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Bulolo MP witnesses Barrack Obama's inauguration

Bulolo MP Sam Basil witnessed the inauguration of Barrack Obama as 44^th President of the USA yesterday.

Mr Basil’s trip – sponsored by the US Government and from Jan 13 to 29 - is a huge vote-of-confidence in this businessman-cum-politician, who in only his first term in office has won the admiration of the whole of Papua New Guinea for his hard work, honesty and transparency.

No doubt he will learn a lot from his trip to the USA, be a good ambassador for Papua New Guinea, and be inspired by his role model in Obama.

Mr Basil has set up a blog http://sambasil2009usa-trip.blogspot.com/  in which he will inform those back in his electorate of Bulolo, Morobe province and PNG about his trip to the USA.

You can log on and post your comments on Mr Basil’s blog.

Apart from his blog about his visit to the USA for the inauguration, Mr Basil has also set up another blog about his Bulolo electorate http://sambasil.blogspot.com/,   which also features the Morobe province and PNG.

Mr Basil is the first PNG MP to have a blog, as opposed to a website.

“I never dreamt of going to America in my lifetime but now I have been given the opportunity by the Embassy of the United States of America in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,” he writes on his blog.

“The trip was announced unofficially before Christmas 2008 and the news spread like wildfire throughout my district.

 “I was very surprised that people from all walks of life enquired during my electoral visit.

“During the festive season, I was summoned by village elders in Mapos No. 1 village to brief them about my trip.

“I thoroughly briefed the leaders.

 “Some of the elders were very concerned about my security as they know and have heard about the evils of this world and some were even worried about my personal security.

“After lengthy discussion, I got many words of caution and advice from the village elders.

“They also prayed for my safety and to return home in one piece as Wau/Bulolo District needed my leadership to deliver the much-needed basic goods and services.

“The elders were right in some cases, as I do still have six projects waiting to be launched in January but postponed to February, due to the trip I will be taking to the United States of America.”

The projects are the  Wagau water project;  Moneyau/Gabansis Road; Upper Watut Local Level Government headquarters office and public telephone installations; Middle Watut public telephone project; Wau Bulolo Urban grader project; and Rural LLGs (Watut, Buang,Wau Rural and Mumeng LLGs) tractors.

 

 

 

Potato flourishes in Northern province despite disease threats

Caption: Potato farmers in the Western Highlands province admiring tubers of some promising potato varieties resistant to potato late blight.

Potatoes are growing very well in the Northern (Oro) province, according to outspoken farmer Graeme Ross.
Mr Ross, who runs Alele Farm Fresh Produce, said that potatoes were flourishing in the Afore area where he was carrying out a project.
Potatoes can also be grown in Kokoda to feed the increasing number of trekkers walking the wartime Kokoda Trail as well as supply Popondetta and other centres.
“We’re out in the bush doing a project on growing potatoes with no chemicals added,” he said.
“We’re being 150% successful.
“Seeds are leaping out of the ground.”
“A count has shown to us that Kokoda would very much like to produce potatoes for Popondetta but farmers need training on how to grow potatoes.
“We’re very excited.’
Mr Ross, however, re-iterated his earlier calls for a total ban on all potatoes imported from Australia for fear of bringing in new diseases.
“We are gravely concerned about potato cyst nematode in Australia, which will come in when potatoes are brought into the supermarkets,” he said.
“Fresh Produce Development Corporation general manager, Ambassador Aiwa Olmi, also wants a total ban on all potatoes coming into the country due to the threat of diseases being introduced.”
Papua New Guinea’s K100 million potato industry faces threats from new diseases which can be far more destructive than potato late blight, according to Mr Ross.
“The industry has been threatened since 2003 by over four major diseases, and a new threat is looming on the Australian supply chain,” he said.
“Major diseases are leaf roll virus, bacteria wilt, black lake and a new virus that the government hasn’t identified.
“These diseases are uncontrollable with chemicals.
“If introduced into new soil, the soil can be unproductive for up to 10 years.
“Potato late blight is totally controllable with chemicals and farmer training.
“A major new threat not clearly reported by Australian quarantine has been discovered in Australia and distributed by a certified seed grower in Victoria.
“The distribution of disease seeds in Australia now threatens ware or eating potatoes.
“It is now a high risk importing from Australian into Papua New Guinea.
“The industry is demanding total protection from this potato disease outbreak in Australia.
“Major government agencies support a total ban on ware potatoes coming from Australia.
“To date, Trade & Industry and quarantine have not responded to this threat,
“How can Papua New Guinea survive without potatoes?
“We need potatoes in Papua New Guinea.”

Bulolo MP supports calls for ministers to perform

Bulolo MP Sam Basil (pictured above in Washington DC with Capital Hill looming in the background) has welcomed moves by the National Alliance party for its national ministers to give their respective performance reports to the party executive.

Opposition MP Mr Basil, who is in the USA to attend the inauguration of Barrack Obama as US President as well as tour the country, made the call after reading the online version of The National yesterday.

“If the intentions are good, then I welcome the move wholeheartedly on behalf of my people in Bulolo district,” he said in a statement emailed from Washington DC.

“Appointment of ministers too often has been regarded as reward from the ruling party to its party members and the coalition for successfully providing their numbers to form   government.

“Because many of our urban/rural population are not educated enough and do not have access to the media, they cannot monitor their MPs, including the Government and its ministers’ performances, therefore, cannot effectively demand or pressure for their performance.

“Often, ministers take ministry portfolios as a gift and take every opportunity available to travel overseas, live extravagant lifestyles, thus, using up every expense account available.

“This must change now.

“Services are not flowing into the rural areas, such as health, which is currently the worst affected followed by other departments that need not to be mentioned.

“Corruption also finds its place in departments if the ministers are not focused in their core responsibilities.

“What the National Alliance Party has demanded from the ministers must be set as a good precedence to all political parties: if you can’t perform there is always another MP who can do the job.

“It will also play a part in effective delivery of services while elevating the performances of the ministers to another scale.

“However, if this request is basically cooked up for reshuffle purposes only, then it may bring along with it a lot of questions of integrity and trust among the coalition partners and fellow party members.”

 

Barack Obama's inaugural address in full

Barack Obama has been sworn in as the 44th US president. Here is his inauguration speech in full.

 

 My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition. 

 Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.

At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we, the people, have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

Serious challenges

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.   We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord

 These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

Nation of 'risk-takers'

We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and travelled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and ploughed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

'Remaking America'

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.   The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift

 This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Restoring trust

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.   We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals

 What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - that a nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

'Ready to lead'

As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.   We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence

 Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet. We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

'Era of peace'

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

'Duties'

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honour them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.   What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility

 For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

'Gift of freedom'

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

 

 

A moment I shall never forget

What a day!

I didn’t get much sleep last night as I stayed awake from 10pm to 5am (Papua New Guinea time) to watch the inauguration of Barrack Obama as the 44^th President of the USA on TV.

It was a history-making moment that I shall never forget.

I was moved to tears as he delivered his speech, which touched on creating a better USA and world for all of us to live in.

I believe, deep in my heart, that the world will be a better place for all of us to live in because of Barrack Obama.

God Bless You and your wonderful family real good, President Obama, and know that you are a hero to us all.

 

Bulolo MP to witness Barrack Obama's inauguration

Bulolo MP Sam Basil will witness the inauguration of Barrack Obama as 44^th President of the USA early tomorrow morning (PNG time).

Mr Basil’s trip – sponsored by the US Government and from Jan 13 to 29 - is a huge vote-of-confidence in this businessman-cum-politician, who in only his first term in office has won the admiration of the whole of Papua New Guinea for his hard work, honesty and transparency.

No doubt he will learn a lot from his trip to the USA, be a good ambassador for Papua New Guinea, and be inspired by his role model in Obama.

Mr Basil has set up a blog http://sambasil2009usa-trip.blogspot.com/  in which he will inform those back in his electorate of Bulolo, Morobe province and PNG about his trip to the USA.

You can log on and post your comments on Mr Basil’s blog.

Apart from his blog about his visit to the USA for the inauguration, Mr Basil has also set up another blog about his Bulolo electorate http://sambasil.blogspot.com/,   which also features the Morobe province and PNG.

Mr Basil is the first PNG MP to have a blog, as opposed to a website.

“I never dreamt of going to America in my lifetime but now I have been given the opportunity by the Embassy of the United States of America in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,” he writes on his blog.

“The trip was announced unofficially before Christmas 2008 and the news spread like wildfire throughout my district.

“I was very surprised that people from all walks of life enquired during my electoral visit.

“During the festive season, I was summoned by village elders in Mapos No. 1 village to brief them about my trip.

 “I thoroughly briefed the leaders.

 “Some of the elders were very concerned about my security as they know and have heard about the evils of this world and some were even worried about my personal security.

“After lengthy discussion, I got many words of caution and advice from the village elders.

“They also prayed for my safety and to return home in one piece as Wau/Bulolo District needed my leadership to deliver the much-needed basic goods and services.

“The elders were right in some cases, as I do still have six projects waiting to be launched in January but postponed to February, due to the trip I will be taking to the United States of America.”

The projects are the  Wagau water project;  Moneyau/Gabansis Road; Upper Watut Local Level Government headquarters office and public telephone installations; Middle Watut public telephone project; Wau Bulolo Urban grader project; and Rural LLGs (Watut, Buang,Wau Rural and Mumeng LLGs) tractors.

“I would really want the ‘Wau/Bulolo Grader Launch’ to be officially launched by Honorable Leslie V. Rowe, United States Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, as the grader was imported from a company (Cummins Engine Noram Model) in the United States,” Mr Basil said.

“ I will be sending a formal invitation to Ambassador Rowe to be Guest of Honor at the launch once I return from my trip.”