O’Neill explains delayed 2012 budget

THE 2012 budget has been delayed so that it can be brought down together with the legislation on sovereign wealth fund, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said yesterday, The National reports.
O’Neill told The National that postponing the budget a third time to Dec 6 was nothing sinister. Because of the delay in putting the sovereign wealth fund legislation together, the budget had to be deferred.
There had been some delay because of the series of forums being held in parts of the country to explain and take aboard people’s comments and reactions on the concept.
There had been concern because parliament was due to meet to bring down the budget on Dec 6, three days before the Supreme Court will decide on whether or not the O’Neill-Namah government was legitimately elected.
There was concern that in the event the decision went against
the government, the entire budget process would be thrown into chaos.
While the sovereign wealth law would help create the fund, there would be no money from the 2012 budget going into the fund, the prime minister said.
Money for that would be derived from resource projects currently under construction, principally the first liquefied natural gas project.
O’Neill said the budget normally took a year to prepare but his government had only three months.
“We are not delaying the implementation of it, only the delivery of it,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said a skeleton staff from Finance and Education would work throughout the festive season to keep accounts open in order to facilitate the free education process so that when schools open, all payments would be ready to go to all schools.

Paul Tiensten reinstated by Jeffrey Nape

By JEFFREY ELAPA

SPEAKER Jeffery Nape has reversed his decision to disqualify member for Pomio Paul Tiensten, The National reports.
Last Tuesday, Nape took the unilateral step to sack Tiensten as the member for Pomio, saying he had missed three consecutive parliament sessions.
The decision created uproar in the house which then forced the speaker to adjourn the meeting to the next day.
Last Wednesday, Tiensten came into the chamber and took his seat before parliament resumed but was urged by members to leave as they did not want the Gender, Equality and Participation and the Hela and Jiwaka bills to be disrupted.
When parliament resumed at 10am last Friday, Nape said his interpretation of section 104(2)(b) to disqualify Tiensten was correct.
But, he said, Hansard records of the adjournments contradicted his decision and, after consulting his lawyers, decided to withdraw his earlier decision to disqualify Tiensten.
“I do not want to keep the member in court for a long time. I do not want to keep the people of Pomio in suspense but allow him to perform his duties,” Nape said.
Tiensten said later the speaker did not have the power to disqualify him as a member of parliament.
He said it was the National Court that had the jurisdiction to do so upon recommendation from parliament. “Not even the speaker or the parliament has any authority to dismiss any member,” he said.
He said he only missed two parliament sessions, Sept 6 and Sept 20, while Aug 9 had been the continuation of the Aug 2 sitting.
He said Nape had failed to check the clerk’s records and never gave him the opportunity to respond as stipulated under the same section of the law he used to “disqualify” him.
He said he was not surprised by the speaker’s decision as he was informed of the decision last Thursday, a decision
which he could have made at 2pm on Thursday after discussions with his (Tiensten’s) lawyer.
“I never thought my political career was going to be short-circuited by the parliament but, anyway, I am thankful that I am able to continue my duties,” he said

Trekker robbed along Bulldog Trail

By MALUM NALU

I am a very-passionate trekker, having walked the Kokoda Trail and Black Cat Trail, and am a full supporter of this industry.

However, I'm quite pissed off with reading in the Sunday Chronicle today about a lone Australian trekker being robbed along the Bulldog Trail between Gulf and Morobe provinces.

Today's Sunday Chronicle article (please click to enlarge)

I will raise this up with local MP Sam Basil and I hope his Gulf counterparts also take note

Chimbu students and academics help their people

By MALUM NALU

People of Chimbu province will again benefit from an educational awareness campaign carried out by students and academics of the province.

Chimbu Governor Fr John Garia (left) and acting secretary for National Planning and Monitoring, Dr Peter Ga’Allah Kora at the launching of this year’s Project 21 last Thursday.

The campaign, called Project 21, was started by former University of PNG academic and now acting secretary for National Planning and Monitoring, Dr Peter Ga’Allah Kora, last year to help curb issues that affected the community.

He has already garnered the support of Chimbu Governor Fr John Garia to continue the campaign this year.

It sets the platform and creates an avenue for Chimbu students and professionals to assist the community with their relevant knowledge and skills in areas such as good governance, law and order, human rights, environmental issues, climate change, resource development issues, culture, education, corruption, effective service deliver, health and HIV/AIDS.

“The idea was to help the Chimbu people,” Dr Kora said during a meeting with Fr Garia last Thursday.

“Chimbu, as you know, has very little natural resources.

“We only have human resources.

“If we continue to do this every year, we will change the mindset of the people.”

Fr Garia said the campaign worked very well last year.

“I support this concept as Chimbu Governor,” he said.

“This is a very good initiative.

“I support anything to do with education and development of human resources.”

This year, Project 21 will run a week-long development seminar in Kundiawa from Dec 5-9, to discuss various issues affecting the province.

Dr Kora has already committed K10, 000 from his department to support the project.

He also announced that a new training centre, to be named after him, would be built to cater for Project 21 and had already been registered with the Investment Promotion Authority.

Arthur Somare's 'shameful legacy'

Minister for Public Enterprises, Sir Mekere Morauta, said today that the suspended Member for Angoram, Mr Arthur Somare should check his facts.

"Independent Public Business Corporation has not withdrawn its court action against various people and organisations involved with the illegal disposal of Motor Vehicle Insurance Ltd’s shares in Bank South Pacific," he said.

"That action remains current, although the hearings have been adjourned until next month."

He said continuing investigations into the transaction were uncovering new information all the time, and in light of that new information, the court action might have to be amended.

“But I repeat – it has not been withdrawn as the suspended Member for Angoram says,” Sir Mekere said.

“However, this costly court case was totally unnecessary. 

" Mr Somare and the former MD of MVIL, Dr JohnMua, were in the same household. 

"Why is one taking the other to court, when all the Minister had to do was to instruct Dr Mua and the MVIL Board to return the money? 

"Even now, we are still negotiating with the alleged holders of the money in Australia to have it returned, so we can avoid wasting more money on a court case.”

“I remind Mr Somare that this illegal transaction happened on his watch.

"He and the former IPBC management were reckless and negligent with public assets.

“Arthur Somare allowed K100 million worth of the people’s assets in MVIL to be put at risk while he was Minister.

“This is on top of the K900 million he has cost us because of his mishandling of the loan to pay for equity in the LNG project, the K31 million investment in the failed US merchant bank Lehmann Bros, his share of the K30 million bill left behind for using the Somare aerial PMV for doctor’s appointments, shopping, family parties and golf games, and the illegal expenditure by Telikom of about K800 million including a loan of K200 million.”

“That is a shameful legacy,” Sir Mekere said.

“And what does Mr Somare have to say about the K900 million shortfall on his IPIC loan? 

"A loan in which Treasury was not involved; a loan which never had NEC approval; a loan which was never tabled in Parliament.  

" It was negotiated and signed behind closed doors by people with no experience in the complex world of international high finance. 

"As the Prime Minister said, ‘little boys doing grown-ups’ jobs’. "

"And the nation is burdened as a result.”

Essence of vagrancy

Br Dr HENRY OKOLE and Dr MICHAEL UNAGE

THE recent social unrest in Lae city has once more ignited the familiar calls for control mechanisms to stymie the flow of rural – urban migration drift.

Lae particularly suffers from the symptoms of this migration. It is the main economic hub for the country’s exports, and transportation along the Highlands Highway and Madang province. Being Papua New Guinea’s second largest city and an industrial centre, makes it another major focal point for individuals searching for job opportunities and the novelties of city life.

Momase Police Chief and Assistant Commissioner, Giossi Labi, among others, has echoed a familiar line that the erstwhile Vagrancy Act should be re-introduced. In the past, the country had a Vagrancy Act but was abolished subsequently since it was deemed to be unconstitutional when it was ruled to be infringing on the people’s freedom of movement.

Debates on vagrancy have taken place from time to time over the last three decades. This is hardly surprising as quite often the issue has mainly been in response to a spate of criminal activities or growing squatter settlements in urban centres. The fact remains that vagrancy is a consequence of major changes affecting the overall PNG society.

Therefore, the best and plausible lasting solutions should be those that deal with the roots of these fundamental changes. The consequences of societal changes such as criminal activities of course should be dealt with immediately under the law as well. The opportunity to address rural-urban drift and its consequences should have been an ongoing endeavour and not a sideline issue as how it has been treated since the 1970s.

Perhaps the biggest mistake committed by successive governments over time has been to do little or nothing at all about this festering problem.

Freedom of movement is a constitutional right of all individuals. In the milieu of the rural-urban drift, it is only fair then that the freedom of law abiding citizens and urban landowners/property owners are protected too from illegal activities – including unlawful occupation of land. Today it would be expensive and next to impossible to evict everyone back to their provinces of origin or localities for a plethora of reasons. The present atmosphere in Lae and more so past experiences from Madang and Rabaul after the 1994 volcanic eruptions should aptly portray a picture that people just do not return back to places of origin and immediately re-settle with ease. Adjustment is a challenge of its own and quite often there is no land for the ‘returnees.’ Besides, some of the current squatters or settlers in many urban centres are third or fourth generation.

Where do they belong now?

The best strategy forward is firstly to recognise that rural-urban drift and vagrancy are not likely to stop overnight just because there is a so-called solution in the form of a Vagrancy Act. Secondly, rural-urban drift is a problem that is bound to stay unless drastic measures are adopted that can stop the flow of people and perhaps reverse the trend. Thirdly, a Vagrancy Act can also become a revolving door since people can easily slip back to urban centres if there was nothing to stop them from leaving rural areas. For such reasons, the best way to address the problem arguably is to take a holistic approach and adopt systemic solutions that mitigate the impact of a fast-changing society. Solutions should be designed in the form of medium-term and long-term solutions. The following are plausible solutions:

•         the government should introduce a multi-purpose identification system complete with proper keeping of birth records, residential permits, village records and operating under the Ward councillors and Local Level Governments. This ID system can be used for other purposes such as elections, census and tracking criminal activities. As things stand here in PNG, people suffer from what can be termed a “curse of anonymity”. That is, where people drift around as strangers both in and outside social groups without the formal ID system of identifying individuals;

•         the government and people should appreciate the importance of citizens’ groups that are set up for specific reasons. State agencies such as the Royal Police Constabulary can play a proactive role/s by facilitating interactive meetings among local groups in rural areas, or among mixed groups in urban centres. Thus, inter-ethnic conflicts in squatter camps in Lae, for example, stand a better chance of being averted if there were proper communication channels in the community between people and state authorities. Underlying mechanisms would have been created to forge understanding and address problems well before they get out of hand. Furthermore, trouble-makers would have been readily identified and dealt with without the unnecessary involvement of everyone which often inflames ethnic rivalries;

•         the government should seriously consider upgrading and refreshing the Royal Police Constabulary with an emphasis on civic education where they are taught people skills, community policing and cultural sensitivity rather than a unidimensional role of reacting to and apprehending law-breakers;

•         the government should make a concerted effort to upgrade/improve basic services in rural areas; - the three main areas being Education, Health and Infrastructure. All political parties and all new governments regurgitate these essential sectors in their visions and planning, but there is nothing much to show for their efforts as evident today. There is economic value to the rehabilitation or building of major roads since it is bound to facilitate economic activities. It is this conventional knowledge that leads one to question why the rehabilitation of the Highlands highway has been left in the doldrums for far too long; and

•         the government should seriously look at channelling more resources into the rehabilitation and strengthening of the Agriculture sector and cash cropping. With better infrastructure and the government’s support in securing markets for locally produced goods – both nationally and internationally – incentives are generated to make people toil their customary land rather than drift to urban centres in search of other income-generating avenues. All things considered, solutions such as the Vagrancy Act will only offer short-term and unsustainable answers – if at all. What is required is proper planning at all levels of government to address the rural-urban drift. That includes proper urban planning too. Solutions will have to be sustained over time.

 The government must recognise that it is worth investing in long term solutions to curb what can easily become a social time bomb and in the recent case of unrest at Lae and other places in PNG are signs of dysfunctional communities. Otherwise, solutions put forward can easily become cyclical and sporadic instruments that offer little or nothing in the end.

Drs Okole and Unage are senior research fellows under the Institutional Strengthening Pillar of the National Research Institute

Dr Henry Okole is a Senior Research Fellow under the Improving Governance Programme while Dr Michael Unage is a Senior Research fellow and program leader under the Improving Basic Services Programme.

The National Research Institute - hosting the policy discussions that will shape Papua New Guinea’s future development. For more information: Contact: Dennis Badi Ph: 326 0300/0061 Ext. 360 Email: dbadi@nri.org.pg. The National Research Institute

Botanists discover ‘remarkable’ night-flowering orchid in Papua New Guinea

A NIGHT-flowering orchid, the first of its kind known to science, has been described by a team of European botanists in Papua New Guinea.

The Bulbophyllum nocturnum is the first orchid species, out of about 25,000, to only flower at night

Experts say the “remarkable” species is the only orchid known to consistently flower at night, but why it has adopted this behaviour remains a mystery, BBC News reports this week.

The plant was discovered by a Dutch researcher during an expedition to West New Britain province.

The findings have been published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.

“It was so unexpected because there are so many species of orchids and not one was known (to flower) at night only,” said co-author Andre Schuiteman, senior researcher and an orchid expert at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England.

“It was quite remarkable to find one, after so many years of orchid research, that is night-flowering,” he told BBC News.

The specimen was discovered by co-author orchid specialist Ed de Vogel during a field trip in a region of lowland rainforest in the province although the exact local was not disclosed.

Its unique flowering behaviour only came to light after the specimen was taken back to the Netherlands, said BBC News.

Dr de Vogel had gathered some of the plants from trees and returned home to cultivate the orchids at the Hortus Botanicus in Leiden. Most orchids are epiphytes, which mean they take root on trees.

The botanist was particularly eager to see the orchid’s flowers because it was a member of the Epicrianthes group of orchids. This group contains many rare species that have bizarre flowers with strange appendages, which often resemble leggy insects, small hairy spiders or intricate sea-creatures

The appendages are usually attached by thin filaments, which allow them to move erratically in the slightest breeze. Many have only been discovered recently as they occur in some of the remotest jungle habitats on earth.
As de Vogel cultivated the orchids, he noticed flower buds appear but instead of opening to reveal their petals, they simply shrivelled up and died.

He finally realised what was happening when he took one of the plants home and saw its flowers open around 10pm one night and close again soon after sunrise. The flowers opened for one night only, explaining why the buds appeared to be preparing to open one day, yet be withered the next day.

Flowers that open only at night are seen in a small number of plant species, such as the queen of the night cactus, the midnight horror tree and night blooming jasmine. Bulbophyllum nocturnum is the only orchid among 25,000 species that is known to do so. Many orchids are pollinated by moths and other nocturnal insects, but have flowers that remain open during the day.

The specimen has been identified as belonging to the Bulbophyllum genus, which – with about 2,000 species – is the largest group in the orchid family.

While there are a number of orchids that do attract night-time pollinators, B. nocturnum is the first known species that exclusively flowers at night.

The small orchid has yellow-green sepals that unfurl to reveal tiny petals adorned with dangling, greyish, thick and thin appendages. The flower, which is 2cm wide, has no noticeable smell, though some nocturnal species can time the release of their scents to attract night time pollinating insects.

Writing in the journal, the authors point out the striking resemblance between the flowers' appendages and the fruiting bodies of certain slime moulds found in the same part of the world. The similarity led the botanists to speculate that the orchids might be pollinated by midges that normally feed on slime moulds or small fungi.

Schuiteman said it still remained a mystery why the plant had developed such behaviour.

“We think related species are pollinated by tiny flies that think they are visiting fungi,” he explained.

“The flowers mimic fungi, that’s what the details of the flowers look like they do.

“The flies are looking for somewhere to lay eggs, and it is most probably (a species) that forages at night.”

He added: “The orchid probably has a smell, not detectable by humans, to attract insects from a distance – and when they are nearby, the shape and physical aspects of the flower probably play a role too.

Schuiteman said the exact reason why B. nocturnum only flowered at night would remain a mystery until further field studies had been completed.

However, time may be against them as the location in West New Britain where the original specimen was found lay within a logging area.

“It was previously inaccessible but now the area has been opened by logging,” Schuiteman said, adding that was an area that needed to be explored because there were probably many more species waiting to be described.

He said the logging activity was a double-edged sword because the Papua New Guinea government had granted logging licences in the area meant that it created roads that had allowed the plant hunters to carry out their exploration, yet it was an activity that could threaten the long-term survival of the species.

“My colleague who discovered it got permission from the logging company to go into the area, they even gave him a car to use.

“They realised that it would have been a shame to log the trees and destroy the orchids because they would be left lying on the ground exposed to full sunlight.”

He called for areas to be left untouched: “It is the government that gives permits to log a particular area, so we should be asking them to protect areas and not issue permits for everything.”Schuiteman said: “This is another reminder that surprising discoveries can still be made. But it is a race against time to find species like this that only occur in primeval tropical forests. As we all know, such forests are disappearing fast.”

Botanists at Kew Gardens hope to get a cutting from the orchid in Leiden to cultivate within the next few years. A specimen preserved in alcohol is already held at the site’s herbarium.