Billions lost to fraud, says Yakasa

PAPUA New Guinea loses about 50% of its budget directly to fraud, The National reports. “This is equivalent to K4 billion a year which has gone into the hands of corrupt public servants and senior bureaucrats, many of whom have invested these gains overseas,” acting deputy police commissioner Fred Yakasa  said this week at a workshop in Port Moresby.

Fred Yakasa

Yakasa told participants to take on different measures of investigation as opposed to the traditional process of, arresting, charging, and prosecuting, which had failed in the past 15 to 20 years.
The workshop, themed “Proceeds of Crime”, is being organised by the anti-money laundering assistance team from the Australian justice and attorney-general department in conjunction with the Papua New Guinea financial intelligence unit.
The workshop participants are drawn from members within the Royal PNG Constabulary, auditor-general’s office; finance inspection branch and the PNG Securities Commission.
Yakasa also said PNG had the wealth that could provide each and every citizen with a world-class quality lifestyle yet it currently suffered from a level of financial crime common in many African nations.
He said PNG could provide its people with the best health care, good roads, schooling and a good standard of living but “the criminal among us; our own people, are stealing money from government accounts and avoiding taxes”.
Yakasa also said PNG failed to collect more than half of the taxation revenue that was due because public office holders decided not to pay.
“Where does that money go? It disappears into the pockets of corrupt public servants,”
“If you want health care, roads, public infrastructure and services that we Papua New Guineans deserve, then now is the time to stand up and stop the fraud and corruption that is destroying our nation,” Yakasa said

Sex, drugs and alcohol thrives in Papua New Guinea schools

By DULCIE OREKE

A RESEARCH has found that about 10% of Grade 7 students take marijuana, the symposium on alcohol abuse in Port Moresby was told yesterday, The National reports.
During his presentation, acting secretary for education Dr Joseph Pagelio said the findings had revealed that the percentages of students taking these illegal substances also increased as they move up the grades.
He said 7% female and 24% male students interviewed in the research also admitted to having sex within their own age group after taking drugs or alcohol.
The research, conducted by the Department of Education guidance and counselling branch, indicated that 20% of students in Grade 9 had taken marijuana while 11.17% admitted to drinking alcohol.
Pagelio told the symposium that in many cases, the students had admitted to starting off with alcohol.
“Those who could not afford it settled for homebrew on a regular basis,” he said, revealing a 37% consumption rate among Grade 9 and Grade 11 students in their quest for life’s pleasures.
The education secretary said the researchers also noted that another 10% either ingest or inhale other substances like laboratory (methylated) spirits and other drug-like bush plants or they sniff petrol, glue, paint and other chemicals.
Pagelio told the symposium that addiction to drugs and alcohol had often resulted in criminal acts and irrational behaviours, which were further boosted with other drugs and illegal substances sold on the street.
He also pointed out that between 2005 and last year, anti-social behaviour – drug and alcohol abuse; student violence; unplanned pregnancies; pornography; bullying and cult activities – were “frequent in our secondary and upper primary schools”.
Teacher absenteeism was also another major problem.
However, Pagelio said the Education Department had developed new mechanisms to address drug and alcohol abuse in schools.
He said the introduction of a new behaviour management policy would change the way schools manage and respond to student behaviour.
“It is a whole school approach to promoting positive student behaviour,” Pagelio said.
“It is about creating an environment where students are valued and learn the acceptable ways of behaving.”
The strategies included effective discipline techniques and sanctions, fair suspension and expulsion processes and counselling. The other strategies contained in the policy included supporting a healthy learning environment, effective class and school management and teaching of life skills.
Pagelio said the policy also outlined the mandated responsibilities of everyone including parents and guardians, local communities, teachers, school counsellors and guidance officers, head teachers, standards officers and Tvet inspectors, school boards, the Teaching Service Commission and Department of Education and the national education board.

 

Attacks on Australians in Papua New Guinea continue

By ILYA GRIDNEFF, AAP Papua New Guinea Correspondent

PORT MORESBY, Feb 15 AAP - Papua New Guinea police are investigating allegations a brutal attack on an Australian aid worker is linked to his work exposing corruption.

A spate of car-jackings in the capital, Port Moresby, has given rise to a climate of fear among some Australian officials, so much so Australia's High Commissioner to PNG, Ian Kemish, last week met with police chiefs to discuss their concerns.

One of these incidents included a male aid adviser working in PNG's National AIDS Council Secretariat (NACS) who suffered "serious injuries" in an attack last month during a car-jacking that required him to be flown to Brisbane for treatment.

AAP understands another Australian adviser with NACS ended her contract shortly after her colleague's car-jacking. She had suffered repeated violent threats.

NACS boss Wep Kanawi, who is overseeing controversial reforms and restructures within the organisation riddled with corruption, suffered serious wounds when car-jacked outside his Port Moresby home on Sunday night.

 Port Moresby Metropolitan Police Commander Joseph Tondop told AAP he is aware of the Australian officials' concern.

"Police are looking into the car-jackings and if there is something to do with corruption then we will pursue this," he said.

 Australia's opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop told AAP the incidents were "extremely damaging" for Australia's efforts in PNG.

"If the allegations are correct it raises very serious concern about the safety of our aid workers and the issue of corruption within the aid system.

 "The Australian government must call on the PNG government to assure our aid workers can operate in a safe environment and are safe to report any issue they have with the aid program," she said.

 A spokeswoman for the Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd said in a written statement: "there is currently no evidence to confirm such allegations."

"Australia is strongly committed to supporting PNG to address corruption," she said. 

 Australia's $457 million annual aid program to PNG focuses on tackling widespread corruption, but the realpolitik means little can be done when advisers actually discover wrongdoing.

A lack of political will on the PNG side, underfunding for police, the jails and court system means most crimes go unsolved in the country.

Now, there are new concerns scant police numbers are being sent from the capital to remote parts of PNG for a massive ExxonMobil-led resource project.

Despite Australian Federal Police assistance in Madang, on PNG's northeast coast, police are still yet to arrest anyone in relation to the rape of a young Australian volunteer whose group was car-jacked, tied to tree and robbed in November last year.

No one has been charged for the shooting of Queensland businessman John Ramshaw, 61, who was killed during a robbery in June last year.

 PNG police have not arrested anyone for the brutal murder of Victorian transport adviser David Nicholson, 53, who was found dead after two young men accompanied him back to his Port Moresby flat in September 2008.

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