real fall-back position if REDD was not acceptable to the world's developed nations who are the biggest biggest polluters.
In the past two weeks, critics have accused the PNG delegation of not being fully prepared for this conference. They are right.
The PM and his men forgot what is the position of our parliament and Opposition. We should have included the opposition’s stance on climate change to come up with a good bipartisan paper for Copenhagen.
We also did not need a big delegation of over 40 when half a dozen people should have been sufficient. It was morally wrong for the government to extravagantly burn several millions for this conference.
Considering the alleged eight million Kina for this conference, PNG has nothing beneficial to show for it.
The public should by now be in an uproar over their government’s spending millions for some greedy people to attend a conference that will not even reach any viable agreement. This is a total waste of money.
The people could have used this money in many needy areas. Our women have been crying out for a cancer machine for years. Teachers and nurses need a pay rise to meet the rising cost of living. PNG’s national security situation is appalling and needs much improvement.
With a tough year about to end, the people could do with some spare money now to enjoy a nice Christmas roast in this festive season.
Come on, Papua New Guineans, can’t you see they are laughing at our expense? Let us get rid of these greedy people in 2012.