Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Top businessman murdered in Port Moresby

One of Port Moresby leading businessmen Sir George Constantinou was murdered by criminals in Port Moresby yesterday.

The 78-year-old tycoon was killed along Nigibata Road in Gerehu, next to the Tete settlement, as he was leaving his timber yard.

He owned several businesses including Airways Hotels and Apartments, Hebou Constructions (PNG) Limited, Rouna Quarries, and NTS Timber among others in Port Moresby and around the country.

  • More details to come

 

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

CORPORATE REFORMS TO ENHANCE EFFECTIVENESS OF FORUM SECRETARIAT

The corporate reforms being discussed by the Forum Officials Committee (FOC) at a meeting which got underway at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva, Fiji today will “go a long way to enhancing the Secretariat’s effectiveness and efficiency”.

FOC is the governing council of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and membership is at senior official level from the 16 member Forum countries.

The meeting is also attended by representatives of the Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific (CROP) as observers.

The FOC session is expected to discuss and endorse the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Corporate Plan 2008 – 2012, related programme strategic plans, and related corporate reforms, the PIFS 2009 Budget and Work Programme.

The meeting will also discuss among other issues Membership Contributions, a Framework for Regional Meetings, a paper on a Monitoring and Reporting Framework and a review of the Secretariat’s Staff Regulations.

In his first address to a meeting of FOC since appointed by Forum Leaders in August, the new Secretary General of the Forum Secretariat, Tuiloma Neroni Slade said: “This package of reforms provides clear purpose to focus energy and commitment of the Secretariat to ensure effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of services.

“They are reforms that respond to you, the members, and your interest and concerns for the Secretariat to be more strategic and focused and to be smarter in undertaking core functions. And so, by these reform measures, your Secretariat is reacting to both challenges and the opportunity to do better,” Mr Slade said.

“I am personally convinced that the Corporate Plan, with the accompanying programme strategic plans, will strategically position your Secretariat and its limited resources to better support the Leaders’ decisions and the key regional priorities identified by the Leaders and other key regional ministerial meetings.”

On the annual work programme and budget for 2009, Mr Slade said: “We will be tabling a budget with a small surplus, and one where expenditure was developed to match confirmed funding available.”

“This, I hope, will provide greater certainty and clarity on what activities will receive funding in 2009 and what funding gaps exist in our work programme.”

In his opening statement, Mr Slade briefed the FOC on the visit of the Forum Ministerial Contact Group to Suva last week.

Mr Slade described the Group’s meetings with Fiji’s interim Prime Minister and other key stakeholders as “frank and informative”.

“Ministers did, however express disappointment that the Fiji Interim Government had confirmed that it did not intend to hold elections by March 2009 in line with its previous commitments to Forum Leaders,” said Mr Slade.

“The Forum is, of course, committed to constructive dialogue with the Interim Administration, and to support and encourage the Interim Administration to return Fiji to democracy within the framework of the decisions of Forum Leaders.’

Mr Slade said the Ministerial Contact Group will be reporting to Forum Leaders at their special session scheduled for 27 January 2009 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

The FOC session is being held today and tomorrow and is being chaired by Niue.

For more information, contact Mr Johnson Honimae, the Forum Secretariat’s Media Officer on phone 679 331 2600 or email: johnsonh@forumsec.org.fj

 

 

FORUM OFFICIALS COMMITTEE ENDORSES NEW PIFS CORPORATE PLAN

The meeting of the Forum Officials Committee (FOC) currently underway at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva, Fiji has approved the Secretariat’s new Corporate Plan 2008 – 2012.

The FOC is the governing council of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and it comprises of senior officials from the 16 Forum member governments.

Writing in the foreword of the Corporate Plan, Secretary General of the Secretariat, Tuiloma Neroni Slade says: “The new Corporate Plan rationalises and streamlines the nine programmes under the previous Corporate Plan into four more focused and strategic programmes.

“Two of the strategic programme areas now focus on economic governance, and political governance and security where the Secretariat provides direct policy advice. The other two relate to the regional coordination of the Secretariat and its Corporate Services.

“The Plan strives to better project and articulate the Secretariat’s core functions and priorities; to minimise duplication of functions with other regional partner organisations; and to effectively utilise limited regional resources; to facilitate the efficient performance of the Secretariat’s responsibilities,” says Mr Slade when presenting the Plan to the FOC meeting.

He adds: “This Corporate Plan aims to strengthen the Forum Secretariat and to improve its services to Member Governments and their communities.

“It seeks also to enhance the relationships between the Secretariat and other CROP (Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific) agencies and other stakeholders.”

The new Corporate Plan extends over five years and introduces a new planning framework for the Forum Secretariat.

Forum Secretary General, Mr Slade explains: “The new arrangement is a four-tiered one with the Corporate Plan at the apex and the annual work programme at the base.

“ To provide the necessary supporting framework the Corporate Plan is underpinned by programme strategic plans for each of the programme areas, setting out in detail strategies, activities and performance indicators for implementation over 2 – 3 years.”

The programme strategic plans are developed with reference to the over-arching Corporate Plan, the Leaders’ communiqués and various other high level directives as well as in consultation with other key holders.

The programme strategic plans contain a three-year work programme and budget.

They will be reviewed mid-term and updated as appropriate.

The Corporate “Plan on a Page” will be developed to cover each staff member’s individual work plan.

 In turn these plans will feed into the annual work programme and budget process.

The Corporate Plan 2008 – 2012 will be reviewed mid-term.

For more information contact Ms Stephanie Jones, the Forum Secretariat’s Director Corporate Services on phone 679 331 2600 or email: stephaniej@forumsec.org.fj

 

 

 

FORUM OFFICIALS COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS FORUM SECRETARIATS NEW STRATEGIC PLANNING FRAMEWORK

The Forum Secretariat’s 2008 – 2012 Corporate Plan and associated programme strategic plans will be among the issues to be discussed when the Forum Officials Committee (FOC) meets in Suva, Fiji, 16-17 December. 

FOC is the governing council of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and comprises of senior officials from the 16-Forum member countries.

The new Secretary General, Tuiloma Neroni Slade will present the final draft of the Corporate Plan which was endorsed by FOC at its July meeting.

The associated programme strategic plans cover each of the Secretariat’s four programmes. 

These form part of a package of corporate reforms on institutional strengthening which the Secretariat has been focusing on during 2008.

The 2009 Budget and Work Programme closely aligned to the Corporate Plan and the programme strategic plans will also be discussed.

Other items on the agenda include recommendations on Membership Contributions from a sub-committee it had established to consider the level of contributions from member countries; a Framework for Regional Meetings which recommends a policy for arrangements for Forum regional meetings; and a proposed draft revision of the staff regulations.

The meeting will be chaired by Niue.

For more information, contact Ms Stephanie Jones, the Forum Secretariat’s Director Corporate Services on phone 679 331 2600 or email: stephaniej@forumsec.org.fj

 

 

 

"Please, Daddy (Don't Get Drunk On Christmas)"

It’s Christmas time again, and the many fathers of Papua New Guinea are going to go out on a drinking, gambling and partying spree without much thought for the children. This Christmas, spare a thought for your lovely wives and children and spend some time with them rather than with your mates. I leave you with the words of this famous song, Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk On Christmas, by the late great John Denver. Merry Christmas to the Daddies, Mummies and Children of Papua New Guinea.

 

By JOHN DENVER

 

Please Daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas

I don't wanna see my Mumma cry

Please Daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas

I don't wanna see my Mumma cry

 

Just last year when I was only seven

And now I'm almost eight as you can see

You came home at a quarter past eleven

Fell down underneath our Christmas tree

 

Please Daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas

I don't wanna see my Mumma cry

Please Daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas

I don't wanna see my Mumma cry

 

Mumma smiled and looked outside the window

She told me son, you better go upstairs

Then you laughed and hollered Merry Christmas

I turned around and saw my Mumma's tears

 

Please Daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas

I don't wanna see my Mumma cry

Please Daddy, don't get drunk this Christmas

I don't wanna see my Mumma cry

No, I don't wanna see my Mumma cry

 

Quotation of the Day

Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

 

SANTA NEVER MADE IT INTO DARWIN

The huge waves that hit much of coastal Papua New Guinea last week, so close to Christmas, bear similarities to what happened to Darwin, Australia, from December 24-25 in 1974 when Cyclone Tracy came and blew the town away.

Those who were not around at that time can get a feel of what happened by listening to the lyrics of Santa Never Made It into Darwin, the famous song performed by duet Bill & Boyd.

The song, 34 years after that fateful day, remains hugely popular at this time of the year in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Spare a thought for our suffering and less-fortunate people this Christmas, and pray, that something like this does not happen.

Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974.

 It is the most compact hurricane or equivalent-strength tropical cyclone on record, with gale-force winds extending only 48 km from the centre.

Tracy killed 71 people, caused $837 million in damage (1974 AUD) and destroyed more than 70% of Darwin's buildings, including 80% of houses.

 Tracy left homeless more than 20,000 out of the 49,000 inhabitants of the city prior to landfall and required the evacuation of over 30,000 people.

 Most of Darwin's population was evacuated to Adelaide, Whyalla, Alice Springs and Sydney, and many never returned to the city.

After the storm passed, the city was rebuilt using more modern materials and updated building techniques.

Bruce Stannard of The Age stated that Cyclone Tracy was a "disaster of the first magnitude ... without parallel in Australia's history."

 

SANTA NEVER MADE IT INTO DARWIN

 

On Christmas Eve of seventy-four

The warning sounded out

For all the broadcast stations

A great storm was near about

 

The girls and boys asleep in bed

Tomorrow was the day

Their mums and dads all prayed

The mighty storm would turn away

 

Santa never made it into Darwin

Disaster struck at dawn on Christmas Day

Santa never made it into Darwin

A big wind came and blew the town away

 

Christmas morning was a nightmare

As Cyclone Tracy struck

It ripped apart the buildings

Like an atom bomb had struck

 

It twisted iron girders

And it flattened all the trees

The might of such a cyclone

Must be seen to be believed

 

Santa never made it into Darwin

Disaster struck at dawn on Christmas Day

Santa never made it into Darwin

A big wind came and blew the town away

 

Many boats put out to sea

Very few returned

Most were foundered on the rocks

Or in deep seas overturned

 

Australia was shocked and saddened

As the news came through

The devastated city

Must be built anew

 

That suffering and heartbreak

Could happen in this way

A natural disaster

Could come on Christmas Day

 

Santa never made it into Darwin

Disaster struck at dawn on Christmas Day

Santa never made it into Darwin

A big wind came and blew the town away

 

Santa never made it into Darwin

Disaster struck at dawn on Christmas Day

Santa never made it into Darwin

A big wind came and blew the town away

A big wind came and blew the town away