More police for Southern Highlands

New police recruits, under the Southern Highlands-sponsored six-month initiative, and their squad master passing by the reviewing officer and Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru in a march formation, The National reports.

The 192 probationary constables graduated last Friday at the Bomana Police College outside NCD. 

Of the lot, 120 will be posted at various locations in the province while 72 will serve in other provinces. A

lso present at the graduation were parade host Police Commissioner Gari Baki, Southern Highlands MPs and senior police officers. – Nationalpic by AURI EVA

JV: Rich Wafi-Golpu mineral deposits

NEWCREST Mining Ltd and Harmony Gold believe that deposits in their joint venture Wafi-Golpu copper and gold project in Morobe could double in size, The National reports.

Newcrest is the new operator of Lihir gold mine on Lihir Island while Harmony has mining interests in South Africa.

The partners had previously told the market that the resource estimate at Wafi-Golpu stood at 16 million ounces of gold and 4.9 million tonnes of copper.

But latest drilling has further extended the deposit.

The partners have now upgraded their ‘’exploration target’’ to a potential 30moz of gold and 8 million tonnes of copper.

Sydney Morning Herald  newspaper last Friday reported that Newcrest managing director Ian Smith told analysts last Thursday that the Wafi-Golpu was shaping up as a major discovery and would form the basis of a ‘’major ongoing long life operation into the future’’.

A pre-feasibility study is planned for next year and Smith said that could lead to a development decision in 2014.

Smith was speaking on the release of Newcrest’s September-quarter production report – its first since acquiring Lihir.

Gold production for the quarter from all operations was 674,219oz.

Newcrest also disclosed in its third quarter ending report that a new operating model it would adopt for the goldmine on Lihir island in New Ireland province would cost an additional US$260 million (K640 million), taking the cost of the mine’s optimisation programme from what Lihir had forecast to about US$1.23 billion (K3.2 billion)

But the additional cost was more than covered by the additional 10 million ounces it would contribute to mine production out to 2040.

Newcrest’s cash costs at A$488 an ounce for the quarter were up from A$342 an ounce in the previous quarter due to the inclusion of Lihir’s higher-cost operations, the impact of lower grades and exchange-rate movements.

The gold production effort was lower than the market expected

Police purge

Bawa first of top cops charged

By JULIA DAIA BORE

NEW National Capital District police chief Fred Sheekiot has wield the axe on senior police white-collar crime in the city, The National reports.

The first victim was former NCD police operations deputy boss Andy Bawa, who was arrested and charged with two counts of official corruption last Friday.

Another 10 senior officers would be similarly charged, Sheekiot, who is commander of NCD and Central, said when declaring that he had started his “head-rolling” exercise of police officers within his command who had been indulging in deals outside of their call of duty.

The crackdown was in line with the directives from Police Commissioner Gari Baki, he said, adding that Bawa had been suspended without pay with immediate effect pending the outcome of his court case.

Bawa had, over the years, developed a reputation as a hard-working deputy of NCD police chief Supt Fred Yakasa.

He had been replaced by Chief Insp Jim Namora as the new operations commander for NCD.

Sheekiot said the charges involved receiving a double salary spanning over three years – one from the police force and another from another government agency since January 2008.

The charges alleged that in addition to his normal police salary, Bawa was being paid K500 a fortnight by another government agency between Jan 1, 2008, and April 22 last year and between April 23 last year and July 21 this year.

Bawa was allowed bail of K500 last Friday, and was expected to appear in court this week.

Sheekiot said the practice of double dipping had been going on for a while with no action taken by those in authority.

“We have to clean up our backyard first before we can effectively exercise our designated roles as policing officers in the larger community of NCD and PNG.”

He said more officers would be charged in the coming days.

Since Baki announced a crackdown on discipline within the constabulary, complaints had emerged that policemen were continuing as security guards for politicians, heads of government departments and statutory organisations and businesses.

It was alleged that these policemen were given vehicles and salaries or allowances by their “side employers” while they continue to draw salary from police and live in barracks or police housing.

“Baki must clean up the entire force.

“The crackdown should not just target one or two people,” a senior police officer said last night.

“If police are providing security for big businesses in the city, Baki must stop them.

“If policemen are wearing uniforms and engaging in businesses, Baki must stop them, or get rid of them,” he added.

Paul Pora passes on

NATIONAL Party and Western Highlands icon Paul Pora is dead, The National reports.

The humble elder statesman was three-time member for Hagen open and one of Western Highlands’ first multi-millionaire businessmen.

Pora succumbed last Friday to a life-long struggle with asthma, exacerbated by a life-long smoking habit.

He was 66 years old.

Many would mourn his passing across the country among the National Party followers, business and personal friends and colleagues, and among his former Hagen electorate, particularly his loyal Yamuka Pepka tribesmen.

As with many people of his stature and longevity, Pora was the stuff of legend.

Such stories often tell the measure of the man.

When former communications minister Malipu Balakau was gunned down outside his house in Mt Hagen in June 1989, the death was blamed initially on Western Highlanders.

Yet, Yamuga Paul Pora was the lone man standing in the middle of the road at Togoba with the father of the late Malipu Balakau to face the wrath of the Enga people.

A convoy of Engan vehicles, nearly three kilometres long ready to do battle and burn Mt Hagen town, was stopped by the figure of this lone man.

He told the Engans that they could continue into Mt Hagen, but, in peace.

He told them that the city was theirs as well as Western Highlanders, that the perpetrators of the violence were not known, only that the killing had occurred in Mt Hagen.

The convoy did proceed into Mt Hagen – in peace where Pora ordered every food bar in the town to contribute food for the assembled Engans and told all Western Highlands tribes in the town’s vicinity to contribute sugar cane.

On the day he lost his Hagen seat to William Duma in June 2002, Yamuga tribesman threatened to block the Highlands Highway leading into Mt Hagen and to close the Kagamuga Airport.

They had good reason.

Three boxes from Pora’s stronghold areas remained uncounted when the returning officer declared Duma the member-elect.

Hearing of the threats and the people’s anger, Pora sent word to all Yamuga men to gather at his Tega village community grounds.

There, he told them, in words we paraphrase here: “The elections have just ended. We have a new member for Hagen Open.

“Something happened that I do not agree with, but there is a due process. It is not for you to take any action.

“It is for me to take this course of action.

“I want all of you to return to your jobs and your homes.

“Everything must run as normal.

“The airport is a national airport and it must remain open.

“The highway is a national road and it must remain open.

“Mt Hagen town is ours. It must not be touched ...”

And, with that, Pora stepped out of politics for the last time.

He never challenged his loss. The last 10 years he spent in retirement at his Kuriva farm outside Port Moresby.

When, as minister for finance from 1988 to 1992, he was told to ensure members were secured into guard against impending motions of no-confidence, Pora always sent away to his own company, Dobel Farming and Trading, for financial support.

Such was the drain on his family business that, while he was yet minister, he had the unpleasant task of appointing a receiver for the company when the PNG Banking Corporation placed it under receivership.

He refused pressure to sack then managing director of the PNGBC, Sir Mekere Morauta, which he perfectly well could have done as minister.

Pora’s funeral service will be held tomorrow at the Sione Kami Memorial church in Port Moresby between noon and 2pm before the casket with his remains makes the final journey, by chartered aircraft, the next day to Mt Hagen and his final resting place at the site of his birth, Kum Kona.

Pora walked to Chimbu to attain his primary education and completed it at Finschhafen, Morobe. He did his high school at Bugandi and Sogeri and was the second lot of intake for the new University of PNG.

He worked for the Reserve Bank of Australia, rising to be registrar of the savings and loans division before he answered a call from local councillors to become council clerk of Mt Hagen.

He was charged with having developed the council’s business arm which now remains the successful Wamp Nga group of companies.

He went into business himself and had a diversified portfolio under the Dobel Farming and Trading holding company name.

He was made the first chairman of the national airline, Air Niugini, and entered politics in 1987.

He served as minister for finance and for civil aviation.

Pora is survived by his four wives and 17 children and many grandchildren.

Soft-spoken, unassuming with the distinctive afro-hair and the curled moustache, Pora helped built many people’s lives and businesses and used others less.

His legacy shall long remain.

Angau: Susan Kingal condition 'stable'

By PISAI GUMAR

SUSAN Kingal’s condition is being closely monitored at the Angau Memorial Hospital, The National reports.

Apparently, her situation was not as bad as thought.

“She is not on life support,” hospital chief executive officer Dr Polapoi Chalau said in a statement last Friday.

“Though the injuries sustained are serious and severe, the condition is stable.”

Kingal had sustained head injuries and suffered a broken right arm and nose in the fatal road accident in Zumim bridge last Monday that claimed the life of her husband, evangelist Joseph.

The Kingals had been returning from a rally in Madang when they failed to negotiate a sharp corner.

Their four children also suffered injuries but Chalau did not say anything about their state.

Members of the Joseph Kingal Ministry at Omili said last Thursday, at a press conference, that they were planning on a medivac for the wife and children to Australia.

After that public statement, all information on the Kingals had been tightly guarded.

There was no information on the corpse of the late evangelist.

While his Rolka tribesmen were in mourning in the Dei council area of the Western Highlands, fellow directors of his ministry were keeping a vigil in “an upper room” of the multi-million-kina complex that housed the movement at Ngamili Street at Omili, Lae, Morobe.

They had been praying since last Tuesday for the return of Kingal’s spirit or for a sign from God that he was not going to return.

9 survive boat accident

By ABBIE COLLACO in Kerema

CARELESSNESS by dinghy operators and their owners has again being blamed for an accident at the mouth of Tairuma River in the Gulf early this month, The National reports.

An overloaded dinghy with nine passengers and store goods capsized at mid-afternoon on Oct 9 in rough weather.

All nine passengers were swept into the ocean.

Fortunately, no lives were lost.

One of the passengers and a mother, Londi Meforoe Haihe, from Moveave village, was also on board with her three children when the dinghy capsized.

Recalling the incident with tears flowing freely, Haihe promised never to travel the ocean ever again.

“My family’s safety is not guaranteed and I could have lost all my children.

“The whole time I was in the water, my heart was so heavy because of the lives of my two boys and daughter, but I kept on trusting God that he would save each and every one of us,” she said in between sobs.

Meforoe was one of the first to be rescued by another dinghy travelling up the mouth of the river into Kerema.

In the ordeal to survive, Haihe’s 11-year-old daughter Yvonne, who also had fuel burns to her abdomen, whispered to her uncle that she could not be able to make it.

Swimming for life, her uncle ignored her and turned to God for help.

All the passengers survived and were treated at the Kerema General Hospital.

Reports said the road to Kerema was still being upgraded and could not be accessed during the wet season.

Reviving Tekadu’s transport and communication services

By SAM BASIL
Bulolo MP

Tekadu villagers welcoming MPs Basil and  Nolam to a fire-making demonstration.

Tekadu’s 600-plus people are part of the 12 tribes of Watut-speaking people also known as Kukukus.

They do not really know where their hearts lies when deciding on which electorate they belong to.

Being caught in between Bulolo electorate of Morobe province and Kerema electorate of Gulf province, the Tekadu people have not seen any air services for the past nine years.

Other essential services are non-existent.

Children growing up to be nine years old do not have any formal education and have not see any planes landing at their rundown strip.

Let us not forget the unfortunate children who have lost their lives through birth and other diseases.

Like many other airstrips in Papua New Guinea, it is sad to see the Transport Minister Don Polye, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, trying to spend K1.4 billion on Jacksons Airport while neglecting such small rural airstrips.

We are also seeing the same in health with Health Minister Sasa Zibe trying to spend K500 million on the Bautama City Super-Hospital while the rural health facilities are neglected.

In my visit to Tekadu last week, I asked the government to properly allocate the 2011 budget including the 2010 budget surpluses (K800m-plus) estimated to be totaling over K10b, to rebuild aging infrastructures such as rural airstrips, national highways, rural health services, and district road systems to make the lives of rural dwellers easy because they make up over 85% of PNG’s population.

Almost 90% of Members of Parliament represents rural electorates one way or another and must have rural people included in all their planning.

The Bulolo district joint district planning and budget priorities committee (JDP&BPC) in December 2009 installed a VSAT communication apparatus in Tekadu which has opened up communications in and out of Tekadu for almost a year now.

The reestablishment of air services through North Coast Aviation (NCA) is just a follow-up service to complement the communication installation.

Revival of essential services will automatically ride on those two very-important services: communication and transportation.

A charter was negotiated and paid for a trip every month at the cost of K110, 000.

The inbound flights will bring in government workers, building materials and medicine while return flights will carry sick and pregnant mothers, as well as buai (betelnut) bags.

It is estimated that 600 to 700kg of buai can fetch close to K6, 000-7, 000 for those rural farmers.

 Buai is the only cash crop in the Tekadu while alluvial gold panning is in its infancy stages.

Accessing Bulolo and Wau from Tekadu is very hard compared to using the Bulldog Trail for Port Moresby.

Its takes almost a whole day’s walk into Nukewa followed by dinghy or dugout canoe  trip from Nukewa into Malalaua the next day, then a PMV into Port Moresby if they are lucky, or wait another day so its takes about three days in total.

The costs are as follow K100 boat fare K60 PMV far, totalling K160 one way or K320 both ways per person.

So the buai they sell must recoup the fares and pay for porters.

The launching was well attended by all on Monday, Oct 18, while the team took the Bulldog Trail the next day.

The team was accompanied by Queensland State Minister for Transport Rachael Nolam and Max Willies of Australian High Commission.

 Nolam took the honors to deliver ducklings to Tekadu villagers under the agriculture programme

Bulolo district administration was represented by the Wau rural LLG manager Judy Pokana, Mumeng LLG manager Amon and Waria LLG manager.

LLG presidents included Wau Rural LLG’ John Yawa, Mumeng LLG’s Mathias Phillip, and Buang LLG’s Steven Sep while Waria was represented by its deputy president.

The Bulolo team, including the MP, used the walk to see for themselves the hardship and the obstacles the locals encounter while also collecting data for headquarters in Bulolo upon their return.

The people of the Gulf village, Nukewa, had a brief meeting with me and reminded me that I was the first MP to trek into their village.

They told me of their lack of services and asked me to help revived them.

I reminded them that I am the MP representing Bulolo electorate and would bring their concerns to their local Kerema MP, Pitom Bombom.

I will, in fact, invite him and will accompany him there to also address the Bulolo people’s concerns in relation to the usage of the track and share some responsibilities for the wellbeing of Bulolo travellers.

Saying goodbye before taking on the Bulldog Trail for Nukewa village,  Malalaua, Gulf province

The trip from Nukewa took nine hours along the river system and another five hours into Port Moresby, with a press conference and tour of Parliament House.

I housed half of the Bulolo team while the other half was accommodated in a guest house in Port Moresby.

The team returned into back into the electorate on Friday, Oct 22.