APEC ministers address sustainable fishing

 Issued by the 3^rd APEC Oceans-related  Ministerial Meeting

 

Paracas, Peru, 8 October, 2010 – Securing fish supplies, sustainable management of marine resources, enhancing free trade and the effects of climate change on oceans will be addressed by APEC Ministers meeting here next week.

 The 3^rd APEC Oceans-related Ministerial Meeting will be held in Paracas on Peru’s south coast on October 11-12 to address key issues impacting fisheries, a crucial industry for the Asia-Pacific region, which accounts for about half of global fish exports.

 Peru’s Minister of Production, Jorge Villasante, said APEC’s ongoing commitment to enhancing the security and sustainability of the sector is important, especially given its size and socio-economic significance for the region.

 “APEC economies account for more than half of the world’s exports of fishery products in terms of value, while six of the 10 largest exporters of seafood products are APEC member economies,” the Minister said.

 APEC member economies account for 65 percent of the world’s capture fisheries and more than 80 percent of aquaculture production. APEC economies account for approximately half of the world’s exports of fishery products in terms of value, totalling USD45.6 billion in 2007.

 The fisheries and aquaculture sector employs about 26.2 million people in the region, and for some living in rural and remote areas, it is one of the few sources of available income.

 The region also consumes 70 percent of the world’s fish products, including from aquaculture. Ensuring reliable and affordable access to seafood is therefore a key issue for APEC Ministers, along with sustainable development of the industry and protection of the marine environment.

 Enhancing fair and equitable trade in the industry is also expected to be discussed along with the effects of climate change on oceans, such as rising sea levels and their impact on coastal communities.

 Ministers are expected to share information on food security issues in their economy, and to release a joint statement at the end of the two-day meeting on the way forward. Ministers will also hold a press conference for local and international media.

 

                                            # # #

 

For more information, contact: Trudy Harris +65 98983710 or th@apec.org

 

                                                 Michael Chapnick +65 96474847 or mc@apec.org

 

For media registration, contact: vloyola@produce.gob.pe or mcanales@produce.gob.pe or prensa@produce.gob.pe or jberrio@produce.gob.pe

 

 

 

 

 

Sell jet to buy life-saving equipment for hospitals: Morauta

The PNG Trade Union Congress (PNGTUC) should stop telling the Australian government to pump some of its aid money directly into buying life-saving machines for hospitals throughout Papua New Guinea.

Leader of the Opposition Sir Mekere Morauta said instead PNGTUC president Michael Malabag should urge Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to sell the K130 million executive Falcon jet to buy the much-needed life-saving equipments for hospitals.

"Malabag's statement is not news to the people of PNG.

"Important referral and main hospitals like Port Moresby General Hospital, Angau Memorial Hospital, Goroka Base Hospital and others PNG-wide all need essential medical equipment.

"It's a national shame.

"Where were Michael Malabag and the unions when the PM was trying to buy the Falcon jet?

"Silent.

"Nothing said.

"I want him to come out on behalf of the unions to call on the PM to sell the plane.

"We all know that the craft exclusively used by Somare as his aerial PMV for family shopping trips, birthday parties and other family errands.

"Somare and I are likely to get medivac services to Australia if we are sick and the state pays for it, but what about the ordinary people?" Sir Mekere said.

On Thursday, October 7 2010,  during a meeting with Australian parliamentary secretary for Pacific Islands affairs Richards Marles in Port Moresby, PNGTUC officials raised the need for life-saving equipment in PNG hospitals among others issues.

However, Sir Mekere said the unions and people must come out and urge the Prime Minister to find money to buy the essential life-saving equipments instead of begging other nations and donor agencies.

"I'm ashamed. Other leaders should also be ashamed," the former prime minister said.

He also called on the unions to urge Minister for Public Enterprises to stop spoon feeding National flag carrier, Air Niugini to buy second-hand aircraft using agents.

"We wonder whose getting the commission?

"Why can't we use the money to buy life-saving equipment?

"It is shameful to ask Australia to buy equipment for our hospital," Sir Mekere said.

Policeman shot dead in Port Moresby robbery

By JULIA DAIA BORE

 

A LONG-serving policeman and father of seven was shot dead at close range yesterday while escorting a company’s pay-run in Port Moresby, The National reports.

The shooting took place during the afternoon rush hour outside the Correctional Services headquarters at Hohola about 4.30pm.

He was named as Paul Waim, from Kerowagi, Chimbu, who was stationed at Moreguina, in Central’s Abau district.

Bystanders gathering around the vehicle to check on the policeman who was shot and could be seen lying across the two front seats. – Pictures courtesy of CS media

Waim and another policeman were escorting a rubber company depositing cash and pay run from the Abau district when they were attacked in the city.

Eyewitnesses said Waim and his colleague and others were in a utility vehicle driving slowly towards the busy Wards Drive from Islander Drive when their vehicle was intercepted by another utility vehicle near the Islander drain and the CS headquarters.

They said they saw the killers, armed with weapons, step out their vehicle, a silver-brown Toyota Hilux, and confronted the passengers in the intercepted utility.

One eyewitness said: “They came out with high-powered guns and shouted to the driver to leave the utility, screaming, ‘come out, you come’.

“Then, one of the men holding onto the weapon, appeared to be holding a pistol, fired six to seven continuous shots at the policeman.

“The gun was emptied on the policeman who was in uniform.”

The impact of the bullets threw Waim back, flat on the seat in the vehicle.

“The armed men then rushed into their vehicle and sped off toward Hohola.”

The sound of gunshots drew a large crowd who tried to help before the other policeman, apparently unhurt, drove his wounded colleague to Port Moresby General Hospital.

Another eyewitness said they also noticed the killers remove two weapons from the utility which the policemen were in before they fled the scene.

One eyewitnesses described the scene as “just straight out a movie” and that “things happened so swiftly, fast and unsuspicious”.

Port Moresby police could not be contacted to confirm whether any money was stolen.

Central police commander Chief Supt John Maru, who was at the Port Moresby General Hospital late yesterday to arrange for the release of the body, had called on companies seeking police escort to provide a separate vehicle from the vehicle carrying the money.

Maru also condemned the lack of resources and inadequate funding of the police force which he said was the reason why policemen in escort situations, such as yesterday’s, were left to carry out the escort, travelling in the same vehicle as that carrying the cash. 

K500 million deal for LNG landowners

By PATRICK TALU

 

LANDOWNERS will succeed if they stop waiting to be fed by politicians, put their businessmen’s cap on and prepare themselves for the challenge of businesses with global reputation, The National reports.

Hides landowner leader Larry Andagali echoed this when landowner company Trans Wonderland Ltd (TWL) clinched a lucrative deal associated with the PNG LNG project.

TWL, the flagship umbrella company representing seven gas-field landowner companies in Southern Highlands, yesterday signed a contract worth more than K500 million to provide logistics to the PNG LNG project.

The contract was for a three-year period.

The deal was signed between TWL, PNG LNG project operator Esso Highlands Ltd and Agility Ltd, the world’s leading logistics mover.

Under the agreement, TWL and its partners will provide a central base of operations in Lae, for receipt, storage and processing of goods and equipment to be transported to the project site and supply trucking resources drawn from a number of companies.

The trucking resources and operation will be provided through the joint venture partnership; Northern Logistic Group Joint Venture between five logistic companies.

These companies included TWL, Mapai Transport, Traisa and Kutubu Transport.

Andagali, who is a director of TWL, said it dawned on him during the signing of the umbrella benefits sharing agreement in Kokopo last year that if landowners were to succeed, they had to organise themselves.

“I had to remove my landowner cap and wear the businessman’s cap.

“I realise I could not milk anything from Peter Graham, so we had to organise ourselves and get details, however small, right.

“This (contract) was not given to me on a golden platter.

“We had to work hard and organise ourselves for it,” he added.

He said it underscored the importance of the national content plan.

Petroleum and Energy Minister William Duma welcomed the TWL deal.

Duma said as minister responsible for oil and gas, he would have preferred to see a landowner company awarded a multi-million-kina contract in its own right.

Esa’ala MP Moses Maladina said the contract was another option for landowners, instead of waiting for royalties and dividends.

The early works of the PNG LNG project had suffered some stop-work due to landowner protests, but the government insisted it was on track to ship its first gas in 2014.

 

 

Papua New Guinea stalling UN climate talks, says Greenpeace

GREENPEACE has criticised Papua New Guinea for stalling crucial global climate change talks in China.

Delegates from more than 170 countries are meeting in Tianjin, China, to try to revive UN climate negotiations that failed to create a binding agreement in Copenhagen last year.

The talks are a prelude to a United Nation’s summit starting next month in Mexico, but UN on Wednesday said they had so far failed to make significant progress.

The global bickering centres on the details of the complex UN plan to reduce climate change through its reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) agenda.

PNG, as co-chair of the REDD negotiations, is arguing for less scrutiny on donor funding as a way to fast-track the process.

But Greenpeace forests campaigner in PNG, Sam Moko, said this was a worry showing PNG appeared more interested in donor money than seriously tackling climate change.

“With a reputation of corruption, complete disregard for landowner rights, free and prior informed consent and accurate estimations of likely benefits accruing from REDD, PNG is in no fit state to be receiving REDD funding without strict conditions in place,” he said.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s Paul Winn, who is at the discussions in China, said PNG was putting the REDD process at risk of failure.

“The PNG delegation is using its position to keep stakeholders, such as green groups and indigenous people’s groups, away from the meetings in an attempt to keep rules on social and biodiversity safeguards out of the REDD framework.”

The PNG prime minister’s office did not return AAP’s calls and emails to clarify its position or answer Greenpeace’s criticisms.

On Sept 23, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, 74, who wanted to forge combating climate change as his legacy before retiring, told UN meetings in New York that REDD must go ahead.

But Sir Michael was critical of the World Bank and the UN “tangling us in endless process and conditionalities”.

“REDD and all its co-benefits can no longer be held hostage by UN negotiations that are mired in self-serving inaction,” Sir Michael said.

“While we must support the UN process where possible, we must steadfastly refuse to let the bureaucracy impede our progress”.

PNG has been plagued by a litany of scandals and corruption allegations surrounding its REDD efforts.  – AAP

Captain Timothy Narara tames the A380 ‘beast’

By MALUM NALU

As Papua New Guinea celebrated 35 years of independence on September 16, the small Papua New Guinea community in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, also got together for a mumu for their motherland.

They included the small group of PNG pilots and their families based in UAE, as well as PNG women married to expatriates and now living there.

Among this small group of nationalists was Captain Timothy Narara, who only three days earlier, had made history by being the first Papua New Guinean to be licensed to fly the Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world, for Emirates Airlines.

Captain Timothy Narara in the cockpit of the Airbus A380

Ironically, his elder brother Granger, who is vice president of flight operations with another UAE airline Etihad, was the first Papua New Guinean to fly the A380 – which pilots call ‘The Beast’ – a couple of years ago but that was only a trial test flight with Airbus.

Timothy Narara has gone a step further than big brother by being licensed to fly passengers on the A380 to anywhere in the world.

An Emirates Airlines A380 which Captain Timothy Narara is flying

“The first flight I did was on the 13^th of September,” he tells me on Skype from Abu Dhabi on Wednesday evening.

“I went to Heathrow Airport in London.

“I started the conversion course for the A380 on the 15^th of August this year.

“Because I’ve been flying Airbuses for the last 12 years, the conversion to the A380 only took me about a month and a half.

“If you’ve flown an Airbus before, the philosophy is pretty much the same.

“I started the conversion course on August 15th and finished on September 10th.

“On the first flight which I did, there was an instructor with me.

“I went to Bangkok on September 20^th and on the 29^th of September 29^th, did my final ‘check’ flight to Toronto.

“Once you complete your ‘check’ flights, you are by yourself and can fly anywhere in the world with a first officer.

“I went to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, yesterday (Tuesday, October 5).

“My next flight in a couple of days is when I go to Beijing.”

The boy from Dobu, Milne Bay province, now aged 45, tells me that he should never have become a pilot in the first place, as he graduated as a second lieutenant from the PNG Defence Force Academy in Lae in November 1984 as an infantry officer.

Timothy Narara (right) with fellow PNGDF pilot Eddie Nigea beside an Arava

“I graduated from the Defence Academy as an infantry officer,” he laughs.

“Later on, I changed course, because there was an opportunity to become a pilot.

“I went to Melbourne for a course, I was lucky, I passed, and I stuck to that.

“There was an opportunity and I took it!”

Timothy Narara was born in Madang Hospital in November 1964, when his father was working there at the power station.

 The family then moved to Kudjip in the Western Highlands shortly after as the father got a job with the Nazarene mission hydro station and Narara went to school in Banz until 1973 when the family moved back to Esa’ala in Milne Bay province.

“I completed primary School at Esa’ala primary school and continued grade 7 to 10 at Wesley High School on Fergusson Island, completing year 10 in 1980, then did year 11 and 12 at Sogeri National High School.

“I joined the PNGDF after completing year 12 in 1982.

“I was moved to Igam Barracks in Lae to do officers’ training at the PNG Defence Academy and successfully obtained a commission as a second lieutenant in November 1984.

“ I then was fortunate enough to get selected to attend a pilots’ course sponsored by the defence cooperation programme with Australia,  and was sent down to Melbourne in 1985 for 12 months,  returning to PNG rated on the Nomad aircraft in December 1986,  and shortly after that started flying the IAI Arava. 

“In 1987, I attended an instructor’s course in Australia which was completed and followed by a year of instructing at the RAAF Flight Training School in Point Cook, Australia.

“The Bougainville crisis was in full swing by this time so I returned to PNG in December 1990 and was deployed to Bougainville in early 1991 with my RATS comrades.

“Flying in Bougainville was one of the most-challenging times as we were often fatigued and under extreme pressure from all the elements, be it environmental, human or combat-orientated.

Timothy Narara (left) and Paul Boga in an Iroquois helicopter in PNGDF flying days

“The guys flew extremely well and we all came out pretty much intact.

“I left the comforts of the military as a major in June 1994 and joined Air Niugini as a first officer on the F28 and later on got my command on the Dash 8.

“In June 1998, I left Air Niugini and moved to the United Arab Emirates and joined my brother Granger, at Emirates Airline, in the United Arab Emirates.

“  I started on the Airbus A 310/A 300 as a first officer and at that time the airline only had about 30 airplanes, all wide bodies, and flew to about 40 or 50 destinations.

“I got my command two and a half years later on the A330 and also flew the A 340.

“To date Emirates has a fleet of 150 airplanes and growing, comprising of B777-200, B777-200LR, B777-300, B777-300ER, A330-200, A340-300, A340-500 and the A380-800.

“In September of 2010, I moved across to the A380-800 as a captain.

“The aircraft operates with a crew of two pilots and a total of 24 cabin crew and can carry up to 517 passengers seating 14 first class, 76 business class and 427 economy class.

“It is the largest passenger aircraft in the world.

“To date Emirates has 12 A 80-800 aircraft and should have 15 by the end of the year.

“Deliveries will begin again towards the end of next year until there are over 90 A380s.”

The good news for Papua New Guinea is that another PNG pilot at Emirates Airlines, Goroka boy Captain Locklyn Sabumei, will next month do the conversion to the A380.

Timothy’s elder brother, Granger, leads two other PNG pilots at the other UAE airline company, Etihad, who are Captain Hans Pederson of Bougainville (ex Air Niugini who flies the Boeing 777) and Captain Terry Togumagoma of Milne Bay (ex PNGDF who flies the Airbus A330/340).

 But for now, life of good for Timothy Narara and his wife and Sogeri sweetheart Nellie, from Tufi in Nothern province, and their three sons.

Batman...Captain Timothy 'Tico' Narara and wife Nellie in UAE

“I’ve wanted to fly the A380 for a while,” he tells me.

“I want to do this for a couple of years and see how it goes.

“I can never tell the future, however, I’d like to come back to PNG someday, as I’m a citizen and I hold a PNG passport.”

Ice falls in Komo

More than 2,000 people in Komo and Mananda villages in the Southern Highlands have been affected by frost, The National reports.
A villager (pictured) showing a chunk of ice found in his garden on Monday afternoon. 
Other villagers also found their gardens and surroundings affected and have called on the government to assist them. 
It is understood that LNG developer ExxonMobil officers are in the area assessing the situation.

Big push for Papua New Guinea hydro-power

Qld premier to spearhead talks with business sector next week

 

THE proposed hydro power plant in Gulf province from which electricity would be undersea-cabled  to Queensland is gaining momentum, with premier Anna Bligh spearheading the talks with Townsville business leaders, The National reports.

The Cairns Post reported that the Queensland premier would meet with business leaders in Townsville next week to promote plans to import hydropower from Papua New Guinea for use in Queensland’s north.

“Bligh will govern Queensland from the north next week, basing herself in Townsville from Oct 11 to 16,” the newspaper reported yesterday.

She told parliament she would  be sharing with Townsville business leaders’ information about plans to import green power generated from Purari River to Queensland via an undersea cable.

She said she would also meet with federal independent MP Kennedy Bob Katter and Mt Isa state MP Betty Kiernan, about the project.

Bligh also revealed she plans to travel to PNG in December with representatives from Origin Energy, which is pursuing the hydropower project with PNG Sustainable Development Program Ltd.

“I will be joining with the CEO of Origin Energy to speak at a business breakfast of Townsville business leaders about this project,” she said yesterday.

The premier last month signed a memorandum of co-operation with the PNG government, Origin and PNG Energy Developments Ltd to begin investigations into the multi-billion dollar plan.

A comprehensive feasibility study was expected to be finished in 2012 and PNG green power could be pumping into the national grid at Townsville by 2020.

The 50:50 joint venture between Origin and PNGSDP could ultimately see the hydro-power plant built at Purari River, the country’s third largest waterway located in the Gulf province.

Last month, Origin chief executive Grant King said the ongoing assessment of the project was consistent with his company’s pursuit of renewable energy opportunities.

 “This would be the first project to deliver year-round baseload renewable energy into mainland Australia,” King said.

Bligh also said for the project to be viable, PNG needed a baseload customer for the power, which her state would become.

“If successful, this project would be a massive win-win for both PNG and Queensland, opening up new opportunities for all of us,’’ Bligh said.

Deputy prime minister Don Polye said it was a milestone to have the governments come together with the private sector in a partnership to develop such an important project.

 

 

City time-bomb

NCD police overpowered by influx of people

 

By THOMAS HUKAHU

 

The National Capital District is sitting on a law and order time bomb, The National reports.

This warning came from the city’s top policeman, metropolitan commander Supt Fred Yakasa.

Yakasa said the increasing number of people moving into Port Moresby from other centres, and from overseas, was presenting a major problem to them and was really stretching them.

“NCD police need more support to manage law and order problems in the city.

“We lack resources and manpower and need urgent help,” Yakasa said.

He was speaking as city residents came to terms with another brutal killing, this time a premeditated murder of a first-year law student at the University of Papua New Guinea.

Yakasa said where there were more people moving about in a place, there was bound to be more problems.

He said police were doing all they could but they could only stretch so much. And, that was the case with Port Moresby.

“Our situation is not helped with the absence of reserve police personnel, a task force or a dog unit. All these must be looked at seriously to help us do proper policing of the city.

“I know the department’s executive management team is trying hard to assist my men, but I think our politicians must also see the realities and assist police in their work to maintain law and order in the city,” Yakasa added.

He also thanked community leaders who had worked tirelessly in their communities to resolve problems at their level.

Yakasa said: “I really appreciate those leaders. It is very encouraging to hear of leaders like that who are helping to maintain law and order in their communities.”

Law and order was everybody’s problem, not just the police, he added. 

Yakasa also appealed to the public to respect the rule of law and, under no circumstances, take the law into their own hands.

Port Moresby city’s population is estimated to be around 450,000, although some government authorities said the number could be as high as 600,000 due to a high influx of people, especially from the highlands, in recent years.

The increase in population was placing a stress on utility and service providers for electricity, water and sewerage.

A national census due to start this year to determine the country’s population, and the population in towns and cities like Port Moresby, had been put off due to lack of funding by the national government.

 

 

Fright of a lifetime flying Air Niugini

By ALPHONSE MUAPI

PNG Electoral Commission media

 

PASSENGERS travelling on yesterday morning’s Air Niugini flight from Port Moresby to Lae and Manus got the scare of their lives when the aircraft developed technical problems midair soon after take-off, The National reports.

The 78 passengers on flight PX 292, from Port Moresby to Lae and Manus, were shaken when the Fokker 100 had to take off and land twice at the Jackson Airport.

The F100 aircraft developed technical problems soon after take-off at 9.45am.

It started experiencing technical problems with its landing gear about 10 minutes into the flight when the aircraft was about to cruise over the Owen Stanley Ranges.

The captain, trying not to cause panic among passengers, calmly announced over the aircraft’s public announcement system that, due to technical problems with some of the aircraft’s flight equipment and for the safety of passengers, he had to return to Port Moresby.

The plane landed safely at 10.15am at the Jackson Airport. Airport fire and rescue trucks were on standby at the PNG Defence Force air wing.

On arrival, passengers were advised by the captain not to disembark as Air Niugini’s ground staff (aircraft engineers) would have a look at the aircraft’s landing gear and clear the aircraft for a second take-off (departure).

After 45 minutes, the all-clear was given for the plane to fly. However, just five minutes after take-off from Jackson Airport, the captain’s voice came on again, apologising and advising that, unfortunately, they could not make it to Lae because the problem with the landing gear had re-occurred.

The plane was back on the ground at 11.30am.

During the second landing, a female passenger sitting in row 13 fumed, and said in Tok Pisin: “Festaim mipela kamdaun na mi tok long mipela go daun na kalap long narapela balus, tasol yupela no sapotim mi. Nau, lukim wanem samting kamap (the first time we landed, I said we should all leave this aircraft and board another. However, nobody supported me and, now, see what has happened).”

Passengers were all advised to disembark after the “second arrival”, and they did so calmly with some anger.

Luggages were also unloaded from the faulty PX 292 to another F100 aircraft that departed Port Moresby for Lae at 12.15pm.

“I got a scare of my life and decided not to board the other aircraft to Lae.

“I came out of the boarding lounge, caught a cab and went straight home,” Alphonse Muapi, writer of this story, said.

A statement released later to the media by Air Niugini’s corporate affairs department said there was no emergency landing at the airport.

“We wish to confirm that PX 292 from Port Moresby to Lae and Manus was delayed due to a technical defect and the situation did not require an emergency landing but to return to Port Moresby.

“The aircraft, after take-off, encountered an anti-skid defect and the pilot in command applied the standard operating procedures by electing to return to Port Moresby,” the airline stated.

 

MPs disgusted with axe murder

THE axing to death of a university student in Port Moresby has drawn widespread condemnation, with Deputy Prime Minister Don Polye warning that those responsible can expect no less treatment, The National reports.

“I do not think we should allow such heinous and barbaric behaviour to continue in our communities.

“Those responsible for this crime must realise that our laws will ensure that they can expect nothing less.

“Taking a person’s life away in a premeditated fashion is inhuman. It is uncivilised,” Polye said.

Mining Minister and Kompiam-Ambum MP John Pundari also condemned the cold blooded killing in Port Moresby saying he was appalled by the brutal killing of Christopher George Kalupai, a first-year law student at the University of Papua New Guinea.

“This is a complete disgrace, a slap in the face and has tarnished the good name of the rest of the law abiding citizens of our capital city,” he said.

Pundari wanted those responsible for the murder to immediately surrender to police and urged police to speed up investigations.

The late Kalupai, from Enga, was allegedly hacked to pieces by rival clansmen from Wapele village, Laiagam, after being dragged out of a PMV bus in Morata, Port Moresby, on Monday.

Police Commissioner Gary Baki was also disgusted with the killing and vowed that his men would “wipe” the killers from the rest of society.

“This payback and tribal war killings is totally uncalled for. It is animalistic and uncivilised.

“I call on the so-called Highlands leaders to cease their chest beating and political garbage to address these tribal fights which is an ulcer in their societies.”

Moresby Northeast MP Andrew Mald called on the Department of Justice and Attorney-General to immediately enforce the law which has been passed by parliament.

He said the country was losing many intellectuals and businessmen who could make a big difference in the overall development of this nation.

Mald said the judiciary must now act if we want to put a stop to horrific and senseless killing as if they were doing it their little village back home.

“Port Moresby is the country’s capital and not a place for some bunch of animals to practice and bring their village tribal differences,” he said.

“How can we put a stop to such barbaric actions of some inhuman bunch of group of people?”

Mald claimed that if the death penalty was not implemented, then the country should expect more innocent people would be killed and that perpetrators would think that they could get away from the law.

Lions Club of Lae needs your help

It will be smiles all round for the Lae Lions and Lioness Clubs members on Saturday, Nov 20,  as they gather for a special occasion as part of the reformation of the Lae Lions Club.

Club cecretary Jerry Manjawi with sick boy at the Angau Hospital children’s ward

Lae Lions Club branch president, Lion Namon Mawason, has confirmed that the immediate past district governor of Lions for Papua New Guinea and Northern Queensland, Lion John Muller, will be visiting Lae on this day to meet with the members of both the Lions and Lioness Clubs and to update them on Lions activities and programmes right around the world.

Muller said: “It is a great honour for me to return to Lae and to represent our current district governor Patrick Lynch for this formal visit to the club.

“Many years ago Lions had a strong presence in the local Lae community, and it is great that I am here and able to assist the new club as it continues to grow membership and build towards again being a chartered Lions Club.”

The Lae branch club currently has 15 members, and needs to recruit further community-minded people so that it can reach the minimum number of 20 Lions required to enable the club to again charter and be recognised as a club in its own right.

Mawason said: “The Lae club branch members and their families recently celebrated Papua New Guinea’s 35^th independence day on Sept 16, 2010, by visiting the Angau Hospital children’s ward and presenting some gifts - drinks, biscuits and ice cream - to the children as part of the service activities we do for our community.”

Club members preparing at Coronation College before proceeding to the hospital

He thanked Lae Biscuit Company and Laga Industries Ltd for contributing biscuits and ice cream for the Children.

Lions Club International is the largest service club organisation in the world, with over 1.36 million members in more than 48,000 clubs in 205 countries world-wide. Membership in Lions is by invitation, is open to all community-minded people, and does not discriminate on the grounds of race, gender, colour or disability.

Anyone wishing to know more about Lions should contact Mawason on phone (675) 76863219 or secretary Jerry Manjawi on (675) 4721011.

“We would love to see many new interested people at past district governor Muller’s visit on Saturday evening, Nov 20, so that they may learn more about Lions and also be invited to join our club,” Mawason said.

For further information and photo opportunities:  Namon Mawason (675) 7686 3219 / namon.mawason@lbcgroup.com.pg

Agriculture support services project launched in Chimbu

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

Fr Garia unveils the official plaque watched by Dr Lahis and other officials

The people of Chimbu have been urged to utilise their land and resources for agriculture farming which will help improve their livelihood.

Chimbu Governor Fr John Garia called on the people to be more innovative and use whatever little resources they had to seek income-earning opportunities and reduce poverty and food insecurity.

He told the people not to use the rugged and mountainous terrain, inadequate infrastructure, ineffective services and other issues as an excuse.

Fr Garia was speaking at the official launching of the smallholder support services expansion project (SSSEP) in the province last week.

 Provincial administration staff, farmers, women’s leaders and provincial leaders attended the launching in Kundiawa.

He also presented K40, 000 as counterpart funding to help establish the new project office.

The programme will be introduced into the Kerowagi and Sinasina-Yonggomugl districts.

Central together with Chimbu are the two new provinces to be included in the expansion phase after the project was trialed in Morobe and Eastern Highlands for several years.

 It was trialed as a way to address the inadequate and ineffective delivery of agricultural support services in PNG, and the approach included contracting individuals and institutions to deliver support services to smallholder farmers.

The overall goal is to improve the quality of life of smallholder farmers by increasing their access to agriculture support services.

The Governor, whilst expressing his appreciation to the Department of Agriculture and Livestock for accepting his province, said SSSEP would boost agriculture development and provide opportunities for the farmers to improve their livelihood.

He expected the majority of the rural population to gain maximum benefit through their involvement in the project and urged all stakeholders to support the new system.

Fr Garia acknowledged the efforts of many farmers in food crops, rice, fish farming, livestock and coffee who had worked tirelessly without government assistance to become successful.

He said people should not always rely on the politicians for cash handouts but try to become self-reliant.

Fr Garia said he never encouraged handouts and always gave out seedlings and farming tools to farmers who requested for assistance.  

The Governor also called on public servants to stop being bottlenecks and assist in getting the flow of services to the rural communities.

He said new concepts such as the SSSEP could work effectively if public servants were committed and honest in the delivery of services.

Chairman of Kerowagi farmers’ co-operative society, Jacob Kerenga, on behalf of the farmers of Chimbu, thanked DAL and the provincial administration for selecting his province to be included.

He said people had the land and resources but they were lazy.

 They also lacked regular extension and technical advisory services and hopefully this would change through the SSSEP.

“This is the opportunity we have all been waiting for to improve agriculture farming activities,” Kerenga said.

“How can we improve our livelihood if we don’t go back to agriculture- the backbone of our economy?”

 Kerenga said while the people were being encouraged to produce more food crops, there were inadequate markets available.

He said this was one of the constraints faced by the farmers and urged DAL to do something.  SSSEP project coordinator Dr Sam Lahis thanked the Governor for the counterpart funding, which is a commitment towards supporting the SSSEP in the province.

He also acknowledged the New Zealand Government through the NZ Agency for International Development (NZAid) for providing grant funding worth over K3.7 million in support of the SSSEP in PNG.

Questions about outcome based curriculum and outcome based education

By BAPA BOMOTENG

 

The outcome based curriculum (OBC) and the outcome based education (OBE) policy will forever change the phase and the scenario of high school education after 2010.

 The grades 10s in 2010 are sitting for two weeks of grueling exams. 

How bad was the one-week, basic core subjects examinations to be flexed out to two weeks?

 What new re-defined subjects have been included? 

I bet there is a good mix of everything in each of these subjects spiced with a lot of culture. 

 There seems to be less of international English writing and reading skills. 

With a lot more village-based practical activities trying to direct students to be village-based, land cultivation-oriented. 

Where does that leave PNG in the 21st Century, modern English-speaking world of e-world?

 Does it all lead up to Papua New Guineans applying to Australia must complete an English competency exam before being admitted in to Australian universities?  

 The results of OBC in 2010 will be known in 2012 when applications are processed for university entries. 

Will our students be strong in pure mathematics, science, social science and English exams for university entry?

Our village-based elementary graduates, taught by unqualified teachers, already are disadvantaged against all our urban elementary entries into high schools.

There is a big gap between the elementary scholars and private school students from kindergaten, grades 6 and onwards.

Will wait until these Grade 10s are let loose in two years time after grade 12.

 

Bapa Bomoteng

LAE

 

 

 

Miss South Pacific pageant launched

Reigning Miss South Pacific Queen 2009 Merewalesi Nailatikau (right) with Miss PNG 2010 Rachel James Saperi at the launching of the Miss South Pacific Pageant 2010 in Port Moresby last night. – Nationalpic by AURI EVA

By ANGELINE KARIUS

 REIGNING Miss South Pacific Queen 2009 Merewalesi Nailatikau, 25, officially launched the Miss South Pacific Pageant 2010 last night at the Lamana Hotel, The National reports.

This year’s pageant will be hosted by PNG with NCD Governor Powes Parkop as patron of the pageant.

Other South Pacific Island countries taking part included Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands as well as the US state of Hawaii.

Accompanied by her chaperon mother Latu, PNG-raised Fijian Nailatikau said: “I am happy to revisit Papua New Guinea and willing to learn new things too.”

She said it was important that young women be given the attention at such events to have a voice and speak their minds to address various issues including HIV/AIDS. 

She said as a BSP Go Green ambassador in Fiji, she was adamant about raising awareness on the environment and its importance to humans.

Nailatikau added that last year’s theme on “climate change campaigner” reflected that importance during the event.  

Nailatikau lived with her parents at the Sopas medical college in Wabag, Enga, from six months old to five years before her parents, who were medical missionaries, returned to Fiji.

Law student axed to death

Brutal killing payback by rival clan, say police

 

By JUNIOR UKAHA and THOMAS HUKAHU

 

A FIRST-year law student at the University of Papua New Guinea has been hacked to pieces by rival Enga clansmen in an apparent payback killing in the Port Moresby suburb of Morata, The National reports.

Bystanders watched in horror as a group of men dragged Christopher George Kalupai, from Wapele village, Laiagam, out of a PMV bus near Tokam police barracks at about 3pm on Monday as he was returning home to Morata 3.

Police criminal investigation division detectives confirmed the killing, adding that no arrests had been made.

Last night, metropolitan commander Supt Fred Yakasa appealed to the suspects of the killing to surrender to police today.

The victim’s aunt, Vicky Kalupai, said frightened mothers in the bus had begged the captors to release her nephew but were warned not to talk or their throats would be slit.

He was put into a waiting vehicle and driven away.

Searching relatives found the chopped-up body about four hours later, near the Pawa station settlement, also at Morata 2.

Relatives believed Kalupai’s killing stemmed from last month’s bashing death of a man from Ambum at a Morota 2 bus stop which was blamed on the Kalupai family.

Yakasa condemned the killing, saying it was a payback killing by another Engan tribe.

“While the authorities in the city are trying to make Port Moresby a model city, some people are taking the law into their own hands and killing others,” he said.

“This must stop. We will not take this incident lightly. We will come down real hard on the suspects.”

 He called on the two groups not to take the law into their own hands.

“This is not the highlands; this is not your village.

“This is the capital of PNG; we are living in a civil society and there is a rule of law and we must all respect that,” Yakasa said.

 

 

Mystery body rotting in cave

By PEARSON KOLO

 

THE body of an adult male is decomposing inside a cave in the bushes of Hal River in the mountains of Nondogul, Western Highlands, The National reports.

Western Highlands provincial police commander Kaiplo Ambane confirmed the rotting body of an adult male, adding it was difficult to remove the body from the bottom of the cave.

He said locals from Nondogul and North Waghi, who frequented the cave to identify the body, claimed it was of an Asian man or a foreigner.

“The locals are saying this because the body has turned whitish after being in the water at the bottom of the cave for too long,” Ambane said.

But, he said, the origin of the corpse could not be confirmed yet because it had decomposed beyond recognition.

“Members of the Western Highlands police are at the scene collecting hair samples and other necessary clues to confirm the identity of the man,” Ambane said.

“It would be difficult to remove the body without special assistance.”

He said locals were claiming that the corpse was of an Asian miner looking for precious stones and gold.

But Ambane could not confirm reports until proper tests and examinations were conducted on the samples collected.

The locals had not reported anyone missing from their communities.

 

 

Villagers struggle after hailstorm

By ELIAS LARI

 

MORE than 50 farmers from Keta and Mungupa village outside Mt Hagen, Western Highlands, have been hit hard by a sudden hailstorm over the weekend, The National reports.

The hailstorm and associated heavy rain lashed the area on Saturday, destroying food gardens, mostly fruit and vegetables for the town market.

Thirteen houses were also destroyed in the storm.

Cost of damage was likely to be several thousands of kina.

Two villages belonging to the Jicka Komopi clan had been badly affected during the three-hour storm which started about 4pm, villagers said.

The compact ice took two days to melt.

Spokesman John Herma, who is also a farmer, told The National at the scene yesterday that they were still trying to come to grips with reality that had been destroyed overnight.

He said the hard-working farmers had estimated losing at least K70,000 worth of fresh produce for the city markets.

Herma said they had planted a variety of food crops such as carrots, potatoes, broccoli, corn, lettuce and sweet potatoes, adding that vegetable farming was a costly business because of the various chemicals and fertilisers they had to buy for their crops and land.

He urged the government, through the national disaster relief office, to provide them some form of assistance so that they could buy new seedlings and chemicals to return to farming.

Meanwhile, Pr John Ku from the Four Square church described it as a disaster which hit the two villages.

He said it was the first of its kind for the villagers.

Ku said some people, whose food gardens were affected, would starve because in a month’s time, all food crops will taste sour and this will be very bad for the people.

He said people were still in a state of shock, trying to get over the disaster.