Polye challenged to name corrupt National Alliance party members

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

DON Polye has been challenged to name those who were corrupt in the National Alliance-led government, The National reports.
"Polye keeps on talking about corruption in the government he just left," party president Simon Kaiwi said. "What has he done about it when he was deputy prime minister, acting prime minister and a senior minister in government?"
He said Polye should not continue to point fingers.
"He should name names. Is James Marape corrupt? Is Leo Dion corrupt? Is Sam Abal corrupt? Is Sir Arnold Amet corrupt? And, for that matter, is Charles Abel corrupt?
"You cannot give a blanket corruption allegation against the NA members of parliament," Kaiwi said.
"We are not going to lie down quietly. Let some of them check their own backyard now.
"Some of them think they are clean but it is public knowledge that some are living beyond their means and are manipulating laws to suit themselves."
Kaiwi rubbished Polye's claims of being the NA parliamentary leader.
"Polye is not the leader of National Alliance in Papua New Guinea.
"He is claiming to be elected by the party caucus in Jiwaka. But, there was no such meeting."
Kaiwi said out of the 41 MPs, Polye only had 16 in Jiwaka when no parliamentary
caucus meeting had taken place to deal with the leadership issue.
"For Polye to take over leadership of NA, a properly-constituted meeting of 42 MPs in a parliamentary caucus is needed. Don leads only 16.
"You need a two-third majority for a properly-constituted council meeting.
"The NA-led government was dismantled by a faction led by Polye and, by doing that, we lost government, the prime ministership and now we are winding down to lea­ders of small parties with fewer numbers running government.
"It is his doing that we lost government and, if that is not enough, the small faction then supports the new regime to disqualify the NA leader and East Sepik regional member.
"I myself, as president and chairman of the national execu­tive committee, cannot pretend that everything is okay and destroy the party that we built over many years."
Kaiwi said the issue was before the courts but the faction, led by Polye and Ano Pala, had destroyed the party that had been in place for the past 10 years.
"What they have done is not in the interest of the party."
He said that was why the council expelled the 20 MPs from NA.
"The remaining 21 MPs will consolidate their position and we will go out and prepare ourselves like all other parties for the 2012 general election," Kaiwi said.

National Alliance firm on expelling 20

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

THE National Alliance council will not hold any meetings until the process of expelling the 20 members of parliament is completed, party president Simon Kaiwi says, The National reports.
He said the expulsion process had started with each of the 20 MPs given 14 days to respond either in writing or in person on why they should not be expelled from the National Alliance. They have until Sept 28.
"Some members of the NA council have compromised their position by taking sides with the expelled MPs," Kaiwi said.
"They are confused with their roles and are meddling with the affairs of the parliamentary wing."
Kaiwi was responding to a request by deputy presidents led by James Kond (highlands), Douglas Tomurisa (southern) and John Tuka (islands) and council members John Toberame (highlands) and Charles Synell (islands) for an special NA council meeting.
Kond and his group wanted to discuss, among other things, the:

• Special Supreme Court reference by the East Sepik provincial executive council and the NA party participation as an intervener;
• Contents of the full-page advertisement by Kaiwi published in The National last Wednesday; and
• Purported announcement by the NA executive committee to expel 20 MPs in the O'Neill-led government.
  

Kaiwi said the national execu­tive committee considered the parliament action in removing the NA-led government as a very serious matter that was of great concern to the party.
"We took the decision in the interest of the party to become an intervener.
"In case you have forgotten, the NA party was invited to form government after it won the highest number of endorsed candidates against other political parties.
"The parliament may remove the government, but could it do so in the way it did on Aug 2?
"That is the issue which requires the Supreme Court to determine and, therefore, the party has sufficient interest in the matter to join in as intervener."
Kaiwi said the second agenda in a full-page advertisement was his response to Don Polye's claim of being the NA parliamentary leader without any properly constituted meeting of the parliamentary wing held to deal with the leadership issue.
"The purported meeting by a faction in Minj early last month does not constitute such a meeting and Polye and group collaborated to pursue an agenda that is personal and detrimental to the interest of the NA party."
Kaiwi said for the expulsion of the 20 MPs, clause 17 of the party constitution was invoked to deal with individual MPs who colluded with others to overthrow the NA-led government.
"But, as though that is not enough, they supported the government to declare the seat of the parliamentary leader of our party vacant because he was seriously ill and could not attend the meetings.
"It is similar to the actions of (former) acting prime minister Sam Abal dismissing Polye as a minister and to remove the de­puty parliamentary leadership of highlands from him.
"We stood by the party process and defended Polye against the actions of the acting prime minister and suspended Abal as a member of NA for two months."
Kaiwi said the MPs were being disciplined individually and requirements under the party constitution were being followed.
"The provision for convening a special council meeting may be used only if three meetings have been held and an issue cannot be dealt with in any other way," he said.

The census patrol before 1975

The Papua New Guinea government is undertaking a national census ahead of the election next year. Undertaking a census in PNG is a formidable task yet it used to be done annually across the nation by kiaps. PAUL OATES recounts his experiences as a kiap from the 1960s and 70s.

Children at Pindiu village assembled after a census.

I can only relate the census patrols I observed and carried out in the areas I was posted to.

The officer-in-charge of a patrol post or the Assistant District Commissioner would decide the time for the yearly census patrol.

If there was a local government council, the kiap might consult the councillors to determine when might be a good time, given the various demands on a villager’s time.

Out of the galvanised iron patrol boxes would come the loose-leaf, green-paged census books for the villages to be visited.

These books were held together with brass bolts and wing nuts and a sheaf of new pages would be taken with the patrol in case there had been any new additions or the families had changed or expanded.

For a large, extended village of say over 1,000 people, there might be two or more books.

However, most villages then comprised of around a few hundred people, as the fertility of the area’s soils often might not support large population numbers and the names were therefore contained in a single volume, about an inch thick.

The next step in the patrol preparation process would be to ‘send out the talk’ (salim toksave igo) about the upcoming census patrol.

This process might be by runner although in later years it could be over the local short wave radio station that operated out of the district capital.

By the early 1970s, many people had a battery-operated short wave radio receiver in the villages.

There were a number of reasons why it was important to let the local people know that a census patrol was coming.

Firstly, the people had to plan ahead for these events by coming together in their official village at the time the patrol arrived.

This wasn’t as simple as it first seemed.

Many mountain villagers did not actually live in the formal village and would often be living in small garden huts, next to their food gardens.

To ensure that everyone possible attended the census, village people might have to prepare well in advance.

This preparation might require the collection of enough food and firewood to last a few days.

Secondly, unless there was a fixed patrol line, it was important that there were enough suitable young people available in the village to be paid to carry the patrol’s gear on to the next village, after the census had been conducted.

When the patrol arrived, all the villagers would be assembled in an open area.

Custom dictated that men would sit on one side and women on the other.

A folding patrol table would be set up with folding patrol chair and the village census book produced and placed on the patrol table, in front of the kiap and a policeman would stand alongside the kiap with the official interpreter if required. 

About to commence a census: patrol table, flag and constable finishing his morning coffee.Census experiences before independence

Often the kiap would be sitting near the “haus kiap” (the kiap’s house) or government rest house in each village, where the Australian flag would be flying from a bamboo flag pole, indicating the government was in residence.

A call would then be sung (often “yodelled”), out by the village leaders in Tok Pisin: “Oli kamap nau. Oli sindaun, oli pasim maus” (roughly: come on everyone, come over here and sit down and be quiet).

When everyone had gathered together, the census book would be opened and the census commenced.

The names in the book were in alphabetical order starting with the husband’s name. The first name might begin with say “Bupe” and then came his father’s name “Zineroc” as areas in the Huon Peninsula were patrilineal.

“Bupe Zineroc istap a?” (“Is Bupe Zineroc here?”) would be asked and the village leaders would sing out ‘Bupe, Bupe Zineroc, yu lain nau.”

Bupe would then stand up and walk up in front of the gathering and in front of the patrol table.

Alongside him would then stand his wife and all their children by descending height and therefore, age.

If he had more than one wife, the next wife would then stand after the last child of the first wife and her children then line up and so on.

It was the traditional custom in many villages that if a brother died, the brother next in line would take over the family.

In a Melanesian society, where no welfare or social security system existed, this custom made good, practical sense.

Most missionaries however, denigrated this custom and made every effort to stamp it out but without offering any practical alternative.

Under the year of the census, a tick would then be marked in the book that Bupe was observed in his village and that all his family was also observed and appeared to be in good health.

Any health problems would then be referred either to a medical assistant with the patrol or the villager would be directed to attend the patrol post health centre.

If Bupe was a farmer, as was likely, the abbreviation “s/f” would be noted after his name indicating “subsistence farmer”.

His wife would have “h/d” after her name indicating “home duties”.

If there had been a new addition to the family, the new addition’s name would be added to the book with a surname of Bupe, indicating who his father was.

The given name however might only be the child’s official name and might not be his or her actual name.

Children often might have their name changed as they progressed through their various ages and levels within their society and traditional ceremonies.

Sometimes, a name change might not actually be registered in the census book and then people could get confused about whose name was being called out.

However, with everyone from the village being there, any confusion was usually sorted out very quickly.

Other abbreviations that might be made against a name were: “absent male” and an indication where the person might be.

Illegitimate children could use their mother’s name as their last name or take the name of the male whose house they might reside in.

Why was the village census so important?

The village census records formed a basis for the registration of births, deaths and marriages as well as taxes and the electoral role.

It was also equally important for recording entries against an individual concerning health, education and law and order and any ongoing information the next patrol may need to investigate.

This was also the only legal, personal record available to rural Papua New Guineans.

The census patrol was very important as each villager had to be sighted and the overall health of the village to be noted.

This data formed the basis of an informed review of the area and a statistical analysis based on a record of any population growth or decline.

The details were then reported and assembled at each level of administration, from the base camp/patrol post to the sub district and then on to the district and finally to the whole of the territory.

This then allowed the administration of the country to be effectively based on annually updated statistical information.

During a census patrol in a village in the Aseki patrol post area, a family lined up in front of me. 

The young Paul Oates crossing a bridge on patrol

 Going through the family names, I called out the name of a young boy, who had been marked in the book by a previous officer as having been born over three years ago.

The mother quickly pointed with her chin to the baby in her bilum (the string bag hanging from her head).

Thinking that the child may have died and another given the same name, I said “nogat, em olsem dispela”, (“no, like this”), and marked with my hand, half way up my thigh above the knee, indicating the general height of a three-year-old.

 Again, after calling the child’s name the woman’s chin jerked in direction of the bilum on her back.

Mystified, I approached the woman who was standing next to her husband. The policeman standing next to me had already prompted a response from the sullen looking father with a terse “kaikai we?” (“where do you eat?”), indicating he should open his mouth and reply to a question asked of him.

Asking the woman to open her bilum I peered into it and was horrified to see a curled up, crinkled, emaciated form of what was apparently a three-year-old child.

 I glared daggers at the father who cringed away and explained, via the village Tultul (interpreter) “mama inogat susu na emi no save kamap gut” (“his mother’s milk dried up and he didn’t grow up very well”).

I turned to the Luluai (village leader) and instructed him in no uncertain terms to take the mother and child immediately to the Aseki health centre for treatment.

When I arrived back at the station at the end of the patrol, I checked and the mother and child had already been flown to the district capital Lae and were now at the Angau base hospital.

The child, who was severely malnourished and dehydrated, was eventually saved and I heard later, survived to grow up.

Later that night around the camp fire, I confided to my police Constable in Tok Pisin.

“When I saw the child’s condition I was so angry, I damn near hit the father!”

He replied in the same language: “You’d have had to stand in line, sir.”

Tracking for tragedy – poor governance poses risks for Papua New Guinea

By KEITH JACKSON

Keith Jackson...bad governance a risk for PNG

Earlier this year Laura Bailey, the World Bank’s country manager for Papua New Guinea, nailed it.

At a Port Moresby workshop organised by the Institute of National Affairs she stated forthrightly that corruption and bad governance in PNG are feeding off the mining sector.

Of course it’s not only PNG’s abundance of exploitable resources which is responsible for the country’s governance woes – sheer incompetence makes a noteworthy contribution, as it does at present in Australian national politics.

But the enormous scale of PNG’s future wealth has the capacity to make a big difference: properly managed, it will provide an opportunity to create a prosperous nation; poorly managed, it will greatly enrich a few people and send the bulk of the population to hell in a handcart.

The pivotal point is governance, pithily defined by the World Bank as “the exercise of political authority and the use of institutional resources to manage society's problems and affairs”.

The burning question is how PNG’s national governance will deal with corruption’s deliberate intent to advantage the few at the expense of the many with resources that are the rightful property of the people.

Let’s not mince words, in simple terms poor governance manifested through corruption is complicity in theft.

“Because of corruption, we cannot expect the police to protect us, nor the courts to punish the criminals,” a frustrated Dr Thomas Webster, Director of the National Research Institute, said a few months back.

“If you or any of your family members are sick … you may find that the drugs needed to cure the illness (are) not available because of corruption.  

“This cancer is now threatening the very essence of good governance and how we make decisions at the highest levels.

“The administrative framework for good governance in managing and using resources for the benefit of all Papua New Guineans are not being adhered to.” 

Succinctly and accurately phrased.

The Australian government’s response to this situation – given that it provides PNG with upwards of half a billion dollars a year in development funds – is bland.

The official position is that “the basic responsibility for improving governance and addressing corruption in PNG resides with the government of PNG,” as parliamentary secretary Richard Marles has put it in an article for PNG Attitude.

“That said,” he added, “Australia is strongly committed to supporting our closest neighbour to address these challenges.”

In other words, it’s none of our business but we’ll deal with it under the covers.

 Sure, no nation likes megaphone diplomacy but when it comes to serious moral issues like poor governance and corruption, surely at least a Chimbu yodel would be in order.

In fact, more assertive Australian support might encourage leaders like new Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to take a more forthright stand for good governance and to start rooting out corruption.

While O’Neill has a reputation as being a clever deal maker and a hard-headed businessman, he now needs to step up to the plate and apply that inside knowledge and those undoubted creative skills in the broader interests of the people of Papua New Guinea.

Together with colleagues like former prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta and younger leaders like Belden Namah, Sam Basil and Powes Parkop, all of whom have a keen understanding and a clear commitment to good governance, O’Neill has a golden opportunity to guide PNG in the right direction – where the nation’s wealth will be applied to the benefit of all its people.

To achieve this, he will need to apply every grain of his reputed toughness and, in the words of Paul Barker, Director of the Institute of National Affairs, “(take) governance issues … much more seriously than now”.

Elder statesman Sir Mekere Morauta has long been a stout proponent and, in office, an effective practitioner of good governance.

 Earlier this year, he told a seminar on corruption at Divine Word University: “A culture of corruption is now entrenched, and has permeated nearly all aspects of the public sector and, to some degree, business.

“Corruption and patronage have become institutionalised.

“They have even been legalised.

“Every day we hear about corruption.

“Every day we talk about it.

“Every day we see and hear of leaders and businesses getting away with it.

“We could fill a whole prison with people recommended for prosecution in the various Commissions of Inquiry over the last 20 years, but which of those people has actually been prosecuted, let alone gone to jail?

“A few politicians have been thrown out of office for breaches of the Leadership Code, but that’s basically it.”

Morauta offered a long list of sins against the people of PNG: “Commissions and bribes, whether millions on government road contracts or a hundred kina to sell your stationery to a purchasing officer in a government department” … “politicians, public servants, board members or company executives failing to declare their personal interests in contracts or deals being decided on or in appointments being made” ... “interference in decision-making, in neglect of due process and lack of prosecution for breaches of the law” … “running to the courts to prevent institutions like the Ombudsman Commission from carrying out its constitutional role” …

No nation can operate with stability and fairness – and success - if it does not take urgent steps to stamp out this kind of misbehaviour.

To the perpetrators, corruption might seem victimless (“it’s only money”), rationalised by self-justificatory thinking (“I’m really owed this anyway”) and excused by generalisation (“everyone’s doing it”).

In PNG today not only are there are not enough voices railing against poor governance, there are not enough important voices, the voices are not loud enough and they are not being reinforced by concrete and, where required, draconian action.

As for Australia’s conduct of its development assistance programme, especially the ‘boomerang aid’ that ends up back in Australia and the rapacious fees paid to consultants and contractors, surely there is someone in Canberra who understands that this is contributing to a climate in which at least some PNG politicians and senior bureaucrats feel justified in behaving as avariciously as they do.

The perpetuation of poor governance in PNG, and public tolerance of it by Australia, may appear to be a soft option but it seems set to yield some pretty awful outcomes.

I believe both countries are on notice.

Keith Jackson AM is publisher and editor of the PNG Attitude website and magazine, and chairman of leading Australian public relations company, Jackson Wells Pty Ltd

WikiLeaks: When the past comes back to haunt Papua New Guinea

The ‘Moti Affair’ isn’t over for Papua New Guinea,  warns SUSAN MERRELL

Legend has it that Italian courtier Damocles was awarded a much-coveted throne that brought with it great power and wealth.  But also inherent in the acquisition was a sword, suspended by a single horse's hair over the throne - the proverbial 'Sword of Damocles'.

Considering the threat intolerable, Damocles relinquished the throne(although I've never quite understood why he didn't just remove the sword).

There are outstanding issues,precariously suspended,like the Sword of Damocles, over the Papua New Guinea government.

The Moti Affair, for instance –while a legacy of the Grand Chief, Sir Michael Somare, unresolved, it's now been passed on to the new PNG government and, in its current state, will dog any subsequent government.

Recent Wikileaks cables emanating from the US embassy in PNG are a reminder.

In one cable, headed 'Papua New Guinea Prime Minister on Moti and Bilateral,'Somare stated that the PNG government "knows who the culprits are [in the Moti affair]."

He criticised the Australian Federal Police for bypassing the office of the Foreign Minister and of the Prime Minister by going directly to the PNG police who co-operated with the Australians in an arrest that was without a warrant and with extradition papers that were "not properly authenticated."

"I can't put up with this type of nonsense, "said Somare. " If I'm wrong on questions of law, I admit it.  I was not wrong."

At the time, the then and current attorney-general Dr Allan Marat, and Morobe Governor Luther Wenge, a former acting Judge, went further adding that PNG should take Australia to task in the International Court of Justice.

Two subsequent governmental inquiries, the Defence Inquiry and the Ombudsman's Report drew similar conclusions on the matter of Moti's arrest. 

However, the Reports also found that Somare had a case to answer in the matter of Moti's clandestine Defence Force flight out of PNG. These findings have threatened Somare's tenure as Prime Minister since the reports were finalised.

Influential commentators such as Professor John Nonggorr, a leading constitutional lawyer, suggested that Somare should have stepped aside over the affair: like Damocles he should have relinquished the throne.

Conversely, Somare chose to negate the effects of the reports by challenging their legitimacy.  He was successful. The Ombudsman's report was rejected in Parliament and the Defence Inquiry was discredited factually and legally.

Somare metaphorically succeeded in putting extra distance between himself and the sword butit's still there and it won't go away while the matter is not appropriately addressed. It's an ominous and unwelcomepresence for whoever takes up the mantle of government.

For notwithstanding who was to blame for Moti's illegal arrest, the buck stops at the PNG executive.  As a sovereign nation, PNG bears direct responsibility for the conduct of its agencies, regardless of whose interests they were serving at the time.

This could be an expensive lesson.

For, in March of 2010, The Sunday Chronicle reported that Moti's PNG lawyer was seeking an invitation to present a quantum of damages for settlement to the solicitor general.  Compensation – the justice system that oils the wheels of Melanesian society.

Peter Pena Lawyers, cite breaches of International law, Common law and PNG law including defamation, false imprisonment, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and other charges suggestive of human rights abuses.

To date, no compensation claim has been lodged.

The question of redress for Julian Moti is a vexed one. The Moti Affair has gone on for so long and has been before so many courts and Inquiries in PNG that one wonders how impartial PNGs judiciary can be should Moti decide to sue the state?

After all, it was Justice Kofi in the district court that first refused to entertain the facts put to him by Moti's lawyers (later deemed to be correct by the Ombudsman's report) that Moti was wrongfully before that court.(Ironically, Chronox Manek, the Chief Ombudsman responsible for the Report was the enthusiastic Public Prosecutor at the time of Moti's arrest)

Later, Justice Cathy Davani needed an extra two weeks to 'acquaint herself with the facts" on Moti's case – during that time Moti was flown out to the Solomon Islands, when PNG could no longer guarantee his safety. How much bearing on the decision to fly Moti out was precipitated by the lengthy court delay?

Subsequently, Deputy Chief Justice Salika, headed up the discredited Defence Inquiry Report with the now Justice John Kawi as his leading counsel.

In fact, so many members of PNGs judiciary have actively taken a part and/or expressed opinion on issues of the Moti Affair(such as Justice Sakora who coined the phrase 'Motigate') that to suspect prejudice is reasonable.

The PNG government should take the lead - relieve the PNG courts of this responsibility, use executive powers to divest itself of this negative legacy – remove the Sword of Damocles before it does more damage.

Somare told to respect suspension

THE Ombudsman Commission says suspended member for Angoram Arthur Somare should refrain from signing provincial executive documents, The National reports.
Chief Ombudsman Commissioner Chronox Manek was responding to a newspaper article in which Somare blamed the commission of "complicity" over the latest political events including the dismissal of Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare from parliament.
Somare said the OC had been complicit in the Speaker's decision to declare the East Sepik regional seat vacant by not using its discretional powers to invoke the recall of parliament.
But Manek said Somare had been informed of his involvement in the PEC decision and signing the documents as a leader after he was referred to the Leadership Tribunal on July 4.
He said although Somare had questioned the validity of his referral, his suspension under section 28 of the Organic Law on the duties and Responsibilities of Leadership had not been lifted.
He said the section stated that where a matter had been referred to a tribunal under section 27, the person alleged to have committed misconduct in office was suspended from duty with full pay.
He said when allegations of misconduct had been referred to a leadership tribunal, a leader was suspended from duty, and therefore denied any opportunity to engage in any official duties.

Watchdog rejects East Sepik government request

By JEFFREY ELAPA

THE PNG Ombudsman Commission is unable to exercise its discretion to invoke powers under section 27(4) of the Constitution and therefore has turned down a request by the East Sepik provincial executives to stop the recall of parliament, The National reports.
Chief Ombudsman Chronox Manek was responding to a newspaper article which quoted Arthur Somare, the suspended MP Angoram, as saying the commission should use its discretionary powers to stop parliament from being recalled.
He blamed the OC of "complicity" over the latest political events including the dismissal of Grand Chief, Sir Michael Somare from parliament last Tuesday.
Manek said he received three letters from the East Sepik provincial executive which were signed by Governor Peter Wararu, deputy Toby Samek and Arthur Somare representing the East Sepik provincial executive council.
They also went to the commission on  Aug 30 and Sept 2.
He said the letter had requested the OC to invoke its powers under the Constitution and prevent the recall of parliament pending the resolution of the Supreme Court proceedings, prevent parliament from embarking on course of actions including the recall of parliament in breach of the Organic Law from Sept 6 to 20.
Manek said the Ombudsman Commission responded on Sept 5 declining the request.
It was based on the fact that the reference by the East Sepik provincial executive was before the Supreme Court and as such there was a risk of prejudice to the administration of justice if the commission invoked its powers and prevent the recall of parliament.
The OC is also a party in the court proceeding.
He said the OC had also advised the three that they could use the court to stop the parliament sitting.
Manek said the parties were informed that the issue of directions would not be in the best interest of the current proceedings and the OC could be seen as interfering with the constitutional process of parliament which was determined by the constitution and the organic law on meetings of parliament.
"The commission's powers to issue directions under section 27(4) of the Constitution is self-executing and can be used independently as a particular case or circumstance if a case permits," he said.
However, the intention of section 27 (4) of the Constitution is to attain the object of subsection (1), (2) and (3) of section 27 of the constitution which provide generally for the preservation of the integrity of the persons subject to the leadership code.
Therefore, he cannot interfere with the constitutional process and the organic law on the calling of meetings of parliament and therefore the commission can not exercise it discretionary powers.