Any gains from globe-trotting Prime Minister?

Editorial in The National, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper

 

PRIME Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare does seem to have travelled much in recent times.

Since the Bali environment summit, he has been on official or semi-official trips which have taken him to Africa, the US, Australia, the Philippines, China, Indonesia again last week and this week to Japan.

Each of those trips cost a fair size of taxpayers’ money and the gains are not immediately visible.

Still, in all fairness, the case of the globe-trotting Prime Minister must be put in perspective.

Are the businesses which the Prime Minister leaves unattended by his absence those that only he can perform and perform well?

Are they urgent?

Has the nation suffered by his frequent absences from office?

Similarly, are the businesses he chooses to attend overseas such that only his personal presence would bring the greatest amount of good for this nation?

Are such businesses important and urgent for the well-being of the nation of PNG?

In this age of international terrorism, is our Prime Minister not endangering his life by frequent trips?

There is yet another line of inquiry and that is that a wandering Prime Minister might actually be signalling that he has lost interest in the affairs of State.

Let us examine each of these closely.

The type of government we practice in PNG ensures that no position is left unfilled if the incumbent leaves it temporarily. When the Prime Minister or indeed any other minister is called away on business, there is always another minister who is appointed to act in his or her place.

In the case of the Prime Minister, it is always the Deputy Prime Minister and if both are away, the most senior minister would normally do the honours.

Deputy Prime Minister Dr Puka Temu has shown himself on the occasions he has been acting Prime Minister to act decisively and responsibly.

So in the time that the Prime Minister has been away, has any serious affair of the State been mishandled or mismanaged?

To our knowledge the Prime Minister’s regular trips overseas have not resulted in any serious mishandling of affairs of the State back home.

He is not missed – and in politics that can be read negatively too.

If his presence in country was not missed, of what importance were the trips that the Prime Minister has chosen to take personally rather than delegate his ministers, most immediately his Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Abal?

The Prime Minister’s personal presence at the global conference on the environment at Bali, Indonesia, had immediate appeal and put PNG on the map.

As a small country, PNG has always been a keen supporter of environmental issues from a nuclear-free Pacific to the Kyoto Protocol but nowhere has it made the impact that its position on the environment at Bali did.

The environment is today the most important issue on the agenda of most governments. To be on top of environmental issues and to be recognised as a leader can bring tremendous goodwill and tangible benefits. There the Prime Minister has done well to be personally involved.

And as always, only heads of Governments can attend a Commonwealth Heads of Government meet, so the PM can be excused there. All the other trips could have been delegated to other ministers, many of them first timers who need the benefit of international exposure.

The Prime Minister does not need the experience and should only attend those conferences where his personal stature and seniority can gain PNG maximum benefit.

In this age of international terrorism, frequent trips by our Prime Minister abroad places him at greater risk of being involved in an incident and that would be a calamity that should be avoided.

The other matter is, of course, the cost of any one of these travels.

We would like to invite the Government to publish regular details of the cost of travels by any one of our important leaders, both public servants and politicians.

Along with this information, we would like to know what benefits there are that have come off these trips.

And finally, can we read in these frequent trips signs of a Prime Minister who is weary and perhaps no longer interested in the affairs of the State?

There is a thought but we are not qualified to answer this question either way.

Sepik agricultural college to be re-opened

Bush-covered classroom at Sepik Agricultural College. Pictures by PROF PHILIP SIAGURU

Entrance to the Sepik Agricultural College in Baiyik, East Sepik province, which is a ghost of its former self

Prof Philip Siaguru checking out a rundown classroom at the Sepik Agricultural College

The sad remains of a house at Sepik Agricultural College

The way it is now at the once-thriving Sepik Agricultural College

The once-thriving Sepik Agricultural College at is to be rebuilt under an ambitious plan spearheaded by the PNG University of Natural Resources & Environment (formerly University of Vudal) and East Sepik MPs including Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.
Details of the plan, which would cost several million kina and see the rundown college become a campus of the UNRE, were outlined at a meeting between university vice-chancellor Prof Philip Siaguru and East Sepk MPs Gabriel Kapris (Maprik, Minister for Commerce and Industry), Tony Aimo (Ambunti-Dreikikir, Correctional Services), Ronald Asik (Wosera/Gawi), Commerce and Industry secretary Anton Kulit, Investment Promotion Authority board chairman Prof Albert Mellam, staff of the national agriculture development programme (NADP) and support staff of the three MPs in Port Moresby last Friday (May 15).
Until its closure in 1992, the Sepik college at Bainyik, Maprik, was a lively agricultural training centre which produced quality extension officers for Papua New Guinea and overseas countries such as the Solomon Islands.
It is now, however, a shocking skeleton of its former self with rundown and vandalised property covered by thick grass.
Prof Siaguru gave a well-received PowerPoint presentation which started an animated discussion at the meeting.
The UNRE would provide K1 million under the NADP.
Mr Kapris at the beginning of this year wrote to Prof Siaguru to get the ball rolling, after similar letters to Pacific Adventist University, University of Techonology, Divine Word University and University of PNG failed to get any response.
He also allocated K100, 000 from his district improvement programme – with another K400, 000 to come – to kick start the project.
The re-opening of the Sepik college – to be tentatively known as Greater Sepik College of Natural Resources and Environment - also comes at a time when there is major agricultural development in East Sepik province through the K2.5 billion Sepik biofuel project by Cosmos Oil of Japan, and K900m agri-business development by Australian-based Chinese company SPZ Enterprises.
Prof Siaguru said a memorandum of understanding signed between South China Agricultural University and the UNRE last March would also work for the good of the re-opening of the Sepik college.
He plans for a feasibility study to commence as early as this month (May), a skeleton staff and infrastructure to be put in place next year and 2011, and the first student intake to be in 2012 for the diploma/degree programme in agriculture.
Under Prof Siaguru’s plan, the Sepik college would also cater for fisheries, forestry, tourism and the timely-subject of climate change.
“Total basic infrastructure establishment will be about K20m,” he said.
“At first enrolment in 2011, if all planning has been well, government funding should take over and the college should roll out on an annual budget of about K4m.”
Mr Kapris commented: “It’s very timely.
“The Asian Development Bank has also earmarked K1.2b for PNG.
“The timing is very right for us.”
Mr Aimo concurred: “I’m very happy with today’s meeting.
“Mr Kapris wrote to me for a master plan for development and this is now on the way to becoming a reality.”

Quick action by police prevents looting in Goroka, Mt Hagen and Kundiawa

From The National, Papua New Guinea’s leading daily newspaper (click to view this and other related stories)

QUICK action by police prevented opportunists from looting Asian-owned shops and supermarkets in Mt Hagen, Kundiawa and Goroka yesterday.
The strong police response was accompanied by condemnation of the looters’ actions by a host of politicians and civil society leaders including Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Abal, Eastern Highlands Governor Malcolm Kela-Smith, ousted Madang governor Sir Arnold Amet, Opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta and PNG Trade Union Congress general secretary John Paska.
The Chinese Embassy in Port Moresby also expressed grave concern over the safety of its nationals and their businesses.
“It is our sincere hope that the PNG Government will take effective measures to prevent such incidents from recurring, so as to ensure a peaceful environment for all people in PNG to live and work safely and harmoniously,” a spokesperson for the embassy said.
Lae police, meanwhile, reported yesterday that two men had been killed in the mad rush to break into Chinese-run shops at Eriku last Thursday.
One of them was shot dead while another was trampled in the stampede.
Business activities in Goroka came to a complete standstill yesterday morning as anti-Asian protesters converged on the township calling for the removal of all Asian businesses.
Mr Kela-Smith addressed more than 5,000 protesters at the Peace Park and called on them not to loot shops and attack people.
He said he would convey their concerns to Parliament when it convenes this morning.
In Mt Hagen, police fired more than 50 gunshots into the air yesterday morning to disperse hundreds of people who had gathered at Pope John Paul oval.
Police said they had to fire in the air to chase the people away after they refused initial orders to disperse.
Similar police action stopped a group in Kundiawa from looting Asian-owned shops yesterday.
Simbu provincial police commander Supt Joseph Tondop confirmed last night that quick police action stopped a group of opportunists who tried to copy the situation in the other major centres.
Meanwhile, Enga provincial police commander Supt Michael Chare said the province was quiet.
Supt Chare said many Chinese-owned businesses in the province operated normally yesterday but were told to look out for any large gatherings near their shops.
He said his men were closely monitoring the business houses owned by the Chinese in Wabag town and also in Porgera.

Interesting material on the current controversy - mailed to me by someone I know

The number of ‘old Chinese’ in PNG is only about 1,000. The ‘new Chinese’ number around 20,000. It is estimated that 300 a week arrive in PNG without proper documentation. [Wikipedia – ‘Chinese people in PNG’]
There’s an interesting article I found entitled ‘Contemporary Chinese Community in Papua–New Guinea: Old Money versus New Migrants’ by James Chin, published in an academic journal last year.
Link - http://csds.anu.edu.au/volume_2_2008/117ChinCSDS2008Master.pdf
Chin makes these points:
1. The new Chinese were the biggest beneficiary of the sell-off by European business after the dramatic fall in the value of the kina in the late 1990s.
2. Among the new Chinese, the Malaysian Chinese appear to have some political ambitions.
3. The new Chinese are the biggest investors outside the oil and gas sectors. New foreign direct investment comes almost exclusively from the mainland Chinese and Malaysian Chinese communities.
4. Most mainland Chinese are investing in ‘reserved’ activities such as kai bars, bakeries, low end restaurants, and clothing stores that often bring them into conflict with local residents and the authorities. This conflict increases corruption, as many operators pay off police and immigration authorities when they come to check on illegal businesses.
5. The biggest number of illegal Chinese undoubtedly comes from mainland China.
6. Most of the Chinese groups (including the PNG Chinese) do not like the mainland Chinese and see them as crooks and ‘conmen’.
Chin also provides some interesting analysis:
1. PNGns associate Chinese with low-end businesses like kai bars and other direct economic competitors with nationals. This ill-will breeds suspicions, like the rumour that these kai bar owners sell nationals substandard food deemed unfit for human consumption.
2. There are growing calls for the government to act against mainland Chinese traders. The problem is that the bureaucracy (including the police) is so inefficient and corrupt that any actions it takes against these illegal operators are likely to be useless.
3. The increasing physical attacks against the mainland Chinese, in particular petty traders and kai bar operators, seems likely to increase.
4. The weight of mainland Chinese numbers and their important economic role mean they will soon dominate sections of the PNG’s economy.
5. It is almost certain that Chinese triads will establish a presence in PNG
6. Despite criticisms and complaints directed at the ‘new’ Chinese, Chin concludes that without them there would be no new investment in PNG. No one else has the necessary appetite for risk.

Test

New tanker helps ensure more reliable fuel deliveries

InterOil has announced a major new initiative aimed at improving bulk fuel delivers to the north coast and the islands.
The company has taken out a long-term lease on a modern oil tanker to service the ports in the region
The vessel, the Ipsilantis, was built in 2006 and is capable of carrying 3,200 tonnes of refined fuel.
It will service the ports of Kavieng, Manus, Wewak, Alotau and other ports as required on a monthly basis, delivering refined fuels from InterOil’s Port Moresby refinery.
InterOil Products Limited general manager Peter Diezmann says the vessel is particularly well suited to northern waters.
“She is state-of-the-art in design and construction and her moderate draft of five metres makes her ideal for ports with shallow drafts,” he said,
The Ipsilantis can carry the full range of refined fuels, unleaded gasoline (ULP), diesel and kerosene to domestic ports and will also be used for exports in the future.
“Her acquisition will help ensure we maintain reliable and regular deliveries to our network of bulk fuel terminal facilities.
“The vessel will greatly enhance our ability to service these important markets and will be of great benefit to our many customers there.
“Her acquisition is evidence of our continued commitment to properly service the entire nation with our full range of quality fuels”.

For further information
Susuve Laumaea
Senior Manager Media Relations - InterOil Corporation
Ph: (675) 321 7040
Mobile: (675) 684 5168
Email: susuve.laumaea@interoil.com  

Dinner & Pacific Island Art (please click to enlarge)