ADDRESSING THE annual conference of the Institute of Internal Auditors in Port Moresby last Friday, PNG Ombudsman John Nero raised the prospect of recovering misappropriated funds.
Mr Nero said leadership tribunals should be empowered to order their restitution.
"As it is, a leader can steal millions of kina and is not be obligated to pay back even though found guilty by the tribunal," he told the conference.
"The public prosecutor, in consultation with the police, (needs to) invoke certain provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act where a guilty verdict is recorded to commence recovery of stolen assets in-country or abroad.
Mr Nero went on to say there was a need for permanent leadership tribunals whose membership could comprise retired judges and magistrates, accountants, lawyers, engineers, business people and the clergy, so members could be drawn at short notice.
This would obviate the strain on judicial and magisterial services in terms of cost and stress on court programs.
He said the chief justice, in consultation with the chief magistrate, should appoint a leadership tribunal within 30 days of receiving a request from the public prosecutor.
Earlier this year the government of the Maldives Republic faced a similar problem of recovering misappropriated government funds that the former Maldives president (who himself had taken over from a kleptomaniac) had reportedly used for personal enrichment.
The previous president, Mr Gayoom, who had held power for 30 years, has now had his extravagant life style audited.
The audit report said in part: "An estimated $9.5 million was spent buying and delivering a luxury yacht from Germany for the president; $17 million was spent on renovations of the presidential palace and family houses. Mr Gayoom built a saltwater swimming pool, a badminton court and a gymnasium, and he bought 11 speed boats and at least 55 cars - including the country's only Mercedes-Benz."
The new Maldives government has asked the World Bank and the UN to help in recovering the funds, said to amount to $US 400 million.
In PNG's case, misappropriated funds recovered could be available for health, education, law and order or any one of a number of areas that desperately need assistance.
An effective audit of trust funds would be an excellent place to start. Bulolo MP Sam Basil recently highlighted the operations of government trust funds as an area needing to be audited and tightened up.
I wonder what might be revealed by an effective audit of government expenditure. Surely those charged with safeguarding PNG's public monies must urgently give thought to Mr Basil's and Mr Nero's suggestions. Who knows, perhaps the PNG Chief Justice, if he were to be sent a copy of this article, might consider these suggestions as a practical way forward? Just the thought that audits will definitely be initiated on Trust funds and those who have been guilty of misappropriation will have to repay the monies and be charged might stop or least slow down the currently reported haemorrhaging. Positive action must start somewhere.
THE government has maintained the disposal of mine tailings from the Ramu mickel mine is done in an “environmentally safe and socially responsible manner”, The National reports.
Mining minister John Pundari, commenting on the outcome of a week-long stakeholders meeting in Madang on the deep-sea tailings placement system (DSTP), said it (the system) was the right approach.
In a statement yesterday, Pundari said the government was confident given the body of evidences from various environmental reports and assessment on the possible environmental impact assessment carried out by internationally reputable scientific organization.
He also noted the continuing efforts towards ensuring the proper disposal of tailings from the mine.
“We must appreciate the financial risk undertaken by the Chinese enterprises to invest in PNG in a project that is technically difficult to develop when no other investor was willing to undertake the challenge,” Pundari said.
He said the government further believed that the environmentally responsible development of the Ramu nickel mine using DSTP technology offered the people of RaiCoast and the people of Madang an important opportunity to develop their communities and enjoy the economic benefits that large-scale mining projects had brought to other parts of the country.
“In parting, it is unfortunate that such a volume of study and information was available even before 2003 when MCC first carried out its due diligence study before taking a decision to invest in PNG,” Pundari said.
“It appears that these studies (dating back to 1988 and beyond) were not an issue for contention until MCC’s involvement in the project,” Pundari added.
A DAWN fire
gutted a shop at Eriku in Lae, Morobe, yesterday as hundreds of opportunists
ransacked adjacent shops and took off with thousands of kina worth of
goods, The National reports.
Looters watching and waiting to raid the
neighbouring Raumai 18 wholesale as fire continues to destroy Lotus Trading at
Eric Woo in Lae yesterday morning.
The fire,
which started at about 5.30am, razed through Lotus Enterprise and, by 6am,
hundreds of people, mainly looters from the nearby settlements of Boundary Road,
Buimo, the Miles and Kamkumung, had gathered.
Outnumbered
police and security guards fired teargas into the air to get the pressing crowd
away from the shops’ front, all in vain eventually.
It was not
long before the looters broke their way into the two neighbouring shops, PC Woo
and Raumai 18, and, in the process, reportedly raping a woman shop assistant.
Members of
the fire brigade, who are about a kilometre away, arrived more than a hour
later after flames had engulfed the building and could do very little to save
anything.
Lae’s
iconic trading companies PC Woo, Papindo, Pelgens and Andersons are all on the
same block, adjacent to each other.
More
onlookers and opportunists arrived at Eriku as soon as the PMVs began operating
at 6.30am.
Looters
were seen carrying knife wounds and other injuries apparently suffered while
breaking into the shops to ransack them.
All manner
of goods, from cartons of tinned foods, bags of rice, frozen goods, household
electrical goods, white goods and clothing accessories to cartons of beer, were
removed.
Eriku’s
surrounding streets were dotted with people unabashedly scurrying to get home
with their stolen cargo.
Although
Guard Dog and Pacific Corporate Security guards were outnumbered at the other
shops, they bravely prevented the looters from entering Papindo, Pelgens and
Andersons supermarkets.
Crowds of
men were also dispersed by police mid-morning at shops near the main market,
Voco Point and TopTown, with the morning
melee at Eriku forcing many businesses and schools to close for the day.
By dusk
yesterday, the threat of more shop break-ins at Eriku was imminent with
hundreds of men still milling about belligerently.
Many
workers, who would have caught public transport through the Eriku bus stop, had
to demand employers to drop them off at home out of fear.
Soldiers
from Igam Barracks had to drive into town, armed in a troop carrier, to take
their children and spouses home last night.
ALL protesting Bank South Pacific workers will return to work today after the bank agreed to raise housing allowances for many of them.
The BSP management reached an agreement with the workers’ union yesterday, and a memorandum of understanding was signed to end the strike.
The striking workers, who had gathered at the PNG Trade Union Congress headquarters, agreed to return to work today after union executives informed them of the outcome of their meeting with BSP.
A joint statement by BSP and the union said the agreement brings to rest resolution eight of the nine outstanding “parked items” arising out from the 2007 consolidated industrial agreement.
The meeting between BSP and the union yesterday was chaired by Francis Hau from the Department of Labour.
The statement said the only remaining issue, housing allowance, would be determined through the industrial arbitration tribunal process. But, as a sign of good faith, BSP had offered a further 10% increase on housing allowances for all Grade 3 to Grade 8 staff.
BSP chief executive officer Ian Clyne said in a separate statement that the industrial action by BSP staff was illegal but assured the staff that no one would be terminated for participating in it, if all staff return to work immediately.
The bankers walked off their jobs work last Thursday, affecting the general services provided by the bank. Many of the ATMs ran out of cash yesterday, and customers stood for hours in lines waiting to be served.
A mother, Doris Okoli, said BSP guards were sending five customers into the bank at a time to be served.
“Standing in the queue with the unpredictable Port Moresby weather is really a terrible experience for me and most of the customers,” Okoli said.
Have you thought of the role of the 39th in the Kokoda campaign? They faced the Japanese at Isurava until the 2/14th arrived. They were relieved. That does not mean they go all the way back to Ower’s Corner but retire until called forward again.
The 39th stayed at Isurava. They had the back seat position. In the withdrawal, the next we see them is at the rest house above Isurava. They are not dug in but
on the track where we find Con’s Rock.
We find that they were intended to move to Eora Creek camp to be rearguard. That probably did not mean they engaged the enemy but waited to see if Japanese
arrived first by outflanking.
Then they would engage. They may have had a role in advising the Field Hospital to move out if the radio link had been cut. But the first soldiers to arrive were AIF. That means that the 39th could move out.
It is a puzzle as the where the 53rd were. Surely in the advance of the Japanese, all troops would move together. Either they had already gone or were held up. Did they move out by an alternative route?
The next duty of the 39th was to do the same at Kagi. This would have been more difficult as there were two ridge lines down which the Japanese could move.
Reports are that the 39th watched the American fighter aircraft strafing to Japanese. That is a puzzle. If the Japanese were down so close to Efogi, where were the 2/14th and 2/16th? Perhaps the strafing was higher up the range.
But once the AIF arrived, the 39th could move out again. This time they moved over Brigade Hill and down to Menari. Is it possible they were to do the same at Menari? It is always possible that the Japanese could outflank. There had been an airdrop of supplies at Menari.
That may explain why they did not dig in on Brigade Hill with any stragglers from the 53rd.
We know the time frame of their arrival at Menari as the 2/27th had arrived and 39th had handed over weapons and ammunition. Why did this happen?
Several friends state they were not disarmed. Were the 39th unable to carry heavy loads because of illness? What of the 53rd? It would take the 2/27th half a day to get to Mission Ridge. Were they short of ammunition? Don’t forget the air drop at Menari.
The 53rd really are a puzzle. Where were they during all this? We know they combined with the 55th. Where was the 55th at the fall of Brigade Hill? Did the 53rd go straight through?
I am just looking at small scenarios on Kokoda and trying to understand.
In this analysis, I base my description on the fact that the 39th had to be ahead of the 2/14th and 2/16th down the track. So they took off as soon as the AIF arrived at Eora Creek and Kagi. Perhaps they found a better site at Mission Hill. That is where I believe they saw theAmerican aircraft strafing the Japanese.
Since independence our
political leadership has been found most wanting.
Every MP elected by parliament to become the
CEO PNG Inc. represents the people as well as being head of our
government.
As prime minister of the
day, he alone must take full responsibility for the way our country’s national
business is conducted.
Papua New Guinea’s early vision was
good and noble in its intentions.
PNG’s national interests
clearly stated in our constitution are all-enduring.
They are still very much
valid today but unfulfilled by the state and its many agencies over the
years.
Had we followed our earlier
plans diligently, then PNG would be a better country and just society now.
This unfortunately is not
the case we are faced with 35 years after becoming independent from Australia.
Many reasons contributed to
PNG’s present woes.
However, the main
contributing factor to our present-day problems must also be directly
attributed to all political leaders since independence.
Successive PMs, as captains
of our state ship never really stuck to the one course being steered at any one
time long enough before making many tacks (as in sailing, to catch strong
breezes by making the spinnaker full and getting good steerage).
All our captains
unfortunately did not make the required adjustments in the way they ran their
ship.
They all failed to ensure
the ship’s daily business was managed by competent crew members.
The training of the ship’s
crew is always the captain's sole responsibility.
They unfortunately failed in ensuring their
senior officers and crew were always fit and up to the task of running a ‘tight
ship’ at all times, in any weather conditions; 24/7 and 365 days of the
calendar year.
Firstly, the PNG ship was
not ready in all respects for sea in 1975.
The then administration was
being run by an all Australia-made team who failed to diligently prepare the
PNG ship for sea.
They knew what would happen
when you send someone to sea without the pre-sea training perquisites being
done which includes crew training as well.
This did not happen and Australia did
not exercise its full duty of care.
Secondly, the captain was in
a hurry to go to sea with his new crew, so perhaps saw no need for more time in
doing other related training.
This would have been good.
It would have fully prepared for any future
situations.
Thirdly, Australia knew full-well our man
was in some sort of a hurry, but was not quiet ready yet.
It could still have told the captain about the
delayed sailing plan until they were fully confident the ship was ready in all
respects for sea before the launching ceremony.
Only after doing this and making sure all
other safety checks have been thoroughly done then Australia would be in a very good
position to hand the ship over to its new owners (the people/shareholders of
PNG).
Australia failed its important duty
as colonial administrators of our country.
As it turned out, the captain
was not properly trained and Australians also knew this same man is expected in
time to impart what he was briefly taught, or knows; passed on his crew members
later.
Therefore, nothing today
should even surprise our political leaders, especially recent captains of our
ship.
Sadly, the captain in his
quiet moments is probably regretful that he has not made a very good job of it
as he contemplates what life would be like after retirement.
Hence, on hindsight, the man
at the helm should know exactly what is really wrong with our ship today.
Is he able to fix the very
big problems now, before it is too late?
The writer and many other
PNG observers have great reservations over this prospect, as Father Time waits
for no man.
In addition, the captain’s
long service is no reason to sing praises now about what a great ship we have,
as most things onboard are not ‘ship-shaped’.
Worse, the passenger’s state
of health is very poor and has not really improved at all over the long voyage.
Many are getting sicker by the day and are
still dying at sea.
The captain can save them if
he chose, and commits to it now.
This is not happening.
Either he cannot, does not
know how to or simply have now lost the zest that initially went with the
job.
One usually gets into this
rut when in the job too long and sadly the novelty of the job wears off over
time.
This is totally unacceptable and must change
for the better, for obvious reasons.
PNG is where it is today
because of leadership failure.
Many bad things have
happened in PNG because of inaction by its many captains of state over the
years.
The man at the helm has steered too many
different courses.
This made several captains over the years to
be publicly perceived as not fully competent to steer PNG in taking her
rightful place in the 21st Century.
The other thing worth noting
here is that the passenger’s constant cries to the captain for help on where
the ship was heading and its final destination were, and is still being ignored
to this very day.
This has made the ship's
passengers very angry, frustrated and many tried to rebelled, not follow orders
with many creating little pockets of social fragmented resistance groups for
self-preservation and daily survival purposes.
The solution to PNG’s
problem is obvious.
Activate our leadership ‘succession
plan’ now.
The time is right to make a
good sea-change and is needed today before the ship runs aground.
Many bad things have been
done in contrary to PNG's national interests.
PNG needs a fresh new competent political
leadership.
The leader must be someone
with a heart for PNG and knows what the job entails by doing it well without
compromise.
The new PNG leader from here
on must at the same time take full responsibility for the safety of his
passengers, and the ship's cargo at all times.
PNG’s new captain needs to
stay on a true course without wavering.
So in review, PNG had a good
vision at independence.
But through several poor political leadership
right up to the present time, the country is not where it was first planned to
be 35 years ago.
There is not much point in crying over split
milk now by people in their comfort zones in making a bad job of defending the
ship’s captain.
In 1975, Australia failed big time to not
properly prepare PNG's state ship.
Due to Australia's grand strategic failure, it
is now shamelessly seen spending billions of its taxpayers' money trying to buy
PNG ships' stores whenever supplies are running low, now and then.
This is not fair on the
Australian taxpayers because the ship of another country is actually making its
own money with good profits.
But its whole money management is wrong, with
the captain and crew's actions to date being assessed as very highly
questionable; and in some cases deemed illegal.
So who is going to
court-martial the captain and crew of our ship?
As nothing is being done,
the risk of mutiny ever increases with the passing of time.
It might put a stop to this because many
state agencies entrusted to stop the people doing this are failing in their
mandated jobs to prosecute and convict those who steal from the national
coffers.
All in all, Australia
should have seen this coming some 35 years before but pretended ignorance at
the time.
It wanted to see a quick ship delivery to its
new owners with no moral sense of duty to do the right thing by PNG.
What is now happening today
in PNG should not even surprise Australia
one bit.
It will be interesting to
see what Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott's future bi-lateral strategy is on what
they plan to do about PNG after they get past their ‘hung parliament’
predicament and move forward this year.
Whether it will be Julia or
Tony in charge does not really matter to PNG.
What really matters now is
how the new Australian leadership will constructively deal with PNG with its
ongoing development challenges.
Reginald Renagi is a trainer of
seafarers and formerly trained/served on many different classes of warships in
the Royal Australian Navy.
Since independence our political leadership has been found most wanting.
Every MP elected by parliament to become the CEO PNG Inc. represents the people as well as being head of our government.
As prime minister of the day, he alone must take full responsibility for the way our country’s national business is conducted.
Papua New Guinea’s early vision was good and noble in its intentions.
PNG’s national interests clearly stated in our constitution are all-enduring.
They are still very much valid today but unfulfilled by the state and its many agencies over the years.
Had we followed our earlier plans diligently, then PNG would be a better country and just society now.
This unfortunately is not the case we are faced with 35 years after becoming independent from Australia.
Many reasons contributed to PNG’s present woes.
However, the main contributing factor to our present-day problems must also be directly attributed to all political leaders since independence.
Successive PMs, as captains of our state ship never really stuck to the one course being steered at any one time long enough before making many tacks (as in sailing, to catch strong breezes by making the spinnaker full and getting good steerage).
All our captains unfortunately did not make the required adjustments in the way they ran their ship.
They all failed to ensure the ship’s daily business was managed by competent crew members.
The training of the ship’s crew is always the captain's sole responsibility.
They unfortunately failed in ensuring their senior officers and crew were always fit and up to the task of running a ‘tight ship’ at all times, in any weather conditions; 24/7 and 365 days of the calendar year.
Firstly, the PNG ship was not ready in all respects for sea in 1975.
The then administration was being run by an all Australia-made team who failed to diligently prepare the PNG ship for sea.
They knew what would happen when you send someone to sea without the pre-sea training perquisites being done which includes crew training as well.
This did not happen and Australia did not exercise its full duty of care.
Secondly, the captain was in a hurry to go to sea with his new crew, so perhaps saw no need for more time in doing other related training.
This would have been good.
It would have fully prepared for any future situations.
Thirdly, Australia knew full-well our man was in some sort of a hurry, but was not quiet ready yet.
It could still have told the captain about the delayed sailing plan until they were fully confident the ship was ready in all respects for sea before the launching ceremony.
Only after doing this and making sure all other safety checks have been thoroughly done then Australia would be in a very good position to hand the ship over to its new owners (the people/shareholders of PNG).
Australia failed its important duty as colonial administrators of our country.
As it turned out, the captain was not properly trained and Australians also knew this same man is expected in time to impart what he was briefly taught, or knows; passed on his crew members later.
Therefore, nothing today should even surprise our political leaders, especially recent captains of our ship.
Sadly, the captain in his quiet moments is probably regretful that he has not made a very good job of it as he contemplates what life would be like after retirement.
Hence, on hindsight, the man at the helm should know exactly what is really wrong with our ship today.
Is he able to fix the very big problems now, before it is too late?
The writer and many other PNG observers have great reservations over this prospect, as Father Time waits for no man.
In addition, the captain’s long service is no reason to sing praises now about what a great ship we have, as most things onboard are not ‘ship-shaped’.
Worse, the passenger’s state of health is very poor and has not really improved at all over the long voyage.
Many are getting sicker by the day and are still dying at sea.
The captain can save them if he chose, and commits to it now.
This is not happening.
Either he cannot, does not know how to or simply have now lost the zest that initially went with the job.
One usually gets into this rut when in the job too long and sadly the novelty of the job wears off over time.
This is totally unacceptable and must change for the better, for obvious reasons.
PNG is where it is today because of leadership failure.
Many bad things have happened in PNG because of inaction by its many captains of state over the years.
The man at the helm has steered too many different courses.
This made several captains over the years to be publicly perceived as not fully competent to steer PNG in taking her rightful place in the 21st Century.
The other thing worth noting here is that the passenger’s constant cries to the captain for help on where the ship was heading and its final destination were, and is still being ignored to this very day.
This has made the ship's passengers very angry, frustrated and many tried to rebelled, not follow orders with many creating little pockets of social fragmented resistance groups for self-preservation and daily survival purposes.
The solution to PNG’s problem is obvious.
Activate our leadership ‘succession plan’ now.
The time is right to make a good sea-change and is needed today before the ship runs aground.
Many bad things have been done in contrary to PNG's national interests.
PNG needs a fresh new competent political leadership.
The leader must be someone with a heart for PNG and knows what the job entails by doing it well without compromise.
The new PNG leader from here on must at the same time take full responsibility for the safety of his passengers, and the ship's cargo at all times.
PNG’s new captain needs to stay on a true course without wavering.
So in review, PNG had a good vision at independence.
But through several poor political leadership right up to the present time, the country is not where it was first planned to be 35 years ago.
There is not much point in crying over split milk now by people in their comfort zones in making a bad job of defending the ship’s captain.
In 1975, Australia failed big time to not properly prepare PNG's state ship.
Due to Australia's grand strategic failure, it is now shamelessly seen spending billions of its taxpayers' money trying to buy PNG ships' stores whenever supplies are running low, now and then.
This is not fair on the Australian taxpayers because the ship of another country is actually making its own money with good profits.
But its whole money management is wrong, with the captain and crew's actions to date being assessed as very highly questionable; and in some cases deemed illegal.
So who is going to court-martial the captain and crew of our ship?
As nothing is being done, the risk of mutiny ever increases with the passing of time.
It might put a stop to this because many state agencies entrusted to stop the people doing this are failing in their mandated jobs to prosecute and convict those who steal from the national coffers.
All in all, Australia should have seen this coming some 35 years before but pretended ignorance at the time.
It wanted to see a quick ship delivery to its new owners with no moral sense of duty to do the right thing by PNG.
What is now happening today in PNG should not even surprise Australia one bit.
It will be interesting to see what Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott's future bi-lateral strategy is on what they plan to do about PNG after they get past their ‘hung parliament’ predicament and move forward this year.
Whether it will be Julia or Tony in charge does not really matter to PNG.
What really matters now is how the new Australian leadership will constructively deal with PNG with its ongoing development challenges.
Reginald Renagi is a trainer of seafarers and formerly trained/served on many different classes of warships in the Royal Australian Navy.
