Sorcery Act lacks bite: Law agencies

By ZACHERY PER

TWO legal organisations in the country have pointed out that there is no effective enforcement of the Sorcery Act 1991, resulting in a good number of people brutally murdered in sorcery-related cases, The National reports.

The Constitutional Law Reform Commission (CLRC) and the Public Prosecutor’s office made this known following the brutal killing of a 40-year-old man in Eastern Highlands province for alleged sorcery practices.

CLRC chairman Joe Mek Teine and acting Public Prosecutor Jack Pambel separately said there was a need to immediately review and amend the Act.

“Sorcery accusations and killings is a very serious issue facing our society, where innocent lives have been lost.

“Reviewing the Sorcery Act is on the agenda of my commission,” Mr Mek Teine, who is also Kundiawa-Gembogl MP, said.

He said sorcery-related killings were not serious in the colonial days, however, sorcery accusations and killings had become worse today.

“The situation warrants us to immediately make amendments to the Sorcery Act and implement it,” Mr Mek Teine said.

Mr Pambel said there was no effective implementation of the Sorcery Act.

“Whether the Act is being implemented or not is a question that has to be looked at,” he said.

Revisiting the Sorcery Act was a major topic at a workshop Mr Pambel conducted in Goroka last Friday.

It is understood that the ministerial committee on law and order, chaired by Attorney-General Dr Allan Marat, has sorcery-related killings as one of the eight major issues to be looked at.

Meanwhile, Eastern Highlands provincial police commander Supt Teddy Tei yesterday said police would investigate the killing of the 40-year-old man at Lampo village in Unggai-Bena district last week.

The man was allegedly chopped to death after a kangaroo court found him guilty of sorcery. 

 

Papua New Guinea hell

This joke shows the lighter side of a country with an absolutely useless public service service which is a liability to the whole of Papua New Guinea. We have constant power black outs, water problems, etc, etc, etc, while the public servants and their politician masters continue to turn a blind eye

 

A man dies and goes to hell.

There he finds that there is a different hell for each country and decides he'll pick the least painful to spend his eternity.

He goes to the Australian hell and asks:” What do they do here?"

He is told: "First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the Aussie devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day".

The man does not like the sound of that at all so he moves on.

He checks out the New Zealand hell as well as the USA hell and many more.

 He discovers that they are all similar to the Aussie hell.

Then he comes to the Papua New Guinean hell and finds that there is a long line of people waiting to get in.

 Amazed, he asks: "What do they do here?"

He is told:” First they put you in an electric chair for an hour, and then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. The PNG devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day."

The man asks: “But that is exactly the same as all the other hells why are there so many people waiting to get in?"

He is told: "Because most of the time there is never any electricity because of frequent blackouts, so the electric chair does not work. The nails were paid for but were never supplied, so the bed is comfortable to sleep on. And the PNG devil used to be a public servant, so he comes in, signs his time sheet and goes back home for private business!!"

FOR ONCE, IT PAYS TO BE A PAPUA NEW GUINEAN!

 

Pictures and thoughts for today

I took these pictures of roadworks along Gerehu Stage 2 in Port Moresby this morning while awaiting a bus to work.
Credit to National Capital District Governor, Powes Parkop, although same cannot be said of the rest of Port Moresby and Papua New Guinea, where the infrastructure is absolutely deteriorated.
Where has all the money gone to?
Last night, we had continuous power blackouts in Port Moresby, water supply is unreliable, and we aren't even guranteed of our safety.
School starts for our children tomorrow but many, if not most, will not go to school because their parents can't afford school fees.
Our health system is an absolute joke and countless people all over the country die needlessly every day.
Rental in the major urban centres has skyrocketed while the workers have not seen a corresponding increase in their salaries.
The politicians and elite of Papua New Guinea continue to buy prime real estate in Australia,
All these while our politicians and elite continue to drive around in luxury cars, have back-up electricity and water, send their children to private schools in Australia and other countries, and go to hospital in Australia and other countries when they have the slightest headache.
And when there is any sign on discontentment among the people, they simply fly off to Australia and relax in the comfort of their luxury homes – why worry?

Questions the Papua New Guinea government must answer

 

• Julian Moti affair of October 2006 in which an international fugitive was spirited out of Port Moresby to Solomon Islands in a clandestine operation on a Papua New Guinea Defence Force aircraft, apparently ordered by the Prime Minister as revealed by the PNG Defence Commission of Inquiry;
• Failed $US29.8 million (K85 million) Taiwan diplomacy scandal in which Papua New Guinea citizens are alleged to have received bribes. In May 2008, allegations were made of a government minister allegedly signing a draft communiqué for Papua New Guinea to set up “full diplomatic relations” with Taiwan in September 2006 in Port Moresby.
• $US40 million (K145 million) in Singapore accounts, money from log exports, allegedly sitting in a bank account of a Papua New Guinea government figure and looked after by a “consortium” in that country;
• Prime Minister allegedly not declaring his shareholding in Pacific Registry of Ships Ltd. The official registry showed Sir Michael is a shareholder “in trust for the Independent State of PNG”.
• Prime Minister’s continued court actions to stop the Ombudsman Commission and the Public Prosecutor from performing their mandated duties on allegations of the Prime Minister not completing or providing annual returns since 1992.

 

Prime Minister's assistant appears in court over misuse charges

By JOSHUA ARLO

MINISTER for State assisting the Prime Minister Philemon Embel, charged with misappropriating public funds, last Thursday appeared for his first mention at the Committal Court in Waigani, The National reports.

Embel is facing misappropriation charges under section 38(3) A (1) (a) of the Criminal Code Act, chapter 262.

He appeared before magistrate Lawrence Kangwia, but the matter was adjourned because police were yet to complete the file.

Police alleged that Embel misappropriated a Southern Highlands provincial government cheque worth K200, 000, paid to a church in his Nipa-Kutubu electorate in 2006 for a literacy programme.

Police said in March 2006, Embel allegedly deposited a provincial government cheque, number 008270, for K200, 000 into the Mapte Apostolic church account in Mendi.

On the same day, church pastor Frank Wangi allegedly transferred K165, 000 of that money into the minister’s personal account.

An investigation was launched following a complaint by provincial administrator William Powi. Embel had denied any wrongdoing in a statement to the media.

He said he had received a loan from the church, which he had repaid.

Embel was released on a K2, 000 police bail last Wednesday.

He is scheduled to appear again on March 14.

Afghanistan and Uganda seal place in ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier ahead of Papua New Guinea

ICC Media Release

31 January 2009

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Afghanistan and Uganda will play in April's ICC Cricket World Cup qualifiers after finishing ahead of Papua New Guinea on net run rate. Cayman Islands and Argentina are relegated to Division 4.

Afghanistan and Uganda achieved a place in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier after recording victories in Buenos Aires on Saturday.

Skipper Narooz Mangal inspired a brilliant win by 82 runs over Cayman Islands to hand Afghanistan the Division 3 title, following on from its successive title wins in Jersey in Division 5 and Tanzania in Division 4.

And Uganda managed to sneak into a top two position in the final standings after bowling out Argentina for 83 all out, achieving a significant enough improvement in its net run rate to finish ahead of Papua New Guinea, who missed out on a top two finish at the event despite having lost only one group game in the competition.

It had Kenneth Kamyuka, who was named Player of the Tournament, to thank for yet another fantastic individual display after a belligerent innings of 38 and three wickets transformed the low-scoring match.

Afghanistan skipper Narooz Mangal was proud of his side and believes that it is capable of finishing in the top four at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

“Today is a very happy day for me as we have won the Division 3 tournament and have qualified for the World Cup Qualifier. It is a very big day in the history of Afganistan cricket,” said Narooz.

“It will be very hard work in South Africa and we will be playing against some very difficult teams but we are all very happy.

“It was very special to get the Man of the Match Award as my innings was very important for my team but all the team played well.

“I think if we all work very hard in the next few months we have a very good chance of making it to the Cricket World Cup in 2011.”

The top-order Afghan batting once again failed to score the runs expected at this level with Karim Khan and Ahmad Shah both falling early on to leave Afghanistan at 27-2.

A 69-run partnership for the third wicket between Shafiqullah Shafaq (39) and skipper Narooz Mangal then changed the balance of the game, as Afghanistan took advantage of some extremely poor fielding Cayman Islands fielding.

Mangal (70), restored to the side after his two-match ban earlier in the event, looked in excellent form as he played one of the best innings of the event, in what has been a low-scoring tournament, scoring seven fours in his 89-ball batting cameo.

Asghar Stanikzai (66 not out) then took control with a brilliantly timed innings, off just 62 balls, completing the innings in style with a six over long-on to give Afghanistan the highest score of the tournament with 230-8 off 50 overs.

In reply, a double strike from Mohammad Nabi in the space of one over left Cayman Islands in all kinds of trouble on 41-3, and he was to take two further wickets to leave him with outstanding figures of 4-23.

Hamid Hassan then came on and bowled his best spell of the tournament to date, mixing some aggressive short-pitched bowling with some good straight bowling, including his trademark yorker.

The defeat means Cayman Islands joins Argentina in being relegated to the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 4, which will be played in 2010.

Afghanistan was joined in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier by Uganda who achieved an outstanding victory over Argentina.

Uganda got off to a terrible start and looked in danger of posting of a tiny total against Argentina, as it collapsed to 46-5.

Indeed were it for not for the heroics of Kamyuka, who has saved his team throughout the week with both bat and ball, the African side would have struggled to reach three figures.

But the hard-hitting ninth-wicket stand of 59 between Kamyuka (38) and Danniel Ruyange 35 helped transform the game and set an imposing target of 183 to win.

It was again to be Kamyuka (3-26) who starred with the ball as only opener Matias Paterlini (26) put up any resistance as the hosts crumbled to 83 all out and a fifth consecutive defeat.

The fixtures for the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in South Africa between 1-19 April will be released shortly. The top four sides at that event qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, while a top six place will secure ODI status for the next four years.

Glesson 'gutted' after Papua New Guinea miss out on promotion

Papua New Guinea coach Martin Gleeson admitted that his side was devastated after missing out on a place at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

Uganda’s win over Argentina today by 99 runs meant that the African side moved ahead of PNG on net run rate and left it in third place in the final table.

“We are pretty gutted to be honest to be in a situation where we have won four out of our five matches, three of them quite easily, and still miss out on qualification,” said Gleeson.

“Across the tournament we didn’t score enough runs and it is quite ironic that Argentina’s failure to make runs today cost us.

However, Gleeson believes that his side will benefit from the experience of this event and that his young side will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

“There is lots of hope for the future. It has been an interesting experience for us as we came here fully expecting to qualify, despite the fact some of the pre-tournament coverage suggesting that we were going to struggle which disappointed me.

“We have shown that we play good, aggressive, competitive cricket, but we are unfortunately now going to have to wait two years for the next chance to play at a higher level.”