Expert: Bougainville referendum must be held between 2015-2020

By MALUM NALU

Constitutional lawyer and Bougainville expert, Anthony Regan, says no definite date has been set for a referendum on independence for Bougainville.

However, a referendum must be held in the five-year period from 2015-2020 as per the Bougainville Peace Agreement (BPA), he told a Bougainville seminar at the Gateway Hotel on Thursday.

Regan said there seemed to be a “lot of loss of memory” because of the high turnover on politicians and public servants in Papua New Guinea, and to a lesser extent on Bougainville.

“When it comes to things like the referendum, you have people saying the referendum’s going to be held in 2015 or 2016,” he said.

“Sorry, it’s probably not!

“It’s going to be held whenever Bougainville and the national government agree it’s going to be between 2015 and 2020.

“In addition, we have a lot of people on Bougainville who say the national government can stop the referendum if it’s not satisfied with weapons disposal, good governance.

“Sorry, the national government can’t!

“What the agreement says is that the period when the referendum must be held, which is five years from 2015, the date will be set taking into account weapons disposal and good governance.

“But it can’t go beyond 2020!

“No matter how bad weapons disposal is, no matter how bad good governance is, it can’t be delayed beyond 2020.”

The two-day seminar, with theme ‘Sustainability of Bougainville’, is organised by the Port Moresby Bougainville Association and continues today.

Generating economic revenue for the future was yesterday’s focus.

K500,000 limit for party donations

Source: The National, Thursday August 29th, 2013

 By MALUM NALU

POLITICAL parties can only receive a minimum of K500,000 donations from individuals or
business houses for their election campaign, according to Registrar of Political Parties Dr Alphonse Gelu.
He said this yesterday when announcing that 23 MPs would be
referred to the Ombudsman Commission next Monday over unanswered questions about election funding during the 2012 general elections.
“It’s all about them (politicians) informing us about their source, or where they are getting their money from,” Gelu said at a press conference.
“This is the most important thing.
“In politics, obviously, there’ll be people who are donating money to candidates or contributing.
“The Ombudsman Commission is very clear: the limit is K500, 000.
“You can’t go above K500,000.
“We have heard rumours about some of these people (candidates) getting millions.
“That’s totally outside of the law.
“We haven’t received any concrete evidence.
“Under the Organic Law, business houses or individuals that contribute to a party or an individual candidate also need to fill in forms.
“What we try to create is a level playing field for all of those that go in there to compete for their seat in parliament.
“But if you look at the way in which money has come in to influence, it’s totally uneven.
“There are parties that have more money than others, people flying choppers everywhere, going everywhere in the country.
“What we want is for those who hired choppers to tell us where they got the money from.
“This is basically the information that we need.
‘It’s very simple.
“There’s nothing difficult about it.
“You don’t need an accountant to tell you how to fill that form.
“You can fill in the form yourself as a candidate.”

23 MPs face Ombudsman Commission referral

Source: The National, Thursday August 29th, 2013

 By MALUM NALU

Twenty-three Members of Parliament are walking the tightrope over unanswered questions about election funding during the 2012 general elections.
The 23, a motley crew of senior ministers, governors and ordinary MPs, will be referred to the Ombudsman Commission next Monday by the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties.
Registrar Alphonse Gelu did not reveal names of the MPs but told reporters yesterday that the leaders had failed to reveal their campaign finances and that amounted to misconduct in office for which they could be dismissed.
This is the first time since its inception in 2001 that section 89 of the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates has been evoked, the office having failed to have done so in the 2002 and 2007 elections.
Repeated attempts by the registry to get MPs to comply since Aug 2012 have fallen on deaf ears, with only 25 doing so by Nov 2012, and the majority doing so this year, Gelu said.
The registry wrote to the 23 MPs last month, reminding them of the need to comply with laws, however, did not receive any positive response and was left with no choice but to make the referral.
These 23 MPs now owe more than K500, 000 to the government backdated to February this year, from a K2, 000 fine and K20 daily fine after that.
“Under the Organic Law (Section 89), it’s a misconduct in office,” Gelu said.
“The most-severe one would be losing your seat in parliament, it’s simple as that.
“The most-lenient cases would be fines on MPs.
“It will be the Ombudsman Commission that will decide on that.”
Gelu said the need for compliance to Section 89 was to make the issue of campaign finances open and transparent.
“As per the Organic Law, the successful candidates need to inform this office on their election expenses, mainly on how they have raised their campaign finances and how they have spent these funds,” he said.
“These are part of what we call ‘campaign finances’ and in democracies, the successful candidates and the political parties have to publicly reveal their sources of funding.
“In politics, money does play a huge contribution in determining outcomes, especially during the elections.
“It is therefore a requirement in our laws that the public must know where the parties and the candidates are receiving their funds from.
“Hence, the source of funding must be made public in order to avoid any suspicions on how the executive government is making its decisions, especially in areas of project implementation and procurement.”
Gelu said the registry had been so lenient on MPs for the last 12 months but enough was enough.
“This is the first time that this has been enforced and we’re trying to give them time, but to me, one year is too long,” he said.

Busamang village group in the big city

By MALUM NALU

A women’s church group from Busamang village in Salamaua, Morobe province, is in Port Moresby on a special mission to raise funds for several projects in their village.

 Busamang, the largest coastal village in Morobe, is 40 minutes by dinghy from Voco Point in Lae.

This idyllic setting is representative of village life in Morobe.

Miles and miles of endless white sandy beaches, abundant fishing grounds, thatched roof housing, traditional canoes and subsistence agriculture are an everyday part of life for the villagers.

Leaving their scenic village behind, 25 members of the Gabugawe Women’s Group of Busamang are in Port Moresby to exchange gifts with women in the city – a practice known in Morobe as ‘senisim basket’ (exchange of baskets).

Last Saturday, they exchanged gifts with women from the city at the home of Busamang couple Rose and Timon Tomala at Gordon, and then engaged in traditional singsing.

Traditional singsing Busamang style last Saturday to welcome the Gabugawe Women’s Group to the big city.-Picture by MALUM NALU

The group is appealing to Busamang and Morobe residents in the city, as well as leaders, to help them in their fundraising.

“We are here to raise funds for our projects in Port Moresby,’ Gabugawe president, Banuoc Alaung said..

“There are 38 of us in the group, however, only 25 of us are able to come.

“We came here to exchange gifts with mothers in Port Moresby and raise some money.

“We will be staying here for a week.”

Rose Tomala said for many of the women, it was a first, as they had never before been to Port Moresby.

“This is the first time for many of them to come to Port Moresby,” she said.

“I’m very happy to see a lot of people here today to support their cause.”

Prime Minister rejects TV report on PNG money laundering

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill today categorically rejected an Australian television report alleging AUD1.7 billion of Australian taxpayers’ money, supposedly supply aid to PNG, being stolen from PNG’s budget annually.

Mr O’Neill has called on the Australian government and its AusAID agency to correct the misinformation campaign being waged against PNG by uninformed Australian journalists and the media community in Australia who have never been to PNG to appreciate and understand PNG’s national affairs more deeply.

“The Australian Channel 7 Television’s 'Today Tonight' report on PNG money laundering is factually incorrect,” O’Neill said in a statement.

“These are baseless allegations we can write off as the creation of an attention seeking reporter’s wildest imaginations.

“Channel 7 owes PNG and its citizens a big apology and the journalist responsible for concocting such a negative international image of PNG should be dismissed from his employment.

“No one has stolen Australian taxpayers’ precious AUD1.7 billion because that amount of Australian money has never featured in any of our national budgets to date.

“The television report is without foundation and is totally speculative,” O’Neill said.

He said the facts were clear and were obtainable from the Australian government or more specifically from the Australian Aid agency.

“There has never been any amount more than AUD1.7 billion in PNG’s annual budgets over the last 10 years,” O’Neill said.

“AusAID to PNG has not been more than AUD490 million annually over the three years from 2009 to 2012.

“Australian aid to PNG is exclusively administered in Canberra by the Australian Government’s foreign aid agency AusAID.

“All contracts and procurement of goods and services are tendered and let in Canberra to Australian consultancy companies who then employ highly paid consultants to implement their programmes in PNG.

 “Under the PNG-Australia Partnership for Development arrangement PNG has been advised to expect AUD500.7 million in Australia’s 2013-2014 financial year and to expect a further AUD507.2 million in the 2013-2014 period.

 “Frankly, AusAID runs a parallel education, health and HIV/AIDS, law and justice and transport and infrastructure development programme agenda to PNG’s own annual budgeted public investment programs embracing our government’s core policies of transport and infrastructure development, provision of free education and free primary health care, law and order administration and growing and diversifying our economy.

“We are in talks with the Australian government to realign the AusAID programmes with our national development priorities.

“AusAID has its place in PNG’s development but their modus operandi cannot continue to be modelled on a scattergun approach.

“I urge Australia’s Channel 7 television management and their reporting staff to be fair, factual and balanced in their reporting of PNG affairs.

“For now, I can say without fear or favour that the Channel 7 TV report alleging AUD1.7 billion of Australian aid money being stolen from PNG’s budget annually is Australian media’s most ill-researched, mischievous and misinformed piece of journalism coverage on PNG affairs.

“Australia’s development assistance to PNG under the PNG-Australia Partnership for Development over the three years from 2009 to 2012 was under AUD500 million annually.

“The Australian aid assistance we have been advised to expect for the 2012-2013 period is AUD500.7 million and AUD500.2 million for the 2013-2014.

“These are the facts,” Mr O’Neill said.

A comedy of errors along the Kokoda Trail

By MALUM NALU

 

In 2010, the Australian government allocated A$3 million (K6.46 million) on a 'Village Livelihood Project' along the Kokoda Trail, a failed project that has not seen a single project for local villagers and highlighted a dysfunctional management structure.

Latest case studies provided to The National  by veteran Kokoda trekking company operator, Charlie Lynn, and Network Kokoda, a not-for-profit company whose directors are former politician Dame Carol Kidu, former PNG Defence Force commander Brig Gen Ken Noga, secretary for Tourism, Arts and Culture Marianna Ellingson, and Lynn, highlight a comedy of errors.

Chickens, ducks and goats were supposedly eaten by the villagers.

Rice, cabbages, carrots and broccoli were given to villagers to grow without any technical advice on how to grow, tend and harvest the crops.

Fish for an aquaculture venture never turned up even though a pond was dug.

Projects initiated, without any reference to relevant PNG authorities or the trekking industry included the construction of massage parlours, where masseuses were reluctant to touch their potential clients for cultural reasons.

The massage hut had to be torn down after being built on a revered battle site while the special rooms built for drying the clothes of damp trekkers have yet to be found in the jungle.

At Nauro 1 and Nauro 2, the villagers were abandoned after the initial visits by Village Livelihoods project staff in 2010.

"Since then they have consumed the poultry, destroyed the goats because of the damage they were causing to the village, abandoned the fisheries project because nobody turned up with the fish as promised, and abandoned the rice project because they did not receive the technical support or resources to harvest their crop," according to Network Kokoda.

"Isurava villagers were provided with ducks and chickens.

"They did not receive any follow up advice or training.

"They initially consumed the eggs – then they consumed the ducks and chickens.

"They grew their first rice crop but were not provided with any technical advice on how to harvest the crop and prepare it for consumption.

"They grew beans and then consumed them.

"They did not have any seeds for a second crop so they abandoned the project.

"No animals were provided for Alola.

"They were provided with seeds for cabbage, carrots and broccoli.

"They sold some of their first crop to trekkers but did not have any seeds for a second crop.

"There was no follow up training or technical advice.

"There are no animals or garden plots at Abuari village.

"It is clear that there is nothing to report on in these villages either."

A$20m aid money disappears into Kokoda ‘mists’

By MALUM NALU

 

A massive A$20 million  (K43 million) of Australian tax payers' money supposed to have been spent on the Kokoda Trail since 2008 has seemingly disappeared into the surrounding 'mists', according to veteran Kokoda trekking company operator Charlie Lynn.

He provided evidence of poor villagers along the trail being duped into raising chickens and goats which were later eaten because there was no training or support, likewise with growing vegetables, fish for an aquaculture venture never turning up though a pond was built, and even construction of a 'massage parlour' which was unheard of with masseuses reluctant to touch their potential clients for cultural reasons.

Lynn has called for the responsibility of the World War 11 heritage of the Kokoda campaign to be transferred from the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPC) to the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA).

He said since 2008, when there was public outcry over the threat of mining, Kokoda seemed to have been used as a "subterfuge" for DSEWPC to pursue an environmental agenda in PNG, at the expense of the military heritage and the simple villagers along the trail.

"Highly paid Canberra envirocrats with tax-free salaries and generous allowances were dispatched to advise/assist the PNG government to 'save' the Kokoda Trail," Lynn said,

"It was the first trip to PNG for most of those involved.

"The trail quickly became a lucrative honey-pot for a coterie of anointed consultants who came, saw, held talk-fests, produced five-point action plans - and left with a wallet full of booty.

"The results speak for themselves.

"When the envirocrats arrived in 2008:  5, 621 Australians trekked Kokoda.

"After three years of 'assistance' resulting in a 10-fold increase in staff, a conga-line of consultants and more than A$20 million of taxpayers' money, the numbers decreased to 2, 914.

"Projects initiated, without any reference to relevant PNG authorities or the trekking industry included the construction of massage parlours, a failed $3 million 'Village Livelihood Project' that has not produced a single dollar and a dysfunctional management structure.

Lynn said DSEWPC had much to answer for.

"There is no evidence of a single sustainable outcome from their initiatives along the trail during their watch," he said.

"Apart from safety projects at the Kokoda airfield and the Owers Corner road, most of their A$20 million aid budget has boomeranged via Australian salaries, consultant fees and talkfests. "It is also apparent that Australian managers unfamiliar with PNG soon find the frustrations of their working environment too difficult to handle.

"They then 'manage' their jobs through to the end of their tenures and mask their lack of achievement with reports, meetings and conferences regarding codes of conduct, licensing conditions and consultant liaison tasks."