Boycott by opposition described as undemocratic

THE opposition bench was empty when parliament resumed at 2pm yesterday, a move described as undemocratic and childish by the government, The National reports.
The only person at the opposition bench was the chairman of the Jiwaka Transitional Authority and member for North Waghi, Benjamin Mul.
He was told by the speaker to take his seat on the opposition bench as he was sitting on the middle bench.
Former minister for community development, Dame Carol Kidu, the only the woman parliamenta­rian, sat at the middle bench too.
Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah condemned the action of the opposition led by the former acting prime minister Sam Abal to boycott parliament.
He said, as elected leaders, they were required to attend all sessions and respect the democratic process of the election which took place last Tuesday in parliament.
"They should be on the other side of the floor like what we did and not protesting as parliament
is not a place for protesting lea­ders."
Treasurer Don Polye described the action as childish. 
"It is disrespectful," he said.
Before debating on the prime mi­nister's inaugural speech, Na­mah said the election of O'Neill followed a democratic process and that the highest court of the land had declared that as valid.
He said that it was in the best interest of the people through their elected leaders and they should respect that rather than go to the courts to claim back the prime mi­nistership.

Free education to be introduced next year, says PM

THE government will introduce free education up to Grade 10 and subsidise fees for Grade 11 to university level, according to Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, The National reports.
This will be included in the 2012 budget.
O'Neill in his inaugural statement to parliament said the government would also implement a number of economic and social projects in the next few months.
Apart from providing free education, the government intends to deliver major impact projects to not only boost economic and social welfare, but also generate multiplier-effect economic opportunities for the nation.
"We will embark on nationwide restoration and maintenance of run-down education and health institutions, create a centrali­sed national medical supplies base, attend to repair, rehabilitation and maintenance of the Highlands Highway, Buluminski Highway, Lae-Madang Highway and complete the trans-New Britain Highway and the Gulf-Southern Highlands Highway," he said.
He said a new alternative national port development would take place in the Gulf province while fast-tracking the Lae port development.
He said the Jackson and Nadzab airports would be extended and upgraded.
O'Neill said a new initiative would be launched to establish transportation for all maritime provinces instead of the corrupt programmes in the Border Development and Coastal Vessel programme.
He said the government would spare no effort in speeding up the development of the ExxonMobil-led PNG LNG project and the InterOil-led Gulf LNG project.
"These are multi-billion dollar investments to un­derpin in-flow of revenue streams for our nation's future development."
O'Neill said the LNG project needed to be assisted to overcome delays over landowner issues and the government would act decisively to provide that relief.
"Similarly, this government will go out of its way to give InterOil all the help and facilitation it needs in
the government system to progress its development efforts to Final Investment Decision before the end of the year.''
He said the government would deal with indivi­duals who were delaying the progress of the Gulf LNG project.
O'Neill said the government would fast-track outstanding mining projects inclu­ding the Yandera and Frieda River gold and copper project.
"This government will seriously and indepen­dently look at the environment issues raised by va­rious landowners and pro­vincial governments."

PM’s priority is to eradicate graft

.PRIME Minister Peter O'Neill has promised to completely weed out corruption by jailing people and penalising companies which have illegally benefited from the state coffers, The National reports.
"Graft and corruption are serious issues and they merely represent the extent of rot and decay that has been building up over time in key sectors of the nation's governance and administration structure," O'Neill said
"We will attend to the rot and decay, we will cleanse the system.
"We will take the excesses head on and correct them promptly.
"We will turn complacency into assertiveness and forthrightness."
He said the government would immediately make some hard decisions and spearhead legislative initiatives to ensure that the public service was more accountable and productive by weeding out unproductive
and non-performing elements.
"We will revamp the Public Ser­vice Management Act by making some legislative and regulatory amendments that will enable us to zero in on specific fraudulent activities within the government overall public service and financial management system.
"To underpin our resolve, my go­vernment will introduce the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Bill to establish ICAC.
"The powers of ICAC will go beyond the Leadership Code. It will cover those in both the public and private sectors.
"In other words, we will zero in on all perpetrators of graft and corruption everywhere in the community and not just those that hold public office."
He said the government was mindful of the public outcry over rampant corruption and mismanagement of money.
"I will move decisively to appoint a special prosecutor to immediately investigate, charge, prosecute and jail persons, groups and companies who have illegally benefited from state's coffers,'' he said.

Falcon jet up for sale

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

THE state is to sell off its K120 million Falcon jet as part of a cost-cutting exercise to counter the blow-out in the cost of running government, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said yesterday, The National reports
Announcing his government's major policy initiatives in his maiden speech as prime minister, he also told parliament that the government would provide free education next year and introduce measures to weed out corruption.
"Top of the list of cost-control measures will be the sale of the government's executive Falcon jet," he said.
O'Neill said it cost the nation K120 million to buy it and K22 million a year to operate it.
"This money can be better spent on the education and health sectors," he said.
He said instructions had already been given to Air Niugini to place the jet on the market.
He promised to impose strict controls on domestic and international tra­vels by ministers and departmental heads.
He said the Office of Ministerial Services was to centralise and manage ministerial expenditure.
He promised to speed up the PNG LNG project and fast-track other mi­ning projects throughout the country, assuring landowners that environmental issues would be seriously and indepen­dently looked at.
He plans to re-introduce the Independent Commission Against Cor­ruption Bill that will have more powers than the Leadership Code to cover those in the public and private sector.
The policy statement by the prime minister assured Papua New Gui­neans that the government of national unity was not on a "witch-hunt and to destroy" good things that the past government had delivered.
"Obviously, we will take stock of the nation's economic, political and social score-card at the outset of this government's stock," O'Neill said.
 "We shall be stream­lining the nation's public finance management system in the coming weeks.
"It is our desire to see to it that government-plan­ned national development agenda under the 2011 National Budget, especially the national deve­lopment and public in­vestment projects component remains on track and is implemented accoun­tably.
"To oversee successful implementation of the 2011 development bud­get, this government has split the Ministry of Na­tional Planning, Monito­ring and Rural Development into separate mi­nistries of national planning and of implementation and rural development."
O'Neill said it would ensure efficiency in planning and moni­toring of go­vernment project im­ple­mentation and cut wastage.
"This government has to desire to see well-meaning national deve­lopment initiatives be­coming marginalised or neglected by the onset of complacency, corruption and pursuit of personal interest.
"We give an assurance that we shall provide assertive and accountable political leadership," he said.
"We will be putting brakes on our nation's
further slide towards da­maging our nation's in­tegrity by the apparent onset of systemic and systematic corruption, instability and chaos that has built up throughout the government system in recent years."

Opposition plans to boycott sitting

By JEFFREY ELAPA

THE Opposition plans to boycott parliament today when it resumes its August session, The National reports.
Speaking during a press conference at the Ela Beach Hotel yesterday ousted acting prime minister Sam Abal said the opposition would not attend parliament when it resumed at 2pm in protest over the "unconstitutional" election of Peter O'Neill as Prime Minister last Tuesday.
He was accompanied by former ministers Paul Tiensten, Ben Sembri, Andrew Kumbakor, Francis Potape and Mendi MP Pr Isaac Joseph.
Abal said the matter was before the court to rule on the constitutionality of the election.
"We know there is parliament tomorrow (today) but because there is a question that the constitution has been flawed as well as the standing orders were abused, we will boycott parliament until the court clears it," he said.
He said because the Constitution was abused, they had to ask the court for a ruling.
Abal said there was still a legitimate Prime Minister and while the processes had not been followed, Parliament went ahead to elect a new prime minister using their numerical strength.
"There are two prime ministers and we want the court to pronounce it," he said.
However, he said that whatever the court ruled, his 31 members would abide by it and go back to Parliament to attend meetings. Until then, they would continue to stay out as a protest over the manner in which the election of a prime minister was conducted.
He said it abused the constitutional and other laws such as of the NEC and Prime Minister's Act.
Meanwhile Abal said several members from the new government had "ambushed" Government House last Tuesday to force Governor-Ge­neral Sir Michael Ogio to sign the instruments.
He said Sir Michael had been "rushed and pushed" to sign the documents by individuals from the government assisted by members of the police and military.
He said he would write to the police commissioner to lodge his complaint so that the matter was investigated

Coup rumour dispelled

By JUNIOR UKAHA

THE police and military hierarchy yesterday dispelled the rumour of a military coup against the one-week-old government of Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, The National reports.
In separate statements, Police Commissioner Tony Wagambie and Papua New Guinea Defence Force commander Brig-Gen Francis Agwi said they were loyal to the government and processes of democracy and the change in the government "will not affect the work of police and defence".
Their call came after text messages yesterday about a military coup circulated widely, frightening people and business houses. The text message said the instability caused by the new government had forced the military to overthrow the government.
It urged Papua New Guineans to support the coup.
However, Agwi countered with the statement: "I assure the government and people of PNG that no force under my command will ever be less than totally loyal to the constitution, and to the authority of the government."
He said he had talked with Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah and Defence Minister Guma Wau and assured them of his support and loyalty.
Agwi said he had heard of the rumour which was "without foundation, malicious and mischievous".    
Wagambie, on the other hand, said a coup "is nonsense and will never happen".
"I want to assure the government, investors and grassroots that there will be no coup – and I guarantee that," Wagambie said. 
"If there are people trying to create something then the police will deal with them in the appropriate manner," he said.
The top cop said spreading false rumours amounted to treason and was punishable by law under the Summary Offences Act.
"In some other countries, spreading such rumours will result in the person facing the firing squad," Wagambie said.
He said police were gathering information to ascertain where, how and why the rumour was started.
He said he had already instructed his men to trace the person or group responsible for spreading the rumour and arrest them.
Internal Security Minister John Boito condemned the rumour, saying it was the work of people who wanted to cause panic among Papua New Guineans.
He said parliament was intact and would meet as normal today

Manwau is happy

MEMBER for Wewak Moses Manwau has denied reports he had protested against the recent cabinet appointments because he was not included in the list, The National reports.
He said a newspaper headline portrayed him negatively even though he was not at Government House during the swearing-in ceremony of the ministers.
"I really felt bad be­cause I talk about issue concerning PNG and uni­ting the country and not about individual interests.
"What I said was that it was the prerogative of the prime minister to appointment a minister in East Sepik for a fair representation, knowing very well that I was out of it because I was not informed."
He said the member for Wosera-Gawi Ronald Asik and member for Telefomin Peter Iwei were at the Government House and complained publicly there.
"I only said what I felt when asked to comment, and not crying over the ministerial positions as portrayed in the newspaper," he said.