IPBC has 2 new board members

Minister for Public Enterprises, Sir Mekere Morauta, announced that National Executive Council  had approved the appointment of two new members to the Independent Public Business Corporation board.
They are Mr Michael Koisen, as nominee of the Papua New Guinea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Mr Benny Popotai, as nominee of the Papua New Guinea Institute of Directors.
They have been appointed for three years.
“Both are very experienced people and I look forward to their contribution to IPBC and our Public Enterprises,” Sir Mekere said.

Rural poverty in remote Papua New Guinea: A case study of Obura-Wonenara district

Speech by the Rt Hon Sir Mekere Morauta, KCMG MP, Minister for Public Enterprises

at the launch of  RURAL POVERTY IN REMOTE PAPUA NEW GUINEA: A CASE STUDY OF OBURA-WONENARA DISTRICT 

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

May I extend a special welcome to representatives of CARE International PNG and the Australian National University’s Development Policy Centre, which are the two organisations responsible for the report that is being launched today.

I thank them for their interest in and contribution to Papua New Guinea.

The report does not paint a pretty picture.

It shows life in rural and remote Papua New Guinea as it really is:

·         Malnutrition

·         Unsafe drinking water

·          Poor health and consequently low life expectancy

·          Very little education

·         Unsatisfactory shelter and clothing

·         Little access to income-earning opportunities

·         Unavailability of services beyond the most basic level

The point I want to make is that life in these places does not have to be this way.

We have had ample opportunity since 1975 to improve our way of life, yet apart from the first few years of Independence we have not done so.

In the last eight years the country has enjoyed massive flows of revenue from oil, copper and gold projects, but virtually none of it has been translated into services and benefits for rural people.

I call this “the PNG paradox” – rich in resources, but poor in services.

Plenty of money, but little to show for it.

For nine years we had one government, so-called political stability, at a time of unprecedented revenue flows to the Government.

What did the money and political stability bring to the people or rural PNG?

Clearly, something is missing.

What is the missing link between money, political stability and poverty and lack of services?

We have to find an answer to this question.

Otherwise, the enormous additional wealth expected from PNG LNG will only aggravate the paradox.

It is clear that the way we are managing resources is not producing positive results.

Doing things the way we have always done them has failed the nation, and the result is social indicators that are among the worst in the world.

What is stopping us change our way of managing our resources?

One of the reasons is that we are frightened of reform.

We are scared of change.

My view is that what we should really be afraid of is the status quo.

The CARE-ANU report provides us with some detailed statistics about the poor quality of life in many areas of Papua New Guinea.

As we have heard it focussed on the 262 families living in the Yelia Local Government Area of Obura-Wonenara, but its facts speak for many, many other places across the nation.

I won’t repeat the key findings of the survey.

I will only add that I know many families from this part of the country, and I also know that for them, nothing much has changed since independence.

That is why we need reform.

Reform is urgent.

It is not always popular because it changes the status quo and may deprive those benefitting from the status quo; it carries risks because it introduces an element of the unknown.

So reform is always a challenge, but when structured properly can make a big difference.

As Minister for Public Enterprises, I am responsible for a number of State-Owned Enterprises.

 I intend to reform them so that they are more responsive to community needs, to make them operate in a more sustainable manner so that they are not a constant drain on the public purse, and so that price rises are contained.

People seem to forget that these SOEs do not belong to the Government of the day; they do not exist to glorify our image, or to fly our flag.

These enterprises are owned by the people of Papua New Guinea to provide services for their welfare – transport, power, water, telecommunications.

The question then to ask is WHY is it that they are not providing extensive, reliable, affordable and decent quality services?

Under public ownership, these service providers have proved incapable.

So is the choice between ownership and services?

Take an example. Air Niugini flies to 17 ports throughout the country, just 17 in a country where air transport is the only form of communication and transport for millions of people.

It is not able to extend services to more areas without a capital injection of hundreds of millions of kina and then, ongoing subsidies.

What is the solution?

How do we change Air Niugini to be well capitalised, profitable and able to extend services to rural areas without government financial support?

Difficult to see how, if under government ownership.

IPBC has completed strategic reviews of all SOEs to get a snapshot of their state of health so that we can take appropriate action.

It is clear that there is room for significant improvement in different areas across all SOEs.

Most have long-term structural issues that need to be dealt with and a few have serious immediate problems.

All are chronically under-capitalised and are fatally dependent on the public purse.

Most are poorly managed and lack commercial discipline.

My intention is to make them all operate with sound governance and to meet minimum service standards in a commercially sustainable manner.

SOEs must stop running to the Government every year begging for more money.

Every possible toea of Government money should be going into essential services such as health, education, infrastructure and law and order.

Essential services which the people of Yelia LLG, and all the people of PNG need.

The O’Neill-Namah Government has also agreed to set up an Infrastructure Authority within the Sovereign Wealth Fund.

The authority will be charged with maintaining and expanding our national infrastructure. Nothing could be more important for people in remote communities such as Yelia than well-maintained roads.

These are the reforms that will help improve the daily lives of the people of Yelia LLG and others like them.

Things will not change overnight, but a start is being made, and that is in stark contrast to what has gone on before.

One essential for reform is an open mind.

Recently there have been all sorts of noisy but pointless debates about what sort of “ism” we should follow in reforming our State-Owned Enterprises.

Capitalism? Socialism? Marxist-Leninism? Liberalism?

This is all irrelevant humbug, mostly from vested interests, rent-seekers, and people who simply like to push their own political barrow.

Remember the opposition to two of my reforms – the rescue of National Provident Fund from financial collapse caused by political interference, and the decision to merge PNGBC with Bank South Pacific.

NPF was on the brink of failure when I became Prime Minister in 1999.

Members stood to lose every toea they had – their life savings.

Today Nasfund, as NPF is now known, is a strong independent and highly successful superannuation fund.

Today it has almost 130,000 members, and made an after-tax profit last year of K295 million.

From 2001 to 2010 its assets grew from K268 million to K2.2 billion – a growth of 830% over the period.

Sensible, responsible and effective reform has transformed Nasfund, and in the process assured the retirement future of 130,000 Papua New Guineans who were faced with financial ruin.

It is a similar story with banking reform.

In 1999, the so-called “people’s bank”, PNGBC, was bankrupt because it had been robbed by politicians and their cronies, and mismanaged in its dying years.

My decision to merge it with BSP has been a similar success.

The new people’s bank, BSP, is still 90 per cent-plus-owned by Papua New Guineans.

It is clearly the biggest and best bank in the Pacific Islands.

It is highly profitable, and made an operating profit after tax of $276 million last year.

It has opened more branches and employs 38% more people today than the two banks did in 1999.

So as a bank, BSP is highly successful.

But it does not operate in all rural areas and it is still Government’s job to find ways of extending financial and banking services to rural people.

There are ways of doing it, but again involve reform.

It is time we stopped thinking in tired old ways and introduce new recipes for successful national development.

That is the only way to help the people of Yelia LLG in a sustainable way over the long term.

I am pleased that CARE is implementing a community-based project to help the people of Yelia, and that further surveys are planned.

I welcome this monitoring, and I am confident that, if we stick with reforms, we will start to see progress in Yelia, and throughout PNG.

Mekere Morauta KCMG MP

Minister for Public Enterprises

Rogue cops cost K500 million

By JUNIOR UKAHA

ILLEGAL and improper conduct of police personnel has resulted in claims against the state totalling about K500 million, acting Police Commissioner Tom Kulunga said yesterday, The National reports.
He made the revelation during the launching of a new pocket-size booklet called the “Guide for police conduct and behaviour”.
“We have been (often) taken to court because of our actions,” he said at the police headquarters in Port Moresby.
He said the amount of claims was excessive for a public organisation with just under 5,000 personnel.
“For the 11-month period from Jan 1, 2010, to Nov 30, 2010, we saw 20 dismissals, 42 demotions and two transfers as a result of sanctions issued for misconduct-related offences,” Kulunga said.
“There were 325 serious disciplinary offence reports and 27 minor disciplinary offence reports for that period.”
Kulunga’s comments came as two senior police officers face charges in court in relation to assaults on their wives.
Of the two officers under investigation for assaulting their wives, police said they had not arrested Simon Bernard.
Director international affairs division Supt Tony Duwang said Bernard was dismissed from the force and had been on the run since.
Duwang said criminal charges would be laid once he was caught.
He said Bernard was last spotted in Kimbe, West New Britain, but they had yet to apprehend him.
He said Chris Tamari, a police inspector who abused his wife Artkeria Painap, would be dealt with as soon his files were ready.
Kulunga said most of the offences committed by the police officers related to the assault and ill-treatment of members of the public, the very people they had sworn to protect.
The guide for police conduct and behaviour was put together by the internal affairs division.
“This booklet basically provides a general guide for police officers on duty to ensure human rights laws and humanitarian principles are upheld under any and all circumstances,” he said.
Kim Gordon-Bates, head of mission of the International Committee of Red Cross, whose organisation helped publish the booklet, said it was created to improve the image and credibility of the police force to maintain human dignity and the rights of all people.
He said police officers had sworn an oath to serve and protect their communities and must be efficient, impartial, apolitical, and accountable for the benefit of society.
Deputy police commissioner (operations) Fred Yakasa said the booklet did not replace the police code of ethics but enforced it in a simplified way.

Pastor charged with stealing K100,000

By JACOB POK

A PASTOR in the highlands has been arrested and charged with misappropriating K100,000 belonging to the state, The National reports.
Pr Michael Kui, 35, of Kere­kam village, central Hagen, Western Highlands, was arrested by the government’s task force sweep team after investigations showed that the funds he received from the National Planning and Monitoring Department were not used for their intended purposes.
The task force investigations were carried out following allegations of fraud against church officials of Kerekam Island Cooperative Society in Mt Hagen.
It was alleged that Kui applied on behalf of the society to the department to support a small-scale logging and marketing venture the society wanted to undertake.
The proposal was approved early last year and a cheque deposited by the society into their ANZ Bank account in Mt Hagen on April 26 last year.
However, investigations showed the funds were spent on items not consistent with the proposed projects.
The investigators found that there was sufficient evidence of misappropriation.
Kui was interviewed and formally charged with misappropriating K100,000.
He was detained at the Mt Hagen police station cells but later released on bail.
Meanwhile, a former National Planning and Monitoring senior officer who allegedly conspired with Kui was arrested yesterday
William Sent, a former first assistant secretary in the infrastructure and economic division of the department, was charged with misappropriation.
Sent was one of the senior officers suspended in August for allegedly conspiring with Kui and benefited as a director of Kerekam Island Cooperative Society.

Polye: Expect balanced budget

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

THE 2012 Budget to be handed down next Tuesday will be a balanced one, Treasury and Finance Minister Don Polye said yesterday, The National reports.
“This government is committed to improving transparency on how we collect money from taxpayers and then spend it to improve development outcomes,” he said.
Polye said he would present a responsible Budget.
“I will not go into the details now, but all can be assured that it will be a budget in line with the economic uncertainty created by world markets, the strong growth and inflationary pressures we face, and the urgent and critical development needs of our people.
“The 2012 Budget will be a balanced budget – and this is necessary given the inflationary pressures in our economy.”
Polye said the 2012 Budget would be framed on sharing the wealth and empowering the people.
“It will focused on delivering the government’s commitments to increasing funding for key Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) enablers such as education, health, infrastructure, land and law and justice, and ensuring that all public monies are spent well.”
He said the 2012 Budget would cater for a number of key government policies, such as funding tuition free education, increased support for small and medium enterprises to participate and contribute to the growth and development of PNG economy, and maintenance of key transport infrastructure, such as Highlands
Highway and major sea ports.
Polye said the government would initiate critical improvements in public finance management, including better integration of the recurrent and development budget, medium term planning, focusing on development priorities as outlined in the MTDP (2011-15), and reintroduce project cycle.

Broker with PNG links jailed in Taiwan

A DIPLOMATIC broker from Singapore who is serving a jail term in Taiwan in connection with the embezzlement of nearly US$30 million (K63.42 million) in Taiwanese diplomatic funds was given three years and 10 months in prison on Tuesday on charges of breach of trust, The National reports.
The Taiwan High Court increased Wu Shih-tsai’s sentence of three years and four months meted out by the Taipei District Court in April on the charges of breach of trust to three years and 10 months, ruling that Wu seriously harmed Taiwan.
The high court judges said  Wu and his partner, Ching Chi-Ju, a Taiwanese national with a US passport, were commissioned by then-foreign minister Huang Chih-fang in 2006 to help facilitate a deal to establish diplomatic ties with Pa­pua New Guinea.
Then national security council secretary-general Chiou I-jen gave Huang a directive in August 2006 to seek the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Taiwan and PNG, the high court judges said.
Huang then invited Wu and Ching to act as “go-between” and had the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remit US$29.8 million (K63 million) in September that year to a joint account that Wu and Ching opened in Singapore to be used as “financial aid” for PNG.
When no progress had been made for more than a year, however, Huang asked the two to return the money. – eTaiwan News

Tiensten faces three charges

By SAMUEL RAITANO

MEMBER for Pomio Paul Tiensten has been charged with three offences, The National reports.
Police have charged him with one count each of conspiracy to defraud the state, abuse of office and misappropriation.
The charges relate to K10 million airfreight subsidies belonging to the state.
Tiensten is alleged to have committed the offences while he was the national planning minister in the Somare-Abal government.
Tiensten was expected to make his first appearance in court yesterday but did not turn up.
Tiensten’s lawyer, Arnold Amet Jnr, was at the Waigani District Court but had to leave because the matter was not listed for hearing and the police brief had not been made available to the court.
Although it was expected that Tiensten would have appeared in court yesterday, his name was not on the court list as well.
Police sources said the matter did not get to the court registry as expected yesterday because there were certain procedural matters that had to be taken care of first.
Tiensten is expected to be in court today in order for the court to read him the charges and to set bail conditions for him.
Tiensten arrived from Australia on Monday, and was arrested and charged by the Task Force Sweep team at the Jackson International Airport.
He was released on a K5,000 bail later that day.