Grand Chief: Barring MPs is dictatorial

BARRING members from entering parliament and threatening to arrest them is criminal and dictatorial, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare said yesterday, The National reports.
He said he was shocked to learn that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill had threatened to order police to arrest him if he ventured near parliament again.
“This is the first time this has happened in 36 years of Independence,” Sir Michael said.
“Respect must be given to the house. No police has any right to stop me or any other member from entering the people’s parliament.”
He likened the presence of armed policemen at the entrances to parliament and the threats of arrest as a dictatorial act.
Nipa-Kutubu MP Philemon Embel agreed with Sir Michael.
“It is criminal to prevent an MP from performing his duties as a representative of the people,” he said.
Sir Michael said he went to parliament to serve the speaker the orders of the Supreme Court “since he seems unaware of it”.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), we went there to remind the speaker, who was an intervener, that there are explicit orders that he must comply with,’’ he said.
“Due notice was given to the speaker the previous day.
“He cannot tell us that he is unaware of the orders or that he does not understand anything.
“We have to be seen to do the right thing. We exercised our rights to enforce the orders.
“Now we want him (speaker) to grant us our seats on the government benches in parliament. O’Neill and his team can then use their numerical strength and section 145 of the Constitution to remove me. There is nothing wrong with that.”
That then is the Somare camp’s “way forward” from the political impasse that has had two camps claiming to be the legitimate government since the Supreme Court decision of Dec 12 which nullified O’Neill’s election on Aug 2.
The Somare group wanted Speaker Jeffrey Nape to grant them their seats on the government benches in parliament in compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court and for the O’Neill group to then use its numerical strength to vote them out of office.
This suggestion mets with two obvious problems: Invoking section 145 means a motion of no confidence but the constitution forbids any such motions within 12 months of the general election, now a mere four months away.
Secondly, the speaker and the O’Neill camp are adamant that there is no vacancy in the government seating arrangements.
On his status as the regional member for East Sepik, Sir Michael said the court had reinstated him as MP. And, even if the O’Neill camp claimed to have removed him again, the process is not complete until it is declared so by the National Court, which alone has the powers to invalidate the membership of a member, he said.
That was confirmed by the Supreme Court decision (order No.3) which stated that the “National Court has exclusive jurisdiction as to whether the seat of a member has become vacant”.

Somare’s visit disrupts house

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

THE row over who the legitimate government is came to a head in parliament on Wednesday after Sir Michael Somare made an unannounced appearance, The National reports.
It triggered off a heated exchange of words with MPs loyal to Peter O’Neill as Sir Michael walked up to the speaker’s chair to deliver a copy of the Supreme Court order of Dec 12.
The court order had restored Sir Michael as prime minister.
The confrontation forced Deputy Speaker Francis Marus to suspend the sitting after he ordered Sir Michael to leave the parliamentary chamber.
The heated exchanges included one in which Kerowagi MP Guma Wau called Nawaeb MP Timothy Bonga a criminal. Wau pointed a finger at Bonga and challenged him to a fight. But he was stopped by other MPs.
Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah shouted across the floor to remove the “stranger” (Sir Michael) who he claimed was no longer an MP.
The session started with the morning prayer and Question Time.
NCD Governor Powes Parkop was directing questions at Agriculture Minister Sir Puka Temu on the Trukai rice advertisement on another rice firm that wanted to take over a monopoly over rice production and supply.
It was then that Sir Michael and his group came into the chamber, stood at the back until Parkop completed his questions.
Sir Michael’s group of about 20 MPs then walked to the speaker’s chair where Sir Michael presented the court order.
Bulolo MP Sam Basil raised a point of order that there was a “stranger” on the floor. Sir Michael replied: “Who is the stranger?”
Sir Michael later told the media that the move was to petition the speaker to enforce the Supreme Court ruling in allocating his government members their rightful seats in parliament.
He said he was not a “stranger” after winning nine general elections and serving 44 uninterrupted years as the member for East Sepik.
On Tuesday afternoon, Sir Michael visited the Speaker of Parliament, Jeffery Nape, to urge him to comply with the Supreme Court order of Dec 12, 2011.
He said his group was making a point that they were MPs who should be allocated their rightful places in the house.
Sir Michael was accompanied by the referrer of the Supreme Court reference, East Sepik Governor Peter Wararu and a member of his constituency, Tony Aimo, into the parliamentary chamber.
He said his members merely followed parliamentary procedures by petitioning the acting speaker with the court order so that parliament could comply with.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill described the action of Sir Michael and his followers as “disgraceful and disrespectful”.
“There are a handful of MPs who stubbornly use the old man in that manner for their own political gain,” O’Neill said.
“You cannot serve court orders in parliament and it is disgraceful because parliament is a separate arm of government.”

Basil levels charges against Morobe leader

BULOLO MP Sam Basil has levelled serious corruption allegations against his Morobe Governor Luther Wenge during debate on the National Anti-Corruption Strategy statement in parliament yesterday, The National reports.
Basil, who is National Planning Minister and deputy leader of PNG Party, made the allegation against Wenge who is in government ranks.
Last week, PNG Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah went on national radio calling on Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to resign.
Wenge, who took the floor to debate the issue, alleged that corrupt people included politicians and public servants.
Basil raised a point of order, then, pointing fingers at Wenge, said that the governor was involved in corrupt dealings with land sales in Lae.
Wenge denied the claim, adding that those pointing fingers should be investigated to see whether they were clean.
During debate, Wenge said that corruption had become a part of PNG life from small people, to churches, public service and members of parliament.
He said he supported the statement from the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, adding that it would be a huge task in tackling corruption but at least a start had been made.
Wenge said when politicians choose their own district administrator because the person had contributed pigs to his election gathering that was corruption

Kandep MP: Target root cause of corruption

By JEFFREY ELAPA

THE endemic and systematic corruption that is rife can only be corrected when the root cause of the problem is addressed, Treasurer and Finance Minister Don Polye said, The National reports.
During the debate on the national anti-corruption strategy 2010-30 in Parliament yesterday, he pointed out that there were many factors contributing to the high level of corruption.
He said there was always a root cause to all problems. One was the endemic and systematic corruption in PNG – a huge problem affecting the nation.
He said culture was one of the causes because there was always a difference between the introduced western culture and the indigenous Melanesian culture.
He said some things were not part of our culture and problems arose when the two cultures clashed.
“In order for those cultures to become part of our culture, we have to train our people to accept them as part of our life,’’ he said.
“For example, as I grew up, my father and mother did not teach me to budget. It was something new and a skill they even did not practise before. I learnt it when I was at university,” he said.
All new skills had to be taught in the family unit and continued as they proceeded to school so that it became part of them.
Polye said by using some of the government policies such as the Pikinini policy, the youth policy and the education polices, some of the problems relating to corruption could be addressed.
Targeting family units, churches and education systems meant that young people were trained at an early age to develop skills of respect and honesty.
As the treasurer, he had not allocated any funding to the good policies Dame Carol Kidu had initiated in her department. But as a government, they could so that such policies be utilised to address the issue of corruption and the other social problems.

Proposed whistle-blower law revisited

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

THE Government will be reviewing the proposed whistle blower protection legislation in a bid to stem the tide of corruption in the bureaucracy, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said yesterday, The National reports.
He said the departments of Prime Minister and NEC, Justice and Attorney General and other departments have started reviewing key activities in its effort to weed out corruption.
O’Neill said these included:
qReviewing the proposal for a whistle-blower protection law;
qReviewing the proposed Freedom of Information law to install new and higher level of transparency and accountability;
qReviewing all laws dealing with corruption with a view to strengthening existing laws;
qReviewing the proposal for an Anti Corruption body such as the Independent Commission against Corruption; andqReactivating the implementation of commission of inquiry reports.
“At the very top of these priority activities is the need for government to immediately put in place risk management strategies especially for high risk departments to curb corrupt practices.”
He said this task is now being undertaken by the chief secretary to government.
O’Neill also outlined the eight key action areas which all stakeholders including the government must concentrate their efforts and resources to effectively combat corruption and improve good governance.
He said the action areas involved strengthening and promoting honest leadership, transparency and public exposure of corruption, effective people management, integrity of public finance management system, accountability and oversight, compliance and enforcement, public awareness and education and coordination and partnership.
O’Neill outlined these key areas when unveiling PNG’s first anti-corruption strategy 2010-30 in parliament yesterday.

Somare is evil, says Polye

FINANCE Minister Don Polye has described Sir Michael Somare as an “evil” man, The National reports.
Polye, the Kandep MP, told reporters in Mt Hagen that Somare was good in destroying young vibrant leaders and suppressing them.
He claimed that Sir Michael used highlands leaders as the “perfect football to play around with” without the leaders themselves knowing.
He gave as an example of Wabag MP Sam Abal who Sir Michael had appointed as deputy prime minister. Likewise, he used Governor Anderson Agiru to try to destroy Peter O’Neill, Polye said.
Polye accused Sir Michael of blocking the late Sir Tei Abal, father of Sam Abal, from becoming prime minister even though he had the numbers.
He did the same thing to Sir Imbakey Okuk and other leaders from the highlands, Polye said.
“Cutting and chopping young leaders for hidden motives is undemocratic and evil.”
Polye warned those in the Somare camp that Sir Michael would not groom or mould a young vibrant leader to lead the country.
Polye wanted to destroy the evil in the National Alliance by de-registering the party and forming a new one

Billions in state funds stolen through corruption

ALMOST K1 billion of public funds goes down the drain annually because of widespread corruption, it has been revealed, The National reports.
During a debate in parliament on the first national anti-corruption strategy 2010-30, Public Service Minister Bart Philemon stressed that if nothing was done to address the problem now, the government would continue to lose that much money each year.
Government agencies have over the years conducted investigations and inquiries into the misappropriation of public funds but nothing had been done to effectively address corruption, Philemon said.
Because of this, he said, the national wealth had failed to trickle down to the people - despite the billions of surplus money in government.
He told parliament that there had been unequal and inefficient distribution of services although there had been a record budget of K60 billion in the past nine years.
He said corruption was worse than the killer disease HIV/AIDS because it affected everyone in society while the latter affected only individuals.
Philemon said the way to address corruption was at the top “and come down gradually to the bottom”.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill introduced in parliament the 20-year strategy which set out a clear pathway to address corruption in PNG.
“Yet there is common agreement that despite efforts to eradicate it, corruption continues to run unabated and is doing inexorable harm to the vary fabric of the PNG society,’’ he said.
“Influential reports from both the PNG government and independent sources show clearly that corruption is no longer sporadic, isolated to certain segments of the community and institutions. Rather corruption appears to be more systematic and endemic.”
For example in 2010, the Public Accounts Committee reported that it had made inquiry into 1,000 agencies, each examined from 2003 to 2008.
The findings showed that the management and accountability of public servants and the government had collapsed miserably.
Overall, there had been a rise both in terms of the number and frequency of corruption and bad governance practices as shown by the investigations of a range of inquiries by government and the public accounts committee, auditor general and Ombudsman Commission.
“This is both frightening and worrisome and should elicit the attention of both citizens and authorities at all levels,” he said.
He said corruption and bad governance tended to feature prominently in areas that included:

• Questionable and dishonest conduct which undermines and questions the personal integrity of those who are in position of trust and authority;
• The use of bribery to acquire preferential service or treatment;
• Theft of public money and illegal acquisition of assets by abusing one’s position of authority;
• Disregard and by-passing officially sanctioned process to acquire a service or select appointees;
• Lack of compliance with the Public Finance Management Act including breaching of procurement process;
• Conflict of interest in public decision making; and
• Nepotism, resulting in recruitment and retention of unqualified staff.

He said corruption also existed in the private sector which had often been implicated in corrupt procurement processes.
“Companies will pay bribes or rely on contact to rig tenders,’’ he said.
“Additionally, with PNG’s wealth of natural resources, while of great potential benefits to citizens, at the same time have opened up huge opportunities for corruption.
“Corruption in how revenues from natural resource extraction activities are collected and distributed is a huge problem.’
O’Neill said PNG could not afford to pay for the cost of corruption and by extension, bad governance.
“Loss arising from thefts and siphoning off of financial resources, poor policy making and weak transparency and accountability have already placed heavy toll on the delivery of services to our people and the political and economic governance of the country at all levels.”
He said the anti-corruption strategy was not only about criminalising corrupt conduct but more importantly preventative measures in educating youths and children about the dangers of corruption