Ms Cook Islands wins Miss South Pacific title

Picture by JASON GIMA WURI

Joyana Meyer (pictured above) of Cook Islands was last night crowned the 2010-2011 Miss South Pacific at Port Moresby's Sir John Guise Indoor Sports Stadium.
The crowning was a culmination of a busy week for the beatuties from countries of the South Pacific.
Eleven contestants vied for the Miss South Pacific title and Miss Cook Islands Joyana Myer won the title scoring well in all categories of the competition.
The final night featured the traditional wear and stage interview.
Next year the MSPP will be held in its birth place, Samoa.
Ms Meyer takes the crown from Ms Merawalesi Nailatikau of Fiji.

Ms Cook Islands (centre) surrounded by the other 10 Pacific beauties

More to come

PNG forecast to outdo Fiji in next decade

ANZ Banking Group chief Pacific economist Paul Guenwald said Papua New Guinea is the economic powerhouse of the Pacific and is set to outperform Fiji in the next decade as it did in the last, The National reports.

Guenwald, elaborating on new report from the bank on Pacific economies this week, said the resources boom would  see PNG continue to outperform Fiji until at least 2020, Radio Australia reported.

It quoted Guenwald as saying that despite the strong growth reported, PNG still lagged behind most Pacific countries on measures of personal economic well-being.

According to the bank, PNG’s per capita gross domestic product was around one-third of that in Fiji.

Gruenwald told Radio Australia he expected that to improve in the next 10 years, good management of the resources revenue by the government, was important to boost income and wealth.

“As of last year, which is the latest data we have on an annual basis, PNG’s economy is approaching US$8 billion in terms of GDP, that’s substantially larger than Fiji’s that is closer to US$3 billion,” he said.

“However, if we look at it on a per capita basis, the fixture is quite different, where we’ve got PNG’s per capita income of about US$3,000 and PNG is closer to US$1,000,” he said.

Guenwald’s comments on Wednesday came as international accounting firm Deloitte Touche said that PNG’s economy  grew by an estimated 5.5% last year and was expected to grow by 7.1% this year.

Asked how he saw PNG performing in the next 10 years, Guenwald said: “We think the story is also quite good in the decade we’ve just begun.

“The reason is the LNG project, which, if it is managed properly, should be able to keep PNG’s growth rate relatively high.

 

 

MPs' pay rise

Massive 52% rise also for departmental heads and others

 

By JEFFREY ELAPA

 

MEMBERS of parliament yesterday voted to give themselves a hefty 52% pay rise before adjourning for a six-month holiday, The National reports.

Opposition MPs walked out of the chamber when Public Service Minister Moses Maladina, appointed to the portfolio less than 24 hours earlier, presented the 36th report of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

Parliament adopted the report on voices without debate.

The vote by parliament raised the base salaries from the prime minister down to an ordinary MP by 52.08%.

The base salary of departmental heads, provincial administrators, provincial assembly members, the chief justice, his deputy and judges, the chief magistrate and others classified as appointed leaders also went up by the same percentage.

The rise in their base salary was backdated to last year, and this rise alone will cost taxpayers K33 million, an appropriation not provided for in the 2011 budget approved early this week.

The rise in the salary rate was based on a review conducted by Hay Group Consultants in 2008.

Maladina said they had found a huge gap in the remuneration of leaders that had developed since the last review in 2000.

He said the report stated that over the nine-year period, leaders’ base salaries had increased by only 5% compared to 52% in the public sector.

During the same period, official CPI increased by 53%, hence, the real value of leaders’ salaries had fallen by more than half while the public sector average salary level was projected to have increased by not less than 10% between last year and next year, Maladina added.

The rise in the base salaries of MPs came after they recently voted to give themselves a 100% increase in housing and vehicle allowances. A total of 750 people will be affected in the salary rise.

The prime minister’s base salary will rise to K262,762 per annum from the current base salary of K172,770. The speaker’s will rise from K146,645 to K223,029; Deputy PM and opposition leader from K134,518 to K204,585; ministers from K104,814 to K159,408; MPs from K52,595 to K79,991; governors from K36,920 to K56,151; and assembly members from K12,885 to K19,597.

The chief secretary’s salary will rise from K134,515 to K204,585 while the chief justice will be paid K261,601 annually from K172,007.

The report also recommended that the security allowance for the public solicitor and the the public prosecutor be upgraded from K6,000 per annum to K12,000.

It also recommended for the prime minister’s overseas travel allowance to be increased from US$100 per day to US$500, which would also include the speaker of parliament and the chief justice.

 

 

Roadblocks outlawed

COMPENSATION claims and blocking of roads by villagers and landowners have been outlawed by parliament yesterday, The National reports.

The enactment of the protection of transport infrastructure received overwhelming support from MPs, voting 62-0, to pass the bill yesterday.

Deputy Prime Minister Don Polye, in presenting the bill, said it was intended to protect infrastructure of all the three modes of transport in land, sea and air.

He said the bill would ensure all transport infrastructures were available to be used for national, provincial and local level transport and was free from encroachment, deliberate damage and excessive and unjustified compensation claims.

Polye said for many years, land used for transport infrastructure had been the subject of encroachment, blockades, trespass, deliberate damage and unjustified compensation claims for infrastructure, even where just and fair compensation had been paid to landowners.

“The cost of this is enormous, with some roads being encroached on, blockaded for extensive periods and/or made unusable by deliberate damage and unjustified additional compensation being paid to landowners amounting to millions of kina.

“The money used to repair transport infrastructure, which is deliberately damaged and paid out for unjustified additional compensation, can and should be used for other purposes including health care, education and building and maintaining much-needed transport infrastructure.”

Any person found guilty of putting up roadblocks, damaging infrastructure such as survey pegs or markers, would be fined K100,000 or jailed for two years.

The more serious of this offence would invoked a fine of K1 million, or 10 years in jail.

Also, anyone who demanded compensation with the intention to extort would be fined K500,000 or face a five-year jail term.

Polye said service delivery and economic development had been hampered by such unruly behaviour for too long, and it was time for the government to get tough.

He said genuine claims and grievances would be addressed through the proper process.

 

 

Six-month holiday

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

 

PARLIAMENT has been adjourned for six months to May next year, after Treasurer Peter O’Neill was forced to assure Speaker Jeffery Nape that K20 million would be released next week for urgent maintenance work in parliament, The National reports.

The adjournment ensured the prime minister cannot face a vote of no-confidence in this term of parliament.

Before that, Nape informed the house that a notice for a vote of no-confidence, which was handed in by the opposition, was found to be defective by the Private Business Committee because three MPs who had signed the notice had withdrawn their support.

Their withdrawal reduced the signatories from 11 to eight, insufficient to uphold the notice.

The speaker’s unusual step to get O’Neill to publicly commit to releasing K20 million by next week gave the impression there was collusion to ensure parliament would meet again 12 months away from the issue of writ for the next general elections.

The opposition described it as a calculated move.

Some government MPs, like Community Development Minister Dame Carol Kidu, was caught by surprise.

“I thought we agreed in government caucus this morning to adjourn to March,” she said, questioning if resuming in May would give them enough time to address the bill of the 22 reserved seats for women.

Opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta said the period of adjournment was interesting that parliament would resume a year before the issue of writs for the general elections in 2012.

“They have done it better in that there will be no vote of no-confidence unless parliament is recalled.”

He claimed that parliament had failed to sit the required 63 days, which would be challenged in court.

“We might as well close down parliament. It is a mockery.

“The relationship between the legislature and the executive government is very strong,” Sir Mekere said.

The opposition also questioned the move by Nape to adjourn for the refurbishment of the house from the K20 million allocation from the supplementary budget.

Opposition member and Abau MP Sir Puka Temu questioned the scheme between the legislature and executive arm of government collaborating to adjourn parliament to avoid the move to oust the prime minister.

He said the funding for parliament maintenance needed to be scrutinised.

“Will public procurement be followed?” Sir Puka asked.

O’Neill last night said the adjournment of parliament to May next year was due to the declining state of parliament facilities including air-conditioning, elevators, toilets and security.

“That is the reason why the speaker adjourned parliament because it cannot function efficiently.”

He said money would go through the normal tendering and procurement processes.

“No money will be disbursed until procurement processes are complete.”

He said the commitment was made to release the money next week through a trust account under the care of parliament.

Butibam women performing a traditional dance

Butibam women performing a traditional dance

Ahi Festival to bring together local Lae villages

By MALUM NALU

Symbol of the Ahi Festival

The inaugural Ahi Festival, a major cultural and sporting event involving the six Ahi villages in and around Lae, will be held at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium in Lae from Dec 12-17.

It is an initiative of Riback Stevedores Ltd, the major employer of Ahi men and women from the six Ahi villages of Wagang, Yanga, Butibam, Hengali, Kamkumung and Yalu and has their full support.

Riback Stevedores staff modeling uniforms which will be worn by the six villages during the inaugural Ahi Festival next month.-Pictures courtesy of Riback Stevedores

Sporting events include basketball, volleyball, netball, soccer, touch rugby and a number of other fun games for the kids.

The Ahi Festival – with the theme Promoting Education Through Sports & Culture - is aimed at raising funds for the establishment of an Ahi resource centre, an education facility which will have a library, computer laboratory and conference and workshop facilities.

“The Ahi Festival is an initiative of Riback Stevedores Ltd and has the full support of the Ahi community,” explains Riback general manager Peter Boyd.

“The company believes that the effects of the social problems facing the Ahi community can be wide-ranging in size anywhere from local effects on a family or a village to the Lae community and even the entire society. 

“The company therefore wants to do its part in helping the Ahi community to help themselves to take a lead now in working towards addressing some of their social problems. 

“We hope other members and stakeholders of the Lae community can also join in and help the people of Ahi in their endeavours to create an educated and orderly community that can co exist peacefully with others in the wider Lae community.”

Boyd said the social problems of the Ahi community could be addressed only if the community could unite and work together in search of solutions with the support of strategic partners. 

“The Ahi Festival can be a powerful tool to unite the Ahi community,” he added.

“It can also create awareness of the social issues and promote a team approach with key stakeholders to address the socials problems with the view to minimise its crippling effects on the people of Ahi – the current generation and also the future generation.”

Some of the main objectives of the Ahi Festival include:

•           Promoting community unity;

•           Promoting and preserving Ahi culture;

•           Creating awareness on social Issues and assistance available; and

•           Showcase local talents in culture, sports, music and business.

The Ahi villages are all located within and around Lae – the industrial city of Papua New Guinea. 

Along with the expansion and development of Lae, these traditional villages are also being forced to accept new changes and influences brought about by the changing socio-economic conditions.

The changing socioeconomic conditions have placed a high demand for land on the Ahi communities. 

This has seen most of the traditional land being taken away.

 Land was taken earlier by missionaries, then the colonial government and recently the state and industry. 

The attractions of  urban life along with government’s and industry’s demand for labour has also attracted Papua New Guineans to migrate to Lae in search for work and better living conditions.

 This unfortunately has created a need for more land.

 Consequently, customary land which used to be hunting and gardening land has all been replaced with buildings, factories and urban settlements. 

Without gardening or hunting land, most inhabitants of the Ahi community are now forced to adopt and embrace the cash economy. 

“Education of the children of Ahi is therefore important,” Boyd said.

“Without land and other natural resources, the human resources must be trained and developed if the Ahi community is to survive and live in peaceful co-existence with every other Papua New Guinean and the wider Lae community.”  

The economic changes around Lae also bring with them many tangible and intangible social problems which affect the Ahi communities. 

Tangible social problems include unemployment; law and order issues; drug abuse; alcohol problems; and school drop-out rate is high.

Intangible social problems include breakdown in moral standards; lack of ethics in community leadership – a recipe for corruption which affects the management of church groups, clans and businesses owned by the people; community disharmony; and breakdown in the family unit