Kutubu women for rice

By SENIORL ANZU of NARI in Moro

Community initiative has paid off for Foe women in the Kutubu area of Southern Highlands. Through sheer interest and determination for rice production, the Kutubu Foe Women’s Association has been fortunate in acquiring two rice milling machines that will be launched tomorrow at the Pimaga government station.

This is a result of the association’s initiative in taking up modern agriculture for food and income on a sustainable basis.

Among others, the group is pursuing rice to supplement daily diets and as well supply surplus to possible market opportunities created by the boom in oil and gas developments in the Kutubu area.

Led by women leader Naomi Samuel, rural women have already mastered the basic techniques of rice production.

Interested rice farmers from the Faso area have also picked up rice farming, spreading the interest to the entire Kutubu region and even the Moran area.

The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) and PNG Women in Agriculture Development Foundation (PNGWiADF), both based in Lae, have been in the Kutubu area since 2009, providing technical assistance.

This initiative has been supported by Kutubu’s community development initiative and Oil Search Ltd.

NARI’s senior scientist Dr Peter Gendua and PNGWiADF president, Maria Linibi have been on site this week providing hands-on training and technical advice to about 100 interested rice farmers across Pimaga, Orokana, Waro, Tiriabo, Tugiri, Soro and Inu villages.

NARI has so far provided two upland rice varieties (NARI Rice One or NR 1 and NR 15) suitable for the environment with two rounds of training on land preparation, seed sowing, transplanting, field management, harvesting, threshing and milling to major villages in Kutubu.

Pictured are women at Pimaga having hands-on training in seed sowing of a NARI released rice variety, NR 1, on Monday

However, a major hurdle faced by farmers was proper milling of their farm harvests.

Many expressed the need to have rice milling machines.

Members of the Kutubu Foe Women’s Association have harvested tonnes of rice but milling has also been a constraint.

After knocking on doors of various organisations, Oil Search Limited and the Department of Agriculture and Livestock have come good in providing a rice milling machine each for the association.

The support has come along due to the association’s own desire and determination to pursue agriculture for development, particularly in rice cultivation.

 During tomorrow’s launch, the two rice milling machines will be officially handed over to the Kutubu Foe Women’s Association.

The operations of the machines will also be demonstrated to the farmers and those with harvests will have the opportunity to mill their produce.

 The initiative has demonstrated public-private partnership of all stakeholders in community development.

Modern agriculture introduced in Kikori

By SENIORL ANZU of NARI

Villagers along the Kikori delta in the Gulf province can now practice modern agriculture for food security and income, thanks to Oil Search Limited and the PNG Women in Agriculture Development Foundation (PNGWiADF).

The sole dependence on sago and fish for survival by the Kikori River people will be a thing of the past as they take up new skills and innovations in vegetable production.

They can now farm round cabbage, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, carrot, spring onion, lettuce, pakchoi, watermelon and tomato.

With support from Oil Search’s community affairs division based in the Gobe oil fields, model farmer and agricultural trainer, Maria Linibi of PNGWiADF, has provided training for 26 villagers since last month.

The participants are from seven villages – Kaiam, Banana camp, Irimuku, Babeio, Veiru, Kekea and Ero – along the Kikori River.

From left are Tommy Polang of Oil Search, PNGWiADF president Maria Linibi, community representative John Ipai and an Oil Search official displaying seedlings of tropical vegetables at Irimuku village in the Kikori delta, Gulf province.-Pictures by SENIORL ANZU

 In July, the participants acquired skills in nursery preparation of different tropical vegetables and last week, Linibi taught them again on how to prepare land and transplant seedlings.

 The training was conducted at Irimuku village with a demonstration farm established at the run-down Kitomape SDA school grounds.

The initiative was undertaken as part of agriculture development under Oil Search’s sustainable development programme in communities along affected areas of the oil development project in the Southern Highlands and Gulf provinces.

The vigorous performances of the crops were an eye opener for the participants as they could not believe their soil could produce temperate highlands vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, carrot and others.

During the training, Linibi introduced crops to the villagers, emphasised crops’ nutritional and monetary values, and demonstrated farming skills through a participatory approach which many appreciated.

Tommy Polang, Oil Search’s community development officer who was responsible for organising the training, told the aspiring vegetable farmers to take full advantage of the opportunity and utilise what they had learnt from the training in their own villages.

“You can cultivate vegetables and other food crops on your land, just like any PNG farmer,” Polang told participants.

He challenged them to take full responsibility in taking ownership and ensuring self-sustainability after the pilot phase.

He added that with the new developments in oil and gas projects, they would be faced with opportunities in spin-off benefits.

This is especially in terms of finding markets for their produce - which they should capture to support their livelihoods.

Polang called on the participants to be role models and pass on the skills to others in their respective villages, and most importantly, to work in groups and help one another.

 Linibi said the exercise was just a start in a small way but they could apply the principles in bigger ways, given their capacities.

Kikori villagers have hands-on training in transplanting broccoli seedlings with trainer and PNGWiADF president Maria Linibi (centre) at Kitomape near Kikori station in the Gulf province

 She advised that they should initiate and start something for themselves before calling for assistance.

She also urged the participants to work in groups and form cooperatives and capture opportunities outside of the project areas.

Many of the participants showed appreciation and expressed that the training would change their livelihoods.

Dorothy Foroua, a woman leader from Irimuku, said their food resources were fish, sago and leaves from the bush but with the training gave them new alternatives.

Oil Search provided vegetable seeds and tools.

The vegetable training has three components, two of which (nursery and transplanting), have been successfully completed.

 The third phase is post-harvest which is expected to be done in November when the vegetables are ready for harvest.

During the first phase, Linibi demonstrated a technology on plant-derived pesticides which farmers can develop and use from locally available resources such as neem tree, derris (posin diwai) and chili.

In the second phase, she supplied seeds of upland rice varieties, corn and mung beans provided by NARI and seeds of neem tree for formulating home-made pesticides.

Other initiatives under Oil Search Gobe’s sustainability programme include rehabilitation of old coffee blocks and establishment of coffee nursery with some 6,000 seedlings in Erave, Southern Highlands, with the involvement of Coffee Industry Corporation.

Aitape farmers support cocoa development, not oil palm

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

Landowners in the Sandaun province have called on the government to conduct regular monitoring of major agro-forestry projects.

They say that relevant government agencies including Department of Agriculture and Livestock, PNG Forest Authority and the respective provincial administration should take the lead in the monitoring programme.

The issue was raised recently during a review meeting of the agro-forestry oil palm project in the Pai resource area in Aitape district.

The meeting was attended by landowner representatives, DAL, PNGFA, developer and the district administration.

Landowners give their views during the review meeting in Aitape town

Aitape-Lumi district administrator Timothy Teklan chaired the meeting.

The meeting at Aitape concluded with a recommendation for the oil palm project to be scrapped in favour of cocoa and other potential crops including rubber.

The meeting also agreed to set up a review and monitoring committee comprising of various government agencies in Sandaun and Aitape district administration to coordinate the monitoring exercise.

 The meeting recommended that the developer produce and submit a land use development plan for integrated agriculture development project which would encompass cocoa, rubber and other suitable crops.

The review meeting had been organised to discuss the past activities of the agro-forestry project focusing on oil palm development and to discuss the way forward.

There is a need to assess if the cocoa or oil palm is economical and financially viable, and has high/low environmental implications.

Most people were familiar with cocoa and know that capital input was much less than oil palm.

The review was also to assess the commitment and capacity of the developer on the changes of land use.

DAL deputy secretary for technical services Francis Daink attended the meeting and took note of the concerns raised by the landowners and the recommendations made.

Daink emphasised the need for establishment of the monitoring committee to be coordinated and chaired by the district administration.

Daink stressed that in such projects the district administration, especially the programme manager, played an important role in monitoring and reporting.

National DAL will rely on district programme managers to provide reports as and when required.

He said the government had scarce resources to provide services and needs to bring in investors from abroad that have technical skills and capital to partner with and assist the government to bring development.

Cocoa is also a priority crop which falls in well with the provincial plan to give recognition to West Sepik province as a major cocoa-growing region.

Chairman of landowner company Mete Holdings Ltd, Samson Kupu said the other factor that would really affect oil palm development was the location of the project area - situated in the head waters - which would definitely pollute all the big and small rivers where most people had accessibility for their daily needs.

He said that after his visit to NBPOL oil palm operations in West New Britain province and discussions with PNG Oil Palm Research Association, he had found out that there were some serious issues which would really affect the development of oil palm in Aitape.

These issues included lack of adequate technical expertise; most skilled personnel may be joining the PNG LNG project which offers attractive pay and conditions; availability of state land for development; suitable port facilities and market availability.

Aitape Oil Palm Ltd project consultant, Dr Felix Moh, said the developer company needed the support of all stakeholders including government, landowners and the general public to conduct its operations in the agro-forestry development.

Daink (centre) accompanied by Teklan (third from right) Dr Moh (third from left) Kupu (far right) and other officials inspect the oil palm nursery. Landowners are now seeking to plant cocoa instead of oil palm

The developer supported the desires of the government and the landowners to benefit from any agro-forestry project.

He said the developer would consider any outcomes from the meeting before making a final decision.

Many speakers at the meeting said they were now unsure of the oil palm project and would be willing to switch to cocoa and rubber.

Some said their land was unsuitable for oil palm but good for cocoa and other crops.

Others said cocoa had been grown for many years in Aitape and the people did not need further training.

In addition, cocoa prices were more attractive and most farmers were now venturing into cocoa production.

First seeds sown in Kikori

Story and pictures by SENIORL ANZU

Villagers along the Kikori delta in the Gulf province can now practice modern agriculture for food security and income, thanks to Oil Search Limited and the PNG Women in Agriculture Development Foundation (PNGWiADF).

The sole dependence on sago and fish for survival by the Kikori River people will be a thing of the past as they take up new skills and innovations in vegetable production.

 They can now farm round cabbage, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, carrots, spring onion, lettuce, pak choi, watermelon and tomato.

Aspiring farmers like Dorothy Foroua (right) and young lasses from Kikori River are pictured happily preparing to transplant their first broccoli seedlings at Irimuka village near Kikori last week.

President of PNGWiADF Maria Linibi trained 26 villagers last week to practice modern agriculture through Oil Search’s sustainable development programme.

 

 

Paddling on sago

Story and picture by SENIORL ANZU

Gulf province has the famous slogan “yu yet kam na lukim” (come and see it for yourself). Among many things one can see for himself or herself is the way in which sago trunks are transported home from where they are harvested.

Sago is the major staple food for Gulf people and much of the sago grows in the wild along the Kikori delta.

Locals say in some villages, sago trunks are harvested and transported through the Kikori River and its tributaries to coastal homes by tying the trunks onto the canoe and pulling along as the canoe is paddled home.

 

Pictured here is Gulf man Douglas Nuga from Ero Island, Kikori, doing the opposite.

 

Instead of paddling the canoe with sago trunk behind, Nuga paddled on two huge sago trunks with his canoe pulled behind into Orokoi tributary for Ero after leaving the Kikori River few kilometers away.

 

Rich new database on agriculture in Papua New Guinea

By MALUM NALU

A most up-to-date Papua New Guinea agriculture literature database is now available on compact disc for farmers, academics and the general public in the country.

It will be a handy companion to Food and Agriculture in Papua New Guinea, the most up-to-date and most-informative publication ever done on the subject in the country, which was launched in Port Moresby recently by former deputy prime minister Sir Puka Temu.

The database was compiled by Land Management Group of Australian National University, the same group which put together the book.

Dr Michael Bourke of the ANU, who put together the CD and book, said it would be a most-welcome addition to PNG agriculture.

“What we’ve done is we’ve put in the CD is about 17,000 references to agriculture in Papua New Guinea,” he said.

“You can search for a reference with a keyword, or a word in the title, or an author.

“So, for example, if you type in ‘woman’, you’ll come up with about 800 papers.

“If you type ‘woman’ and ‘Bougainville’, you might come up with 20 papers.”

The good news for PNG is that the CD is being distributed freely throughout the country and a copy can be obtained by sending an email to Sue Rider at sue.rider@anu.edu.au.

“It needs some software to run, and the software is called Endnote,” Dr Bourke adds.

“It’s very powerful.”

5,000 Indonesians for LNG site

UP to 5,000 technical workers from Indonesia are expected to come to PNG to be employed in the construction phase of the multi-billion-kina PNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, The National reports.

Indonesian embassy’s charge de affairs Budimansyah said an Indonesian company had won a sub-contract in the construction phase of the LNG project, and they would be bringing in these workers to do the job.

It is understood the Indonesian company won a sub-contract for work at portion 152 outside Port Moresby, but the official did not say exactly what the nature of the work would be.

But he said the 5,000 would be highly skilled technical workers.

The company is believed to be owned by the Indonesian government.

A PNG government spokesman, when asked to comment on this, said some aspects of work at portion 152 were highly technical, and the Indonesian workers brought

in had the experience in this field.

The government had also spoken in the past about plans to bring in 7,000 workers from Fiji to work in the LNG project, but it was unclear if this had been advanced.

“The multi-billion-kina gas project has also attracted Indonesian companies who are seeking joint ventures with PNG companies to build cement factories in Lae and Port Moresby,” Budimansyah said.

He said the relationship between the two countries that share a common land border, had reached new heights since the visit by Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono early this year.

He said businessmen from Indonesia travelling with the president had sought opportunities in PNG, and did feasibility studies on joint venture projects.

He said 10 young businessmen had returned to PNG and were travelling to Lae to hold talks with the Papindo Group of Companies for a possible joint venture in building a cement factory.

“The demand for building houses is very high with the current LNG project.

“These businessmen are looking at feasibilities and possible joint venture with PNG companies to build cement factories.”

Budimansyah said if the condition was conducive, they would build cement factories in Lae and Port Moresby.

He said the increased opportunities and good investment climate in PNG was attracting a lot of Indonesian companies.

 

 

Government told to stick to maintenance

THE government has been urged not to compete with LNG project developers and concentrate on maintenance work on existing infrastructure of transport, health centres, schools and colleges and plan ahead for the utilisation of the trained and skilled workers after all the gas is harvested, The National reports.

Bank of PNG Governor Loi Bakani said the government should direct its development budget and implementation capacities to other priority areas of education, health, law and order, environment and conservation and, especially, the agriculture sector.

Bakani was speaking at the national development forum in Port Moresby yesterday.

“The need to invest in agriculture is vital for PNG to ensure the so-called ‘Dutch disease’ will be avoided,” he added.

Dutch disease, in economics, referred to the decline in manufacturing sector due to increase in exploitation of natural resources.

The theory is that an increase in revenue from natural resources will affect a country by raising its exchange rate, making manufacturing and agriculture sectors less competitive.

Bakani said LNG project developers were building the “infrastructure corridor from Southern Highlands to Port Moresby in the form of roads, pipeline, power and telecommunication”.

The government should, in turn, concentrate its effort in areas that the developers were not extensively using their resources on, he added.

Bakani also said, among other things, BPNG was extending its expertise to the rural majority through financial literacy, micro banking and technological innovation through the use of mobile phone banking.

Education - an important road map

By HENZY YAKHAM

 

Education, be it parent-paid, government subsidised, free or in other forms have been on the lips of every pupil, parent and politician in recent times than ever before.

Today, there are thousands of school-aged children throughout Papua New Guinea who are not sitting is a classroom because of school fee problems.

Many parents get reminders, threats and warnings of outstanding school fees from school managements for not being up to date for childrens’ tuition fees.

Some school managements are understanding and allowed kids to continuing their learning while parents and guardians honour their commitments to pay up.

That is understandable and could have worked for parents who are able to pay the school fees.

But, the stark reality is that thousands of parents in PNG are facing this practical problem of having to find money to pay for school fees.

This is an ever increasing nightmare for most ordinary grassroots people amidst the rising cost of goods and services.

Simply put, most parents just cannot afford to keep up to date when it comes to paying school fees.

Most parents will not buy into the argument that they (parents) are fully responsible for the education of their product, as argued by some including certain politicians.

For genuine reasons to assist, some individual parliamentarians and few provincial governments have made education their priority and assisted in providing subsidies.

New Ireland Provincial Government under the leadership of Governor and former Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan and Enga Governor Peter Ipatas are two examples.

While Governors Sir Julius and Mr Ipatas have come to the aid of parents, others continue giving lip services with empty promises sending thousands of school-age kids out of classrooms.

The national broadcaster reported last week that the new Wewak MP Dr Moses Manwau has joined up with the party Mr Ipatas leads, People’s Party because of the party’s education policy.

On August 9 2010, Post-Courier reported that North Wahgi MP Benjamin Mul was “boosting education services in his electorate because he knows that education is more important than any other services and has disbursed more than K1 million to support education services alone”.

For the records, both Dr Manwau and Mr Mul were officially endorsed PNG Party candidates for their respective electorates in the 2007 general election.

 PNG Party Leader Sir Mekere Morauta was the first Prime Minister to introduce and implement the free education policy in PNG during his short term in office from July 1999 to 2002.

Sir Mekere has a proven track record of performance - free education being one of them.

Reforms his government undertook in the three short years were in five main areas: political, financial sector, economic, institutional strengthening and public sector and international relations

Worthy of noting is that when Sir Mekere was in office he shifted public expenditure concentrating on free education, and transport rehabilitation.

However, after the 2002 general election, the Somare Government did away with free education policy.

The direct results today - burden on thousands of parents in PNG faced with school fee problems.

Over the years, critics of free education have been giving the lame excuse that there is not enough money to fund free education.

However, Sir Mekere proved the critics wrong and maintains that if expenditure is controlled with wasteful spending reduced, up to K300 million can be found from with the national budget for free education in PNG.

He notes that with the school fee problems faced by parents will continue as long as the costs of goods and services keep increasing.

Sir Mekere has stated publicly that if PNG Party is in government, the free education policy of the party will be reintroduced.

In September 2000, 191 countries including Papua New Guinea signed a global commitment or agreement known as the Global Education For All (GEA) in Dakar with a goal to ensure they honor the commitments in their respective countries.

Following that, respective nations have moved to promote education for all in all aspect of learning, particularly to ensure all school aged children received at least nine years of formal education to among others give basic education to all children promote literacy standards  world-wide irrespective of gender, physical disabilities, socio-economic factors etc.

The 2000 commitment by the 191 nations was in view of the world’s education crisis including:

·        The critical global shortage of trained teachers;

·        Over 73 million children are currently out of school with more than half of them girls;

·        Half of the out of school children are in Africa;

·        Worldwide, one in every five primary age girls are not in school;

·        Globally, one in every five people are illiterate;

·        800 million adults cannot read and write, two thirds of them are women; and

·        39 million children in conflict affected States are not going to school.  

It was intended that by the year 2005, participating nations were to eliminate gender disparities in primary education and at all levels by 2015.

This means PNG, by virtue of being a signatory to this international commitment is obliged among others to:

·        Ensure that at least 20% of the national budget and 6 % GNI are allocated to education;

·        Include specific measures to reach marginalised and excluded learners such as orphans and vulnerable children, ethnic and language minorities, children with disabilities, children in internally-displaced and refugee communities and working children;

·        Introduce policies and practices to achieve gender equality in education, such as gender-sensitive curricula, ensuring an adequate number of females teachers, making schools safe and hygienic for girls and giving stipends for girls;

·        Abolish all fees charges in PNG; and

·        Include specific measures to improve quality of education such as ensuring that all children are taught in class no bigger than 40 by a professionally-trained teacher spending at least 25% of recurrent budgets on non-salary inputs such as teaching and learning materials and enshrining the rights to nine years of education in national law. 

Education is accepted world-wide as a very important roadmap that cannot be simply ignored.

Because of its importance, the global leaders, together with PNG included it as goal Number Two in the United Nations Millennium Summit Declaration, commonly known now as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

The MDG commits PNG and the other 190 other nations to achieve universal primary education by Year 2015.

This means in five years time, PNG together with the other 190 countries would hope to have children everywhere complete a full course of primary schooling.

PNG, through the Somare Government is lagging behind and how it will ensure PNG fulfils its international commitments in achieving universal education for all remains to be seen.

 

Airlines PNG fighting for survival

By ILYA GRIDNEF of AAP

 

 HONIARA, Aug 18 AAP - There are concerns in Papua New Guinea that Qantas flights to Port Moresby are threatening the survival of PNG's second biggest carrier Airlines PNG (APNG).

The Australian airline entered into the PNG market in July hoping to capitalise on the country's $16 billion ExxonMobil-led Liquefied Natural Gas project.

A subsequent price war resulted in flights to Port Moresby from Cairns being cheaper than to Sydney.

But since the Qantas entry, APNG has reduced its once daily Cairns-Port Moresby run to twice a week.

Qantas, which has a codeshare agreement with state-owned national airline Air Niugini on flights to Sydney and Brisbane, has declined to comment on how this has affected APNG.

But a government letter, sighted by AAP, says "(There is) grave concern about the recent entry of Qantas into the Cairns-Port Moresby route.

"The Qantas entry in its own right was forcing both national carriers out of the market and there could be removal of competition and higher prices as a result".

Meanwhile, several government sources have told AAP that APNG is seeking a merger with Air Niugini.

They said APNG and other private investors were lobbying to get a merger proposal through cabinet.

APNG CEO Geoff Toomey, a former Air New Zealand CEO and before that Qantas deputy CEO and chief financial officer, declined to comment.

APNG spokeswoman Danae Jones did not deny the merger push but said the airline would not talk about "speculation and rumour".

 "Significant improvement in financial performance is expected for 2010," she said.

However, Air Niugini CEO Wasantha Kumarasiri said a merger was not under consideration.

"(Prime Minister Michael Somare) and our minister (Public Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare) have assured us they are dedicated to Air Niugini," he said.

A spokesman from the Prime Minister's Office also played down the merger talk.

"We hope sense will prevail," he said.

The merger rumour comes in the same month APNG marked a year since one of its planes crashed en route to Kokoda, killing all 13 people on board, including nine Australian Kokoda trekkers.

In 2008, the Cairns-based Wild family sold a 50 per cent stake in APNG through a public float on the Port Moresby stock exchange for an estimated 100 million kina ($A40 million).

John Wild remains the largest APNG shareholder with 47 per cent while his son, APNG chairman, Simon Wild, is also managing director of Wild family-owned Queensland-based regional airline Sky Trans.

 Since the float APNG shares have dropped from one kina (40c) to 63 toea (25c).

In the APNG 2009 annual report Mr Wild blamed the company's 24.6 million kina ($A9.8 million) loss on the global economic downturn, the Kokoda crash and even the Icelandic volcanic eruption that grounded planes in the northern hemisphere.

For the same period Air Niugini declared a profit of 68 million kina ($A27.2 million).

 

Innocent inmate at 10 months old

Caption: Tamara Player Tomscoll and her 10 months old prison-born baby Paula outside court yesterday just before boarding a prison van for Bomana. Young Paula has been denied immunisation and other basic health services while inside the prison camp.

 

Courtroom falls silent as Kapris’ aide recalls giving birth on bare floor of jail cell

 

By JULIA DAIA BORE

 

TEN-month-old Paula Player Tomscoll is paying the price for the crime her mother Tamara allegedly committed and is now at Bomana jail for – their temporary residence outside Port Moresby, The National reports.

Paula was born on a bare floor of her mother’s Bomana jail cell at 5.05pm on Oct 5 last year, devoid of basic midwifery help because of the mother’s alleged association with bank robber-escapee-rapist William Nanua Kapris.

Mother and child were denied basic medical help which were available to other inmates, a hushed Waigani National Court was told yesterday.

Such were the conditions for a new mother that Tomscoll even attempted to take her own life, twice.

“I have given birth to my baby on the bare floor of my cells.

“Water was constantly leaking through the walls, cells infested with mosquitoes and we were prone to suffering from malaria ... there is a high rate of tuberculosis (TB) in the jail.

“There are no medical staff to treat us, or my baby when she is sick.”

Mother Tomscoll, tears streaming down her face, told the court of her traumatised account in the “very small” cell she now calls home: “My daughter still lacks immunisation (which babies normally have access to).”

However, Paula is now her constant “innocent inmate” company in and outside the jail – yesterday they were together, again, at the dock at Waigani as her mother described the unhygienic condition under which they live.

Tomscoll, 33, appeared yesterday charged with being an accomplice of Kapris in the robbery of the Madang branch of Bank South Pacific.

She pleaded guilty to two charges under the Criminal Code – the first was of being an accessory after the fact to a crime of armed robbery of the Madang BSP branch robbery and, the second, of receiving stolen property of K127, 000, proceeds of that bank robbery.

Tomscoll’s guilty plea came after the state told the court that she had known that Kapris was the mastermind behind the Madang robbery and, with that knowledge, she had assisted him to escape punishment.

The court was told that she had provided logistics for his getaway from Domara in Central to Port Moresby, after Kapris had travelled by dinghy from Madang and, also, of receiving monies that were proceeds of that crime. 

 Tomscoll started allocutus (a statement before being sentenced) by saying: “I want to say sorry to the court for taking up its time because of this matter. I want to say sorry to Bank South Pacific.”

National Court judge Justice Salatiel Lenalia ordered that there must be a pre-sentencing report of the prisoner presented to court by Aug 31 before he could make a ruling.

The charge of “being an accessory after the fact” carries a two-year jail term while receiving stolen property is punishable by 14 years in jail.

Mother and child will return to the Waigani dock on Aug 31 to hear submissions on sentencing – whether Bomana will be permanent home for the next 14 years.

Yakasa: Sex crimes against minors up

By WALLACE KIALA

THE police sexual offence squad and NCD metropolitan command have been alarmed over the reported increase in the number of rape and sexual assault cases against minors, The National reports.

Latest reports indicated that many of the victims were primary school-aged children and many of the perpetrators were known to the families of the victims.

NCD metropolitan police commander Chief Supt Fred Yakasa said incest cases were also on the rise. However, he could not provide any figures.

“We have the most vulnerable group within our families and communities that are being targeted, and community leaders and parents must help clamp down on offenders,” Yakasa said.

“Parents and guardians must be mindful of people, or even relatives, whom they leave their female children with to look after,” he added.

A senior investigator with the sexual offence squad confirmed the reports yesterday.

The officer, who declined to be named, said the office had received an average of 10 cases a day in the last few months involving female and male victims under the age of 15.

“Most of the cases reported involved parents and children from broken marriages and homes.

“Even male children aged between four and 10 are being victimised by older male relatives,” she added.

She said because of cultural reasons, many of these offences were not reported to police and were often settled outside of the law.

 

 

Mysterious disease kills 13

By ELIZABETH MIAE

 

A MYSTERIOUS disease has killed 13 people, including three children, in the Murray Valley area of North Fly district, Western, The National reports.

The villages affected are Sanganabip, Fakgubip, Kwerimin and Dahamo.

These villages are near the Juha and Hides liquefied natural gas (LNG) project areas on the border of the Southern Highlands and Western.

District manager Michael Rameng told The National from Tabubil yesterday that according to reports they received, the “mystery” illness caused vomiting, stomach aches and people were defecating with blood.

He said they received the report of the outbreak two weeks ago from villagers who had to walk a day to the nearest aid post at Serbang village to use the two-way radio to get in touch with the district administration.

Rameng did not specify how many people from which village had died but said a team of health officials, with the help of officers from the Ok Tedi Mining Ltd, had flown into the area on Monday to assess the situation and give a report when they returned on Friday.

He  said at this point, they did not know what the disease was but they were not ruling out cholera.

Rameng said the area had experienced heavy rain recently and the village’s water sources could be contaminated from flood waters.

Bolivip ward councillor and former governor Norbert Makmop said people did not have any access to health facilities and had to walk long distances to get treatment.

Olsobip LLG manager and North Fly district manager were informed of this and they forwarded reports to the North Fly authorities for urgent medical teams with medical supplies to be flown in.

“Whatever the killer disease, we fear it could spread to other villages in Western, SHP and West Sepik,” Makmop said

Western Governor Dr Bob Danaya said last night that he was briefed on the deaths while visiting Kiunga over the weekend.

“From what I have heard, it sounds like a viral attack.

“The complaints sound pneumonia-like, but it could be severe malaria.

“Children are affected because many children in the areas are not immunised because the area is very remote.

“We will have to wait and see the results of tests before we provide the appropriate and adequate response,” Danaya said.