Ogio sworn in as governor general

GG Ogio sworn in ... Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia is the first to offer his congratulations after Governor-General-elect Michael Ogio was sworn into office at the parliament chamber last Friday. A guard of honour, put on by members of the disciplinary force, set the pace for the 30-minute swearing-in ceremony. Parliament was then adjourned to resume at 2pm on May 10. Ogio will travel to Buckingham Palace next week to present his credentials to the Queen as her representative in PNG.– Nationalpic by EKAR KEAPU

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

MICHAEL Ogio was sworn into office as the ninth governor-general of Papua New Guinea in a colourful ceremony at parliament house last Friday, The National reports.

Ogio made his entry to the front of parliament to a guard of honour by the PNG Defence Force with the combined band from the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and Correctional Services pipes and drums.

His arrival followed that of PNGDF Commander Francis Agwi, acting Speaker Francis Marus and wife, Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia, Opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta and Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.

The dignitaries were invited to the Speakers Lounge before being led to the parliament chambers.

The chief justice was then invited by the acting speaker into the chambers to conduct the swearing-in ceremony.

Vice-regal elect Ogio was then invited into the chambers where he placed his hand on a Bible to take his oath of allegiance, declaration of loyalty and declaration of office.

Immediately after his swearing-in Parliament Speaker Jeffrey Nape, who had been acting GG until Friday, took up his chair in the chambers.

Nape offered his congratulations and wished the new GG every success in the high office that he has been elected into.

The leader of government business then moved that parliament at his rising be adjourned to 2pm on Tuesday, May 10.

It was a snap session for the swearing- in that took about 30 minutes to end for parliament to go into recess for two months.

Conspicuous by their absence was a large number of Opposition MPs.

All the invited guest and dignitaries, including heads of diplomatic missions, were then invited to the State Function room where they offered congratulations to Ogio as the 9th Governor-General of PNG.

Ogio will be travelling to Buckingham Palace next week to present his credentials to Queen Elizabeth II as her representative in PNG.

The ceremony went ahead without any hitch after attempts to block the swearing-in was thrown out by the Supreme Court last Thursday.

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal by Ronald Rimbao to prevent the swearing-in ceremony after it was found that the appellant had no legally arguable case and that the court was satisfied that there was an abuse of process by the appellant.

Fraud and corruption come under microscope

By MALUM NALU

There has never been a greater need for more education on fraud, corruption and bribery, according to the facilitator of a week-long course on forensic accounting and fraud investigation.

Prof John Oliga of the PNG Graduate School of Management said this yesterday at the end of a week-long course on forensic accounting and fraud investigation, organised jointly with the Australian Institute of Certified Management Accountants, which brought together participants from various government departments and statutory organizations.

The course was the first of its kind in the country and was well attended by participants (pictured above) from the departments of Justice and Attorney General and Defence, Post PNG, PNG Forest Authority and self-sponsored participants.

Presenters covered a wide range of topics including planning investigation, source of information, interviewing prospective witnesses, evaluating deception, admission-seeking interviews, signed statements, report writing and legal elements.

"The objective of the programme is to get as many Papua New Guineans as possible to see the seriousness of the problem – politically, economically and socially – as the multi-billion LNG project gets underway," Prof Oliga said.

"There is more and more corruption likely to take place.

"It is also perhaps timely when the next general elections are coming in 2012."

Prof Oliga said the recent revelation by deputy police commissioner Fred Yakasa that 50% of the national budget, amounting to a whopping K4 billion, was defrauded from the state by public servants underlined the urgent need to arrest the problem.

"This programme will be running over the next couple of months in order for more participants to become aware of the enormity of the problem and perhaps begin to take pro-active action to arrest this national problem," he said.

"This programme is unique, with nobody having done such before.

"The problem (corruption, fraud and bribery) is widespread and can't be solved only by police.

"The programme is really to help save the country from the ever-growing cancer of fraud.

"We hope that when the participants go out from here, they will start implementing what they have learned here."

PNGFA senior internal auditor Peter Peya concurred with Prof Oliga that there was an urgent need for more such workshops.

"With all the fraud and corruption in PNG, we need to sharpen up on our skills and knowledge, and that will help us to undertake effective investigations," he said.

"The presentation, however, has to be more tailored to PNG's needs.

"Material should be from PNG experience.

"That will place us in a comfortable situation, which we can understand and apply back in our workplace."

Joel Dami, an accountant with justice and attorney general, said the course was an eye-opener.

"This is the first time that we have attended a course like this on fraud investigation," he said.

"Currently, we have the LNG project and a lot of other developments coming up in PNG.

"The course is timely, so that we can have an idea of problems like, for example, the landowners fighting outside Vulupindi Haus."

Labor Senator Conroy geographically challenged

From John Pasquarelli

 

Labor Senator Conroy claimed in Foreign Affairs Estimates Thursday Feb 24,  2011,  that "Indonesia is our closest neighbour". 

Papua New Guinea,  of course,  is Australia's closest neighbour (4km away at the narrowest point compared to closest point between Australian territory and Indonesia – 500km).

Is Labor unaware of the existence of PNG?

Remote Telefomin to get oil palm and rubber project

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL

One remote community in Telefomin district in West Sepik province has given its backing for a major oil palm and rubber project.
People from several villages in one of the country’s least-developed areas say they support the proposed agriculture project because it will open up more cash income-earning opportunities and bring in much-needed basic services including roads and enable accessibility to markets.

Villagers in traditional dress, including penis gourds, welcome visitors

Villagers, mainly landowners, told a public hearing conducted by the Department of Agriculture and Livestock that Telefomin had been neglected for too long and there had been lack of development and services for many years.
Villagers from the rural communities have suffered from poor or inadequate transport and infrastructure, market accessibility, health, schools, police and social services.
The public hearing was held at Worikori village in the Namea local level government early this month to seek the views of land and resource owners on the proposed Wammy rural development project, which aims to introduce a major oil palm and rubber project covering over 84,000 ha.
Villagers from the project area had to walk for two days or more to reach Worikori in time for the hearing.
Many people who attended, especially the elderly men and women, wept as the helicopter transporting the government team touched down.

A big crowd turned up for the public hearing, many having walked for a day or more to Worikori

Visitors were given a traditional welcome including the rubbing of mud all over their bodies.
Ward councillor Esorom Nasone, in welcoming the government team, said village people from rural communities suffered from lack of basic services and would welcome potential agricultural development which would be beneficial and open up opportunities. He said resource owners should realise that by making their customary land available to investors then they could expect to see changes in their livelihood.
Managing director of landowner company Wammy Ltd, John Anis, said more than 3, 000 people from 25 villages were supportive of the proposed project which would also involve other agricultural crops besides oil palm and rubber.
He said the project would lead to introduction of services to remote areas including roads, airstrips, and aid posts and improve marketing services.
The project will have a big impact in the people’s lives and boost the local and national economy.
He said the people had been crying for development over the years and this project would provide that opportunity and boost the image of Telefomin.

Agriculture college needs teaching manpower

By SOLDIER BURUKA of DAL
Highlands Agricultural College is the country’s premier agricultural training institution, having produced many agricultural graduates over the years.
The college, operated by the Department of Agriculture and Livestock has an important role to play in promoting human resources development in the agriculture sector and must be fully funded and resourced to carry out its role and functions effectively.
Since its establishment some 37 years ago in Mt Hagen, the college has also trained many Pacific island graduates.
It offers courses in post-certificate diploma in tropical agriculture, as well as short-term courses including certificate of attainment in agriculture (farming), certificate in agriculture, certificate of attainment in plantation operational skills, and certificate in in-service training (rice production).
Since 2007 the college has taken the initiative and re-introduced certificate courses in agriculture and agri-business management courses for farmers and school leavers.
These strategies are in line with the Government’s policies and plans including Vision 2050.
The college has the capacity to train up to 150 students annually.
However, the college is now facing a shortage of teaching staff and is seeking to recruit qualified personnel to fill in the vacant spots.
A number of long-serving staff have been retrenched and the college management wants interested people with relevant qualifications and skills in agriculture education and training to apply.
College acting principal Phillip Senat, whose position is also being advertised, confirmed that DAL was seeking suitable applicants to apply for the vacant positions which needed to be filled immediately.
He said applicants must have a minimum qualification of bachelor’s degree in agriculture or equivalent to qualify with two to three years teaching experience.
The vacant teaching positions include lecturers and senior lecturers in crops, livestock, management studies and rural engineering.
Other positions include senior training officer, co-ordinator, senior AMT officer and farm manager.
Senat took the opportunity to also pay tribute to six long serving officers namely Ablam Mawa, Any Yowano, Vela Koiari, Bernard Pahau, Robin Vogel and Karl Mondo for their commitment to the college.

Five of the six departing HAC teaching staff with a total of 209 years service. From left are Karl Mondo (38 years service), Vela Koiari (35), Amy Yowano (39), Robin Vogel (28) and Bernard Pahau (35). Most of them have also been recognised by the government and received Queen’s awards and Logohu awards

Milne Bay community improves its farming

By JAMES LARAKI of NARI

COMMUNITIES in the Rabaraba sub-district of the Milne Bay Province will now have access to improved crop and livestock varieties, thanks to a collaborative effort of PNG Sustainable Development Programme Ltd, National Disaster and Emergency Services and National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI).




Project signboard erected at the multiplication site at Rabaraba station


Under this collaborative project, NARI is introducing improved crop and livestock varieties in an effort to encourage farmers to adopt the improved materials to diversify their food production.
This project provides an opportunity for the community to grow a variety of crops and livestock for their own consumption with training on crop and livestock production, and on simple processing techniques provided by NARI.
This food security project is aimed at alleviating the food shortages and malnutrition problems by improving crop and livestock production on a sustainable basis as the area is prone to drought and flooding.
NARI-released technologies to be transferred under this project include African yam, taro, drought-tolerant and high-yielding cassava varieties, rice, corn, lowland early maturing sweet potato varieties, Muscovy ducks, village chickens and other suitable vegetables.

Community members planting NARI taro at the multiplication site at Bogaboga village

Distribution of the improved material started last September and multiplication sites have been established at Rabaraba station, Yoguba village and Bogaboga in the Cape Vogel area.
Project co-ordinator James Ernest said communities in the three areas had shown great interest and had assisted the project in establishing the multiplication sites.
He said due to logistic problems, multiplication sites were being developed on a small scale as the improved materials were being supplied from NARI Southern regional centre at Laloki, outside Port Moresby.
“Distribution of materials to farmers and the options to expand the sites would be considered once sufficient material is generated from the respective sites,” Ernest said.

Some of the corn and taro growing in the multiplication garden at Rabaraba station 

The project is being implemented in partnership with the provincial Department of Agriculture and Livestock, and community leaders who have volunteered to oversee the sites at Yoguba and Bogaboga.
Establishing a resource centre at a central location is planned from where planting materials and other information will be distributed from.
It is hoped that the outcomes of this project will also benefit other communities towards the inland and along the coast, as well as neighboring communities in the Cape Vogel area of the Makamaka local level government area.
NARI is carrying out two other similar projects on M’Buke Island in Manus and Morehead in Western.

Members of the community preparing land at the multiplication site at Yoguba village

Big darkness in Goroka…and other power stories from PNG

By MALUM NALU

Amidst the gloom, doom and despair of another series of blackouts in Port Moresby, I felt a sense of déjà vu, as I remembered a big darkness in Goroka in 2000.
The good thing is that I wrote about the experience for The National in the Monday, May 15, 2000 edition for posterity and can always refer back to it for a memorable trip down blackout lane…and reflect on how things have taken a turn for better or worse over the last 10 years.
I was then working for the Coffee Industry Corporation in Goroka, still had no children, and lived with my late wife Hula in North Goroka overlooking the roaring Zokozoi River, where we had so much fun.
Those were the good old days when there were no mobile phones and no internet access like today.
On any other day, it wouldn’t have mattered.
But on State-of-Origin night, it amounted to a scandal.
It would have been Armageddon!
Angry fans could have ripped Goroka – infamous for rioting and where rugby league is a matter of life or death – apart.
Conspiracy theories about Elcom (now PNG Power) and Telikom playing a joke on the residents of Goroka abounded that fateful Wednesday, May 10, 2000 during the opening State-of-Origin clash.
The Bee Gees sang about the lights going out in Massachusetts.
In Goroka that night, State-of-Origin time, it was worse: first the TV went off, then the power.
From my hilltop abode overlooking the Zokozoi River, I could hear the whole of Goroka town erupting in protest.
I know Goroka, and was bracing myself for all hell to break loose, all along putting my own words into the refrain of that revered Bee Gees’ hit… “and the lights all went out in Goroka”.
No Blues, no Maroons!
What are we going to do?
This was State-of -Origin night, one of the most-important dates on the PNG calendar!
It’s a time when the grog flows, when mate goes against mate from plush hotels in Port Moresby to an impromptu club on the slopes of Mt Wilhelm; when large amounts of money trade hands.
And we weren’t going to watch it in Goroka!
It all started after the 6pm EMTV news when there was an electricity surge and then, horror of horrors, the TV went off.
The groans, needless to say, were deafening!
The immediate theory, going from house to house, was that landowners had blown the repeater station on Mt Otto.
Oh well, I thought to myself, at least we have the temporary reprieve of radio.
But to rub salt into the wound, in a classic case of Murphy’s Law, the power went off at about 7pm.
 And by this time, tempers were flaring, Elcom and Telikom being mercilessly pilloried for this torture of Goroka residents.
Origin blues had hit Goroka!
I brought out the candles, lay down with Hula, and was settling into Tolstoy’s War and Peace (help, there’s going to be a riot in Goroka tonight) when at 8pm sharp – just as the game was about to begin – the power and TV were back.
Oh, those roars of delight – which resounded through Goroka – would have drowned the 60,000-plus crowd at Stadium Australia.
Or, was it divine intervention (for in my estimation, those tipsy fans in the many roadside clubs around Goroka could have found something to vent their frustration on, had it not been for the power and TV coming back on)?
Miracles still happen, and they did, as the power and TV returned and my good old Blues won 20-16 with my favorite player David Peachey scoring the winning try in the 76th minute. 
“…and the lights were shining in Goroka”.
Ten years on, residents of Port Moresby and Lae will have to put up with ongoing electricity blackouts in the short-term, says PNG Power chief executive officer Tony Koiri.
They have been experiencing a spate of blackouts since last year, resulting in business houses and individuals losing million in business and private property such as electrical appliances, as well as experiencing security problems and many others.
Koiri says while the blackout problem in Port Moresby will be somewhat alleviated by the end of this month with a new gas turbine at the privately-owned Kanudi power station in Port Moresby, Lae residents will have to be patient as the main station at Yonki in Eastern Highlands, Ramu 1, needed a complete refurbishment, similar to what was done at Rouna 2 outside Port Moresby.

This is a picture of the new Kanudi gas turbine power station, which is expected to be operational by the end of this month and help to alleviate ongoing blackouts in Port Moresby.-Picture courtesy of PNG POWER

He says K50 million will be needed for refurbishment at Ramu 1 as PNGPPL looked to set up a new power station at Malahang in Lae to replace the outdated Milfordhaven station.
No time frame for refurbishment work at Yonki, or when the new power station at Malahang would be built, were given.
Koiri says Port Moresby currently needs 100 megawatts of power, however, only 54 MW are currently being supplied by Rouna, Kanudi and Moitaka power stations.
“The main contributing factor is the huge growth in demand of electricity with all the developments,” he tells me.
“Growth is running at about 10% (electricity demand) per annum.
“That’s the highest.
“On average, when you look at the past 20 years, the growth rate was about 2.5%
“This is a five-fold increase in electricity demand over the last two years.
“We never envisaged that the growth would be that much.
“All our planning was based on very conservative estimates.
“A lot of cities around the world don’t even have 10% growth, maybe in countries like India and China, but not the others.
“We need to quickly look at what generations options we have.
“Things like, for example hydro projects, take about four years to bring on line.
“Large thermal power stations take about two to three years.
“For us, this can’t solve our problems, so we go for expensive options like putting up gas turbines, like the one installed at Kanudi.
“We are hoping that this comes on line at the end of February.
“As far as the city is concerned, we are meeting demand now, but for us to properly manage the huge power supply system, we need to build up redundancy.
“We need about 24 megawatts of additional supply reserves to properly manage the power supply system in the city.
“With the gas turbine in February and redundancy units, we should have enough to meet demands, at least for the next six to eight month.
“By the end of this year, PPL needs to put in an additional 30 megawatts of diesel generation, just to meet increased demands and to have the reserves that we need.
“In the long term, we are looking at developing Naoro/Brown River hydro project which will give us 80 megawatts.
“We are anticipating, come 2015, for the power station to be up and running.
“We are also hoping that by 2014, some gas from the first LNG project will be made available for power generation.
“With these two projects, power supply in the city of Port Moresby will be secure from a generation point of view.
“Obviously, network type improvements will have to be invested in, including upgrading, and new lines.”
Koiri says in Lae, the main problem is that PNGPPL’s main station at Yonki, Ramu 1, needs a complete refurbishment, similar to what was done at Rouna 2.

Transmission lines at Golden Pine Bulolo.-Picture by ROCKY ROE

“We are about to sign a contract with a company for K50 million as soon as financing arrangements are in place,” he says
“The refurbishment project should take two years.
“Short-term solutions to the ongoing power outages in Lae are required.
“We are investigating acquisition of a new power station at Malahang.
“The power station will be sufficient to meet all of Lae’s requirements.
“We need to put that out quickly.”
“The issue of funding is now being discussed with patrons like Nambawan Super, in conjunction with IPBC.”
Koiri says PNGPPL is hoping to sign a memorandum of understanding with Nambawan Super for some assistance.
Meantime, stock up on the candles, and sing along with the Bee Gees!

PNG Power Ltd Hamata sub-station