2nd bid to oust Chief Justice Injia fails

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

THE O’Neill-led government tried for the second time yesterday to suspend Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia – and failed, The National reports.
Like the November attempt to remove Sir Salamo, the court issued orders to stay the National Executive Council decision until further notice.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill had announced the NEC decision, the government wanted the chief justice to step down and allow a tribunal to clear him of misconduct allegations.
Last November’s attempt was also stayed by the court and a gag order placed on cabinet from further actions until a contempt charge against Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah and Attorney-General Dr Allan Marat was heard and disposed of.
Yesterday’s stay order was signed by Sir Salamo, Justice Bernard Sakora and Justice Nicholas Kiriwom.
It read: "Pending formal charges of contempt being laid by the Registrar of the Supreme Court against Peter O’Neill and Chairman of National Executive Council and members of NEC, and lawyers Michael Wilson and Tiffany Twivey, any decisions made by the NEC regarding the suspension of Sir Salamo, as chief justice, are hereby stayed until further orders."
The Supreme Court had earlier yesterday issued a separate Order for all parties having proceedings in regard to the East Sepik Provincial Government Supreme Court Reference to turn up in court at 9.30 this morning.
The chief justice was unavailable for comment but he is said to be preparing to say a whole lot at the start of the legal year service on Monday.
It is expected all provincial judges will come into Port Moresby for this service because of the gravity of the situation at hand.
O’Neill said last night that his government decisions were not intended to stop any cases before the courts.
“There are serious misconduct allegations made against him (Chief Justice),” O’Neill said.
“We want him to step down and allow the tribunal to clear him. At the same time we want him to allow his deputy to hear the cases before the courts.
“Now we see him continually interfering in matters before the courts. This matter concerns him and he should not be signing the stay orders himself as he is doing. He is bringing the reputation of the courts into serious disrepute.”
Earlier, O’Neill with his cabinet ministers including Namah, Sir Mekere Morauta, Bart Philemon and William Duma in a media conference announced the suspension of Sir Salamo and the appointment of a panel inquiring into allegations of misconduct in office against him.
This will be the second time after acting Prime Minister Namah made the same announcement late last year and was arrested with Marat for contempt of court and the decision reversed by O’Neill.
O’Neill said the NEC in a decision made available K10 million for the Independent panel comprising retired judges, Justice Graham Elis, Paul Akuram and Sir Kubulan Los to immediately conduct the inquiry.
“These allegations are very serious. The government has been troubled by them for some time. I’ve mulled over it for over six months, and after wide consultation we decided on this action.
“The chief justice of Papua New Guinea must be given every opportunity to clear his name against these allegations. Sir Salamo and the high office he holds should not be constantly dogged by them.
“The allegations must be brought before a proper and competent forum and dealt with. Cabinet made this decision to suspended Sir Salamo after receiving advice from the Department of Justice and Attorney-General,” the prime minister said.

Somare has left PNG a broken nation

By ALLAN PATIENCE in Sydney Morning Herald  

February 3, 2012

Opinion

Sir Michael Somare. Photo: AFP

The cult of Sir Michael has been disastrous for his people.

THE primary cause of the recent ''mutiny'' by sections of the Papua New Guinea defence force is a mix of soldiers' anger over low pay, their substandard living conditions, associated low morale, and grudges against some of their senior officers.

This has led some of them to back Sir Michael Somare in his quest for his reinstatement as prime minister, naively believing that the dishonoured promises of the past will somehow be honoured this time around.

Sir Michael and his followers are boycotting parliamentary sittings while scheming a take-over of the government before the general election due in a few months. Incumbency is vital to electoral success in PNG, so access to the largesse of the Treasury benches is now everything to the Somare camp.

 Sir Michael's followers seem ready to go to desperate extremes to regain power. In a bizarre move last week, they ordered retired Colonel Yaura Sasa to seize control of the defence force and coerce the Parliament into restoring Sir Michael as PM. Sasa's five minutes of infamy were, however, quickly ended.

That the Somare camp would seek to politicise the PNG military shows Sir Michael and those around him are no longer fit for high office. But it also raises the issue of the Somare political legacy in PNG.

 Sir Michael, his family and his political cronies have developed an over-weaning sense of entitlement. Over the years they have resolutely resisted legitimate attempts to subject their use of public resources to scrutiny.

For example, in a report by Justice Barnett in 1989, allegations were made that Sir Michael and people close to him profited from links to the Malaysian logging company Rimbunan Hijau. The Barnett report has never been acted on despite its revelations of serious improprieties and its unequivocal recommendations for criminal charges to be laid.

More recently, Sir Michael and his son Arthur purchased expensive properties in Cairns. How they obtained the funds for these purchases remains a mystery, despite several attempts in 2007 to hold them to public account.

Sir Michael's four-month medical sojourn last year in Singapore was subsidised to the tune of millions of kina by the PNG government, though the terms of this latest display of generosity by the PNG state have never been publicly explained.

Sir Michael's self-aggrandisement at public expense was on display in April 2010 at an extravagant reception at Tokyo's five-star New Otani Hotel, for the opening of the chancery building of the PNG embassy in Japan.

Hundreds of guests wined and dined copiously. Sir Michael made a grand entrance flanked by two Papua New Guineans in traditional dress and carrying spears. A traditional entertainment group from East New Britain drummed and danced. The PNG foreign minister and then Sir Michael subjected the guests to rambling speeches extolling the PNG-Japan relationship.

Somare was in his element, exuding what he thought was greatness and receiving what he thought were appropriate salutations. The whole affair must have cost many thousands of kina - money that would have been far better spent on medical and educational facilities back in PNG.

Diplomatically it was a disaster. Many of the Japanese present were bemused by the traditional entertainment. They did not understand the speeches and thought the short fat man overshadowed by his lofty guards-of-honour was part of the act rather than the Pprime Minister of PNG. But Somare was oblivious, effusing, gesturing and wanting to be the centre of attention.

To be fair, Michael Somare has at times reached towards greatness in his political career. But his political record overall is one of disastrous failure. PNG remains deeply corrupt, under-developed and sadly exploited. Its long-suffering citizens deserve far more than the Somare leadership has bequeathed them.

 It is time for Papua New Guineans to reassess the role Sir Michael has played in their country's post-colonial development. It may be that in time he will become known as the ''godfather of the nation'' rather than the ''father of the nation''.

Allan Patience, professor of political science at the University of PNG from 2004-06, is a visiting scholar in the Asia Institute at Melbourne University

Medical store chief on K1.76 million theft charge

By JUNIOR UKAHA

A SENIOR public servant is facing charges relating to the illegal use of K1.767 million belonging to the Health Department, The National reports.
Christian Tarur, manager of the Badili area medical store, was on Monday arrested by Task Force Sweep.
Task Force chairman Sam Koim said Tarur faced charges of stealing, obtaining money by false pretences and misappropriation of funds.
Koim said Tarur was charged for his part “in orchestrating and benefiting from the fraudulent transfer of funds belonging to the Health Department in 2008.”
He said the transfer was for K1.767 million belonging to the health which was kept at Stevens Lawyers, Port Moresby.
It is alleged that Tarur and others conspired to cause the monies to be released to a private company from which he allegedly received a commission.
The Health Department in 2008 had arranged to buy the area medical stores facility at Badili from the IPBC, paying K1.767 million into Stevens Lawyers trust account to facilitate the purchase.
The purchase was however aborted when IPBC decided to give the property freely to the department for its medical stores.
Koim said the money was retained at the law firm’s trust account until it was released to a company called PACPNG Pharmaceuticals Suppliers for the purchase of medical drugs under bogus instructions.
It is alleged that on Sept 8, 2008, Tarur cashed a BSP cheque and received K15,000 over the counter.
Koim said the K1.7 million was spent over a period of four months by the bogus company. The bank account was subsequently closed while the owners were on run.
The Task Force alleged that no medicines were supplied to the health department or received by the AMS.

Rabaul Shipping shuts office

By ELLEN TIAMU

RELATIVES of passengers who were board the mv Rabaul Queen were yesterday turned away from the Rabaul Shipping office in Lae with the company refusing to answer any queries and closed their doors, The National reports.
Irate relatives who waited all day for news on the tragedy, wanting to find out if family members and friends were safe, were unhappy that the shipping company could not say anything about the accident or provide the passenger list (manifest).
Many supported the prime minister’s call for a commission of inquiry into the accident.
Many said they had been on mv Rabaul Queen which had been taking more than the 300 passengers allowed.
Many were also irritated that the radio stations in the country did not carry much on the disaster and most of the information they collected yesterday was from overseas stations such as Radio Australia.
The group could not obtain information from Rabaul Shipping so moved to the provincial disaster office to await word from the search and rescue operation members who returned in a helicopter late yesterday afternoon.
Acting Morobe provincial administrator Patillias Gamato, after being briefed by his officers, assured them that all was being done to account for the passengers.
He assured them that ocean-going vessels with survivors on board would be arriving later in the night and that the disaster office would be open all night to receive queries

238 rescued as ferry sinks

By ELLEN TIAMU

OFFICIALS last night confirmed that 238 passengers have been rescued from waters off the coast of Finschhafen, Morobe province, where the mv Rabaul Queen sank early yesterday morning, The National reports.
It is not known how many were missing from the 300-passenger coastal vessel which was Lae-bound from New Guinea Islands ports.
Search and rescue operations were abandoned when darkness fell but will resume at first light this morning, Morobe acting provincial administrator Patillas Gamato said.
The vessel belongs to Rabaul-based firm Starships Ltd which would not provide the passenger list yesterday after requests by relatives of the passengers and officers from the provincial disaster office.
The company through its lawyer said it would issue a statement later.
The vessel sank in rough seas along the Vitiaz Strait at Pontification Point, just before Bonga near Finschhafen about 6am. It was on its way to Lae.
Officials said that as of 7pm, the 238 passengers, some injured, were taken aboard four overseas cargo vessels which had gone to the area to assist.
Three helicopters and an Australian defence force aircraft, four overseas cargo vessels and smaller boats were used to rescue passengers.
The provincial disaster office had asked for assistance from the national government.
It is in contact with chief secretary and chairman of the national disaster office Manasupe Zurenuoc.
The disaster office in Madang and people in Wasu, Sialum, Siassi and Karkar islands have been asked to look out for survivors.
The Angau Memorial Hospital’s emergency department was on full alert last night to cater for the injured being brought ashore.
The provincial disaster office remained open all night.
It is feared that the ferry could be carrying more than 300 passengers.
The boat was travelling to Lae from Buka, Rabaul and Kimbe.
Rough seas, aided by strong winds, caused the one-engine ship to tilt and sink.
Passengers managed to scramble onto life rafts and were later taken aboard the large cargo vessels present in the area

More than 200 rescued following ferry disaster

RESCUERS have plucked more than 230 people out of the sea but many more remain missing after a ferry sank yesterday morning in waters off Finschhafen, Morobe province, The National reports. Eight foreign vessels and a number of aircraft scoured the search area (6 degrees 31.5 minutes south, 147 degress 54.7 minutes east) about 16km north-east of Finschhafen, on Papua New Guinea’s north coast, after the MV Rabaul Queen went down in heavy weather.
It reportedly had 350 passengers on board while travelling from Kimbe, New Britain Island, to Lae on the mainland.
The rescue was halted at about 7pm with authorities saying 238 people had been rescued. The search would resume this morning. No deaths have been reported so far.
Earlier, Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority said 219 people had been rescued 12 hours after eight vessels and three helicopters were diverted to the scene where the MV Rabaul Queen went down.
AMSA spokeswoman Carly Lusk said a greater loss of life could have been avoided as sea conditions were good, with a 10 knot (18kmh) wind and a light swell, as the rescue mission got underway.
She said the ferry’s owners had reported 350 people on board the 47m coastal ship.
“We are getting more life rafts out into the water. There have been more reports of vessels sighting people in life rafts, so we’re hoping for the number (of survivors) to increase in the very near future.”
The PNG Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre said the ferry sank about nine nautical miles north-east off Cape Fortification, in the Vitiaz Strait.
The vessel, built in 1983, was travelling from Kimbe, West New Britain, to Lae, when it encountered trouble.
It sent out a distress signal that was picked up by Australia’s Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra and the PNG centre in Port Moresby.
Four foreign registered vessels rushed to the scene, while two helicopters were dispatched from Lae to provide the coordination centre with updates.
Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority also directed another four ships, three helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft to help.
Ferry operator Star Ships said in a statement it lost contact with the MV Rabaul Queen at about 6am.
The ship’s owners said it had no information what caused the accident, adding the vessel sank quickly and without sending a distress message.
“Bad weather, I think (it is) believed to have sunk,” Star Ships spokesman John Whitney told AFP, confirming reports that there were up to 350 on board.
Rescue co-ordinator Captain Nurur Rahman said he was being fed information from a National Maritime Safety Authority agent on board one of the ships.
“’The dynamics of this thing are changing all the time, minute by minute,” he said.
Lae Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Alan McLay said the information he got indicated the ship went down at about 6am at a time when there was extremely high winds and the sea was very rough.
“The local villagers are very hesitant in venturing out to sea to assist the rescue in fear for their own lives (they know their own coast),” he told The National.
“It’s somewhere near the vicinity of Scarlett Beach, so it’s pretty
rugged coastline.”
McLay said the Rabaul shipping office in Lae was deserted, with a large crowd around it and no one could contact any of the management in Rabaul.
James Krimbu, a health worker at Braun Rural Hospital in Finschhafen, said from Finschhafen that the area had been experiencing very rough seas and strong winds, which was hampering rescue efforts.
 “The district administrator organised boats to go out but they can’t because the seas are too rough.
“At the moment, they are on standby at Buki Wharf.
“They made a first attempt before lunch but they encountered rough seas and strong winds and they turned back.”
Martin Mosi, director of the PNG National Disaster Centre, said the cause of the disaster was not yet known.
“Is it weather? Is it overloading or is it something to do with the vessel itself? We do not know but that will certainly come to light very soon,” he said.
Star Ships, among PNG’s largest passenger ship operators, runs regular services to Kimbe which is a popular dive site that attracts tourists from across the world

Rough seas, strong winds at Finschhafen

Update from Finschhafen: James Krimbu, a health worker at Braun Rural Hospital in Finschhafen, Morobe province, told me from Finschhafen that the area had been experiencing very rough seas and strong winds, which was hampering rescue efforts.
“At the moment, there are rough seas and strong winds in Finschhafen,” he said.
“District administrator organised boats to go out but they can’t because the seas are too rough.
“At the moment, they are on standby at Buki Wharf.
“They made a first attempt before lunch but they encountered rough seas and strong winds and they turned back.”
Krimbu said no bodies had been delivered to the Braun hospital, however, a helicopter had flown over Finschhafen for Lae

Rabaul Shipping office deserted after mv Rabaul Queen sinks

By ALAN MCLAY

President

Lae Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Our information is that the ship went down at about 6 am this morning.

There are extremely high winds and the sea is very rough.

The local villagers are very hesitant in venturing out to sea to assist the rescue in fear for their own lives (they know their own coast).

The Rabaul Shiiping office in Lae is deserted with a large crowd around it and no one can contact any of the management in Rabaul.

mv Rabaul Queen sinks with more than 300 passengers on board

Passenger vessel mv Rabaul Queen has sunk with more than 300 passengers on board in waters off Finschhafen, Morobe province.
It is confirmed that the ship went down approximately 20 nautical miles north east of Finschhafen (6° 10 south 148° 08 east) 300 plus on board. 
"There are four vessels and a helicopter in the area now assisting," said Lae Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Alan McLay.
"International ships have been called in to assist where thay can. 
"We had a call from Finschhafen that 15 bodies were helicoptered into Butaweng (the hospital in Finschhafen)."

“Tree of life” creates potential for coconut based products

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

The coconut is truly the “tree of life” and has many uses for millions of people around the world.

And in PNG like many Pacific Island countries, virgin coconut oil is increasingly becoming popular for the production of medicines and cosmetics.

A college lecturer who has ventured into producing medicinal and cosmetic coconut oil-based products says there is enormous potential in rural PNG communities.

He has also developed products for cooking purposes.

Leonard Kaptigau shows samples of his products during a visit to DAL headquarters

However, Leonard Sarikey Kaptigau, a lecturer at Madang Teachers College, and trained health nutritionist, says that people like him needed more support in terms of funding and technical assistance from the government.

The Department of Agriculture and Livestock last year donated an oil expeller machine worth over K9, 000 and the Madang provincial administration has provided some funding assistance for his research and training activities.

But he needs to go further now that the public is aware of his work and there is increasing demand for the products.

Since the donation of the machine, they have produced good quality virgin coconut oil.

Kaptigau, of Bari village in Madang, is asking DAL and other agencies to further assist him in purchasing storage containers in different sizes which can be used for storage and distribution.

Different types of containers are needed to store and to bottle the products and dispatch to various locations.

The former primary school teacher and inspector who holds a degree in education, established RM Sarikey Bio Products which has been producing a range of products from coconut oil and plants including virgin coconut oil, coconut cooking oil, cocoa butter oil, cocoa butter crude cream, carrot oil, soursop oil, round cabbage oil, noni leaf oil, guava fruit oil, round onion oil, marita oil, cucumber oil and others.

Virgin coconut oil can be used together with a wide range of plant parts that contain cosmetic and medicinal properties to effect changes in the body by applying it externally on skin surfaces or drinking the oil.

The oil expeller machine is capable of extracting oil from any oily seed as well as production of fruit juice by squeezing the fruit parts.

 It can also produce 40 litres of coconut oil from 200 coconuts in one hour.

Kaptigau, who was trained in health and nutritional education, sports science and medicine in Australia, said it had taken him five years of study and experiments into how the purest coconut oil could be used together with plant parts to help the body.

These products have already been given to the public and there have been positive results with no side effects experienced.

There is enormous potential for mass production with many people showing interest in the products.

 But this will depend on capital as well as facilities.

The plan is to train villagers who can produce these products within their own communities and also provide opportunities for people to utilise their coconut, cocoa and plants for other uses.

“We are what we eat,” Kaptigau says.

“The foods we eat do not just provide us with the energy or nutritional requirements but have healing properties to heal and stop major illnesses from making our physical body and mind sick.”

He is now close to formulating a coconut-based product for HIV/AIDS sufferers.

Learning to market taro

By SAMUEL KEHATSIN of NARI

PRODUCING agricultural produce to meet the requirements of markets requires special attention and those involved need to be equipped with the required skills.

This is exactly what a taro commercialisation project in the East New Britain province is doing, ensuring taro growers under the project are aware of the requirements involved in processing taro before exporting them to major local urban markets or overseas.

Participants going through steps involved in field planting

One of the newly-planted taro fields of the AIGS taro commercialisation project

The project, funded through the Agricultural Innovations Grant Scheme (AIGS) of AusAID, is conducting a series of training for farmer trainers to educate farmers on the importance of the various stages involved in processing taro to meet market demands and quarantine requirements.

One such training was conducted last week at the NARI Island Regional Centre at Keravat, attended by farmers and trainers from various local level governments in the province.

The training, facilitated by staff of the project, featured post-harvest techniques, selection of quality planting materials, field planting techniques, chemical application and safety and storage. Demonstrations were held to show the process involved from harvesting, cleaning, grading, and packing of taro to meet export requirements.

 Kiteni Kurika, a project staffer and one of the facilitators, said that the biggest problem was the lack of support from other agencies to see the beneficiaries of what the association was capable of doing.

 She added that it was a mammoth task, especially when engaged in trying to export food crops like taro to overseas markets.

Kurika said her team was trying to ensure quarantine issues and meeting market demand on a regular basis was better understood by farmers.

Participants expressed that the training was useful, saying they knew how to plant taro but to process taro to meet requirements had been an eye opener.

 Through this project, taro growers in province have made a first shipment of taro to the Pacific Adventist University and are already selling in the supermarkets of Port Moresby.

East New Britain Women and Youth in Agriculture Corporative Societies Association is already leading the way in agriculture in the province and is calling for more support from government agencies, NGOs, and the private sector in the province for them pursue this further.

The association is now looking at the LNG projects and other project sites, with options of exporting to New Zealand also being considered.

Oro duo wanted for stealing state property

By JUNIOR UKAHA

POLICE in Oro are looking for two public servants who allegedly removed property belonging to the Northern Province Restoration Authority.
Provincial police commander Victor Isouve said in December last year, the pair allegedly under the cover of darkness took a container of furniture, electrical goods and other items from the NPRA compound to Oro Bay to ship to Rabaul.
He said the new chairman, Arthur Jawodimbari, got suspicious of the actions of the duo and informed police who responded by stopping the men at Oro Bay and searched the container.
Isouve said a vehicle, wokabout sawmill, tables, chairs and electrical items were in the container bound for Rabaul.
The two men, who were employees of NPRA, were questioned and released pending further investigations.
The other suspect from East New Britain fled the province while the second man was in Port Moresby to sort out school fees for his children.
Isouve said investigations into the affairs of the NPRA revealed that four to five new vehicles were bought using the organisation’s money but were never delivered to the province to help Cyclone Guba victims.
He said instead all the vehicles were kept in Port Moresby by individuals.
Isouve said police were trying to find out where all the money had gone to.
He said the El Nina period in the province had resulted in road conditions along the Kokoda Highway and other places like Oro Bay and Girua deteriorating

United in grief

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill and Sir Michael Somare yesterday shook hands and stood united in grief – at the funeral of a parliamentary colleague, The National reports.
Political differences were put aside as MPs from both sides of the warring factions farewelled the late Patrick Tammur in Port Moresby.
The Kokopo MP died last week after a long battle with diabetes.
MPs paid their tribute and viewed his body at the Grand Hall of Parliament. It was followed by a memorial service at the St Joseph Church in East Boroko.
O’Neill shook hands with Sir Michael and his son, Angoram MP Arthur Somare in a “funeral reconciliation”.
O’Neill was accompanied by his deputy Belden Namah, cabinet ministers, Speaker Jeffery Nape and deputy speaker Francis Marus.
Sir Michael and Arthur arrived with Ambunti-Dreikikir MP Tony Aimo, Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru, Madang regional MP Sir Arnold Amet and Pomio MP Paul Tiensten.
The two factions sat side by side again at the funeral service at the St Joseph Catholic church in East Boroko.
Tammur’s body will be flown to Kokopo this morning where a traditional Tolai welcome with the Tumbuan-Dukduk ceremony is expected at the Tokua airport.
Tammur is survived by wife Salome and three children Oscar, Sophia and Theresa.
O’Neill joined Sir Michael and other leaders in paying tribute to the late MP.
“When he defeated Sir Rabbie Namaliu in the 2007 general election, he knew the challenges that lay ahead of him and the expectations of his people, were great,” O’Neill said.
“Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare recognised his pedigree and his potential and appointed him to his Cabinet in the former government.
“And the young man did not disappoint. He presided over a number of key policy changes in the information and communication technology arena, which now guide development in the industry.
“It is indeed a huge loss that this illness has cut short the life of this promising young leader.
“For his time of public service, however short, I thank his family and the people of Kokopo.
Sir Michael also conveyed his condolences to the family and the people of Kokopo.