Trawen: Roll full of errors

By JEFFREY ELAPA

 

THE electoral roll contains flaws and is inconsistent, Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen has said, The National reports.

He said this had been the case in the last 35 years and it needed correction before next year’s general elections.

Trawen was speaking at the closing of a week-long electoral managers’ workshop at a village resort outside Port Moresby last Friday.

He said the focus this year would be on preparing for next year’s election, with the priority on maintaining and updating the electoral roll.

The electoral roll maintenance programme had started throughout the country.

“The family order listing, which was trialled in Lufa and Manus late last year, has been recommended for use in updating the electoral roll, particularly in the highlands,” Trawen said.

The commission’s efforts were further boosted with the national government’s allocation of K24.7 million in the recurrent budget and K25 million from the development budget.

“For the first time, PNGEC has been recognised as a major player in the country’s democratic, economic and social development.

“We must embrace this opportunity and deliver our products and services, and putting together credible electoral rolls for the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections next year,” Trawen said.

On the proposed Hela and Jiwaka provinces, the electoral commissioner said there were still holes in the legislation that needed fixing before their boundaries could be finalised

 

K70 million demand for InterOil refinery land

By JEFFREY ELAPA
LANDOWNERS from Napanapa in NCD yesterday blocked off access leading to the InterOil oil refinery outside Port Moresby in protest over the non-payment of a promised K70 million payment of a total K286 million land compensation, The National reports.

Napanapa locals displaying a banner citing 12 years of suffering

The villagers also demanded that they sign a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the company.
The more than 50 people, including women and children, claimed they were forcefully removed by police with warnings against a repeat blockade.
Acting NCD metropolitan commander Supt Jim Namora last night said he was not aware of the forced removal of the villagers.
It was understood that some of the protesters, especially men, were arrested but later released following requests by InterOil.
The resource developer could not be reached to confirm these incidents.
A visit by The National to the site late yesterday afternoon found some of the villagers and their families still camped near the blockade. They had chopped down a tree and placed it in the middle of the road. They said the blockade had resulted from the government’s failure to pay them the K70 million approved by the prime minister on Nov 4 last year.
According to a letter sighted by The National, the prime minister had written to Petroleum and Energy Minister William Duma and Finance Peter O’Neill on Nov 4 last year to settle the K70 million owed to the landowners.
This did not happen and the landowners issued a seven-day notice which lapsed last Friday. They then resorted to blocking off the road, denying traffic access to and from the refinery plant.
Landowner spokesman Moale Haira claimed that the landowners had not seen any benefits in the 12 years that InterOil had been in operation.
He said a provincial lands court had granted them ownership of the refinery land and they should be paid accordingly.
Work at the project site was progressing normally yesterday

People's power is latest tool

“Enough is enough”

Letter to the editor in The National Monday, Feb 14, 2011

To those who have been following the recent uprising in Egypt and other parts of the Middle-East, I believe many would agree with me that these events marked the dawn of a new era in the 21st century’s socio-political life – people’s power.

Egypt’s uprising against the ruling regime was inspired by a lone act of a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire after his stalls were raided by the Tunisian police.

His death led to massive protest and bloodshed, eventually ousting Tunisia’s corrupt regime.

Egypt was ruled for the last 30 years by another iron fist leader who did many things including altering the constitution to suit his interest.

The massive protests, which claimed some 300 lives, were an attempt to be free from oppression.

Papua New Guinea is no different to these countries.

For years, our resourceful land has been exploited by self-interested regimes and so-called politicians leaving us with nothing but scarred landscapes.

Most of our resources are being sold cheaply to foreign companies in deals that lack transparency and integrity, while our own people suffer from the low standard regulatory framework and conditions.

We speak of “development” only to realise that after nearly 40 years of independence, the word is political rather than technical, good at giving hope but no substance.

Our leaders are more concerned with power than the people’s welfare and we are being poisoned by the venom of regionalism, crime and ignorance as we struggle to make ends meet within a vicious cycle of suffering.

Tunisia and Egypt are breaking free from their yoke of suffering because people held their head up and say “enough is enough”.

When will the people of Papua New Guinea stand up?

We have suffered for far too long.

Unless we do something, we will continue to die in silence.

Australian pilot missing in chopper crash off Manus

AN Australian pilot is missing, feared dead, after his helicopter crashed into the sea between Manus and Madang on Sunday, The National reports.
Radio Australia reported last night that the wreckage had been found but there was no sign of the pilot who was identified as Lloyd Lester, 57, from Queensland.
He was the only person on board the helicopter when it crashed into the Bismarck Sea on Sunday morning.
His employer, Pacific Helicopters, told the radio service that the wreckage of the chopper has been spotted about 50km from Manus Island.
Floating among it was the helicopter’s emergency life raft, which had not been deployed.
A company spokesman said the state of the wreckage indicates a high-impact crash.
Pacific Helicopters said it would continue its search today for Lester in the hope that he may have swum to an island.
An air and sea search had started on Sunday morning.
Lester was flying from Madang to Manus Island and was the only person on board the helicopter when it crashed.
Pacific Helicopters managing director and Eastern Highlands Governor Malcolm Kela-Smith told Radio Australia that Lester was about 50km from Manus when he activated an emergency switch.
“He still might be alive. It’s a hope by me,” he said.
“I know he is a very fit person and there was a small nearby island he could have swum to, but at this stage it’s just a hope.”
Lester’s daughter, who wanted to remain unnamed, told News Limited: “He is an amazing father.”
“It’s just a waiting game. We’re hoping they don’t just give up on the search anytime soon.”
An Australian department of foreign affairs spokeswoman said the Australian high commission in Port Moresby was liaising with local authorities and Pacific Helicopters

 

Who??...is w-Hu? Hilarious cartoons on how China will own America some day soon

Sustainable use of wetlands

By JAMES LARAKI of NARI

Wetlands are all about water, the continuous supply of water and its natural resources.
It is an area where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or seasonally.
Wetlands eco-systems are found in wide range of environments from coastal deltas, oxbow lakes, mountain lakes, to high altitude inland swamps.
Wetlands eco-systems are among the world’s most productive systems.
They are essential for the supply of fresh water, maintenance and use of biodiversity, mitigation of the effects of climate change, natural water cycle, and sustenance of livelihoods of local communities who depend on them.
Wetlands include coral reefs, coastal eco-systems, peat lands, swamps, lakes and rivers.
There are many benefits that we all derive from these wetlands.
Simple things that we do everyday involve water.
Recent studies suggest that wetlands occupy in excess of 12.8 million sq km globally; although this may be an underestimate due to variations in the definitions used when identifying different types of wetlands.
In Papua New Guinea, wetlands provide tremendous economic and conservation benefits through marine and fresh water food resources, flood control, maintenance of shoreline stabilisation, estuarine systems for coastal fisheries, water quality, provide recreational opportunities, and natural habitats for some important food crop resources like sago, mangroves and water lilies.
The global community recognised the significance of wetlands and signed the International Convention on Wetlands of International Importance on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar.
Papua New Guineaa signed up to the convention in 1993.
The Ramsar Convention is now observed as the World Wetlands Day every February 2, since 1997 when it was first celebrated.
The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) is the custodian of our vast wetlands.
It is tasked with their conservation and sustainable use.
People have been associated with wetlands from prehistory to the present day.
Wetlands have been among the most-attractive areas in the landscape, satisfying a variety of needs for hunting and gathering, spirituality, water resources and agriculture.
Wetlands and agriculture are closely linked together and both have greatly influenced humankind.
Available evidence suggests that human settlements started in and around the wetlands. Long before humans learned to grow food, they depended, at least partly, on wetlands for their sustenance.
Agriculture is said to have its beginning in the wetlands and grew at the expense of wetlands (and forests).
Wetlands have been, and will remain, important agricultural resources for people in many parts of the world including PNG.
The most-common form of agriculture in wetlands is paddy rice cultivation.
Evidence of rice culture dates back to the earliest age of humans and domestication of rice started in shallow swamps.

Transplanted rice field

With the growing demand for food, seasonal marshes were modified into paddy fields as man-managed wetlands.
While there are no evidence to suggest the exploitation of wetlands for agriculture in PNG, various types of foods are sourced from it.
Sago, for example, is a common wetland plant and a stable food crop to many communities in the Sepik, Gulf, Western, Madang and Manus provinces.

Growing  rice field

With increase demand for food together with issues of climate change, people will turn to cultivating wetlands.
With such situation and other resource developments like mining, the ecosystem of wetlands is threatened.
DEC is already concerned that some wetlands have been lost through impacts of mining and urban expansions.
The department is already developing its capacity to promote research and education on the wise use of wetlands in PNG.
On the occasion of World Wetlands Day early this month, DEC has called on all citizens to value the importance of wetlands preservation, its uses and its significance to our livelihood.
Awareness on its importance is required in line with the technical plan of the Ramsar Convention to conserve and sustainable use the wetlands.
They should not be considered as wasteland, rather their importance to the local communities who depend on them should be considered before any development.
In view of the objectives of DEC, mechanisms should be in place to promote the synergies between agriculture, wetlands and water resources management.
This can be achieved by developing and implementing guidelines to jointly manage agriculture and wetland eco-systems for food production in a sustainable manner.
Food security is a universal goal and it is linked with sustainable level of food production.

Fish pond

The limits to food production are dictated both by the availability of land and water resources and our capacity to increase the productivity of these resources without depleting or degrading them.
The potential contribution of wetlands resources to food security is vast and varied.
Mobilising this potential depends largely on our ability to understand the many interactions which ultimately determine the functions of a wetland and its eco-system.
Development and use of appropriate technologies could lead to effective utilisation of these resources sustainably to meet our needs.
To utilise their potential, there is a need to understand its complex yet fragile ecosystem.
It is believed that agriculture has grown at the expense of natural wetlands.
The wetland eco-systems are being threatened today due to various human interventions. Therefore, conservation of wetlands requires an integrated, balanced, and coordinated approach to the management of water resources whereby the impacts of agriculture on wetlands are minimised without compromising agricultural production.
Appropriate policies needs to be developed to strike a balance between agriculture and wetland conservation.
With these in place agriculture should be a partner in wetland protection.

NARI now has full council

The National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) now has a full council with the appointment of representatives from the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) and the University of Technology (Unitech) early this month.

The national executive council (NEC) appointed Prof Chalapan Kaluwin and Philip Stagg upon recommendation by the Public Services Commission after they were recommended by their respective university councils.

The duo who will serve in the current term, bring with them a wealth of experience and knowledge to the NARI council.

Stagg, who is an electrical engineer by profession, served in various capacities in both the public and private sector before going private.

He is currently the chancellor of Unitech, serving in the council since 1986.

He replaces former representative and academic, Dr Samson Akoitai.

Prof Kaluwin, who has received a number of academic and research awards, has widespread experience in teaching, administration and management, undertaking research projects and served as consultant.

With specific experience in environmental sciences and geography, and as head of environmental science and geography, school of natural and physical science, he brings valuable experience in his field of expertise to the NARI council. 

He replaces former dean of Science at UPNG, Prof Lance Hill, who has retired.

The make-up of the NARI council covers all geo-political regions of PNG, major stakeholder groups, key government agencies, and educational and scientific institutions. The current members including UPNG and Unitech representative consists of head of the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, head of the Department of Treasury, three smallholder farmers’ representatives, and one member representing growers’ association, nominated by a legally-recognised association and NARI represented by its director general.

The new appointees will serve the current term under the chairmanship of Dr John Kola, which expires in October 2012.

With the all required representatives on board, the council will now be able to direct the affairs of NARI in its efforts to promote innovative agricultural development in PNG through adaptive scientific research, knowledge creation, and information exchange.