THE government has maintained the disposal of mine tailings from the Ramu mickel mine is done in an “environmentally safe and socially responsible manner”, The National reports.
Mining minister John Pundari, commenting on the outcome of a week-long stakeholders meeting in Madang on the deep-sea tailings placement system (DSTP), said it (the system) was the right approach.
In a statement yesterday, Pundari said the government was confident given the body of evidences from various environmental reports and assessment on the possible environmental impact assessment carried out by internationally reputable scientific organization.
He also noted the continuing efforts towards ensuring the proper disposal of tailings from the mine.
“We must appreciate the financial risk undertaken by the Chinese enterprises to invest in PNG in a project that is technically difficult to develop when no other investor was willing to undertake the challenge,” Pundari said.
He said the government further believed that the environmentally responsible development of the Ramu nickel mine using DSTP technology offered the people of RaiCoast and the people of Madang an important opportunity to develop their communities and enjoy the economic benefits that large-scale mining projects had brought to other parts of the country.
“In parting, it is unfortunate that such a volume of study and information was available even before 2003 when MCC first carried out its due diligence study before taking a decision to invest in PNG,” Pundari said.
“It appears that these studies (dating back to 1988 and beyond) were not an issue for contention until MCC’s involvement in the project,” Pundari added.
A DAWN fire
gutted a shop at Eriku in Lae, Morobe, yesterday as hundreds of opportunists
ransacked adjacent shops and took off with thousands of kina worth of
goods, The National reports.
Looters watching and waiting to raid the
neighbouring Raumai 18 wholesale as fire continues to destroy Lotus Trading at
Eric Woo in Lae yesterday morning.
The fire,
which started at about 5.30am, razed through Lotus Enterprise and, by 6am,
hundreds of people, mainly looters from the nearby settlements of Boundary Road,
Buimo, the Miles and Kamkumung, had gathered.
Outnumbered
police and security guards fired teargas into the air to get the pressing crowd
away from the shops’ front, all in vain eventually.
It was not
long before the looters broke their way into the two neighbouring shops, PC Woo
and Raumai 18, and, in the process, reportedly raping a woman shop assistant.
Members of
the fire brigade, who are about a kilometre away, arrived more than a hour
later after flames had engulfed the building and could do very little to save
anything.
Lae’s
iconic trading companies PC Woo, Papindo, Pelgens and Andersons are all on the
same block, adjacent to each other.
More
onlookers and opportunists arrived at Eriku as soon as the PMVs began operating
at 6.30am.
Looters
were seen carrying knife wounds and other injuries apparently suffered while
breaking into the shops to ransack them.
All manner
of goods, from cartons of tinned foods, bags of rice, frozen goods, household
electrical goods, white goods and clothing accessories to cartons of beer, were
removed.
Eriku’s
surrounding streets were dotted with people unabashedly scurrying to get home
with their stolen cargo.
Although
Guard Dog and Pacific Corporate Security guards were outnumbered at the other
shops, they bravely prevented the looters from entering Papindo, Pelgens and
Andersons supermarkets.
Crowds of
men were also dispersed by police mid-morning at shops near the main market,
Voco Point and TopTown, with the morning
melee at Eriku forcing many businesses and schools to close for the day.
By dusk
yesterday, the threat of more shop break-ins at Eriku was imminent with
hundreds of men still milling about belligerently.
Many
workers, who would have caught public transport through the Eriku bus stop, had
to demand employers to drop them off at home out of fear.
Soldiers
from Igam Barracks had to drive into town, armed in a troop carrier, to take
their children and spouses home last night.
ALL protesting Bank South Pacific workers will return to work today after the bank agreed to raise housing allowances for many of them.
The BSP management reached an agreement with the workers’ union yesterday, and a memorandum of understanding was signed to end the strike.
The striking workers, who had gathered at the PNG Trade Union Congress headquarters, agreed to return to work today after union executives informed them of the outcome of their meeting with BSP.
A joint statement by BSP and the union said the agreement brings to rest resolution eight of the nine outstanding “parked items” arising out from the 2007 consolidated industrial agreement.
The meeting between BSP and the union yesterday was chaired by Francis Hau from the Department of Labour.
The statement said the only remaining issue, housing allowance, would be determined through the industrial arbitration tribunal process. But, as a sign of good faith, BSP had offered a further 10% increase on housing allowances for all Grade 3 to Grade 8 staff.
BSP chief executive officer Ian Clyne said in a separate statement that the industrial action by BSP staff was illegal but assured the staff that no one would be terminated for participating in it, if all staff return to work immediately.
The bankers walked off their jobs work last Thursday, affecting the general services provided by the bank. Many of the ATMs ran out of cash yesterday, and customers stood for hours in lines waiting to be served.
A mother, Doris Okoli, said BSP guards were sending five customers into the bank at a time to be served.
“Standing in the queue with the unpredictable Port Moresby weather is really a terrible experience for me and most of the customers,” Okoli said.
Have you thought of the role of the 39th in the Kokoda campaign? They faced the Japanese at Isurava until the 2/14th arrived. They were relieved. That does not mean they go all the way back to Ower’s Corner but retire until called forward again.
The 39th stayed at Isurava. They had the back seat position. In the withdrawal, the next we see them is at the rest house above Isurava. They are not dug in but
on the track where we find Con’s Rock.
We find that they were intended to move to Eora Creek camp to be rearguard. That probably did not mean they engaged the enemy but waited to see if Japanese
arrived first by outflanking.
Then they would engage. They may have had a role in advising the Field Hospital to move out if the radio link had been cut. But the first soldiers to arrive were AIF. That means that the 39th could move out.
It is a puzzle as the where the 53rd were. Surely in the advance of the Japanese, all troops would move together. Either they had already gone or were held up. Did they move out by an alternative route?
The next duty of the 39th was to do the same at Kagi. This would have been more difficult as there were two ridge lines down which the Japanese could move.
Reports are that the 39th watched the American fighter aircraft strafing to Japanese. That is a puzzle. If the Japanese were down so close to Efogi, where were the 2/14th and 2/16th? Perhaps the strafing was higher up the range.
But once the AIF arrived, the 39th could move out again. This time they moved over Brigade Hill and down to Menari. Is it possible they were to do the same at Menari? It is always possible that the Japanese could outflank. There had been an airdrop of supplies at Menari.
That may explain why they did not dig in on Brigade Hill with any stragglers from the 53rd.
We know the time frame of their arrival at Menari as the 2/27th had arrived and 39th had handed over weapons and ammunition. Why did this happen?
Several friends state they were not disarmed. Were the 39th unable to carry heavy loads because of illness? What of the 53rd? It would take the 2/27th half a day to get to Mission Ridge. Were they short of ammunition? Don’t forget the air drop at Menari.
The 53rd really are a puzzle. Where were they during all this? We know they combined with the 55th. Where was the 55th at the fall of Brigade Hill? Did the 53rd go straight through?
I am just looking at small scenarios on Kokoda and trying to understand.
In this analysis, I base my description on the fact that the 39th had to be ahead of the 2/14th and 2/16th down the track. So they took off as soon as the AIF arrived at Eora Creek and Kagi. Perhaps they found a better site at Mission Hill. That is where I believe they saw theAmerican aircraft strafing the Japanese.
Since independence our
political leadership has been found most wanting.
Every MP elected by parliament to become the
CEO PNG Inc. represents the people as well as being head of our
government.
As prime minister of the
day, he alone must take full responsibility for the way our country’s national
business is conducted.
Papua New Guinea’s early vision was
good and noble in its intentions.
PNG’s national interests
clearly stated in our constitution are all-enduring.
They are still very much
valid today but unfulfilled by the state and its many agencies over the
years.
Had we followed our earlier
plans diligently, then PNG would be a better country and just society now.
This unfortunately is not
the case we are faced with 35 years after becoming independent from Australia.
Many reasons contributed to
PNG’s present woes.
However, the main
contributing factor to our present-day problems must also be directly
attributed to all political leaders since independence.
Successive PMs, as captains
of our state ship never really stuck to the one course being steered at any one
time long enough before making many tacks (as in sailing, to catch strong
breezes by making the spinnaker full and getting good steerage).
All our captains
unfortunately did not make the required adjustments in the way they ran their
ship.
They all failed to ensure
the ship’s daily business was managed by competent crew members.
The training of the ship’s
crew is always the captain's sole responsibility.
They unfortunately failed in ensuring their
senior officers and crew were always fit and up to the task of running a ‘tight
ship’ at all times, in any weather conditions; 24/7 and 365 days of the
calendar year.
Firstly, the PNG ship was
not ready in all respects for sea in 1975.
The then administration was
being run by an all Australia-made team who failed to diligently prepare the
PNG ship for sea.
They knew what would happen
when you send someone to sea without the pre-sea training perquisites being
done which includes crew training as well.
This did not happen and Australia did
not exercise its full duty of care.
Secondly, the captain was in
a hurry to go to sea with his new crew, so perhaps saw no need for more time in
doing other related training.
This would have been good.
It would have fully prepared for any future
situations.
Thirdly, Australia knew full-well our man
was in some sort of a hurry, but was not quiet ready yet.
It could still have told the captain about the
delayed sailing plan until they were fully confident the ship was ready in all
respects for sea before the launching ceremony.
Only after doing this and making sure all
other safety checks have been thoroughly done then Australia would be in a very good
position to hand the ship over to its new owners (the people/shareholders of
PNG).
Australia failed its important duty
as colonial administrators of our country.
As it turned out, the captain
was not properly trained and Australians also knew this same man is expected in
time to impart what he was briefly taught, or knows; passed on his crew members
later.
Therefore, nothing today
should even surprise our political leaders, especially recent captains of our
ship.
Sadly, the captain in his
quiet moments is probably regretful that he has not made a very good job of it
as he contemplates what life would be like after retirement.
Hence, on hindsight, the man
at the helm should know exactly what is really wrong with our ship today.
Is he able to fix the very
big problems now, before it is too late?
The writer and many other
PNG observers have great reservations over this prospect, as Father Time waits
for no man.
In addition, the captain’s
long service is no reason to sing praises now about what a great ship we have,
as most things onboard are not ‘ship-shaped’.
Worse, the passenger’s state
of health is very poor and has not really improved at all over the long voyage.
Many are getting sicker by the day and are
still dying at sea.
The captain can save them if
he chose, and commits to it now.
This is not happening.
Either he cannot, does not
know how to or simply have now lost the zest that initially went with the
job.
One usually gets into this
rut when in the job too long and sadly the novelty of the job wears off over
time.
This is totally unacceptable and must change
for the better, for obvious reasons.
PNG is where it is today
because of leadership failure.
Many bad things have
happened in PNG because of inaction by its many captains of state over the
years.
The man at the helm has steered too many
different courses.
This made several captains over the years to
be publicly perceived as not fully competent to steer PNG in taking her
rightful place in the 21st Century.
The other thing worth noting
here is that the passenger’s constant cries to the captain for help on where
the ship was heading and its final destination were, and is still being ignored
to this very day.
This has made the ship's
passengers very angry, frustrated and many tried to rebelled, not follow orders
with many creating little pockets of social fragmented resistance groups for
self-preservation and daily survival purposes.
The solution to PNG’s
problem is obvious.
Activate our leadership ‘succession
plan’ now.
The time is right to make a
good sea-change and is needed today before the ship runs aground.
Many bad things have been
done in contrary to PNG's national interests.
PNG needs a fresh new competent political
leadership.
The leader must be someone
with a heart for PNG and knows what the job entails by doing it well without
compromise.
The new PNG leader from here
on must at the same time take full responsibility for the safety of his
passengers, and the ship's cargo at all times.
PNG’s new captain needs to
stay on a true course without wavering.
So in review, PNG had a good
vision at independence.
But through several poor political leadership
right up to the present time, the country is not where it was first planned to
be 35 years ago.
There is not much point in crying over split
milk now by people in their comfort zones in making a bad job of defending the
ship’s captain.
In 1975, Australia failed big time to not
properly prepare PNG's state ship.
Due to Australia's grand strategic failure, it
is now shamelessly seen spending billions of its taxpayers' money trying to buy
PNG ships' stores whenever supplies are running low, now and then.
This is not fair on the
Australian taxpayers because the ship of another country is actually making its
own money with good profits.
But its whole money management is wrong, with
the captain and crew's actions to date being assessed as very highly
questionable; and in some cases deemed illegal.
So who is going to
court-martial the captain and crew of our ship?
As nothing is being done,
the risk of mutiny ever increases with the passing of time.
It might put a stop to this because many
state agencies entrusted to stop the people doing this are failing in their
mandated jobs to prosecute and convict those who steal from the national
coffers.
All in all, Australia
should have seen this coming some 35 years before but pretended ignorance at
the time.
It wanted to see a quick ship delivery to its
new owners with no moral sense of duty to do the right thing by PNG.
What is now happening today
in PNG should not even surprise Australia
one bit.
It will be interesting to
see what Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott's future bi-lateral strategy is on what
they plan to do about PNG after they get past their ‘hung parliament’
predicament and move forward this year.
Whether it will be Julia or
Tony in charge does not really matter to PNG.
What really matters now is
how the new Australian leadership will constructively deal with PNG with its
ongoing development challenges.
Reginald Renagi is a trainer of
seafarers and formerly trained/served on many different classes of warships in
the Royal Australian Navy.
Since independence our political leadership has been found most wanting.
Every MP elected by parliament to become the CEO PNG Inc. represents the people as well as being head of our government.
As prime minister of the day, he alone must take full responsibility for the way our country’s national business is conducted.
Papua New Guinea’s early vision was good and noble in its intentions.
PNG’s national interests clearly stated in our constitution are all-enduring.
They are still very much valid today but unfulfilled by the state and its many agencies over the years.
Had we followed our earlier plans diligently, then PNG would be a better country and just society now.
This unfortunately is not the case we are faced with 35 years after becoming independent from Australia.
Many reasons contributed to PNG’s present woes.
However, the main contributing factor to our present-day problems must also be directly attributed to all political leaders since independence.
Successive PMs, as captains of our state ship never really stuck to the one course being steered at any one time long enough before making many tacks (as in sailing, to catch strong breezes by making the spinnaker full and getting good steerage).
All our captains unfortunately did not make the required adjustments in the way they ran their ship.
They all failed to ensure the ship’s daily business was managed by competent crew members.
The training of the ship’s crew is always the captain's sole responsibility.
They unfortunately failed in ensuring their senior officers and crew were always fit and up to the task of running a ‘tight ship’ at all times, in any weather conditions; 24/7 and 365 days of the calendar year.
Firstly, the PNG ship was not ready in all respects for sea in 1975.
The then administration was being run by an all Australia-made team who failed to diligently prepare the PNG ship for sea.
They knew what would happen when you send someone to sea without the pre-sea training perquisites being done which includes crew training as well.
This did not happen and Australia did not exercise its full duty of care.
Secondly, the captain was in a hurry to go to sea with his new crew, so perhaps saw no need for more time in doing other related training.
This would have been good.
It would have fully prepared for any future situations.
Thirdly, Australia knew full-well our man was in some sort of a hurry, but was not quiet ready yet.
It could still have told the captain about the delayed sailing plan until they were fully confident the ship was ready in all respects for sea before the launching ceremony.
Only after doing this and making sure all other safety checks have been thoroughly done then Australia would be in a very good position to hand the ship over to its new owners (the people/shareholders of PNG).
Australia failed its important duty as colonial administrators of our country.
As it turned out, the captain was not properly trained and Australians also knew this same man is expected in time to impart what he was briefly taught, or knows; passed on his crew members later.
Therefore, nothing today should even surprise our political leaders, especially recent captains of our ship.
Sadly, the captain in his quiet moments is probably regretful that he has not made a very good job of it as he contemplates what life would be like after retirement.
Hence, on hindsight, the man at the helm should know exactly what is really wrong with our ship today.
Is he able to fix the very big problems now, before it is too late?
The writer and many other PNG observers have great reservations over this prospect, as Father Time waits for no man.
In addition, the captain’s long service is no reason to sing praises now about what a great ship we have, as most things onboard are not ‘ship-shaped’.
Worse, the passenger’s state of health is very poor and has not really improved at all over the long voyage.
Many are getting sicker by the day and are still dying at sea.
The captain can save them if he chose, and commits to it now.
This is not happening.
Either he cannot, does not know how to or simply have now lost the zest that initially went with the job.
One usually gets into this rut when in the job too long and sadly the novelty of the job wears off over time.
This is totally unacceptable and must change for the better, for obvious reasons.
PNG is where it is today because of leadership failure.
Many bad things have happened in PNG because of inaction by its many captains of state over the years.
The man at the helm has steered too many different courses.
This made several captains over the years to be publicly perceived as not fully competent to steer PNG in taking her rightful place in the 21st Century.
The other thing worth noting here is that the passenger’s constant cries to the captain for help on where the ship was heading and its final destination were, and is still being ignored to this very day.
This has made the ship's passengers very angry, frustrated and many tried to rebelled, not follow orders with many creating little pockets of social fragmented resistance groups for self-preservation and daily survival purposes.
The solution to PNG’s problem is obvious.
Activate our leadership ‘succession plan’ now.
The time is right to make a good sea-change and is needed today before the ship runs aground.
Many bad things have been done in contrary to PNG's national interests.
PNG needs a fresh new competent political leadership.
The leader must be someone with a heart for PNG and knows what the job entails by doing it well without compromise.
The new PNG leader from here on must at the same time take full responsibility for the safety of his passengers, and the ship's cargo at all times.
PNG’s new captain needs to stay on a true course without wavering.
So in review, PNG had a good vision at independence.
But through several poor political leadership right up to the present time, the country is not where it was first planned to be 35 years ago.
There is not much point in crying over split milk now by people in their comfort zones in making a bad job of defending the ship’s captain.
In 1975, Australia failed big time to not properly prepare PNG's state ship.
Due to Australia's grand strategic failure, it is now shamelessly seen spending billions of its taxpayers' money trying to buy PNG ships' stores whenever supplies are running low, now and then.
This is not fair on the Australian taxpayers because the ship of another country is actually making its own money with good profits.
But its whole money management is wrong, with the captain and crew's actions to date being assessed as very highly questionable; and in some cases deemed illegal.
So who is going to court-martial the captain and crew of our ship?
As nothing is being done, the risk of mutiny ever increases with the passing of time.
It might put a stop to this because many state agencies entrusted to stop the people doing this are failing in their mandated jobs to prosecute and convict those who steal from the national coffers.
All in all, Australia should have seen this coming some 35 years before but pretended ignorance at the time.
It wanted to see a quick ship delivery to its new owners with no moral sense of duty to do the right thing by PNG.
What is now happening today in PNG should not even surprise Australia one bit.
It will be interesting to see what Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott's future bi-lateral strategy is on what they plan to do about PNG after they get past their ‘hung parliament’ predicament and move forward this year.
Whether it will be Julia or Tony in charge does not really matter to PNG.
What really matters now is how the new Australian leadership will constructively deal with PNG with its ongoing development challenges.
Reginald Renagi is a trainer of seafarers and formerly trained/served on many different classes of warships in the Royal Australian Navy.
Caption: Bulolo Technical School manager Berom Yawal
A final school fee cheque of K80, 000 was recently released to BuloloTechnicalSchool to complete a total of K126, 000 for the district’s capacity building programme funded by Bulolo District Joint District Planning and Budget Priorities Committee.
Currently the education reform has changed the status of all vocational schools into technical schools, with Bulolo Vocational now known as BuloloTechnicalSchool.
This year BTS has enrolled 290 students into various trades such as:
a) Tourism and hospitality;
b) Carpentry and joinery;
c) Brick laying;
d) Plumbing;
e) Motor mechanical;
f) Heavy equipment fitter;
g) Panel beating and spray painting;
h) Business studies;
I) IT – computing; and
J) Office administration.
By next year the BTS will link up with Mt Hagen Technical to take in continuing BTS students for National Certificate (NC1) programmes for courses such as heavy equipment fitter.
Also this year BTS has enrolled about 84 students under the Bulolo District rural capacity building programme which covers most of the courses mentioned above.
Bulolo District JDP and BPC Chairman Hon. Sam Basil has approved the programme, which saw 14 students from the six local level governments in Bulolo District.
The program has cost the district K126, 000 from the district services improvement programme (DSIP) funds.
Mr Basil said the capacity building of rural LLGS through human resource was very important at this stage when much of the DSIP funds were used to equip the rural LLGs with machinery, vehicles, electricity, communication networks and road infrastructure.
A similar programme has been struck with the WauSmallScaleMiningCenter with course participants being fed through the rural LLGs.
BalobTeachers’ College in Lae will also engage in a similar arrangement to train rural teachers for Bulolo District.
MELBOURNE: Newcrest Mining Ltd’s A$10.45 billion (K25 billion) takeover of Lihir Gold Ltd has been officially completed after a Papua New Guinea court approved the deal, The National reports.
Newcrest welcomed the decision by the national court, which it said was the final step in the merger process after Lihir’s shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the deal earlier last week.
“The company is soon to become part of Newcrest Mining Ltd, with the combined assets creating a strong and vibrant new, major gold company,” Lihir managing director Graeme Hunt said last Friday.
News of the court approval came as Lihir reported a first-half profit of US$87.1 million, a turnaround from its loss in the corresponding period a year earlier.
Although Lihir did not declare an interim dividend, Newcrest said Lihir shareholders who participated in its offer would be eligible for that company’s final dividend of US$0.20.
It is expected the takeover scheme of arrangement will be implemented on Sept 13.
Lihir shares will be suspended from trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and the Port Moresby Stock Exchange (POMSoX) from today.
Under the scheme, Lihir shareholders will receive nearly 0.12 Newcrest shares plus US$0.225 for each Lihir share they own.
Based on Newcrest’s closing share price of US$35.28 last Friday, the offer has an implied price of US$4.41 per Lihir share, or US$10.45 billion.
In its half year results, Lihir reported its underlying profit for the six months to June 30 was US$142.5 million (K387.23 million), down 15.2% on the previous corresponding period.
However, it was up 17.3% on the six months to Dec 31, 2009. – AAP
A SENIOR teacher in Enga was dragged from the vehicle he was travelling in last Friday afternoon and summarily executed in the middle of the highway in front of shocked passengers, The National reports.
Police believed that James Mondo, deputy headmaster of YaemandaPrimary School in Kompiam district was a victim of a payback killing.
Provincial police commander Supt Martin Lakari said more than 20 men from Poreyalum tribe had set up a roadblock at Kompiam and were waiting for a 10-seater Toyota landcruiser as it was returning from Wabag.
He said they singled out Mondo, pulled him out and stood him in the middle of the road.
“He was shot in both legs and when he fell down, the tribesmen, armed with axes, moved in and cut him into pieces. It was barbaric and inhumane,” Lakari said.
Mondo, 40, was from Ulip village, also in Kompiam district.
He was the only one attacked. The other passengers were not robbed or attacked by the clansmen who fled the scene of killing when they saw more vehicle arriving.
Lakari said police would investigate to determine the motive of the killing although they had not ruled out payback killing.
He said police had a hard time putting together the body which they took to the Wabag GeneralHospital morgue.
“These people do not have any respect for human life and a highly educated man in the district who struggled to develop human resource in a least developed district of Enga,” Lakari said.
He said he was notified of the killing around 3pm and he quickly dispatched his men to Kompiam to monitor the situation and prevent tribal fighting.
Lakari said police urged Mondo’s relatives not to take the law into their own hands and allow police to investigate and deal with the offenders.
Police presence was beefed up on Saturday, together with the criminal investigation officers, to watch over funeral arrangements.
Lakari has appealed to Poreyalum tribal leaders to hand over the killers.
ARMED security guards and police reservists at the Porgera gold mine in Enga have been blamed for the death a landowner and the wounding of another last week, The National reports.
Police have confirmed receiving news of the death and shooting but could not give further details as investigations were continuing.
Reports alleged that the landowner was killed inside the mine site and his body dumped outside the camp last Thursday.
Highlands regional police boss Supt Simon Kaupa confirmed that the security guards were also enlisted as police reservists.
He was yet to receive a report from the local police force in Porgera.
Acting Porgera police station commander Snr Sgt Poko Itapa confirmed the killing and shooting but could not say much because investigations were continuing.
He said a landowner chief was allegedly shot by security guards as villagers fronted up at the company gate to inquire about the death of their relative.
Landowner chairman Mark Tony Ekepa told The National in a phone interview that relatives of the victim had protested outside the community affairs office last Friday at about midday.
However, he claimed Barricks security guards fired into the crowd and wounded Nixon Mangape, the chief landowner and chairman of Porgera Development Authority.
He said Mangape was trying to control the crowd and was not involved in the protest.
Police said that the empty bullet shells were found at the site of the shooting and were tendered in as evidence.
Porgera’s PaiamHospital chief Dr Granda Granada said a person was rushed to the hospital with a bullet wound at the back of his buttock but was discharged after treatment as it was not severe.
He also confirmed that a body, found near the mine site, was brought to the hospital prior to the shooting but declined to comment further.
He said a post-mortem and x-ray results indicated a fractured neck bone and believed that the person could have died from blunt trauma, particularly caused by blunts things like sticks, metal or rocks.
The landowners said last Friday’s incident was not the first involving live bullets.
They said that numerous complaints had been lodged with the PNG government, the UN Human Rights Commission that included various reputable institutions around the globe.
“Shooting to death of defenceless landowners is serious human rights abuse.
“Therefore, the Porgera Landowners Association calls on the PNG government and local NGOs to investigate the shooting and to allow law to take its course,” Ekepa said.
BANK South Pacific workers nationwide are expected to continue their strike today despite a court order by the bank’s management declaring the industrial action illegal, The National reports.
The strike has already threatened all electronic banking systems with no bank officers available to attend to them.
Long queues were seen in all Bank South Pacific branches in Port Moresby last Friday as customers lined up to do their banking with only a skeleton staff attending to them.
Customers are expected to brace for a total blackout today.
Last Friday, more than 500 BSP staff in Port Moresby camped at the PNG Trade Union Congress headquarters and were visited by 20 affiliated union bodies of the PNG Trade Union Congress.
The presidents of the union bodies joined in and called for the sacking of BSP CEO Ian Clyne, saying he had turned a blind eye on the issue and gone overseas and had not taken part in the negotiations.
PNGTUC president Michael Malabag, who is also the president of the Public Employees Association said one of their calls was to call for the termination of BSP CEO.
Malabag’s call for Clyne’s sacking received wide applause from the striking workers.
Malabag and PNGTUC general secretary John Paska voiced strong words of encouragement among the striking bankers as reports circulated that the BSP management had issued instructions to the police to arrest the striking workers.
Malabag said the fight was legal as legitimate processes were followed with the sister unions stepping in when it was absolutely necessary.
He urged the workers to persist until they got what they wanted while room for negotiation was open.
“The biggest shareholders are the workers themselves; you can’t sack the workers who are shareholders. Do not fear intimidation and threats of sacking.”
The union asked BSP board chairman Noreo Beangke to step in and address the issue
The BSP workers numbering more than 1,000 walked off their jobs last Thursday with a good number camping at the TUC headquarters last Friday.
A meeting between the union executives and BSP management will take place today to decide whether the striking bankers would continue the industrial action or return to work.
MEMBER for Bulolo Sam Basil has called members from East Sepik including the prime minister to sit down with him and issue a joint statement over the recent clashes in Bulolo between the locals and Sepik settlers and a reported clash at the University of Papua New Guinea, The National reports.
Basil said it was in the best interest of the people that whatever was said and debated on the floor of parliament stayed in parliament.
“It will be good if we, as leaders from Bulolo and Sepiks sit down together and issue a joint statement, urging all our people and young ones to remain neutral and not take matters into their hands.
“I also call upon university students not to take these matters further because it will only spill onto the streets,” Basil said.
“Such actions by our young elites are uncalled for, and they should not be tolerated.”
He said he was also willing to go to the university campus and address students if invited.
“If the students want me to go and address a forum, I will do so gladly with my councillors from Bulolo, so that we can explain things properly.
“As the 2012 elections are fast approaching, I would like to once again appeal to serial general election candidates and recycled leaders not to politicise the issue at the expense of the Bulolo ethnic clash.
“There are opportunists who use pen names in letters to the editor, or on the ground, taking sides with either party of the conflicting groups, playing the blame game or publishing more unfounded accusations,” Basil said.
“I see how such things can help those affected and the vulnerable ones on ground zero.
“When the election writs are delivered by the governor-general in April to July 2012, then we all can play the political game.
“Today’s situation demands common sense to help in any way possible,” he added.
Basil said Morobe Governor Luther Wenge and himself might have not done enough, “but when we all come to properly analyse the situation, we will find that there are so many contributing factors that led to the situation”.
“Law and order, lack of funding, slowness of the provincial law and order committee meeting, disappearance of the uncertified report by the Wau urban LLG manager, police not enforcing the full force of the law on both sides of the conflicting parties, lifting the liquor ban by the magistrate at the request of the traders and, worst of all, politicking of this unfortunate issue.”
I would like to appeal to the President of Wampar local level government Peter Namus and the people of his constituency, especially the Gabsongkeg villagers, to help my district to accommodate the displaced Sepik settlers by providing temporary land if a relocation plan is embarked on by the committee.
The land, I believe, was identified and supported by Governor Luther Wenge and I stand behind the Governor to appeal for the understanding of the Wampar people at this time of need.
Bulolo District is a very important district hosting an operational mine operated by the Morobe Mining JV (MMJV), contributing to the economy of Morobe through employment, businesses and royalties to the provincial and national government.
Bulolo District is one of the sister districts among the nine districts in the province.
Therefore I appeal for their understanding for this temporary arrangement.
As the 2012 elections are fast approaching, I would like to once again appeal to serial general election candidates and recycled leaders not to politicise the issue at the expense of the Bulolo ethnic clash.
There are opportunists who use pen names in letters to the editor or on the ground, taking sides with either party of the conflicting groups, playing the blame game or publishing more unfounded accusations.
I see these cannot help the affected and the vulnerable ones on ground zero.
When the election writs are delivered by the Governor General in April to July 2012, then we all can play the political game.
Today's situation demands common sense from all walks of life to help in any way possible.
Morobe governor Luther Wenge and myself may have not done enough, but when we all come to properly analyse the situation, we will find that there are so many contributing factors that has led to the re-emergence of the situation.
Law and order, lack of funding, slowness of the provincial law and order committee meeting, disappearance of the uncertified report by the Wau urban LLG manager, police not enforcing the full force of the law on both sides of the conflicting parties, lifting of the liquor ban by the magistrate at the request of the liquor traders and worst of all politicking of this unfortunate issue.
The office that I hold is not a private business that I own.
It is a public office, therefore, every aspiring or recycled politician has every right under the sun to contest or recontest.
I will not run away with this office.
It belongs to the people and the people themselves will decide who will be their next political leader.
The time will come when we all will hit the polls.
I appeal to all people not to unnecessarily accuse or point fingers anymore.
Let us all work together and leave the politics for the right time as guranteed for under the Constitution.
In light of the recent upraising ethnic clash in my district last week, I would like to appeal to all parties from the local tribes and the Sepik settlers to lay down their arms and allow for the national government led team under chief secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc to negotiate a way forward.
I appeal to all politicians from Morobe including the Morobe Governor to support in any way possible and to closely work together with all the stake holders on the ground, including police and national government team, to find a way forward.
By addressing the conflicting parties separately will only send different messages which can hamper the efforts of the other negotiating parties such as police, national government, district administration and the other stake holders.
I would also like to appeal to provincial treasurer, provincial administrator and the governor to work together in this time of need.
Morobe Province is hard hit by the rise of cholera in Tewai Siassi electorate while ethnic clashes have taken their toll in Tewai Siassi, Finschhafen and Bulolo districts with the loss of lives.
The accusations of misapplication of funds from the administration against governor are not a new thing it has been brought to light by different administrators in the past.
The issue continues to surface again, therefore, relevant authorities must step in to intervene against those claims because the last thing we want happening is to see total chaos in the Morobe administration in this time of need.
My district administration has spent over K100, 000 for voluntary repatriation, care centre rations, police and administration and has advised the Morobe provincial government through the then chairman of the provincial law and order committee Benson Suwang to carry on from there.
The governor has given his assurance and support to continue from where I left, while the committee will find a way forward to deal with the genuine settlers.
The provincial government came short, but I cannot blame them here, as we all understand that the administration does have some serious cash flow problems, as recently highlighted by the provincial treasurer.
The recent clash was liquor related and I call on provincial government lawyers to deal with the matter forthwith to bring back the ban.
Numerous concerns were raised when the ban was lifted by the liquor operators in the district.
The liquor outlet operators must now choose between the lives of innocent people and their profit driven motives.
This is not the first time they have challenged the liquor ban in the district as they have done so since the Watut/Biangai conflict in 2009.
There was also another delay caused by the Wau Bulolo urban manager, who was given the task by the law and order committee to furnish a report for the committee to present to the provincial government, quantifying the damages and other factors that had contributed to the ethnic clashes.
The Wau Bulolo urban manager has since disappeared into Port Moresby with the report, which has practically stopped the provincial law and order committee to pursue its cause in advising the provincial administration and relevant aid organisations such as Red Cross, AusAID and others who only rely on official report and confirmations before their engagement.
With the high level investigation team being sent from the police headquarters and the disappearance of the Wau Urban manager with the report to Waigani swamp, this can only mean that this situation of Bulolo has been politicised.
I am now appealing to the government especially the Prime Minister Sir Michael that if those orders came from him, then we have to put our differences aside, and deal with the people - especially the suffering and the displaced mothers, children and elderly people.
I commend the latest initiatives by the Prime Minister's Department through chief secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc to have sent a team to the ground last week under instructions from the Prime Minister.
I look forward for their advice and assistance and as my joint district planning and budget priorities committee is ready to step in by redirecting programme funds should urgent needs arise.
I appeal to the chief secretary and the provincial administrator to help locate the Wau Bulolo urban manager in Waigani and send him back into Wau with the uncertified report to the Morobe administration.
The urban LLG office and the market has been locked since his absenteeism and the Wau culverting programme is about to commence, for which we need him on the ground to assist.
I would also like to convey our thankyou and gratitude on behalf of the affected people to various business houses in Lae together with Morobe Mining Joint Ventures and PNG Forest Products for their help in donations in keeping the care centre up until the recent incident.
Your timely help and assistance will go along way of us knowing that you all do care for us the people of Bulolo and Morobe in such a difficult time.
Should the care centre situation stabilise, your continued assistance will be welcomed by all, and in particular I as political head of the affected district appeal for your continued support.
Now that the national government through the Prime Minister's Department is taking the lead on this issue, my support is there and ready for the next course of action upon the advice and support from Waigani.
