Bougainville copper deal to be reviewed

By STEPHANIE ELIZAH

THE Bougainville government has set up a team to re-negotiate the Bougainville Copper Agreement which covers all operations of the mining activities at the Panguna mine, The National reports.
Bougainville President John Momis said after meetings with the Panguna management consultative committee, both parties had agreed to re-negotiate the BCA with the Bougainville Copper Ltd, the national government and any other interested developer.
The decision to re-negotiate the BCA was reached on the consensus that mining would be allowed at Panguna and the BCA must not be reviewed but re-negotiated because the agreement was drawn up by parties which were no longer present at the negotiation table.
He said the Autonomous Bougainville Government had undertaken considerable work in consultation with landowners and the national government in preparation for the BCA re-negotiation.
Momis commended Prime Minister Peter O’Neill on his decision not to approve the renewal of the Panguna Special Mining Lease (SML) held by the Bougainville Copper Ltd for the past 42 years.
“My understanding of this undertaking is that the national government will not exercise powers in relation to any mining related issues, including powers and functions that relate to the BCA and obviously the re-negotiation of this agreement,” Momis said.

2012 budget set for today

THE twice-delayed K10 billion 2012 budget, focusing on education and wealth-creation, will be tabled today, Finance and Treasury Minister Don Polye promised yesterday, The National reports.
It is being brought down just three days shy of the Dec 9 Supreme Court decision which would determine if the O’Neill-Namah government was legitimately elected to office on Aug 2 this year.
In anticipation, all available police manpower and resources in the capital would be deployed in a special security operation starting today until next Monday, NCD-Central police commander Fred Sheekiot said yesterday.
A strong mobile squad contingent from Lae in Morobe was flown into the city and police recruits and staff from the Bomana Police College would be called up to join operational units throughout the city.
“The heightened security alert is necessary to maintain law and order in the city during this week’s parliament session and the upcoming Dec 9 court decision,” Sheekiot said.
Polye brushed aside any suggestion that the delay in the budget had some political motive to do with the court decision.
He said there was nothing sinister about the deferral as it was still within the 2011 financial year and that a delay was necessary to bring the budget
down with legislation on the sovereign wealth fund.
Polye said it was the second budget the O’Neill government would hand down since taking office in August. The first was the 2011 supplementary budget of K781,800,000 handed down on Sept 20.
Last year, the Somare government handed down a K9.8 billion budget.
Polye would not reveal the exact budget figure but said it would be higher than the 2011 budget.
He said the 2012 budget would focus on human resource development, people empowerment and wealth-creation in line with the medium-term development strategy and Vision 2050.
“It will be a budget that will encourage investments and promote human resource development. It will be a balanced budget,” Polye said in a phone interview.
He said the budget was delayed by two weeks so that it could be tabled together with the legislation on the sovereign wealth fund

Sweep ‘uncovers’ syndicates

By JEFFREY ELAPA

THE Task Force Sweep has uncovered what it terms “systematic syndicates that collude to corrupt while huge sum of public monies have been misappropriated by persons in power for personal gain”, chairman Simon Koim said in a statement, The National reports.
Koim, in a two-page paid advertorial last Friday, said the proceeds of crime had been converted into private investments within Papua New Guinea and abroad.
He claimed that foreign countries like Australia were seemingly becoming another Cayman Islands where the perpetrators were readily allowed to invest their proceeds of crime.
Koim said individuals and groups registered as front companies (K2 companies) applied for, obtained and misappropriated public funds.
He said the Task Force Sweep needed more time and the continued support of the government to complete cases, recoup the proceeds of crime and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Koim said so far, two members of parliament, one former member and businessman, five senior public servants, one ministerial staff and one consultant had been charged with offences relating to their alleged involvement in the misappropriations of public funds.
He said to date, the total number of people arrested by the task force was 14 – 12 with alleged deals associated with the National Planning and Monitoring Department and two with the Health Department.
Koim said all processes had been completed and were now with the police prosecutors to ensure conviction was finally secured in court.
He said some of the public servants were suspended with pay.
He said the total number of public servants suspended was 13 from the National Planning and Monitoring, nine from health and two from Air Niugini – in relation to the flight by Paul Tiensten to Australia.
Koim said a number of people in leadership positions had been referred to the Ombudsman Commission for further investigations.
He added that the police financial intelligence unit and the public prosecutor’s office were also working to recover a number of properties which were identified as proceeds of crime and, once determined, would be forfeited to the state.

Task Force Sweep chairman: I am monitoring, not spying on citizens

THERE is no spying on Papua New Guinea citizens, Task Force Sweep chairman Sam Koim said yesterday in a prepared statement, The National reports.
He said his letters of Sept 8 and Nov 23 to Air Niugini were “prudent, proactive actions to ensure persons of interest (by his investigating team) do not escape this jurisdiction” while under investigation as commissioned by the National Executive Council.
Explaining his move to “monitor” the movements of 33 prominent persons, which included at least two government MPs, Koim said: “There is simply no spying being conducted on citizens, including the movement of the Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare and his family.”
Koim was responding to The National’s news articles last Thursday about his letter of Nov 23, directing Air Niugini to “monitor certain people”.
He also denied claims by Pomio MP Paul Tiensten yesterday that Air Niugini was in breach of confidentiality by divulging passenger information to a third party.
“Air Niugini is a state-owned enterprise, hence the arrangement. Albeit being constitutional rights, freedom of movement and the right to privacy are not fundamental rights. Rather, they are qualified rights,” he said.
“Once a person becomes a subject of a criminal investigation, his rights can be qualified lawfully and some of those laws are like the Criminal Code Act, Proceeds of Crimes Act 2005, etc,” Koim said.
“It makes sense that while we are busy with our investigations, suspects may escape jurisdiction, proceeds of crime may be disposed and evidence may be tampered with.
“It will be a futile exercise to then investigate a case when the suspect escapes jurisdiction or the proceeds of crime are conveniently disposed of.
“It is, therefore, prudent to act proactively to ensure persons of interest do not escape this jurisdiction,” Koim said about his moves to “monitor” the movements of people.
“In this case, at no time was there any restrictions imposed on the movement of persons on the list.
“No one is barred from travelling within Papua New Guinea.
“The notion of presumption of innocence is embedded into the Constitution and remains until the final verdict by a court of law and this arrangement does not affect it,” Koim said.
“The attorney-general issued a direction under the Proceeds of Crimes Act directing Air Niugini, as a state-owned enterprise, to give or disclose to the task force information that is in their possession or under their control as and when it is requested by the taskforce.
“A list of names was provided to Air Niugini pursuant to that lawful direction by the attorney-general,” Koim said.
He said “the same constitutional argument was one of the issues raised in the proceedings filed by Tiensten in Kokopo.
“Tiensten attached my letter to Air Niugini, dated Sept 8, in his affidavit and, through his lawyers, made those submissions.
“The court, however, overruled those arguments, giving leeway for national interest to supersede individual’s rights.
“The successes of Task Force Sweep have been the result of competent police and institutional investigations.”
Koim said what he and ITFS were doing was in response to the cries and prayers of ordinary Papua New Guineans and it was an important initiative of the national government.

Papua New Guinea Human Rights Film Festival starts on Wednesday

As part of Human Rights Day (Saturday 10 Dec) celebrations, the 2^nd annual PNG Human Rights Film Festival will run for a full five days, from December 7-11,  2011 at the Moresby Arts Theatre. 

From 10am everyday there will be Human Rights film screenings, debates, exhibitions, information stalls and kids activities.

The days are going to be full of fun, lively discussion and some great films – international and PNG-made.

 There will also be four free festival buses that will go throughout Port Moresby to pick up festival patrons and bring them to the theatre. 

Full route details are in the programme.

 For full details,  you can visit the website www.hrff.org.pg

 "I would like to encourage all media to attend as much of the festival as they can, and for those with specific interests (business, women’s issues, child rights) to make it along to the panel debates for your area of interest," UN communications officer Lisa Smyth said.

"I would be happy to arrange interviews with the panelists for after the debates, as well as any other interviews you might want to conduct.

 "This is a great PNG community event and we hope you can all be involved. 

"Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like further information."

Veteran journalist Jack Metta passes away

A colleague and one of Papua New Guinea's journalism’s stalwarts, JACK METTA, passed away last night. 

The late Jack Metta...someone who loved life

 

It is a sad occasion for those of us who knew him as a friend, journalist, columnist, editor and mentor for so many years.

He was one of our star footballers rising up to be an unstoppable forward for the Kumuls, has covered all areas of journalism including that of being Sports Editor of the now defunct Niugini Nius and has worked for nearly a decade at The National where he was sub-editor and commentator.

For those of you in Port Moresby if you are able, take time to spend a few moments at his haus krai near the 3-Mile Port Moresby Hospital where his home is

Importance of communication in agricultural development

COMMUNICATION is a powerful tool and can be used to effectively communicate scientific knowledge to the farming community who need them most.

Group picture of the workshop participants and facilitators

Speaking at the closing of a workshop on popular communication skills at National Agriculture Research Institute headquarters last Friday, a farmer participant challenged scientists and others who are holding on to information derived from scientific research to  make it their business to communicate them to the farmers who need this to improve their farming practices.

While acknowledging that communicating scientific knowledge is not an easy task, Jacob Kinge, said that it was also important that new knowledge generated from research needed to be communicated to farmers in the most-appropriate form for them to learn and adopt new innovations to improve their way of farming.

Kinge, who is a model rice farmer from the Avi area of the newly-created Jiwaka province was impressed that he was able to learn and had hands-on experiences in developing popular communication products at the workshop, describing it as a rare experience as in most cases he would be on the receiving hand of such products developed by others. 

Jacob Kinge speaking during the closing ceremony

In acknowledging NARI for giving him the opportunity to participate at the workshop, Kinge said such workshops were very important to impart the skills and knowledge required to develop communication products for the benefit of the farming community.

Kinge,  who was among three farmers who participated in the workshop praised NARI management for its foresight in organising such workshops and called for more of such to be organised to ensure people including scientists were equipped with the know-how to communicate scientific information to the farmers.

He added that the participation of farmers in such workshops was a step in the right as they would not only learn the skills involved but would also be able to contribute towards the choice of media and appropriate language to use when developing communication products meant for farmers.

The week-long workshop facilitated through the ACP NARI-EU Science and Technology programme was aimed at demonstrating to participants how to appreciate the importance and benefits of communicating new scientific knowledge to a range of audiences using various communication media.

  Participants in discussion during group work at the workshop

The workshop,  facilitated by two staff of the Communication for Development faculty of the PNG University of  Technology and  supported by NARI information and communication staff involved both learning the concepts involved as well as practical sessions, where participants were able to develop various popular communication products.

Over 24 participants including farmers, extension officers, communication experts and scientists from Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and PNG participated in the workshop.