Flower power to Gerehu

By MALUM NALU

Joe Gimbe and wife Jenny tending to plants at their roadside market.-Picture MALUM NALU

Tete settlement at Gerehu Stage 2 in Port Moresby is a notorious ‘hell’s kitchen’ synonymous with the worst of crimes.
Tete is one of the worst settlements in Port Moresby, where law and order problems have been rife over the years, including murders, rapes and robberies.
On December 16, 2008, leading citizen and businessmen Sir George Constantinou was killed by just petty criminals outside Tete, in a crime which shocked Papua New Guinea and the world, and which saw Port Moresby disparaged as one of the top five murder capitals in the world.
In retaliation, police went in and demolished the settlement two days later to fulfil what the Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare had warned about in November 2003, after 15 people were killed in Tete.
Sir Michael had warned that one more killing would have this settlement removed.
Hundreds of setters were left homeless, with many fleeing the area with their belongings when the police operation started.
The police operation followed a public outcry against the notorious settlement, which has a long history of criminal activity, following the brutal murder of Sir George.
Police personnel from all stations in the nation’s capital went to the settlement around 2pm and began bulldozing it, setting alight buildings and chopping down trees on one side of the settlement.
“In retrospect, we all have very short memories: we are masters of the art of knee-jerk reaction,” businessman Allan Bird said after the Sir George murder.
“Illegal settlements full of young men with little or no education, no skills and little chance of getting a job, who are going to turn on the rest of us eventually unless we do something about their situation.
“Razing the settlements will only move the criminals to another location.
“There are many more places with young men who have no jobs, no life, no hope and no future.
"To them their life has little value, so why should your life or that of our loved ones be worth anything?
“They have nothing to lose while we have everything to lose.”
Three years on, Tete is back, and rising from the ashes with its denizens quietly determined to rub off that mark of Cain which has plagued them since the settlement was established.
In the Biblical Book of Genesis, God declared that Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, was cursed for murdering his brother Abel in the Garden of Eden, and placed a mark upon him.
When God confronted Cain about Abel's death, God cursed him, saying:"What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." (Gen. 4:10–12).
One of those quietly striving to rub off that mark of Cain at Tete, working the land so that it will yield its crops for him, is Joe Gimbe from Amaiyufa village in Asaro, Eastern Highlands province.
He has set up a roadside flower and plant market at the recreational park at Gerehu Stage 2, from his ‘Garden of Eden’ at Tete, and is quietly working towards greening and beautifying Gerehu and Port Moresby: literally bringing us all ‘flower power’,
Since Gimbe set up shop on Wednesday last week, business has been good, with many people stopping to buy plants, flowers and home-made compost for their homes, as well as wandering through his little roadside market.
Not bad for a self-taught gardener, who has never been to school and, ironically, was given his marching orders from the big PNG Gardener Justin Tkatchenko last July.
Gimbe has since been eking out a living by selling beautiful plants and flowers in stylish flower pots.
Many a house in Gerehu and wider Port Moresby is decorated with trademark Joe Gimbe pot plants.
He fashions them at Tete, where he sold them at home, but has now ventured into the public domain at the recreational park.
Gimbe makes enough to put food on the table for his young family, pay the bills, and put his two children to school.
He is adamant PNG would not have such a huge unemployment problem if people eat humble pie and go into such small business.
He is also proud that he is quietly contributing to keeping Port Moresby green and beautiful.
“I first came to Port Moresby in 2000,” Gimbe tells me.
“I started work with Robin Carter at Palm Grove.
“I learned how to nurse flowers, maintain gardens for companies, as well as plant flowers in gardens.
“Robin Carter left for New Zealand in 2004.
“I then started work with Justin Tkatchenko at PNG Gardener, however, left PNG Gardener in July 2010.
“I was without a job, so I started growing plants and selling them, out of Tete settlement.
“Since last July, I’ve been running my own little plant business at home in Tete, where people who knew me came and bought my plants.
“However, it wasn’t that many, that’s why I decided to come out in public to this area.
“There have been many customers since I came out here on Wednesday last week.”
Gimbe admits to me that he has never been to school.
“I grew up growing coffee,” he says.
“There was a tribal fight in my area from 1993-2000, so I left and came to Port Moresby.
“When I came to Port Moresby, I didn’t know anything about this plant business, until I joined Robin Carter at Palm Grove.
“Now I really enjoy what I’m doing.
“If my plants give so much joy and happiness to people, it also gives me a lot of joy and happiness.
“I haven’t made any big sales as yet, or have major clients, and only make small sales to individuals who want plants and flowers for their homes.
“My plants and flowers are reasonably priced, and range from K1 to K40.”
So there you are, next time you’re driving to Gerehu, make sure you stop at the recreational park and buy a plant or flower from Joe Gimbe.
You will make your home more beautiful, help a small local businessman, as well as rub off the mark of Cain from the notorious Tete Settlement.
If you want to contact this little PNG gardener, his number is (675) 72361481. Show him your support by buying one of his plants or flowers!

3 charged with fraud

By ANGELINE KARIUS

 

THE main suspect involved in conning a local businessman in Madang into believing he was Department of National Planning and Monitoring secretary Joseph Lelang has been arrested and charged with two of his accomplices, The National reports.

Nelson Paniu, 42, of Bulian village in Manus was charged along with Patrick Guan, 23, of Kondan village in Kerowagi, Chimbu, and Wesley Pabulu, 36, from Yule Island in Central.

All three were charged with two counts each of stealing under false pretence and conspiracy.

Paniu, a former policeman, conspired with his accomplices to steal from complainant Bobies Karbain from Bogia in Madang, according to police.

The incident occurred between Feb 14 and 18, where Karbain made two cash deposits of K1, 000 and K10, 000 into a BSP account number 1001629208 under the name Robert George.

The second payment was made after Paniu claimed that his wife had cancer and needed treatment in Australia.

Karbain was given a false copy of a K5 million department cheque serial number 241839 under the name of Kaborbor General Contractor Ltd, when he was asked to travel to Port Moresby.

Karbain paid another K40, 000 to the accused upon request.

Paniu and his accomplices told Karbain, who was in Madang, that his K5 million cheque was ready and that an upfront payment was to be made before the cheque could be released.

It is understood that Karbain had submitted a K5 million cocoa and coconut rehabilitation project proposal through the department to help start his project.

Guan had his case adjourned after appearing for mention yesterday, however, Paniu and Pabulu are expected to appear before the Waigani committal court today.

Acting deputy police commissioner and chief of operations Fred Yakasa, when referring to this case, said the fight against graft would intensify due to theft and embezzlement was spiralling out of control.

He warned people to be wary of conmen and thieves who had become more daring and cunning in their illegal activities, adding that the theft of K5 billion over the years from the government is a good example of such crimes.  

Clinton: China seeks to outflank ExxonMobil

CHINA wants to elbow US oil giant ExxonMobil out of a US$15 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday in an example of the new competition Beijing presents to US interests, The National reports.

She told the senate foreign relations committee in Washington DC that Republican proposals to cut US foreign affairs budget would hit US efforts to compete with China’s rising power on the global stage, Reuters news service reported.

“We are in a competition with China,” Clinton said, citing the PNG LNG project in the Southern Highlands as an example.

“ExxonMobil is producing it. China is in there every day, in every way, trying to figure out how it is going to come in behind us, come in under us,” Clinton said.

The committee heard that ExxonMobil was the majority stakeholder in the PNG LNG project, now in full construction stage, which was due to come on stream in 2014 and was expected to produce 6.6 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year.

When she visited Port Moresby last November, Clinton warned PNG to avoid the “resource curse”, referring to many countries which were blessed with oil, gas, gold and diamond were now poor as a result of bad management by their governments on the proceeds from those resources.

She urged PNG not to go down that path but learn to use and invest the revenue from the LNG project in long term investments.

Clinton said the US state department would help PNG manage the revenue from the LNG gas project.

The US-based Export-Import Bank in 2009 approved the largest financing transaction in its history to help develop the PNG gas reserves.

In Washington DC this week, Clinton said China was also boosting ties with other states across the Asia-Pacific and other island nations that had long been reliable, if little noticed US allies.

According to Reuters, Clinton said funding cuts that would require a US pullback on everything from support for global health programmes to protection of women’s rights could have a serious long-term impact on US influence around the world.

“If anybody thinks that our retreating on these issues is somehow going to be irrelevant to the maintenance of our leadership in a world where we are competing with China, where we are competing with Iran, that is a mistaken notion,” she said.

Republicans have proposed a 16% cut to US spending on diplomacy and foreign assistance, among other things, saying it was imperative to fight the ballooning federal deficit.

Reuters reported Clinton as saying the US retreat was opening new doors to competitors, noting new media challengers such as Al Jazeera and Russian and Chinese English-language broadcasters were winning “the information war”.

“Let’s put aside the moral, humanitarian do-good side of what we believe in and let’s just talk straight realpolitik,” she said of the various US programmes that could be hit by the budget cuts.

“I also look at this from a strategic perspective, and it is essential.”

 

 

Murder suspect for top government t job

MURDER suspect Dr Theo Yasause was short-listed for, at least, three departmental head positions, including that of the chief secretary, before he was arrested by police following the shooting death of rugby league star Aquila Emil last month, The National reports.

This came to light on Wednesday when cabinet appointed Margaret Elias as permanent secretary for the prime minister and the National Executive Council. By virtue of the post, she automatically assumes the post of chief secretary as well.

Elias beat Yasause and a former deputy secretary of the Prime Minister’s Department, James Melagepa, to the post.

The National learnt that Yasause had applied for and was short-listed for the position of secretary of Commerce and Industry and Education as well – appointments for which were still pending before cabinet.

The National learnt that all selections were made and the short-list finalised before the shooting incident which landed Yasause as the main police suspect.

Yasause, a doctorate holder, was formerly head of the Office of Climate Change but it was closed under controversial circumstances by the prime minister and he was subject to an investigation and was cleared of all the charges.

After the fatal shooting of Emil in the early hours of Feb 4 in Port Moresby, police arrested and charged Yasause with wilful murder.

He had been denied bail and remained a remandee in Bomana prison.

Wednesday’s cabinet decision on the chief secretary revealed that government jobs, however senior, were unattractive.

The position of chief secretary, the top of the public service bureaucratic ladder which carried the most attractive terms and conditions, was publicly advertised but attracted only five applicants.

Only Elias was a serving departmental head. The National learnt that the other four were retired former public servants.

Even the acting chief secretary, Manasupe Zurenuoc, was said to have not applied for the job and so was not considered. He would revert to his substantive position as secretary for Provincial Affairs.

There were fewer than 10 candidates for each of the other heads of department positions advertised-Education, Commerce and Industry and Agriculture and Livestock.

There were no permanent appointments made at Wednesday’s meeting but the short-listed names would be considered when NEC next convenes.

It was almost certain Yasause would be dropped from the short-list.

 

 

Let Tamate prosecute Somare: Morauta

Acting public prosecutor Camillus Sambua should refrain from prosecuting prime minister Sir Michael Somare, when his leadership tribunal hearing commences on March 10, 2011.

Leader of opposition Sir Mekere Morauta explained that this was because Sambua originated from Angoram, East Sepik province and is also Sir Michael's nephew.

Sir Mekere stressed that any involvement of Sambua in the tribunal hearing would be perceived as compromising the State's position.

"It is fair and in public interest that Mr Sambua is stopped from any involvement in the whole process.

"He is closely related to Sir Michael, "the former prime minister said today.

As well, Sir Mekere urged senior lawyers in the public prosecutor's office to ensure that all material evidence submitted by the Ombudsman Commission was not interfered with or destroyed.

"All evidences must be safe guarded at all cost.

"No evidence must be compromised or amended," he said.

Sir Mekere also said that if the prime minister had any public conscience, he should not have appointed a relative through the attorney general, Sir Arnold Amet.

"It is nepotism in its most naked form and the PNG public should not put up with such nonsense.

"It is public knowledge that Somare used Sir Arnold to appoint his relative simply to put up road blocks in the prosecution process.

"Camillus Sambua was conveniently appointed under the prime minister's instruction simply to frustrate the whole process.

"There is no other reason.

"The whole nation knows the real motive for removing Jim Wala Tamate.

"He fearlessly took a courageous and decisive stand to refer Michael Somare to a leadership tribunal.

"I reiterate my earlier statement that Mr Tamate's removal as acting public prosecutor has the finger marks of the prime minister all over it.

"It does not make any sense to revoke an acting appointment only to be replaced by another person also on acting basis."

Sir Mekere said Tamate should be the lawyer who should present the indictments relating to Sir Michael's alleged misconduct charges in the leadership tribunal hearing.

Sir Mekere noted that the Ombudsman Commission lawyer would also be there to observe, assist and clarify any issue in the process of the tribunal hearing. 

Eye sore!

Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has expressed disappointment at the graffiti which appeared on the beautiful bird of paradise sculptures at the Boroko roundabout in NCD.
Graffiti has been sprayed over the less-than-a-month painting of the “birds of paradise”.
Loiterers are also a problem as was captured yesterday in these AURI EVA pictures.
 The prime minister expressed his displeasure while opening the PNG national orchid garden at 14-Mile last Sunday.

Airline ordered to pay K811,000 for pilot's death

Pilot’s family wins 11-year court battle

 

By SAMUEL RAITANO

 

AN AVIATION company was yesterday ordered by the National Court to pay more than K800, 000 to the family of a pilot who died in a plane crash in 1995, The National reports.

The long-fought claim was based on negligence by Trans Niugini Airways Ltd for allowing pilot John Kale to fly an airplane which was not airworthy.

The incident happened on July 25, 1995, when the Britten-Norman Islander (BN2 A-21), carrying 13 bags of coffee weighing more than 700kg, crashed in fine weather during take-off from Karimui airstrip in Chimbu.

Yesterday’s was the second of two decisions by the court. In May 2006, the court ruled against Trans Niugini Airways, which had breached aviation safety practices and standards when it “recklessly permitted an aircraft that was plagued with chronic engineering faults to be flown”.

In yesterday’s decision, Justice Les Gavara Nanu outlined assessment of the cost totalling K811, 742.66.

At the time of the tragedy, the pilot’s wife and plaintiff in the case, Esther Kuri, was 22 years old while their only son was two years old.

Kale, who was 27, then, was a licensed and qualified commercial pilot.

The payment of the claim covered 11 years, 11 months and one week, in which loss of dependency, increase risk of orphanhood, estate claim, special damages, legal costs and interest was looked at.

The decision itemised how much would go to the wife, the son and the pilot’s parents.

The cost of trial on the issue of liability, decided on in 2006, will also be paid by the defendant.

The earlier court decision said that in permitting the deceased to fly such an aircraft, the defendant (company) had acted without due regard for the safety of the deceased and was in breach of its duty of care.

During that time, the court also found that the Civil Aviation report, which attributed the cause of the crash to pilot error, was grossly flawed.