'Aussie' Baure still in lockup

 SELF-proclaimed “Australian citizen” Jonathan Baure, whose followers managed to sneak past Australian security in the Torres Strait to reach the Cape of York last week, is still in police custody in Port Moresby with no hope of bail – at least for the remainder of this year, The National reports.

Yesterday was his fifth day in the lockup at the Boroko police station after he was arrested on Daru Island last Saturday, flown to Port Moresby and charged with breaches of immigration and customs laws in organising a flotilla of boats, with 122 Papua New Guineans, to travel to Australia to protest that they should be recognised as Australians.

Baure’s lawyer Robbie Kanison Kone, of Poro Lawyers, failed yesterday to find a magistrate to grant him bail.

But Kone said later he was hopeful that his client would get a fair hearing in court.

Police had refused bail since Baure appeared in court.

Yesterday, at an impromptu hearing at the residence of magistrate Lawrence Kangwia, police rejected Kone’s application for bail.

However, the magistrate ruled that the matter should be heard at a Waigani Committal Court this morning.

Baure told The National at Boroko that he did not understand why he had not been released on bail on his own recognisance.

He had been charged with false assumption of authority and impersonating a public officer.

Police prosecutor Aibare Bosing said Baure had been charged with false pretense under section 97(1) (b) of the Criminal Code.

Baure’s “victory”, though, was being able to organise at least 10 people from his original group of 122 to reach Cape York Peninsula and raise a Papuan “flag” on Australian mainland soil.

The stunt was part of the group’s ongoing struggle for recognition that Papuans were not given a choice to remain as Australians when PNG gained independence in 1975.

Papua covers the southern half of the PNG mainland and the group claimed its members were still Australian citizens because there was no referendum to legally sever ties with Australia.

Other members of the group were rounded up in Australian waters around the Torres Strait islands and airlifted back to Daru last weekend.

 

Ipatas slammed

Politics heats up with house due to sit to elect Governor General

 

A COALITION partner of the National Alliance party-led government came under attack from a key figure of the ruling party yesterday, underlining the tension and distrust that exist within the different factions in government, The National reports.

NA stalwart and Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations Sani Rambi yesterday attacked Enga Governor and People’s Party leader Peter Ipatas in a media statement, describing him as someone who cannot be trusted.

Rambi fired the broadside after Ipatas reportedly took offence at not being credited with the rise of Wabag MP Sam Abal to deputy prime minister, and then acting prime minister, at the expense of Kandep MP Don Polye.

It was suggested the move to demote Polye and promote Abal was cleverly done to destabilise and destroy NA in the highlands.

Ipatas later denied this, saying he did not set out to destabilise or destroy NA.

But, Rambi said Ipatas’ denial of having any part in the recent reshuffle “only reveals the cynical and sinister person that he (Ipatas) is”.

He said Ipatas was out to cause instability and destabilise the government.

“Everyone who follows politics in PNG knows Ipatas is the one who sponsored the opposition’s drive to overthrow the government when he led members of the current opposition to nail their shoes to a post at his Bluff Inn Motel last year.

“He has always been planning and scheming to change the government since 2007 after failing miserably in his campaign to become the next prime minister,”

Rambi said: “For him to now say that he is a ‘friend’ of NA, and will continue to support the government, is quite difficult to believe. His kind of friendship is one that NA, as an institution, cannot afford to trust.

“I urge Ipatas not to meddle into the NA party affairs because NA is simply too big an institution for him to play his self-centred politics with.

“While we respect and value the support of coalition partners, we will not tolerate those with sinister motives as, we believe, is the case with People’s Party and its leader.”

Rambi said NA was intact under the leadership of deputy leaders Polye (highlands), Patrick Pruaitch (Momase), Ano Pala (Papua) and Fidelis Semoso (New Guinea Islands) and would return to form the government after the elections in 2012.

Ipatas could not be reached for comments last night.

There were speculations that Ipatas and others outside NA were involved in convincing Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to remove Polye as deputy prime minister.

Polye’s removal and the promotion of Abal created tension within NA, and a distrust for members of the coalition, and this had fuelled speculation the opposition would capitalise on this to remove the prime minister through a vote of no-confidence when parliament sits on Jan 11 to elect a new governor-general.

The opposition had said it would introduce a motion for a vote of no-confidence despite acting Speaker Francis Marus insisting he would not entertain any such motion

 

MMJV on the way to achieving community health post concept

It is a health service only to be dreamed of by most rural communities in Papua New Guinea, where typically one busy aid post orderly struggles to meet the needs of a long line of patients, with a short supply of medicines.

The new model is a community health post (CHP) manned by three health professionals, one specialising in the health needs of mothers and children, another in public health and one focused on healthy living programmes.

Morobe Mining Joint Ventures (MMJV) under its health infrastructure programme is on the way to achieving this ideal arrangement, meeting targets announced recently by the National Department of Health.

The department said in a public announcement last month that rural health system strengthening would occur through the rollout of the CHP concept.

The NDoH said the CHP was not all about building new infrastructure, but refurbishing and maintaining existing aid-posts and meeting standards and status set for a community health post.

Each CHP will ideally be manned by three health workers.

The department said the CHP was not a new concept as some provinces already had similar arrangements under different names.

It is about strengthening what is there already.

MMJV, the operator of the Hidden Valley mine and the developer of the Wafi project, is already working towards achieving the CHP concept through the construction and maintenance of a number of aid posts in the area of its operations in the Bulolo and Huon Gulf districts of Morobe province.

The company is constructing four new aid posts for its landowner villages near the Hidden Valley mine, at Nauti, Kwembu and Winima and the Wafi-Golpu project at Babuaf.

There are also plans to maintain existing aid-posts.

The national government’s plan is to strengthen rural health services in all 89 districts by 2020.

MMJV’s health infrastructure programme is aligned to support the plan within its area of operations.

MMJV is committed to providing improved medical services to the many thousands of people living not only in the communities located in its footprint of operations but throughout the district.

The company is working closely with the provincial health division to achieve this outcome.

 

 

Sack slack lawyers: Namah

Leader of PNG Party Belden Namah has called on acting Prime Minister Sam Abal to sack incompetent Government lawyers to prevent further embarrassment as Parliament scrambles to convene next month to elect a new Governor General.

Namah blamed the Government’s legal experts for the current constitutional crisis, which he said would not have come about if they did their jobs well to advise the Government properly.

As well, he urged state law-enforcing agencies to investigate and refer all involved: politicians, bureaucrats and political cronies who were responsible for the blunders.

He said the blunders included Parliament not sitting to meet the required 63 days in a year, illegal re-appointment of Sir Paulias Matane as Governor General last June, attempts by sidelined Prime Minister Sir Michael to stop the Ombudsman Commission from investigating him and Sir Michael stepping aside from duties before a Leadership Tribunal was set up to hear his alleged misconduct charges.

Namah said in all these instances, Government legal experts failed miserably, causing constitutional blunders, much to the embarrassment of the over six million Papua New Guinean citizens.

“What advice did our legal experts and new Attorney General Sir Arnold Amet provide? He said.

“Why didn’t they advice the Government properly to save the embarrassment and millions of kina that will cost the taxpayers.”

Namah said as a direct result of bad advice, taxpayers would meet the legal costs and recalling of Parliament.

 He urged law-enforcing agencies to take immediate remedial action, including prosecution and referral of individuals to relevant authorities to be dealt appropriately.

“Politicians, bureaucrats and private advisor responsible must face the consequences,” Namah said.

“They must account for their action and inaction. 

“Those in trusted and responsible positions must not be allowed to continue abusing processes and breaking laws.

“Bad decision based on stupid advice is costing PNG millions.

“This money should be used to improve much-needed health, education and other basic services PNG-wide.

“It is incumbent on Mr Abal to crack the whip and start sacking incompetent individuals to save millions of taxpayer funds spent on huge legal bills.”

 

Cyclone havoc

Power stations hit, 3-hr rationing starts

 

CYCLONE Tasha, which hit Queensland last Saturday bringing its worst flooding in decades, has also caused chaos in coastal areas of Central and the National Capital District in the past two days, The National reports.

Torrential rain and strong winds, since the weekend, caused power blackouts in the city and surrounding areas as PNG Power announced that its four power stations at Rouna were affected by excess water and debris blockages.

It also announced emergency load shedding of three-hour duration as its technicians work to get the hydro stations operational again.

At Laloki settlements outside Port Moresby, more than 500 people were forced to evacuate as their food gardens were destroyed when the Laloki River burst its banks.

Flood waters also cut off the Hiritano Highway, stopping traffic until yesterday morning.

Police were also keeping a close watch on the Bomana jail, which sits on the south bank of Laloki, in case they needed to evacuate the 600-odd prisoners.

The jail had been flooded in the past but not serious enough to force mass evacuation.

Several coastal Motuan villages reported that roofs were blown off their homes by strong winds but no structural damages were reported.

 

Gau, Fairweather in race for top post

By JAYNE SAFIHAO

 

EAST Sepik Regional MP Sir Michael Somare and acting Prime Minister Sam Abal are backing Rai Coast MP James Gau for the position of Madang governor, The National reports.

Abal travelled to Madang on the government’s Falcon jet from Wabag on Tuesday where he was met at the Madang Resort hotel by local businessman and former politician Sir Peter Barter, Attorney-General Sir Arnold Amet and Sir Michael.

After making their intentions known, Sir Michael and his wife, Lady Veronica, left for Wewak later that day.

Another likely candidate for the governorship is Sumkar MP Ken Fairweather.

Observers said local level government presidents from Sumkar, Rai Coast, Usino-Bundi, Madang and upper and lower Ramu were with Gau, a Madang local.

Only 17 months as a politician, Gau said: “This is basically what the national government has promised to Rai Coast, and there are many outstanding issues to be dealt with such as the Ramu nickel mine and the Manam-Bogia resettlement issues among other things.”

Fairweather was, however, also confident on Monday of taking the governorship, claiming that he

had the support of 16 LLG presidents.

“I am the best man to do the job.

“I have the support of these presidents and even open members.

“I will fix the law and order and money problem in the province.

“I am the best and the tough one to do the job.

“If they do not think so, then, I will be happy to go back to Sumkar where I love it. But, if any presidents think they will get any money from me for their support, they can forget me. I am not paying anyone,” Fairweather said.

High on the LLG presidents’ list is the provinces K97m budget breakup and the disbursements of its funding portions to high priority programmes in the district’s medium-term development plan (MDTP) areas.

The provincial assembly was likely to meet sometime next week to vote in a new governor and deliberate on Madang’s 2011 budget.

 

Flood destroys houses, food gardens

By ANGELINE KARIUS

A child standing knee-deep in floodwaters in front of his home at Laloki in Central after it subsided at around 10am yesterday. The Laloki River burst its banks yesterday morning and destroyed food gardens and many other properties. Many families, especially mothers and children, were brought to Port Moresby for their safety. – Nationalpic by ANGELINE KARIUS

More than 500 people have been displaced and food gardens destroyed at Laloki, outside Port Moresby, due to heavy rains experienced recently in the nation’s capital city, The National reports.
According to locals in the area, heavy downpour in the late hours of Tuesday continued until early Wednesday morning.
Women and children have been reportedly taken at first light immediately into the city by relatives.
A mother from the area said around midnight, water began seeping into their homes.
She said everyone evacuated to higher ground with their children in tow.
“We were scared for our lives.
“All our food gardens have been destroyed in the flood,” she said.
She added that the entire highway was flooded that vehicles could not even pass until 10am yesterday.
“Only our immediate families have come to assist us to evacuate to safer grounds,” she added.
NCD metropolitan commander Supt Joseph Tondop advised the families to immediately evacuate the area.
He said with the weather pattern experienced recently, it might cause other problems if they remained.