Bougainvillean local shot while visiting mother

By STEPHANIE ELIZAH

 

SOUTH Bougainville police commander Paul Kamuai yesterday said a civilian was shot and wounded on Sunday evening at Mongai village in Konnou, South Bougainville, The National reports.

Kamuai said Isaac Malabus, 24, of a mixed Muisuru and Mongai parentage, was recovering at Buka General Hospital after he was rushed to Buka from Buin at 3am yesterday.

“Malabus went to Mongai to vi-sit his mother when he was confronted by five former Mekamui combatants who are now followers of former commander and gang leader Damien Koike,” he said.

“The criminals ordered Malabus to sit down and questioned him on the whereabouts of freedom fighters in the area.

“When he said he did not know anything, he was shot below the knee and stomach,” Kamuai said.

He said tension among communities in the Konnou constituency was high.

“Criminal elements do not normally go to Mongai because the area is known to have its own home guards.

“The villagers are living in fear because the criminals crossed into Mongai territory deep in the night, searching for the village chief and his home guards,” Kamuai said.

In a related incident, Kamuai reported Buin police had received reports that a former police scout was killed in Konnou last Wednesday.

“Our local sources said the alleged murder occurred deep inside Koike’s territory, next to Siniminoi alluvial gold mine, Koike’s economic base,” Kamuai said.

He said the victim was known to police because, during his time as a home guard at Mongai, he was a police scout helping the South Bougainville police.

“In 2008, he was wounded by an AR15 at Mogoroi, got treated at the Buka hospital and, on discharge, went deep into Koike’s territory.

“I cannot confirm if the former scout was killed,” Kamuai said.

 

Milne Bay starts operations to rid illegals

MILNE Bay provincial government last week started a special operation to remove all foreigners illegally working and living in the province, The National reports.

Customs commissioner Gary Juffa, who was in the province for the start of the operation, said the exercise was targeting people who breached Papua New Guinea’s migration and labour laws.

“The aim of the operation is to scrutinise foreign workers living and working in Milne Bay and also to ensure they comply with labour and migration laws,” he said.

“Time and time again we hear and read of illegal foreign business and foreigners illegally living in and working in PNG,” Juffa said.

“We must protect the interests of PNG and its people,” he said.

The two-week operation was spearheaded by the provincial administration, customs, police and the office of labour and migration.

Juffa commended the Milne Bay provincial administration for its initiative, saying customs would work closely with the administration to ensure the exercise was a success. 

He said a number of foreigners had already been deported from the province after they were found to be illegally working and living there.

He said, so far, Milne Bay and East New Britain were the only provinces who were actually removing illegal foreigners and business working or operating there.

While in the province, Juffa attended a gathering hosted by the Border Development Authority to discuss trans-boundary issues.

 

Hijacked highway?

Transparency International PNG is concerned with the state-sanctioned construction of the Kiunga-Hiritano Highway through immense tracts of Western province land covered by the controversial special purpose agriculture business leases (SABLs).

Chairman of TIPNG Lawrence Stephens was commenting on the recent media reports of arrangements for construction of the Trans National Highway: "There is huge concern that the leases were improperly executed, that they will result in large-scale logging without providing large scale agricultural development and that the landowners are not adequately informed of the implications of these agreements supposedly executed on their behalf.

"Now the reports suggest that the leaseholders are involved in arrangements to build a major national highway which will cost the government nothing.

“The people of Western and Gulf provinces deserve to share in the prosperity of PNG.

“More importantly they need to benefit from resources in these provinces.

“A good road linking Kiunga to Port Moresby would be of great benefit to the people.

“But how do we achieve this at no cost to government unless we are giving some people the right to large areas of timber resources which, before the SPABLs were issued, belonged to whole communities?

“With the moratorium on new leases and the call to investigate existing leases there is a need to quickly ensure that the commission of inquiry is up and running to determine whether these SABL’s have been properly granted.”

Stephens raised the specific concern with reports that landowners have agreed to “trade off” their resources for access to roads in agreeing to a developer to harvest forest within the road corridors of the transnational highway.

 “What will happen to the prime virgin forest that the landowners are trading off?

“Will all the landowners be fairly compensated by the developer not just a select few?

“How wide is the corridor of tree harvesting along a 600km road?

“Gulf and Western povince people have the right to know what is planned.

“They are familiar with plans which see them lose their resources with no development to show for it." 

TI PNG, according to Stephens, remains concerned that “for too long our rural people based have not benefited from their resources and many unscrupulous developers have taken advantage of them. If this is to stop a true agricultural industry must be fostered, SABL's must not be a means for the bypassing of strict forestry regulations”.

Stephens reiterated the need to immediately conduct the commission of inquiry into the SABLs so as to rectify any possible irregularities.

 

True partnership

Hospital corpsman seaman Carmen Alfaro, assigned to the amphibious transport dock ship USS Cleveland (LPD7), reading to children during a Pacific Partnership civil action project in Lae, The National reports.

Pacific Partnership is a five-month humanitarian assistance initiative that will also make port visits to Tonga, Vanuatu, Timor-Leste and Micronesia.

During the past five years, it has provided medical, dental, educational and preventive medicine services to more than 220,500 people and completed more than 160 engineering projects in 16 countries. – USNavypic

 

OTML suspends production to fix ruptured pipeline

OK Tedi Mining Ltd has temporarily suspended production at the Ok Tedi mine following concerns over a series of small ruptures in the company’s pyrite pipeline, The National reports.

The pipeline, commissioned in 2008, transports pyrite concentrates 128km from the tailings processing plant at the mine, along the Tabubil-Kiunga highway and on to Bige to underwater storage pits.

Four small ruptures occurred in some sections of the pipeline in the past weeks causing spillage in a localised area along the highway.

Although the ruptures had been repaired and a clean-up programme implemented, OTML board and executive management had decided to take a cautious approach and have suspended ore production at the mine and mill to allow further investigations and tests on the pipeline.

This would determine the cause of the problem and provide information for redesigning and upgrading of the pipeline to prevent these failures occurring again.

OTML environmental science officers and community relations staff were engaged in testing and monitoring the environment surrounding the ruptures in addition to supervising the clean-up operation.

Managing director Nigel Parker said yesterday: “We are taking a careful, responsible approach to managing the situation and are consulting with affected communities and with regulatory authorities including the Western administration and the Mineral Resources Authority.”

 

K17 billion for free education

But, Sir Julius says: Dump your MPs if they fail to provide

 

By JEFFREY ELAPA

 

FREE and universal basic education in the country will cost the government more than K17 billion over the next decade, Education Minister James Marape said during debate in parliament last Friday, The National reports.

He said a cabinet meeting in Wabag last year decided on free education and that had been endorsed by the national executive council.

Marape said as a responsible government, it had to consider other important sectors to make sure they did not stuff up "when a large chunk of money is injected into free education".

New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan said education was a right, as stipulated under the United Nations charter, and the government should provide free education.

"First and foremost is the future of the nation and, in order to have a literate society, the government should invest in education," he said.

Sir Julius said none of the nation's wealth was going to the people and the only way was to give free education to children.

"It is the best way to distribute wealth and it is best to invest in our human resources."

He said through free education, "money will be put into the pockets of the people, which will then raise their standard of living".

"It is time for the people to demand free education from their political representatives.

"If they do not do that, then throw them out in the 2012 general election," Sir Julius said.

He said if he could provide free education in his province, "there is no reason why the government cannot" do that.

 

Sir J: Demand your MP for free education

FORMER prime minister and New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan has bluntly told the people of Papua New Guinea to throw out their respective members of parliament in the 2012 general election if they are not willing to provide free education, The National reports.

Sir Julius and his government have lead the way in providing free elementary and primary education through to Grade 8 since 2008, subsidising 75% of fees for Grades 9 to 12, providing K1,200 per year for all provincial students in tertiary institutions and providing four post-graduate scholarships at K50,000 per annum for specially selected faculties like mining engineering, environment, fisheries and agriculture.

He told parliament last Friday that the people of PNG should demand the national government do what the province had already done and provide free education for all children.

 "The grassroots people of this country are hurting and the LNG project has done them no good  – it has only forced the prices of rice, bread, tinned fish, rental and other costs to double and triple," he said. 

"The rich are getting richer and the poor are suffering."

Sir Julius said if the government wanted to help the people of this country, "help the future of this country, they should provide free education now".

He said free education not only ensure a bright future for children but it would put thousands of kina in the pockets of hard working mothers and fathers.

Sir Julius said the government had talked about universal primary education for years, "but they have done nothing".

"This is unforgiveable, look at the billions of kina of wealth coming out of 'mama and papa graun' and where does it go? 

"It should go, first and foremost, towards the future of our country, towards providing education for all our young people and towards putting some kina in the pockets of their mothers and fathers."

He said his province spent K12 million every year for free education. 

"We constantly hear about how strong our economy is, about the 8% growth and about how great the LNG project is and about how much money we are earning from high gold and copper and oil prices. 

"But none of this seems to get to the people on the ground."

Sir Julius said the people should demand that "government provide free elementary and primary education in the 2012 national budget, and that they extend this to at least 50% subsidised secondary education in the 2013 national budget".

"It is time for the people to take control of their government. And it is very simple.  Every NGO, every community-based organisation, every women's group, every village planning committee, ward development committee, LLG and province, every man and woman in this country should write, phone or talk to their national MP and demand; demand that they support free education in the 2012 budget.

"And they should make it clear if their MP does not support free education, he will be thrown out of office at the 2012 elections and replaced with someone who will."

He said if the people spoke with one voice, politicians would have no choice but to finally become the servants of the people instead of being the masters.