Provinces may object, says top lawyer

By LESLIE OMARO

A SENIOR lawyer has warned the government that the provinces could declare independence if the general election is deferred, The National reports.
 Lawyer Alois Jerewai said one of the biggest consequences of any deferment was that provinces would lose faith in the Constitution and declare independence themselves.
“Inherently, the Constitution will be useless and the highest ramifications will be that each province will declare independence,” he said.
“Whatever the government does, it must not delay the election.
“If the current parliamentarians cannot power the state machinery properly, then we go to the general election to get rid of them.”
He said any province could do whatever it wished by declaring the Constitution void and then proceed to adopt its own Constitution.
“In other words, the nation will disintegrate.
“Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen and the government are all talking about the common roll not being ready.
"What were they doing in the past five years?
“This will affect the Constitution itself.
 “The general election must be conducted on schedule in accordance with provisions under sub-section 104.
“Whether the common roll is updated based on previous common rolls, the general election must go ahead.”
He said in the event a delay was inevitable, the government would continue in office illegally and without the mandate of people

Namah: Give me 12 months

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

DEPUTY Prime Minister Belden Namah has announced that parliament is looking at deferring the general election for 12 months to allow the government to fully implement its major po­licies, The National reports. He said if he had the support of the prime minister, he would use all his resources to ensure Peter O’Neill was returned as prime minister after the election.
Namah made the announcement yesterday at the Independence Oval in Vanimo in front of O’Neill and half his cabinet ministers plus members of parliament.
Namah had invited the national parliamentarians to West Sepik province for two days.
He said this in response to O’Neill’s address to hundreds of people that the government would be funding major projects in West Sepik totalling more than K140 million.
The prime minister had earlier told the Sepik people: “We had to change the government and give it back to the people.
“We have introduced free education for a total cost of K700 million and have already front-loaded K300 million to all schools.
“We have sold the Falcon jet, which has been used as a private PMV and given the proceeds of that sale, K350 million, to the health sector. We have introduced basic free health care for our people.
“This government is people-focused and people-friendly. In seven months, we have shown our true colours compared to nine years of waste,” O’Neill said.
He said the government he led was for the people, not for one man or one family.
Namah, in reply, told his home crowd that he would use all available resources at his disposal to retain O’Neill as prime minister for a new five-year term after the general election.
He stressed that there was no guarantee that a new government would support the development package that the O’Neill-led government had introduced in the past seven months.
Namah said the Electoral Commission had failed the people, the national population census had failed and PNG needed a system for a fair, just election so that quality leaders were elected “instead of coming through the window”.
On O’Neill’s reference to the scheduled election, he warned: “You said to hold the election by April 27 this year and a new government comes in. The projects will not be implemented and the government policy of free education and free health care will be dismantled.
“This government must continue.
“How do you make a comparison between a government of nine years and government
of six months?
“The Electoral Commission has failed the people. The census has failed. We do not know how many people are in this country?
“There are a lot of mistakes in the common roll. For example, a ward in Koroba has 467 eligible voters and that number has soared to 4060. We must have been working very hard overnight.”
Namah said 40% of the roll had not been completed in the highlands region alone.
He said the new bio-metric system must be in place to ensure a fair and just election.
“The government has plans to delay the election for 12 months to fully implement government policies and ensuring a fair election.”

CPL launches multi- media advertising drive

By MALUM NALU

CITY Pharmacy Ltd Group, Papua New Guinea’s biggest retail network, last night launched its new advertising campaign, which will run on television, radio and newspapers, at the Gateway Hotel in Port Moresby and features company staff, The National reports.

The range of CPL advertisements at the Gateway Hotel last night.-Picture by MALUM NALU

 This followed just two weeks after it announced a profit before tax of K21.86 million for last year, a 62.77% increase from the K13.43 million it recorded in 2010.
Group chairman Mahesh Patel told The National the whole advertising campaign covered what CPL stood for “because it makes everyone proud”.
 “That’s why we want to show the everyday life of someone who works for CPL,” he said.
 “I think the CPL ad shows that.
 “It’s a very proud moment, a good feeling.”
Sri Lankan Sen Ekanayake, who was involved in the production of the advertisements, said it took more than 12 months to finish everything.
“It took more than 12 months to produce from start to finish, and involved more than 200 people who were involved in it, especially everyday Papua New Guineans working for Stop ‘N’ Shop,” he said.
 “It was shot in Port Moresby, in the shops and villages, involving ordinary Papua New Guinean lifestyle.
“What we found was the loyalty to Stop ‘N’ Shop, which we tried to capture on the footage.”
Its City Pharmacy and Stop ‘N’ Shop stores recorded good sales growth last year.
The CPL Group is PNG’s biggest retail work.
It has established five strong retail brands – City Pharmacy, Stop ‘N’ Shop, Hardware Haus, BonCafe and HomeMaker.
Last week, it opened Paradise Cinema – PNG’s very first multiplex cinema.
CPL group employs  more than 2,000 workers, of which 95% are Papua New Guineans.
Last year, the CPL Group had a combined retail operations of 54 stores nationwide which employ more than  2,000 staff, of whom 95% are Papua New Guineans.
Its retail network spanned health and beauty chains, grocery, hardware stores, coffee shops and now a multiplex cinema.

Steamships profit surges to K158 million

By BRIAN GOMEZ in Sydney

STEAMSHIPS Trading Co Ltd announced yesterday a record after-tax profit of K158.3 million for the 2011 calendar year, up 35.9%, after total revenues rose 16.5% to K920.4 million, The National reports.
 In its preliminary final report to the Australian Stock Exchange, Steamships said capital expenditure by the group totalled K231.3 million last year compared with K190.4 million in 2010.
Directors reported that after-tax profits surged in the second-half of the year to K93.7 million from K64.5 million in the first-half versus K59.5 in the second-half last year and K57 million in the first half of 2010.
Encouraged by the big profit growth, directors announced a final dividend of 140 toea a share in addition to the interim dividend of 50 toea to take the total dividend to 190 toea compared with 100 toea per share in 2010.
Steamships shares yesterday rose A$0.75 or 3.09% to A$25 a share.
The group’s hotel and property division was the top profit earner, recording an after-tax profit of K84.6 million compared with K56.9 million in 2010.

Steamships' new luxury hotel in Port Moresby, the 20-storey Grand Papua Hotel, was opened at the end of 2011.-Picture by MALUM NALU

The group’s shipping and logistics operations, which fell from being the top profit earner in 2010 to second position last year, had an after tax profit of K77.4 million versus K70.8 million in 2010.
However, the logistics division continued to enjoy the greatest revenue at K461.3 million last year compared with K222 million for hotels and property with comparative figures for 2010 standing at K397.8 million and K175.2 million in 2010.
The finance and investment division enjoyed a major turnaround with a net profit of K1.14 million compared with a loss of K3.2 million in 2010.
Directors said the PNG economy continued to grow and the company’s investment strategy, which remains on track this year, “is evolving to benefit from this growth”.
“2012 presents additional challenges with a general election in the second half of the year, but we remain confident and committed to the future development of Papua New Guinea,” they said.
Comments on divisional performance included:

• Logistics – Shipping performed well with satisfactory growth that mirrored economic growth with increased activity in both PNG’s mining and non-mining sectors;
• Property and hotels – Revenue was up as the group capitalised on the PNG property boom with high occupancy rates at commercial and residential properties throughout PNG with some concern with oversupply in 2012 and beyond. Coral Seas Hotels had a good year with some concern about the numbers of hotel rooms that have come onto the market in a relatively short period of time; and
• Commercial Division – Laga Industries had a strong year on the back of sector-wide growth with an increase in sales and profits and the successful launch of a number of new products.

Directors said Steamships remained committed to the principles of sustainable development and would continue to promote community engagement initiatives and work on ways to minimise the company’s environmental footprint

Trawen: We are ready for June polling

By JEFFREY ELAPA

ELECTORAL Commissioner Andrew Trawen has reassured the nation that the general election will be held as scheduled in June, The National reports.
 He will advise Governor-General Sir Michael Ogio to issue the writs of election on April 27 and for polling to start on June 23.
He spoke out yesterday after Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah suggested a re-scheduling of the election because of various factors, most prominent of which is the delay in the updating of electoral rolls. The matter was discussed at length last Friday in parliament.
Trawen clarified that any change to the election schedule would come from the electoral commission.
He brushed aside statements in the media that the electoral rolls were not ready and that the government planned to defer the election by six months.
He said the electoral commissioner, police and the Defence Force would advise government if there was going to be any deferment.
“As the electoral commissioner, I now assure the people of PNG that the election will proceed as schedule as required under section 105(a) of the Constitution,’’ he said.
“To delay or defer the election is unconstitutional as section 105(1)(a) of the Constitution and the Organic Law on national and local level government elections will then have to be amended.”
The Constitution [section 105(1)(a)] stated that “a general election to parliament shall be held within a period of three months before the fifth anniversary of the day fixed for the return of the writ for the previous general election”.
The commission would ensure this constitution requirement is met, Trawen said.
He admitted that there were a few hiccups in the electoral roll update but about 75% of the process had been completed.
Completed electoral rolls had been dispatched to the respective electorates for public display and objections.
He reiterated that all rolls would be ready before the issue of writs on April 27.
The planning, preparation and conduct of the election is the sole constitutional duty of the electoral commission every five years.
Trawen was confident of completing the rolls on time and deliver another successful election in June.
“We are doing our best to get the electoral roll completed, especially for the highlands and will deliver a credible roll for PNG to go to the election.
“I think it is important for everyone to understand what the electoral commission is doing with the electoral roll because there is a lot of misinformation out there at present,” he said.
There are 6,789 wards in PNG and his office had received 4,983 of the ward list.
Although data for the highlands was slow, it was expected to progressively come in for processing over the next two weeks, Trawen said.
He said the preliminary roll for the seven highlands provinces and Manus would be displayed for objection in early April before the issue of writs

Canberra backs election schedule

By FRANK SENGE KOLMA

AUSTRALIA wants the PNG 2012 general election to take place as scheduled, The National reports. This is the first time Australia has entered the debate on deferral of elections and indicates the seriousness with which PNG’s  strongest supporter and neighbour views the issue.
A spokesman for the High Commission in Port Moresby said yesterday  Australia was willing to increase its present assistance to the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission if that would help the commission to deliver the elections on time.
The timetable is for writs to be issued on April 27, nominations to open on May 4, polling to start on June 23, polling to end July 6 and for the return of writs on July 27.
 “Australia is soon going to provide further advisory support for (common) roll integrity and quality assurance,” the High Commission spokesman said.
 “We want to emphasise that Australia will provide PNGEC with additional support to go ahead with its timelines. That is our core focus.”
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and PNG Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen yesterday
reaffirmed separately that the election would be conducted as scheduled.
O’Neill said there was a genuine concern about the integrity of the common roll and to address this, his government had approached the United Nations to conduct an independent audit into the commission’s state of readiness to conduct the elections.
A submission would go before cabinet this week and the United Nations team would be tasked to report back before parliament next meets on March 22.
Australia provided A$12 million for capacity building in the PNGEC between last year and this year.
It  more recently provided 30 high-powered computers which are operating around the clock in updating the common roll.
It had also assigned a deputy election operations director, a logistics officer, an air transport coordinator, a police coordination adviser and two helicopters for the PNG Defence Force election response force to help with the general election beginning in April.
On the plan to introduce a bio-metric system for PNG, the High Commission spokesman said: “This is for Papua New Guinea to consider, but Australia would not support the introduction of bio-metric identification of voters in Papua New Guinea for this election.
“No electoral body, including the PNG Electoral Commission, has the capacity to develop, plan and implement a nationally consistent and trusted ID card system so close to an election.
“We estimate such as system would take up to five years to implement.
“It would be technically complex and require significant resources.”

Lawyer: Poll deferral illegal

MEMBERS of parliament cannot defer the 2012 general election, a constitutional lawyer says, The National reports.
 Dr John Nonggorr said only the Electoral Commission could decide on any change in the election timetable.
“MPs will not have the mandate to be legislators even a day beyond the five-year term,” he stated.
“Any attempt to do this will be undemocratic.”
He pointed out that the election must be held not a day later than the fifth anniversary of the return of writs.
Nonggorr also warned that any confidence in the election process would be eroded if MPs with self-interests make decisions which benefited them directly.
He also suggested that the proposal to use technology such as bio-metrics would eventually prove detrimental to the integrity of the election if the people have no confidence in the process.
He said the danger inherent in the use of the technology was for politicians and their cronies to make millions of kina.
“Technology will also be used to manipulate the election results to their benefit unless there is sufficient preparation and ample skills and experience to thwart those with evil intent.”
The Australian High Commission said there was no capacity to introduce the bio-metrics system, saying it would take up to five years to establish it properly.
Nonggorr supported keeping Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen as it was too close to the election to make any changes, as suggested in some circles of government.
A government lawyer said the only way parliament could defer the election was if there was a state of emergency occasioned by a war.
“At present, there are no conditions present in PNG to declare a war and, therefore, there cannot be a state of emergency,” he said.
“Elections can, therefore, not legally be deferred.