Governor:K51 million used to garner MPs’ support

MORE than K51 million in special support grant (SSG) funds for Western was paid to MPs to garner support last November, Western Governor Dr Bob Danaya claimed yesterday, The National reports.

Claiming he has evidence of the transfer of his province's funds to pay MPs, Danaya said he had instructed Loani Henao Lawyers to take the matter up in court to force the government to reimburse the money.

He said the province was owed K60 million in outstanding SSG between the years 2000 and 2006.

This money had been reduced to K9 million, he said and claimed he knew where the missing K51 million had gone to.

"It was wrongly used by the government to bribe members of parliament," Danaya alleged in a statement.

"Only K9 million was transferred to the provincial government treasury account.

"This is gross abuse of power and funds earmarked for projects in Western.

"This is gross corruption at the highest political level."

Finance secretary Gabriel Yer confirmed last night that the government owed the Western provincial government a substantial amount of money but denied such funds had been used in the manner alleged.

Yer said: "It is correct that we owe them. They will still be paid.

"The money appropriated might have lapsed but a number of projects have been submitted and we are going through the process at the moment.

"Planning and finance are going through that process. We acknowledge that we owe money to Western and they will be paid."

Yer said projects worth about K30 million had been received and the government would honour its commitments.

He was uncertain about the exact amount owed and said he would need to consult with planning.

Danaya is the second governor to take the national government to court over outstanding SSG funds.

New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan has a case on foot against the government over an outstanding K400 million owed to his provincial government, being SSG money from the Lihir gold mine.

Danaya said he had traced some of the money to projects which were never budgeted for this year and which were not part of government's priority areas.

The angry governor expressed deep concern in the way the government was handling the finances of the nation.

"There is no control in Waigani in applying good governance so there is accountability and transparency.

"Political leaders do not care whether they breach laws governing financial management.

"Corruption has become systemic and systematic and is very fast destroying Papua New Guinea."

SSG funds are funds that are given to host provincial governments of resource projects by the national government.

It is a component of the national government's overall receipt from the mine, calculated at 0.25% of revenue.

The money is held in trust with the Department of National Planning and Monitoring.

Danaya called on the government to detail where the money had gone to and, furthermore, to reimburse Western's K51 million.

"I will not rest until justice is done," he said. "How they do it and where they get the money is their problem so long as they do not steal again during the process."

Murdered Belgian's widow reveals ordeal

By YVONNE HAIP

 

THE widow of the Belgian believed to have been murdered by locals in the remote Nondri area of Gumine, Chimbu, on Jan 27, is calling on police to speed up their investigations and arrest suspects, The National reports.

Tony Boddin, an elderly retired member of the British army, was allegedly killed by locals, while his pregnant wife was kidnapped and repeatedly raped for two days before she was rescued by tribesmen.

The child was lost as a result and the widow, Ronic Boddin, returned to Banz, Western Highlands, where she is from.

Speaking for the first time this week about the ordeal, the widow said she believed her husband’s body had been buried in a cave and was yet to be recovered.

She claimed the suspects operated as a syndicate and were responsible for a string of murders in the area, yet no one had been arrested.

She named the victims as a priest, a primary school teacher, a nursing officer, a tribeswoman and a father and son who were beheaded while crossing a river.

She claimed there were 12 suspects, including a university student and a woman, who is the mastermind.

Police knew their identities but were not doing anything, she claimed.

According to the widow, she and her husband were invited to Nondri village by a Francis Gore, a local Catholic catechist, and had travelled there last Dec 27.

She said they had stayed with the family for three weeks and were on their way to a nearby creek to do their laundry on Jan 9 when they were confronted by the gang.

She claimed that they were told to return home by one of the suspects while the woman member of the gang arranged for the other suspects, who were armed with axes, knives and two guns, to hold up the couple at gunpoint at the house they were staying in.

The suspects then axed her husband on his shoulder and tied him with a rope onto a post inside the house.

She said they then took her away at gunpoint and locked her inside another house where one of the suspects guarded her with a knife pointed at her heart while the other suspects stoned her husband and chased him down to the river.

Then the chasers returned and forced her to walk to a house located on a mountain where five men took turns in repeatedly raping her.

She named the suspects, saying they were related to the family the couple was staying with and did not understand why they would do such things.

She said she managed to escape while she was being escorted to another house and made her way to Kundiawa where the matter was reported to police.

Human rights advocacy group, Jiwaka Waal Daam Association (JWDA), which had been assisting Ronic Boddin fight for justice, called on police to fast-track the arrest of the suspects.

JWDA executive secretary Wilfred Kulno said yesterday this was a serious matter and no one had been arrested in over two months.

He said talks were progressing with the Belgian embassy in Canberra, Australia, which had agreed to help retrieve Boddin’s remains and accord him a decent burial in Banz where his relatives would also attend.

Chimbu police could not be reached for comments yesterday.

Japan unloads stake in Papua New Guinea gas venture

THE Japanese government has begun unloading its stake in a Papua New Guinea oil and gas joint venture with JX Holdings and Mitsubishi Corp, The National reports.

Last Friday, the government through its trade ministry, offered its 62% stake (159,120 shares in the joint venture Japan-Papua New Guinea Petroleum Co.

The tender closes on March 31, with bids to be opened immediately.

But a buyer is unlikely to be finalised for several months after the tender closes due to a need to clear various procedures involving the sale of a stake in an unlisted firm, a trade ministry official said.

The tender was part of a policy to divest upstream energy stakes held previously by now-defunct Japan National Oil Corp, once the sale was finalised, the official added.

The venture’s wholly owned unit Merlin Petroleum Co has a 4.7 % stake in Exxon Mobil-led US$15 billion (K50 billion) liquefied natural gas project.

Japan’s JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp, a wholly owned unit of JX Holdings, holds 36.4 % of the venture, while Mitsubishi has the remaining 1.6%.

Exxon is the biggest stakeholder in the PNG LNG project, which will produce 6.6 million tonnes per year of LNG when it comes online in 2014.

The trade ministry last sold its share of upstream stakes in North Sea and Thai ventures in 2008 for a total of ¥31 billion (US$374 million) to two Japanese explorers.

 

 

Wewak tsunami costs at K5 million

Boram hospital shut, items worth K5million lost

 

By GABRIEL FITO

 

BORAM General Hospital in Wewak, East Sepik, has suffered damages running to about K5 million as a result of the Japan tsunami last Friday, The National reports.

The damage cost also included medical drugs and hospital equipment stolen by looters when the hospital’s power generator blacked out when the low-lying Boram peninsula, where the hospital is located, was pounded by metre-high waves.

Hospital CEO Dr Louis Samiak said yesterday they had scaled down services following the serious damages caused to key facilities.

The hospital was temporarily closed except for emergencies, the labour ward, surgical ward, the operating theatre and the special care nursery.

He said the hospital’s standby generator, kitchen, laundry and dispensary, located on the western end of the hospital, suffered most of the damage as the huge waves swept through the hospital ground, knocking down gas cylinders, other equipment and stocks of medicine at the pharmacy.

PNG Defence Force soldiers from Moem barracks yesterday helped the hospital staff in cleaning up around the hospital, including the dispensary area.

The low-lying section of peninsula where the hospital is normally bears the brunt of tidal surges that hit the coastline from time to time.

Samiak said before the waves hit on Friday night, all patients were evacuated to higher grounds.

He said opportunists took advantage of the power blackout by breaking into the storeroom and dispensary and stole medicine and equipment.

Samiak said 61 patients now at the hospital were surviving on biscuits and soft drinks because proper meals could not be prepared .

He said the hospital was also faced with shortage of drugs after the pharmacy was soaked and ransacked by opportunists.

East Sepik deputy provincial administrator technical services Benjamin Warakai visited the hospital and asked for a detailed report on the damage caused.

Samiak said yesterday that the provincial works department had completed a report on the damages and it would costs K5 million to restore all hospital services.

Australian aid worker carjacked in PNG

• From: AAP
• March 15, 2011 3:36PM

ANOTHER Australian aid worker in Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby has been carjacked at gunpoint.

The female AusAID employee was returning home on Sunday night with a female friend when robbed by four men, at least two armed with firearms.

According to a widely distributed email, sent to Australian officials by security personnel, there were no injuries.

"The offenders attempted to keep the driver in the vehicle.

"The driver refused and pushed past them and ran down the hill to the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

"This particular location has experienced a number of reported carjackings in recent times," the email read.

It is the third Australian and fourth person working for the Australian aid program this year to be robbed near their home in the popular diplomatic and expatriate area, Touaguba Hill.

But numerous PNG citizens have told AAP they are also suffering a spike in violent carjackings across the city.

Last month, an Irish female media adviser with PNG's national radio station and a male Australian law and justice adviser were attacked separately on the same road.

A week before, an Australian aid adviser was carjacked and suffered "serious injuries" in an attack.

Australian High Commissioner to PNG Ian Kemish at the time met senior police to raise concerns over the carjackings.

The spate in Port Moresby is being blamed on a shortage of police, lack of political will and numerous police being deployed to protect a massive ExxonMobil resource project.

The Economist magazine regularly ranks Port Moresby as one of the five worst cities in the world to live because of violent crime, corruption and the absence of basic infrastructure.

Last November, a young group of Australian volunteers travelling in Madang, on PNG's northeast coast, was carjacked, tied up and robbed, with one woman raped.

Putting pearls before swine in Papua New Guinea

By MALUM NALU

 

Last Sunday, Papua New Guinea saw yet another case of a non-government organisation, which tries so hard to bring hope and change lives of people in this country, falling victim to a senseless case of robbery which only brings more shame to the country.

It only leads us to ask ourselves what PNG is coming to when we steal from, rape and murder people who come in to help us, literally biting the hand that feeds us.

Pearls before swine refers to a quotation from Matthew 7:6 in the discourse on holiness, a section of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, implying that things (such as pearls) should not be put in front of people (or in this case, swine) who do not appreciate their value.

Thieves broke into HOPEworldwide (PNG's) 3-Mile office in Port Moresby and stole medical equipment, computers and staff belongings, and trashed the office.  

HOPEworldwide (PNG) is a Christian non-government organisation founded in 1994, whose mission is to bring hope and change lives by providing medical, educational, and social services to underprivileged Papua New Guineans. 

Those who know HOPEworldwide (PNG) country director, Tessa Te Mata, will know that she has made huge personal sacrifices to help the disadvantaged in PNG, including a well-paid diplomatic job to head up a small NGO with very few resources but full of people with great hearts.

"What is PNG coming to when thieves rob those who try to help the most-helpless?" she asked angrily when surveying the wreckage at the office.

 This is the third security incident in less than a week for HOPEworldwide (PNG).

 Last week, two of HOPE's staff at the 9-Mile clinic were attacked by a member of the public.

 Patients fled in terror and staff were traumatised by the incident. 

Nine-Mile is one of the busiest clinics in Port Moresby.  

HOPE also operates a HIV/AIDs outreach and counselling clinic - Helvim Bilong Yumi Project - at Lawes Road clinic. 

Operations were temporarily suspended last week after the husband of one of the main clinic's staff was car jacked in the car park. 

"HOPEworldwide (PNG) is not a rich organisation" Te Mata said.

 "We survive on donations and grants from overseas and here in PNG. 

"We barely have enough each month to pay our staff. 

"Yet, every year, our staff have to endure robberies and attacks, sometimes at gun point. 

"Every year, thousands of people depend on HOPEworldwide (PNG) for medical treatment and awareness about HIV/AIDs, diabetes and TB; we sponsor hundreds of children who would not go to school otherwise; we help dozens of farmers earn a living; and we have put millions of library books into schools across the nation. 

"Stealing from us is stealing hope and help from people like this."  

Te Mata called on the public to remember the work of faith-based organisations, NGOs and volunteers who work tirelessly for little or no pay. 

 "There is poverty and hardship in PNG," she said.

 "But instead of robbing each other we need to help each other.   

 "NGOs are here to help communities. 

"But communities need to help us too: do not shelter the heartless cowards who did this and do not buy cheap medical equipment or computers off the street because that encourages them to keep stealing.

"One day it might be your child or your mother we can't help because of break-ins like this."

It seems that, in PNG, we are self-immolating because of such animalistic behaviour by the lowliest of beasts.

The HOPEworldwide incidents add to a growing list of murders, rapes and robberies of NGO staff, overseas volunteers and church workers.

In one of the most-notorious cases, which made headlines around the world, an Australian youth ambassador on a surfing break in Madang was raped last November.

The victim was with three other Australians who had travelled to Madang's North Coast Road looking for surfing spots.

The four were carjacked, robbed and then taken to a secluded spot where they were bound to trees and the female raped.

Last month, a spate of car-jackings in Port Moresby gave rise to a climate of fear among some Australian officials, so much so Australia's High Commissioner to PNG, Ian Kemish, 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 in January during a car-jacking that required him to be flown to Brisbane for treatment.

In Manus, a Japanese volunteer was stoned by drunken youths in 2009, and had to return to his country to undergo brain surgery.

In February 2009, a team of foreign Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) doctors and nurses who were offering their services free of charge in Tari, Southern Highlands province, were evacuated after two of them were attacked by a drunk.

The world-renowned U.S. Peace Corps ceased operations in Papua New Guinea in 2001 due to security concerns.

And the list goes on, and on, and on.

Very soon, PNG will be ostracised from the rest of the world, as they will not want to put their pearls before swine like us.

Somare awaits fate as panel adjourns

By ILYA GRIDNEFF

AAP Papua New Guinea Correspondent  

A three-member tribunal hearing allegations of misconduct by Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare has adjourned to consider its final decision.

Tribunal chairman Roger Gyles today adjourned the hearing, then said it hopes to decide Somare's fate this week.
If the tribunal uncovers issues related to financial statements, the penalty would not be decided until next week, Gyles said.
The fourth day of the leadership tribunal in Port Moresby heard closing submissions from both sides relating to 25 allegations that Somare failed to lodge his financial records as far back as 20 years ago.
Somare told the court on Monday he had lodged his returns every year and suggested staff might have lost some records that were missing from the Ombudsman Commission.
But the commissioner who initiated the original investigation alleged that Somare had failed to lodge or did not lodge complete forms or did so late and thus breached his responsibility as prime minister.
On Monday, the tribunal decided not to suspend Somare as PNG leader for the duration of the trial.
On Friday last week, Somare's health was of concern after a brief breathing problem, and this week he was using a walking-stick.
Every day of the trial the packed courtroom has been a who's who of PNG's political elite, with numerous cabinet ministers supporting the prime minister, who's been at the forefront of the country's politics for over 40 years.