MCJV expats attacked

THREE expatriate employees of ExxonMobil contracted engineering procurement construction contractor MCJV for the Komo International Airport were attacked by angry landowners yesterday, The National reports.
Peace and land mediation chairman for Komo, Wandipe Pini, said from Komo the expatriates had been attacked at separate locations in the airfield construction site.
Pini said one of the men was severely injured after being struck on the head with an axe, while the other two suffered minor injuries to their arms when they tried to defend themselves.
Pini said the attacks were blamed on a number of reasons relating to employment issues and the non-payment of sub-contracts and welfare-related issues with MCJV.
 "MCJV has brought in outsiders to do work that locals are capable of doing," he said.
"Other reasons are that MCJV has brought in its own machinery and vehicles into the project, giving no chance for locals to participate.
"This is not part of the UBSA and LBBSA agreement and the landowners, realising that they are big-time losers, attacked the three men," he said.
Pini called on the Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations Martin Aini to look into the matter as locals were losing out on employment opportunities in the project.
ExxonMobil, the PNG LNG project operator, confirmed the attacks yesterday.

Waieng closes in on poll count

PEOPLE'S National Congress Party candidate and a former defence minister Peter Waieng is closing the gap with only 65 votes separating him and Constitutional Democratic candidate Tobias Kulang in the Kundiawa-Gembogl by-election race, The National reports.
Waieng scored 2,893 votes while Kulang maintained a narrow lead of 2,958 votes after count 27 as at 7pm last night, after day five of the first preference counts.
Following them was veteran politician Mathew Siune with 1,505 votes.
Independent candidate William Gumayagl Onguglo is in fourth spot with 989 votes and another independent candidate Baundo Tokam is fifth with 989 votes.
The top five spots were confirmed after a total of 18, 022 ballot papers were counted. 283 ballot papers  were ruled informal and the total votes allowed for distributions were 17, 739.
It is understood a total of 39 boxes from the 93 were counted which leaves 54 more boxes yet to be counted for the primary votes.
Progress tallies for other candidates were still being done with counting from count 28.
However, results were still being finalised and should be released today.
Returning Officer for Kundiawa-Gembogl James Piapia called for the co-operation of scrutineers for candidates and urged them to seek assistance should there be any confusion on the new electronic counting system.
He was happy with the smooth progress of the counting, but appealed to candidates, scrutineers, counting officials and those involved to complete the counting within 11 days.
The results should be with the Governor-General on Aug 26.
Chimbu elections manager Steven Gore Kaupa commended the smooth progress of the counting so far.
 Kaupa expects a winning candidate to be declared by Sunday based on the current progress of the counting.

Somare’s tribunal hearing on hold

By SAMUEL RAITANO 

ANGORAM MP Arthur Somare has obtained a restraining order to have his leadership tribunal hearing deferred again pending a judicial review hearing in the National Court, The National reports.
The National Court in Waigani granted the order because Somare's argument to be made in the judicial review was based on merit and that the restraint was convenient to manage Somare's legal battles sprouting from the substantive tribunal matter.
State lawyer for the tribunal Sam Koim consented to the restraining order after convincing the court to have the due date set as Aug 24 for the order to lapse.
The matter to be dealt with first in the judicial review is to determine if the law allowed acting
public prosecutor Camillus Sambua to hand over his duty to another person.
It is in relation to state prosecutor Katwa Umpake signing the referral of Somare to the tribunal, instead of Sambua.
The tribunal had already dismissed the same appeal while pointing out that the signature on the referral did not alter the contents of the referral itself.
The tribunal had said that Sambua admitting to have authorised Umpake was sufficient.
But Somare had argued for a judicial review to question what laws allowed Sambua to pass his duty and job to another person.
The parties are expected to prepare for the review hearing set for August 22.
If a ruling is not made by Aug 24, the parties are expected to argue again for another adjournment, judge Panuel Mogish said.
Koim told the court that his client would not bring any extra documents to court.
The material before the tribunal would be used in the judicial review.

I’m still attorney-general, Amet tells Marat

By JULIA DAIA BORE

SIR Arnold Amet attended the handover-takeover ceremony between him and his successor, Dr Allan Marat, yesterday, and told those gathered that he was still the attorney-general  and minister for justice, The National reports.
He referred to Marat as the "purported attorney-general" saying neither he nor Sir Michael Somare's government recognised the "purported" events in parliament of last Tuesday which culminated in the change of government.
Sir Arnold said yesterday's occasion (to him) was not a handover-takeover.
Rather, he was only "vacating" his office due to the result of parliament's "unconstitutional" action following which he now had to "vacate" his office pending the court's determination on the matter.
He said he had attempted to seek a Supreme Court reference but "as you know, you Allan (Marat) withdrew it," he said, while smiling at his successor. 
Sir Arnold said he had complete trust in the independence of the judiciary which had yet to hear and determine its outcome on the issue currently before it.
"So I am merely vacating the office" pending the outcome of the courts, Sir Arnold said and slid the set of keys to the attorney-general's office across the table to Marat. 
 Sir Arnold said: "Yesterday, my mind meandered between whether I should do this or not…"
He said  he respected the independent judicial process and pointed out that what he could not do what was being done by the East Sepik provincial executive government.
He said he was confident of the judicial system and would await the outcome of the reference.
He then urged department staff to "stay focused" despite the political diversions and to concentrate on taking the profession to a higher level of competence.
"Leave the politics to us politicians," he said.
His words were echoed by Marat who set down the rules for his staff, saying time was of essence and he expected each person's eight working hours to be properly used as public servants.
Marat said: "I am the purported attorney-general. I will say I am now confused. I have been gazetted attorney-general and it is now up to you (those within the department and ministry) whether to refer to me as AG or purported AG."

Somare: New govt fails to show ex-PM due respect

By SAMUEL RAITANO

ANGORAM MP Arthur Somare is upset that while his father lay on his sick bed, the new government has quickly taken over power and "divided the loot", The National reports.
He said he was hurt because they (new government) had disrespected his father and had "started rummaging through things while he is still on the sick-bed".
"That old man (Sir Michael) spent his life for the good of this country but it seems that nobody cares or appre­ciates the work of such a man like him," he said.
Somare, who at times seemed emotional, said the Peter O'Neill-led go­vernment had gone through a phase that made things constitutionally chaotic.
He, however, declined to comment on the proposed sale of the K120 million Falcon jet his father used on his travels, as announced by Prime Minister O'Neill on Tuesday in parliament.
O'Neill had said the money from the sale of the aircraft would be better used on sectors such as education and health.
Speaking outside the National and Supreme Court yesterday, Somare said he had his own court cases to worry about and
he did not wish to comment on what the current go­vernment was doing with things that belonged to the people of PNG.
Meanwhile, the people of Madang are generally happy with the proposed sale of the K120 million Falcon jet.
A nurse at the Modilon Hospital intermediate ward, Sister Clancy Kom, was happy that the money would be spent on health and to provide free education.
She said the Falcon jet was a luxury item benefiting only a few people and should be done away with.
"Peter O'Neill knows what he is doing,'' she said.
"If the country can fork out such a huge sum of money (to buy and maintain the jet), where is the logic of such an exercise?
"Everyone here at the hospital is talking about that news and is overjoyed that someone finally has the guts to put his foot down."
Lesley Nailon, a community leader from Furan village, said he had to find a K3 flex card yesterday just to call The National office to express his joy.
He said he was die-hard O'Neill supporter and supported the go­vernment.
He said O'Neill had made the best decision yet to sell the Falcon jet.
Ray Kone, a youth at Sisiak was yesterday sitting among his friends outside The National's office discussing the news.
He said they agreed that enough squandering had been done by the previous government and now with the new government ma­king the cost-cutting chan­ges, it was definitely good news.
Many said the purchase of the jet never benefited the people directly and, as such, many government policies in the last government would never come to fruition such as the Vision 2050.
"We have been begging for a change and now we will see it," one betelnut seller at the Handy Mart service station known only as Bobby, said.
It was reported yesterday that the Falcon jet would cost K22 million a year to operate.
The jet had been used by the former prime minister, Sir Michael Somare, and his government ministers.
Other news that were widely welcomed by the people included the proposed free education, weeding of corruption through the re-introduction of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Bill, the implementation of 2011 deve­lopmental budgets by splitting the ministries of National Planning, Monitoring and Rural Development, revamping the Public Service Management Act to cut down on graft and corruption and to penalise those found guilty among others.

Morobe helicopter crash leaves 3 dead

By ELLEN TIAMU

Three people are dead following a helicopter crash in Morobe province on Monday, The National reports.
The twin-engine helicopter (pictured above during a recent trip to Finschhafen) , belonging to the Lae-based Manolos Aviation, was on its way to Wafi, in the Bulolo district, but a heavy cloud cover prevented it from landing.
The helicopter was trying to return to Lae when it went missing between Mumeng and Wafi.
Two G4S security guards and the expatriate pilot, Peter Wallace, were on board the helicopter. 
An air search was launched immediately to locate the missing helicopter.
However, aerial search and rescue attempts during the past three days had drawn a blank because the area was still under a heavy cloud cover.
Late last night Civil Aviation Minister Puri Ruing said the crash site had been found but there were no survivors.
He said the crash of the helicopter, P2-RUH, happened about 5km south of Timini.
"The investigation commenced shortly after the accident happened and the onsite component of the investigation will be continuing for several days," Ruing said,
He said the bodies of the pilot and the two passengers were being retrieved late yesterday while the investigators' reports would be ready within four weeks.

Morobe helicopter crash leaves 3 dead

By ELLEN TIAMU

Three people are dead following a helicopter crash in Morobe province on Monday, The National reports.
The twin-engine helicopter (pictured above during a recent trip to Finschhafen) , belonging to the Lae-based Manolos Aviation, was on its way to Wafi, in the Bulolo district, but a heavy cloud cover prevented it from landing.
The helicopter was trying to return to Lae when it went missing between Mumeng and Wafi.
Two G4S security guards and the expatriate pilot, Peter Wallace, were on board the helicopter. 
An air search was launched immediately to locate the missing helicopter.
However, aerial search and rescue attempts during the past three days had drawn a blank because the area was still under a heavy cloud cover.
Late last night Civil Aviation Minister Puri Ruing said the crash site had been found but there were no survivors.
He said the crash of the helicopter, P2-RUH, happened about 5km south of Timini.
"The investigation commenced shortly after the accident happened and the onsite component of the investigation will be continuing for several days," Ruing said,
He said the bodies of the pilot and the two passengers were being retrieved late yesterday while the investigators' reports would be ready within four weeks.