Prime Minister backs medium-term plan

THE prime minister said next year’s budget, to be brought down in parliament next week, will represent the start of the medium-term development plan for the first five years to 2015, The National reports.
He said under the MTDP, the government was targeting a development expenditure of K36 billion over five years to create an additional 315,200 jobs throughout Papua New Guinea by 2015.
Sir Michael said the MTDP was also the first five-year stage in the government’s broader strategy of the 20-year development strategy plan (PNGDSP) and the realisation of the Vision 2050 programmes, which would provide the overall direction of PNG’s development initiatives for the next 40 years.
“These programmes collectively form the building blocks for economic development and prosperity of our nation for future generations,” Sir Michael said in a statement yesterday.
The plan would aim to achieve an average economic growth of 8.5% a year which would result in a healthy rise in the average GDP per person from K3, 430 this year to K4, 638 by 2015, he added.
“The MTDP now becomes the cornerstone for all national, sectoral, provincial, district and local government plans.
“It provides cohesion, direction, rigour, deliverable targets, measurability and accountability for all sector development activities.
“Above all, it is a programme that enables the whole nation to pull together in a team effort to realise Vision 2050.”
The most significant aspects of the MTDP included:

Ø       The upgrading of 16 national priority roads, construction of 16 “missing link” roads and construction of four additional economic corridor national roads;

Ø       The construction of 315 new aid posts around the country in line with targets set for 2030 under the DSP. The plan required the Department of Health to hire 50 additional doctors and 787 nurses by 2015;

Ø       In the education sector, 1,678 new primary and secondary schools would be built across the nation in every province with more than 9,800 teachers to be recruited in the next five years;
. In higher education, about 21,500 university places would be created, 6,800 technical and business college places, 8,000 teacher places, 5,000 nursing places, 3,700 vocational training institution places and improved access to internet and communication technologies; and

Ø       K1.1 billion will be spent to improve the law and order situation.
Job creation within the MTDP was expected to be dramatic with 87,300 jobs created by the end of next year and 315,200 more Papua New Guineans to have jobs by 2015.
About 239,000 of these government and private sector jobs would be in the “urban formal” sector with most of the balance representing additional rural employment at the “informal level” in a village environment, Sir Michael said.

Baki faces sacking

POLICE Commissioner Gari Baki faces being sacked before his term expires next January, The National reports.
Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare issued instructions to replace Baki soon after he removed Police Minister Sani Rambi from the portfolio to Labour and Industrial Relations.
According to documents made available to The National, Baki faces the sack for “misleading” cabinet in requesting K10 million for police operations in the PNG LNG project areas.
The documents showed that Sir Michael had written a letter to Public Service Minister Peter O’Neill to begin the process of suspending and removing Baki, and appointing deputy police commissioner Tony Wagambie as acting commissioner and Supt Fred Yakasa as deputy commissioner.
The reasons cited in the letter accused Baki of allowing the police force to run down and “there is a general breakdown in law and order”.
A separate letter, purportedly from the prime minister to Baki last Thursday, asked the commissioner to respond to the allegation that he had misled the prime minister and other senior government ministers into thinking that K10 million was urgently needed to ensure continued police presence in Kopi and the LNG corridor and that he had already withdrawn officers from the area.
Sir Michael stated that the decision to withdraw officers was in direct conflict with the advice he had provided and called into question whether Baki had adequately performed his duties as commissioner.
He stated that this was against advice provided by Peter Graham of ExxonMobil that the developer was providing all necessary support to police in the area which included transport, communication, fuel and additional allowances for police.
ExxonMobil stated that the government only needed to provide base salary, uniforms, weapons and ammunition.
“At this stage, it appears as though you have deliberately misled the government and I believe that these serious allegations amount to misconduct and wish to advise you that you have three days to respond to the allegations.
“Failing this, I will institute necessary disciplinary action in accordance with your contract,” Sir Michael stated.
It was unclear if Baki had responded to the letter from the prime minister.
But, police sources said Baki was well within his rights to ask the government for urgent funding because the work of police was a state responsibility, to be funded by the government, and the constabulary cannot be getting paid by contractors and be seen as private security guards.
“If the government is serious about the security of the PNG LNG project, and wants the constabulary involved in security operations, it must find the money to fund it.
“Receiving K2 million funding from ExxonMobil every month will make police look like the company’s security guards,” the source said.

 

Defence changes in the next decade

BY REGINALD RENAGI

A BETTER BALANCED approach to decision-making within the Papua New Guinea defence organisation requires processes to encourage consultation and reconcile diverse views in a timely manner leading to clearer decisions and better accountability.

Defence has had too many committees with the same senior-ranked members.

Over the past two years, these committees have been reduced to less than six.

But they still need to improve their assertiveness to manage many outstanding issues built up over previous years.

The future PNGDF must give high priority to sovereign defence tasks.

More of the Ministry’s attention and resources will need to focus on urgent internal security challenges and national development initiatives like civic action tasks.

To perform its future roles effectively, defence operations will have to be more responsive.

This means developing highly-mobile special operations forces that can react more quickly to internal security contingencies.

More attention must focus on readiness and sustainability than on buying expensive equipment.

The future PNGDF must be a better organised and well-equipped force.

It should be innovative and flexible and share support functions with the civil police force.

The Defence secretary and Force commander must be responsible for implementation of a force restructure and the subsequent reorganisation described in Part I of this series (see post below).

A small force restructure implementation team should be established this year.

Ongoing evaluation must be done to monitor achievement of resource efficiencies.

The management of change will be undertaken by line managers so that process and outcomes are owned by the personnel and organisations involved in the activity.

Responsibility for creating new sub-organisations should belong to the programme manager who will be responsible for the arrangements proposed by the review.

The PNGDF is currently not structured to adequately fulfill its present roles, particularly in internal security, while at the same time engaged in nation building tasks.

A previous Cabinet decision to raise the manpower ceiling to 5,200 by 1995 did not materialise, demonstrating the then government’s lack of political will.

The present security situation demands that the government must rescind the decision in late 2001 to cut the PNGDF’s strength by over 60%.

 It must commit to boosting the military’s size to over 10,000 and to increase the size of the police force.

The restructuring must be conducted in phases to permit the initial reorganisation to take place at minimum cost.

The government needs to make a continuous and stable investment for a decade to properly reshape the department and the PNGDF.

There is no other option but to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of defence within the next decade.

The writer is confident that an appropriate level of defence funding for national security can be achieved.

Defence needs appropriate financial resources to execute a restructuring plan.

A defence re-organisation is required in Papua New Guinea

BY REGINALD RENAGI

OVER THE NEXT few years to the end of the decade, Papua New Guinea’s defence organisation needs to undergo some far-reaching changes.

As part of the government’s long-term Defence Reform Plan, the Ministry of Defence must continually improve its functions by systematically implementing rationalisation at the higher defence level.

In recent times, a separate training branch has been established within the Murray Barracks defence headquarters in Port Moresby.

The Ministry will need to co-locate public affairs, legal services and an integrated logistics component.

An urgent need also exists for a defence reserve force structure to include lower level operations headquarters under existing command arrangements.

The strategic and operational headquarters must also be refined and reshaped.

Unlike in previous years, the new Defence Force headquarters must work well with the Defence Department.

After this, operational units must be further reviewed in some depth to streamline their structures and operational roles.

These proposals will involve changes to the PNGDF’s current organisation, preferably over the next 12 months to two years to make it more effective and efficient.

Once provisional arrangements have been trialled and established, the Ministry should start boosting the overall strength of the Force to meet PNG’s future security requirements.

In addition, the Ministry must be more creative in the use of civil contractors to efficiently maintain its capital assets such as ships, aircraft, heavy vehicles and associated equipment.

In the next two years, before the next national general elections, the PNG government through the Ministry must fully commit to initiate changes designed to deliver defence cost savings while substantially increasing the country’s total military effectiveness.

The Ministry’s continuing challenge is to keep the Defence organisation focused on key outcomes in ways that conform to broader government practices and requirements.

There also needs to be greater centralisation of policy and planning functions, including capability development arrangements.

The Defence secretary and the Force commander must be unambiguously in charge of the Defence organisation.

There needs to be a clear definition of functions solely the responsibility of the secretary, solely those of the Commander, and those which are shared.

A Chiefs of Staff Committee and a senior Defence Management Committee should also be created to provide high level policy and management guidance to the organisation.

The ways in which the military branch and civilian division heads exercise their responsibilities must be considerably changed.

In short, defence executives from both civil and military must know where their organisation wants to go, and what resources it has to get there.

Wantoat farmers need access to Lae fish markets

By SUZIE GEBO of NARI

Despite the mountainous geography of the area, smallholder farmers in the Wantoat local level government of Markham in Morobe have successfully constructed fish ponds and are producing fish of exceptional sizes.

A fish pond at Wantoat

 The environment is ideal for inland pond fish farming.

Currently there are about 30 established fish farmers and the interest in fish farming is growing and more people are starting to engage in this activity.

The pond sizes range from as small as 5m x 5m to as large as 11m x 45m and are stocked with carp and GIFT (genetically improved farmed tilapia) that number from a few hundred to over 2,000.   

Recently, inland aquaculture researchers of National Agriculture Research Institute’s (NARI) livestock project from Labu near Lae visited Wantoat, a remote part of the Markham district, upon request by smallholder fish farmers in the area. 

Wantoat fish farmers and NARI researcher Suzie Gebo (right)

 The visit was organised as part of a NARI smallholder livestock development project, funded under the public investment programme (PIP) of the national government.

 It was a consultative visit to gather information on the status of inland aquaculture activities in the area.

The meeting with the fish farmers explored needs for technical assistance in relation to this activity.

There was interest in fish farming but there was lack of skills and technical know-how in raising fish in ponds.

An important issue pointed out by fish farmers was the absence of quality fish feed.

Feeding low value feed and the high cost of developing quality feed is hindering the progress of this activity.

There are a lot of good feed ingredients available but major components of a basic fish diet like fish meal, millrun and copra meal, were not readily available.

These ingredients are needed to produce quality fish feed. 

Another major constraint faced by the fish farmers is the lack of access to markets for their fish. They are producing large numbers of fish which can be sold to supermarkets or restaurants within Lae city.

However, that is not happening, thus resulting in huge surpluses of fish.

There is a great need for a market network to be set up for these fish farmers.

NARI researchers in collaboration with needy smallholder farmers plan to organise a group of fish marketing trials to try to establish a market link between fish farmers in the villages and the markets in Lae.

With the support of local government services, major constraints of smallholder fish farmers in remote places like Wantoat can be overcome.

Such issues faced by fish farmers in Wantoat and other remote areas, should be taken on board by extension service providers, researchers, development practitioners and policy makers alike, to look into developing appropriate strategies that can enable them to have easy access to major feed ingredients for quality fish feed, as well as an established market network for sale of fish. By creating an enabling environment for fish farmers, their efforts can be well rewarded and they will be motivated to do more thus helping to boost the local economy.

Somares’ referrals of public interest

Leader of PNG Party Belden Namah has urged the Supreme Court, Public Prosecutor and the Ombudsman Commission (OC) to speed up the referral process of Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and his son, Public Enterprises Arthur Somare, both facing alleged misconduct charges.

Namah noted that the referral of the father and son by the OC involving two high profile state officials was of public interest and the constitutional office holders were duty bound to ensure the cases were dealt with in a timely manner.

He stressed that the people of Papua New Guinea expected speedier result of the court appeal by Sir Michael to stop the OC from investigating his alleged misconduct charges relating to declaration of annual returns.

Namah said the matter involving Sir Michael and Minister Somare were of national interest and the people of Papua New Guinea were entitled to get a decision one way or another.

He pointed out that the case involving the Prime Minister went before the High Court in 2008, over two years ago.

"Why has it taken the Supreme Court so long?

The public is becoming suspicious.

 It is in the Supreme Court's interest to bolster the public confidence in the High Court," he stressed.

The OC alleges that Sir Michael failed to lodge annual returns for the periods 1994/5, 1995/96 and 1996/7, his lodgement returns for the periods 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2001/02, 20003/04 and incomplete statements for periods 1992/93, 1993/94,1997/98, 1999/2000, 2000.01, 20001/02 and 20002/03.

The OC referred the Grand Chief to the Public Prosecutor for it to ask the Chief Justice to appoint a Leadership Tribunal to deal with the allegations, but Sir Michael went to court seeking orders to stop the OC from investigating him.

On June 24, 2008, National Court Judge, Justice Derek Hartshorn rejected an application by Sir Michael for a temporary injunction to stop the OC from investigating him.

When rejecting Sir Michael's temporary injunction, Judge Hartshorn ruled that it was not in the interest of the justice of the general public that lawful authorities should be prevented from performing their legal and constitutional duties.

The PM had gone to court asking the court to grant him certain declarations and a permanent injunction preventing the OC from continuing its investigations.

Sir Michael had contended that the OC lacked jurisdiction to continue the investigations.

The conduct of their investigations was oppressive, subject to excessive delays and breached the rules of natural justice to act fairly reasonably and in good faith.

The PM also alleged that the decision not to engage an independent examiner under section 19 of the Organic Law on Duties and Responsibilities of Leadership, as requested by him was decided by an individual and not the majority quorum of three independent constitutional office holders despite bias allegations raised by his client against the commission.

However, Judge Hartshorn in a seven-page decision stated that Sir Michael did not have a strong case to stop the OC from continuing its investigations.

 "It is not in the interest of justice or the public interest that lawful authorities should be prevented from carrying out their lawful investigations.

"Any such prevention should only occur in very clear cases of abuse," Judge Hartshorn stressed.

The judge was satisfied given the evidence before him that the PM's appeal was not serious and the OC be allowed to continue its investigations.

Effectively, the ruling meant that the Public Prosecutor could proceed to ask the Chief Justice to appoint a leadership tribunal to determine the charges against Sir Michael.

On June 30, 2008, the PM's lawyers refiled their appeal matter in the Supreme Court to be heard that afternoon.

The appeal matter related to the refusal of the National Court to grant an order restraining the OC from investigating the PM on an alleged breach of the Leadership Code.

PM's lawyers filed a notice of appeal basically appealing the whole of the judgment of Derek Hartshorn in dismissing their notice of motion.

In the notice of appeal,  they relied on seven grounds saying that in respect of each and every grounds, the National Court erred in the exercise of its discretion which if not overturned would result in the unlawful actions of an authority going unscrutinised by the court and causing serious injustice to the appellant.

The Supreme Court is yet to make a ruling of this matter.

Arthur Somare is also alleged to be in trouble with the law and was referred by the OC on February 28, 2006 to the Public Prosecutor for prosecution under the Leadership Code.

He was referred over allegation that he failed to give annual statements on time that he misapplied his district support grant (DSG) funds and allegedly failed to acquit these funds' expenditure.

The OC alleged that K250, 000 of DSG was allegedly deposited into Somare's electorate trust account held at the Australian and New Zealand Bank Limited, Waigani Branch in Port Moresby.

It is alleged that he then applied the funds in the form of unverifiable cash cheques to individuals; made cheque payment of various amounts for various activities; and made cheque withdrawals for which no details are available.

Despite Somare's assertion that he used for the purposes intended for under the relevant laws, the OC alleged that there appear to be cases where the MP has applied proceeds of the DSG to activities which the relevant guidelines specify as ineligible.

The OC has stated that other payments do not have quotations, receipts, etc to ascertain credibility and genuineness in their applications.

"It appears that the leader applied public funds contrary to the relevant guidelines that provide for, among others, the prudent application and acquittal of these funds," the OC has stated.

It is also alleged that Somare failed without reasonable excuse to provide the watch dog organisation on time his annual statements which details of his assets, income, gifts, business interests and dealings and debts and liabilities.

They are for the following periods: July 16 1998 to July 15 1999; July 15 1999 to July 15 2000; and July 16 2000 to July 16 2001.

The OC said Somare failed to submit his annual statements for the above periods when they were due acting contrary to the requirements of Section 4 of the Organic Law on the Duties and Responsibilities of Leadership."

Section 4 of the Organic Law on the Duties and Responsibilities of the Leadership requires every person who is subject to the Leadership Code to furnish the OC every year details of assets, income and other required information.

Namah said that he was merely asking the Supreme Court, Public Prosecutors and the Ombudsman Commission to perform their constitutional duties and roles speedily in the public interest.

"The constitutional office holders owe it to the nation and people to make an effort to decide in these cases in the national interest.

"It is not our intention to interfere with the work of these important constitutional offices, but expect them to do their job speedily," he concluded.

APEC Finance Ministers contribute priorities to secure future growth

Issued by the APEC Secretariat

Kyoto, Japan, 6 November 2010 – APEC Finance Ministers agreed to contribute priorities for future growth at their meeting here on Saturday after exchanging views on current economic and financial developments and policy direction in the Asia-Pacific region.

 Issuing a statement at the end of their meeting, Ministers emphasised the importance for APEC members to take policy measures to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth in the region.

For the joint ministerial statement, visit: http://www.apec.org/apec/ministerial_statements/sectoral_ministerial/finance/2010_finance.html

Ministers agreed to submit the “Kyoto Report on Growth Strategy and Finance” to APEC Economic Leaders for their consideration when they meet next week in Yokohama.

The report identifies priorities for securing future growth, including rebalancing and strengthening of global demand, pursuing sound fiscal management, and enhancing finance to key sectors such as infrastructure, small and medium enterprises, households and green investment.

 In their joint statement Ministers acknowledged that the global economy is recovering from the recent financial crisis, but uncertainty remains.

While growth in the region is uneven across economies, they said financial reforms are proceeding and that APEC economies should continue to take steps to build a stronger and more resilient global financial system.

They also said that they remain committed to maintaining open markets and fighting protectionism.

 In support of recent moves by the G20, Ministers agreed to strengthen multilateral cooperation to promote external sustainability and pursue the full range of policies conducive to reducing excessive imbalances and maintaining current account imbalances at sustainable levels.

 Because of the weight of APEC economies and their role in the global economy, Ministers recognised that each member, whether a surplus or deficit economy, has to implement policy measures.

Economies with current account deficits will need to take steps to boost domestic saving while those with current account surpluses need to reduce their reliance on external demand and undertake structural reforms that catalyze stronger domestic demand-led growth.

 Ministers also said that they will move towards more market-determined exchange rate systems that reflect underlying economic fundamentals and will refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies. 

 They also said that they need to ensure appropriate financing for several key areas, including for infrastructure, to strengthen growth, enhance productivity, alleviate poverty and improve access to service delivery systems.

Ministers said they will continue to support emerging APEC economies as they implement public-private partnership infrastructure projects, including through a new mentoring program to be launched next year.

 Addressing the needs of micro, small and medium-size enterprises, and households, Ministers launched an APEC Financial Inclusion Initiative to identify concrete actions that financial policy makers can take to expand the reach of financial services to those that need them.

 Ministers committed to taking action to raise international regulatory standards to ensure a level playing field and avoid fragmentation of markets, protectionism and regulatory arbitrage while also recognising the importance of creating more open and integrated financial markets in the region.

 International financial institutions, including the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank also addressed the meeting and provided analysis and economic forecasts for the region.

 The outcomes of the 17^th APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting will be delivered to APEC Economic Leaders when they meet in Yokohama, Japan next weekend.

#  #  #

For more information please contact:

Michael Chapnick (in Japan): +65 9647-4847 (mobile) or mc@apec.org

Trudy Harris (in Japan): +81 (0)80 34173130 or +65 98983710 (mobiles) or th@apec.org