Thursday, July 01, 2010
A woman in the cutthroat world of coffee buying
The
dramatic increase in coffee prices this year has lured many into the coffee
business.
One of
them, and the only noticeable female competitor to other male buyers in town, is Repy Mopafi (pictured) from Bena in the Eastern Highlands province.
Mrs
Mopafi parks her tinted white 10-seater Toyota Land Cruiser between Mendikwae
Trading and Goroka Bowling Club in Goroka and buys coffee parchment almost
every day.
She is
outstanding because all other buyers are male and are lined up at one side of the
fences of Goroka Council Chamber and Ela Motors while Mrs Mopafi is on their
opposite side.
She was
buying Arabica parchment Coffee for K5.00 per kilogram when she was approached.
She
said she was honest in her dealings which she started in May 2010 and this was
prompting many coffee farmers to go and sell their coffee to her.
“Depending
on the type of contract I get with factories, I want to do honest buying and am
purchasing at a higher price at the moment,” Mrs Mopafi said.
Agents recruiting people illegally to work in New Zealand
The New Zealand High Commission has become aware of individuals and organisations in the community who are allegedly recruiting Papua New Guineans to work in New Zealand picking fruit, under false pretences.
These individuals have been requesting that people pay them a fee, which is illegal.
The New Zealand High Commission wishes to advise the public that at this stage there are no accredited employers in New Zealand that are currently seeking to recruit from Papua New Guinea
While New Zealand does operate a seasonal labour scheme (called the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme), and Papua New Guineans are eligible to participate in the scheme, they must have a job offer from a New Zealand employer who is approved by Immigration New Zealand before applying for a visa.
Any ‘agents’ receiving money as fees from Papua New Guineans for the purpose of going to New Zealand under this scheme are acting illegally.
A coffee cooperative success story
By AUGUSTINE DOMINIC of CIC
Coffee marketing in a group will generate high volume
of coffee and raise more revenue for smallholder farmers.
Hence, the Coffee Industry Corporation, which is
tasked to regulate and promote Papua
New Guinea
An example of a success story of a cooperative society
is the Rikarika Co-operative Society from the Eastern Highlands
province.
Rikarika Cooperative
Society members disembark from their vehicle to gather at the roadside for a
meeting
The society is based in Habaru village along the
Okapa road about 1,500 metres above sea level along the boarders of Okapa,
Henganofi and Lufa districts, just beneath Mt Kuru.
Politically, they are in the Henganofi district
but with their geographical location, it’s confusing to government officers
from the three districts to provide basic government services to them.
As expressed by the people, “government services
from either one of the three districts does not reach us, maybe due to the
confusion created by our central location that one think another district is
serving us”.
Nevertheless, they are privileged to live along
the recently-upgraded Okapa to Goroka road and have easy access to Goroka town
and the services provided there.
One thing they profess about and continue to
treasure is the unique coffee grown in their area, where the climate of the
lower Lufa and Henganofi plains meets the high altitudes of Mt Kuru.
Members of Rikarika
Cooperative Society purchasing coffee parchment at their roadside base
in Habaru village
The award was a big morale booster and the
society continued struggling to uphold the quality values in processing coffee.
Its commitment payed off with another
achievement when the CIC board approved its application and awarded it the
permit to erect a dry coffee factory early this year.
This decision by the CIC board was a first of
its kind for coffee cooperative societies in PNG.
CIC’s manager for industry regulation and compliance,
Sam Menaga, said the society deserved the award as it was very active in
strengthening itself for many years and had gained recognition in producing
quality coffee.
During a recent visit by CIC officers and Monpi
Coffee Ltd to the area, society chairman James Iswalito and his deputy Simon
Fikime, expressed great satisfaction in the society’s progress so far and vowed
to continue to see tangible development brought in to their area through coffee.
“We have allocated land and money for erecting
the dry coffee factory and hope to get it up soon,” Iswalito said.
He also declared his group’s
intention to supply Monpi Coffee with quality coffee produced by his group.
The group initially started with 25 members in
2000 and has grown to over 100 registered members, mostly smallholder coffee
growers owning coffee gardens ranging from one to five hectares and totalling
about 160 hectares.
Powes Parkop makes smart strategic move to middle benches
By REGINALD RENAGI
Parkop has lately been in the media expressing his views on a more-conciliatory manner of certain government decisions in parliament.
Parkop recently made a public media statement that PNG today lacks honest leadership and is both concerned and serious about PNG being provided with honest leadership in future.
A true measure of a successful government is for it to do everything in its power and influence to provide all required basic services and creating the right environment for its citizens to meaningfully participate in our country’s development; and in so doing, the people’s overall quality of life is greatly enhanced proportionally over time.
This has not happened despite the promises at
Today, PNG has an uncaring regime pampering to big business and special interests while making many bad decisions that seriously affects our people today, and will make life hard for future generations.
However, I see Governor Parkop’s actions as those of a creative strategist enhanced by a recent launching of his new political party. As an independent MP, being in the middle benches is a smart deliberate move done not at the spur-of-the-moment, but carefully planned. It is a clever strategic move for the governor as it better leverages Parkop's position to deliver what his constituents need or expects prior to the next polls in 2012.
The governor’s new parliamentary seating plan is a refreshing sea-change. It can have positive benefits for our capital city as well as for the whole country. The middle bench gives Parkop the freedom he needs to constructively engage in debating important national issues without the constraints of being in opposition or government.
Here, Parkop has choices: to abstain; support the opposition, or vote against the government on any issues according to his own better judgement without being unduly influenced to take a ‘pre-conceived’ position.
Moreover, the middle-bench further allows a degree of flexibility to solicit government support for the governor’s capital city vision initiatives. As a first-time MP, Parkop realises now that politics is about compromise for positive gains. It is about meeting the other party half way for both to achieve its own development objectives whilst reaching a mutual ‘win-win’ outcome.
As NCD governor, this concession may be denied him if he steadfastly remained with the opposition and kept constantly criticising the government for its perceived dalliances (whether real or imagined). So by strategically working within the system, Parkop hopes to achieve much of his plans for our city before he faces city residents again at the polls.
I see our middle-benchers not as whingers who have lost their marbles but intelligent MPs. Well anyone can also say this of our opposition. In fact, it comprises of some astute and independent-thinking MPs whose views and policies do not auger in parallel with both opposition and government. This can have positive benefits for the county as MPs here has the flexibility to see both sides of an issue under debate before making a more balanced input on proposed laws.
On the other hand, the opposition needs to be more effective if it is to be considered the best since independence. It should credibly demonstrate that it is the ‘alternative government’ and is up to the task of providing the kind of leadership needed in future.
As the alternative government of PNG, the opposition must get better organised. Its first essential function is to prepare itself for the day when (it hopes) it will become the government. Its second function is to keep the government, its policies and its activities under keen and constant critical scrutiny.
Today, PNG needs strong leadership by having a responsible and responsive government with an assertive opposition to make parliament an effective law-making body. The country must have good honest leaders to ensure clean politics and a sense of fair –play practiced within parliament.
To turn things around in PNG is to have several things in place at the same time. Any good government would by now carry out essential political reforms to improve good governance, being responsible, accountable and strictly adhere to the 'Rule of Law'.
Firstly, the leadership must force itself to be more disciplined, accountable and responsible in all its actions without lying about many things as has been the norm for some time now. It is important that PNG now needs a strong no-nonsense party leader to better reorganise the current coalition government makeup by having good honest MPs in charge of key portfolios (I.e. A revitalised NEC).
Secondly, PNG must have an effective opposition to always keep the government on its toes. The opposition must start employing effective strategies to ensure all its shadow Ministers are well-versed in their responsibilities to keep constant scrutiny of government actions and its decision-making process.
Thirdly, parliament has been shirking its primary responsibility by poorly serving PNG’s national interests. A parliament that compromises PNG’s national interests does not deserve the people’s support and vote at the polls.
Finally, the way ahead is for a more-effective leadership and a new team of committed social engineers who will have PNG’s best interests at heart to completely transform the people and this country. Without pre-empting events ahead of time, given the right conditions and strategies employed now, it is not too far-fetched to imagine my capital city governor Powes Parkop to be a potential prime minister material in future.
All NCD residents should now on give their full support to Governor Powes Parkop and his city hall team in their tireless efforts to make PNG's capital a clean, safe and healthy environment for all.
UNESCO encourages UOG Enga students’ awareness activities
Yori Yei, secretary general of UNESCO (PNG),
spent time with students from Enga province currently studying at UOG.
Yei presented to the association K5, 000 to
be used for awareness activities in the Enga Province
.JPG)
Manager for culture at UNESCO Paul Peter and secretary general of UNESCO PNG Yori Yei presenting the money to president of Enga Students'
Association at UOG Wanpis Napian and chairman of Jamaica Kandes with lecturer Lynn Iarume looking
on
The donation, presented by Yei on behalf of
James Marape Minister for Education and chairman of UNESCO in PNG, was accepted
by the Enga Students’ Association chairman Jamaica Kandes and president Wanpis
Napian.
Yei explained to the students that the
money should be utilised for activities related to the education of those uneducated
people in Enga.
“It’s your responsibility as the educated elite
of the province to help educate Engans on current issues,”Yei told the
students.
Yei said UNESCO was happy to support little
initiatives for public awareness and education.
Napian said there were many issues that needed
to be addressed in Enga province.
He said the donation from UNESCO would be
used by the students for awareness activities in the province on outcome based
education (OBE) in primary schools, as many people did not know about OBE in
Enga.
The PNG Commission for UNESCO is based in Port Moresby
Anyone wishing to donate or support the
Enga Students’ Association at the University of Goroka should contact Mr Kandes
on email jamaicastonez@yahoo.com
or Napian on email wanpisnapist@yahoo.com
or care of the University of Goroka, PO Box 1078, Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province,
Papua New Guinea.
Police arrest top bankers
GARTH McIlwain, one of the most respected figures in PNG’s finance and banking industry, was arrested by police yesterday, The National reports.
In a new twist to the case filed by businessman and former politician Peter Yama, McIlwain and senior Bank South Pacific official Robin Flemming were taken to the Konedobu police fraud squad office for questioning yesterday afternoon.
They were then transferred to the Boroko police station, where they were charged and locked up in the cells for about an hour before they were released on K5, 000 bail.
Senior police officers were unaware of what was unfolding, and refused to comment when contacted.
Police media unit officers were seeking more information on the arrest before they could brief Police Commissioner Gari Baki on the arrest.
The National could not obtain details of the charges laid against the two men, but it is understood their arrest is related to a complaint of falsifying document relating to a fixed floating charge BSP had against Yama and his companies in 1999.
The prime minister’s legal counsel, Sumasi Singin, rushed to the police station to find out what was going on when he heard of their arrest.
News of the arrests, and the manner in which the two were treated, is likely to outrage the business community.
Police had previously arrested Flemming, BSP lawyer John Maddison and private lawyer Erik Anderson for conspiracy to defraud relating to this case. The case against them was dismissed in court.
Mcllwain and Flemming will appear in court any time this week.
McIlwain recently retired as chief executive officer of BSP.
He is the chairman of Credit Corporation and was at the helm of the successful merger of PNG Banking Corporation with BSP, now the leading bank in PNG and the Pacific region.
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