The Papua New Guinea government plans to introduce laws to curb free speech and freedom of the press, former prime minister Peter O’Neill says.

In a statement, O’Neill said the same law would jail any journalist or person who published anything the government deemed to be “misreporting”.

O’Neill described the government’s proposal as “deeply concerning and needs to be vehemently opposed every way possible”.

• READ MORE: Other reports on PNG media freedom

He said: “Today we learn government is preparing to crack down on journalists with new media laws being urgently prepared and to be presented to Parliament very soon.

“They plan to curb free speech and freedom of the press to report by being able to jail any journalist or person who publishes anything they deem is misreporting.”

Information and Communication Technology Minister (ICT) Timothy Masiu said yesterday that the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) was currently working on the media policy to include holding persons accountable for misreporting.

Masiu said the policy to be presented to Cabinet would still hold its original content but would emphasise that media quality, accessibility and responsibility in information dissemination would be based on facts.

‘We don’t want to tighten up’
“We don’t want to tighten up on media so much but we want to make sure that reporters are responsible for what they report and it’s about time this should be implemented,” Masiu said.

Prime Minister James Marape said he supported the move.

“This is our country where you all have the power in your pen but take some responsibility and write correctly and based on facts,” he said.

“You have a responsibility to our county.

“Do not write your own opinion, or if you have an opinion, then find facts to support that opinion.

“Those who are not writing based on fact, I will be holding you accountable,” he said.

O’Neill questioned whether journalists and their editors will be subject to arrest and punishment.

“I am both saddened and alarmed at the proposed way the Marape government is dismantling democracy.

“I am utterly convinced that if we uphold all the principles of a healthy democracy, we as a people will overcome any challenge whether it be economic, social or environmental,” he said.

“We are a strong people with the courage of our convictions and centuries old traditions and customs.”

Republished with permission.

Papua New Guinea’s Communications Minister Timothy Masiu has announced stringent measures to control social media in the country for the next 10 days of the State of Emergency.

The government’s threat drew a sharp rebuke from former prime minister Peter O’Neill who called the move a “sinister fear campaign against the people” and “a threat on the media freedom” of ordinary citizens.

Masiu, a former journalist before becoming a politician, warned that the government would not hesitate to shut down social media applications and sites if there was continuous abuse and misuse of social media in spreading fake news, misinformation and disinformation in the country.

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He issued the warning citing significant evidence of serious abuse of social media spreading false information that led to destruction of properties in the capital Port Moresby and parts of the country in last week’s Black Wednesday resulting in deaths.

Masiu said people who engaged in such bogus activity would lose their social media accounts and they could be arrested and charged for fomenting acts of violence.

He said: “I have statutory power under the National Information and Communication Technology Act 2009 to restrict access to social media sites and applications if this continues.

“The Ministry of ICT has observed a sharp spike in the use of social media from Wednesday, January 10, 2024, and many are misinformation and disinformation and we now give 10 days effective from today for people to adhere or face a complete shutdown of social media sites and applications for the duration of the State of Emergency. ”

‘Monitoring of false information’
He said discussions on social media that incited violence, destruction, spreading of false information or confidential government information, opinions that were wrong, or sending false information would be monitored and legal action taken immediately.

Masiu said national security, public emergency and public safety was critical to a secure nation and a “happy and safe country”.

“I have instructed the agencies under my ministry to strengthen monitoring and report any abuses of social media to the police cybercrime unit to begin investigations, arrest and prosecute and also take down fake accounts and sites.”

Last Friday, when introducing the two-week State of Emergency following Black Wednesday, Prime Minister James Marape announced draconian emergency measures including searches of private homes, property, vehicle and phones by government agents.

Masiu said PNG was a civilised country and citizens must abide by rules and laws. Every citizen had a duty and obligation to ensure “we progress to be a better country”.

However, an irate O’Neill said: “It is not surprising that we see intimidating armoured personnel carriers on the streets today in Port Moresby and now threats that our freedom of speech will be removed with the potential cancellation of social media.

“The government is doing its very best to shut down our constitutional rights in a fear campaign.”

Government ‘fears people’s voices’
O’Neill continued to counter the government plan by suggesting the government now feared the people’s voices.

“It seems that the government is in fear of the voice of its own people when it should instead be listening to the struggle of the people who discuss online the bad governance practices of this government; high unemployment; budget in a mess and crippling cost of living,” he said.

“That is what people are talking about on the street, in their homes and on social media. Will they next enter our homes and monitor conversation’s between family members?

“Government should listen up and stop this nonsense of trying to control our vibrant democracy.

Get back to basics and build our country; live within our means and develop jobs and provide quality healthcare and education. Get back to old fashioned policing not intimidation.”

Opposition Leader Joseph Lelang and his deputy Douglas Tomuriesa did not respond to PNG Post-Courier questions last night.

Republished with permission.

Former Papua New Guinean prime minister Peter O’Neill says the controversial US-PNG Defence Cooperation Agreement threatens the country’s sovereignty.

He said the agreement negotiation was started in 2016 by his government but it was different in content from the one signed with the US.

O’Neill said the agreement encroached into sovereignty of Papua New Guinea, particularly Article 3 of the Agreement that relates to giving immunity to US military personnel.

• READ MORE: US military granted unimpeded access to key Papua New Guinea defence facilities in new security agreement
• Other US-PNG defence reports

He said this section stated that PNG was conceding its jurisdiction over to the visiting forces and it further stated that the US forces would have exclusive rights over criminal jurisdictions against US military personnel.

“Bear in mind the Australian ECP that was challenged by the Morobe Governor Luther Wenge and the Supreme Court nullified the agreement and this agreement is similar in nature.

“By when we are adopting in this Parliament, we are conceding our jurisdiction over to the US government so we just need to be careful about what we are saying.

“Additionally [the] agreement says that the US government has exclusive rights to exercise civil and administrative jurisdiction over the US personnel for all their acts while on duty.

Notification of arrest
“Any act done outside of duty will come under PNG jurisdiction but PNG authorities will immediately notify the US authorities, and properly transfer the personnel over to the US authorities, that the US authorities will be notified of the detention or arrest and that their properties will be inviolable.

“This is not in line with the provisions of our Constitution. That was tested by the Wenge challenge so I think Parliament and government need to take heed of this,” he said.

O’Neill said Paragraph 4 stated that US personnel would have the authority to impose discipline measures in the territory of PNG in accordance with US laws and regulations.

He said Manus, Jackson International Airport, Nazab Airport, Lae Port, Lombrum, and Momote Airport were areas the US would have “unlimited access” to and control over these facilities and areas.

“This is what we have agreed to and they will not pay one single toea and, according to Article 5 Paragraph 2, these properties will be given access without rental and charges to the US.

“And further on Article 6, US forces can position their equipment, their personnel, supplies and materials at any of these places.”

O’Neill said that when talking about “ownership” of infrastructure, nothing would be fixed to the ground and they would remove them and go away with them.

Exempt from all fees
He said the agreement, according to Article 9 paragraph 2, said that all the people that would come to PNG (US military personnel and contractors) would be exempted from all other immigration requirements — including payment of fees, taxes and duties — for entry or exiting the country.

He said that under Article 12 Paragraph 4, the US personnel would be exempted from paying taxes, including on income, salary and emoluments.

“So there will be no revenues from salary and wages tax and in Paragraph 5 [it] states that includes their contractors [that] they engaged [who] will be also exempted,” O’Neill said.

“I can’t see any agreement about training of our personnel, I can’t see any of our personnel being engaged with the US Army and I can’t see any specific investment in the infrastructure in the country.

“So what are we doing this agreement for?

“There is no specifics of what benefit is coming as it is not mentioned in the agreement.

“In the Ship Rider Agreement, we are giving almost exclusive rights to our waters. Therefore we need to be careful.

“I know our lawyers are having a look at it, and probably see [if] that it is in compliance with our Constitution, but I think there needs to be further clarity into this agreement,” he said.

Jeffrey Elapa is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

The arrest of Papua New Guinea former prime minister Peter O’Neill yesterday was prompted by a complaint by Chief Secretary Ivan Pomaleu to the Commissioner of Police David Manning after reviewing the UBS Commission of Inquiry Report.

In a major incident brief for police obtained by the PNG Post-Courier, Chief Secretary Pomaleu, as the custodian of government’s commission of inquiries and submissions, made a referral on the recommendation of the UBS Report on the US$1.2 billion loan inquiry to police as an investigative authority.

Pomaleu referred the COI report to the Commissioner’s office to commence its investigations on the 5 June 2023.

• READ MORE: Other UBS inquiry reports

“The Office of the Chief Secretary to Government in its capacity as the custodian of government’s inquiries and policy submissions including decisions implementations made a referral on the recommendations in the report to police as an investigative authority to cause an investigation,” the police major incident brief detailed.

“On the 05th of June, 2023 the Chief Secretary to Government referred the COI Report to the Office of the Commissioner of Police to commence investigation in the report.

“In the view of the report an obvious infringement was noted to be breached during the COI,” it detailed.

According to the summary of facts, on the 8 June 2023, O’Neill was brought in to the Special Investigation Team office at Airport Police Station, 7 Mile, upon a complaint of offering “delusive evidence” at a Commission of Inquiry.

Three counts of perjury
Yesterday he was charged with three counts of giving false evidence under oath in the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) loan, Commissioner of Police David Manning confirmed.

O’Neill was later released on OR — own recognisance, granted by Commissioner Manning.

The police major incident brief also stated that police conducted a clinical analysis to see whether or not the responses given by the defendant before the Commission on 17 June 2021 were false.

In the responses, the defendant denied having knowledge of any transactions made between Oil Search and Elk-Antelope.

He also denied having any agreements/discussions and correspondences about any potential investments with Oil Search and Elk-Antelope in 10 percent shareholding acquisitions and placements.

Further investigations and deliberations conducted into the recommendations in COI discovered that statements and information produced before it by O’Neill between 2011 and 2019 were false and misleading when presented before the commission.

“Police had to look at the Commission of Inquiry report with several volumes including the transcripts of the COI going over three years.

‘Further investigations’
“Following further investigations by police it was discovered that statements and information produced by Mr O’Neill between 2011 and 2019 were false and misleading when presented before the commission, and contradicted National Executive Council Policy Submission 67/2014 on financial arrangements for the state acquisition of shareholding in Oil Search Limited and state borrowing,” Commissioner Manning said.

“From police investigations, the evidence gathered confirmed that the answers given before the commission were flawed and untrue,” he said.

Subsequently, three charges were laid on Peter O’Neill today as follows that he:

• Did appear as a witness of the 17th of June 2021 before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Processes and Procedures Followed by the Government of Papua New Guinea into Obtaining the Off-Shore Loan from the Union Bank of Switzerland and Related Transactions and given false evidence on oath, that he had “no knowledge whatsoever” of what Oil Search Ltd intended to do with the money paid by the State for the purchase of Oil Search shares in 2014, and that Oil Search Ltd intended to use the money paid by the State for shares in Oil Search Ltd to purchase an interest in PRL-15 Elk Antelope, before the Royal Commission of Inquiry;
• Did appear as a witness of the 9th of August 2021 before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Processes and Procedures Followed by the Government of Papua New Guinea into Obtaining the Off-Shore Loan from the Union Bank of Switzerland and Related Transactions give false evidence that, “there was never any discussion” about Oil Search Ltd using the money paid by the State for the purchase of shares in Oil Search Ltd to buy an interest in PRL-15 Elk Antelope and “this information did not come to the government’s notice or particularly at the leadership level” before the said Royal Commission of Inquiry; and
• Did appear as a witness of the 17th of February 202 before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Processes and Procedures Followed by the Government of Papua New Guinea into Obtaining the Off-Shore Loan from the Union Bank of Switzerland and Related Transactions give false evidence on oath that “there was never any discussion” about Oil Search Ltd using the money paid by the State for the purchase of shares in Oil Search Limited to buy an interest in PRL-15 Elk Antelope and “this information did not come to government’s notice”.

Gorethy Kenneth and Majorie Finkeo are PNG Post-Courier reporters. Republished with permission.

Former Papua New Guinea prime minister Peter O’Neill has been charged with three counts of giving false evidence in a national US$1.2 billion loan inquiry contrary to Section 10 of the Commission of Inquiry Act.

He met reporters outside Boroko Police Station in Port Moresby today stating “this is politically motivated”.

O’Neill, who is also Ialibu-Pangia MP, was at the station for police formalities to be completed in the charges against him.

• READ MORE: The UBS Commission of Inquiry
• Other UBS loan inquiry reports

Earlier, the PNG Post-Courier’s Todagia Kelola reported that O’Neill had been requested to front up at the National Fraud Squad office at Konedobu by today for questioning on allegations of perjury.

In a short media statement on Saturday, Police Commissioner David Manning requested O’Neill to make himself available for questioning on allegations of perjury emanating from the UBS Commission of Inquiry into a loan negotiated with the Union Bank of Switzerland by his government in 2014.

In response, O’Neill said in a statement titled “Is Manning Police Commissioner or Chief of PNG Intimidation?”: “Firstly, I am surprised but heartened the Police Commissioner is working late on a Saturday evening.”

“Violent crimes, kidnap for ransom, rape, and murders along with crippling corruption have been skyrocketing since his time in the high office of Police Commissioner.

‘Blatant intimidation’
“I am sure it is comforting to all Papua New Guineans to know the Commissioner is choosing to go after me late on a Saturday night in what appears to be blatant intimidation rather than focus on keeping the people of Papua New Guinea safe.”

Commissioner Manning in his statement said: “Based upon investigations into the UBS Commission of Inquiry report, we are satisfied that Mr Peter O’Neill gave false evidence whilst under oath.

“I am appealing to Mr O’Neill to cooperate and make himself available by Monday morning to Director Crimes, Chief Inspector Joel Simatab, at the National Police Headquarters in Konedobu,” Manning said.

Commissioner Manning said the ultimate objective of the Commission of Inquiry was to establish whether there were breaches of PNG laws and constitutional requirements in the negotiation and approval of the UBS loan, whether PNG as a country had suffered as a result of the deal, and whether people involved could be held accountable.

“After a thorough investi­gation and assessment of the facts, we are satisfied and have sufficient evidence that Mr O’Neill has perjured the inquiry — thereby committing an offence under the Commission of Inquiry Act of giving false evidence under oath,” Manning said.

O’Neill, in his statement in response said: “It is nearly 12 months since the internationally presided over UBS Commission of Inquiry ended with no findings against me, and now, late on a Saturday evening, I am instructed via a media statement by the Police Commissioner to attend questioning on the next day, a Sunday,” said O’Neill.

“It appears that before I am questioned, Commissioner of Police in his statement seems to be directing his investigating officers to arrest and charge me of a crime of perjury while under oath in the UBS Commission of Inquiry.”

Court opportunity welcomed
“I welcome the opportunity to face the courts to test a politically motivated and very expensive Commission of Inquiry.

“I have faith in the fairness of the courts but not in yet another Police Commissioner instructed investigation into me.

“The perjury claim that I have learned of in Mr Manning’s statement is false.

“I can only assume he is referring to the unsubstantiated claim given to the COI by a self-serving politician.

“I will attend at 10am on Monday the 12th June 2023 for questioning at Konedobu Police HQ.

“I assure all supporters that I remain steadfast and more committed than ever to Papua New Guinea and the foundations of democracy.

“These terrible times we are all experiencing are temporary.”

The UBS COI final report in its answer to the question, “Who was responsible and what remedies should be sought against them”, recommended that O’Neill should be prosecuted for giving false evidence to the Commission and referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Todagia Kelola is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

Dissident Papua New Guinean politician and former cabinet minister Bryan Kramer has vowed to fight on in his campaign against corruption, saying the National Court ruling to dismiss him as an MP was “the calm before the storm”.

“The decision to dismiss me was expected and of course, it is certainly not the end of the issue as I have already been working on an appeal to challenge both the rulings on verdict and penalty in the National Court,” he told reporters in Port Moresby

Kramer, a former police minister then justice minister, was responding to the decision on recommendations for his dismissal and a fine of K10,000 (NZ$4600).

• READ MORE: Other Bryan Kramer reports

“Today’s decision in no way diminishes my resolve in the fight against corruption nor will it keep me from informing the public on issues of national importance or exposing high-level corruption,” he said.

“In my view it’s the calm before the storm.”

In a statement later in the day Kramer explained the court decision saying: “Today (1/5/23) the Leadership Tribunal handed down its ruling on the penalty in relation to the finding of guilt of the seven (7) counts of misconduct in office against me.

“The Tribunal categorised the seven counts of misconduct into two main categories in determining whether there is serious culpability (wrongdoing on my part) warranting my dismissal from office or recommending a lesser penalty of a fine or suspension of no more than three months without pay.

“Category 1 included counts 1 and 2 that related to my Facebook publications scandalising the judiciary.

Conflict of interest claim
“Count 1 being the publication insinuating a conflict of interest by the Chief Justice.

“Count 2 related to accusing [former prime minister] Peter O’Neill and his lawyer of soliciting the assistance of the Chief Justice and submitting a fabricated document to mislead the court that the warrant of arrest was defective.

“Category 2 included the remaining 5 counts that related to the decisions of the Madang District Development Authority Board in the application of the District Services Improvement Programme (DSIP) Funds in renting office space for the establishment of a project office to deliver district projects at the ward level, paying electoral staff who were involved in implementing the projects and establishing a ward project staff structure without obtaining approval from the Secretary of Personnel Management and engaging an associate company that was paid K3000 [NZ$1400] a fortnight.

“In short, the Tribunal recommended a penalty of dismissal from office in relation to counts 1 and 2 and a fine of K2000 for each of remaining 5 counts, a total fine of K10,000.

“Based on the Tribunal’s finding on guilt on seven counts handed down on 21 February 2023, today’s ruling for dismissal was expected.

“The decision recommending dismissal from office will be delivered to the Speaker who will then recommend to the Governor General (GG) to adopt the Tribunal’s recommendation to dismiss me from office.

“The decision of the GG will be gazetted and takes effect. At that point I will no longer be a Member of Parliament.”

Kramer Report publisher
Bryan Kramer, well known as a social media strategist and publisher of the anti-corruption Kramer Report, has been a cabinet minister in Prime Minister James Marape’s government since 2019, holding the police, justice and then immigration portfolios.

Leader of the Allegiance Party, Kramer was returned to Parliament at last year’s elections with sizable majority in the Madang Open seat.

Republished with permission.

Warlords and armed bandits pose a threat to Papua New Guinea’s national security and must be destroyed, says Deputy Opposition Leader Douglas Tomuriesa.

“Warlords and armed bandits are very dangerous and pose a real threat to national security and freedom and must be destroyed,” he said.

“Police and the military are simply outgunned and outnumbered, and cannot effectively deal with the armed bandits.”

• READ MORE: Priority with ‘greedy’ kidnappers is to return captives to families, says PNG police chief
• Other PNG crime reports

He supported the call by former prime minister Peter O’Neill for the safe release of the hostages held by armed bandits in the Highlands region.

Three of the seven hostages held near the Mt Bosavi area at the border of the Southern Highlands and Hela provinces have been released by the bandits.

One of the captives is an Australian-based New Zealand professor and two Papua New Guinea women are among those still being held by the gunmen.

Tomuriesa said that the proliferation of warlords in the Highlands provinces armed with machine guns stolen from the PNG Defence Force armoury had been reported many times in the media.

But the James Marape-led coalition government had failed to address it seriously.

He added that the government should consider inviting the Australian and New Zealand special forces such as their SAS (Special Air Service) which possessed superior weapons and tactics to assist PNG deal with these “dangerous criminals and eliminate these so-called warlords once and for all”.

He also expressed concern over the kidnapping of innocent and harmless people, and joined the many Christians praying for the hostages.

Republished with permission.

People’s National Congress party leader Peter O’Neill has blown the race for the Papua New Guinea prime minister’s job wide open by declaring he will not run for the country’s top post.

As the national election winds down and lobbying intensifies among Pangu Pati, People’s National Congress (PNC), United Resources Party (URP), People’s Progress Party (PPP) and the National Alliance (NA), the one-time prime minister O’Neill said his party would support an alternative prime minister candidate.

The bombshell from O’Neill is likely to shake up the Pangu camp on Loloata Island which contains several aspiring PM-minded politicians.

• READ MORE: Other PNG elections reports

O’Neill also appealed to the elected leaders to choose a prime minister who could heal the nation from the chaos that has plunged the country into election-related violence.

He wants to focus on Ialibu-Pangia and Southern Highlands and wants to give an opportunity to those who have been elected the right way to put their hands up.

“You will have my 100 percent support and I ask nothing special in return,” the former PM said yesterday.

O’Neill had gone to the election, vying to form government but the dismal performance of his PNC party may have forced his change of heart for the top job.

Not just about O’Neill or Marape
He said that the position of prime minister should not just be about O’Neill or Marape.

“Let me make it clear. I do not believe that I have a right to be the only alternative to Marape for the prime minister position.

“It was my greatest privilege to lead Papua New Guinea, but I recognise that we need to heal and move forward, and that the restoration may move faster when leaders listen to the will of the people,” he said.

“I encourage leaders who have been elected properly and who are genuinely interested in rescuing PNG from the economic and social chaos Marape has plunged the country into over the past three years, to consider putting their hand up for the top job.

“The role of prime minister should be filled by a person who has firstly been elected with integrity — who has been mandated by the people honestly.

“It is a critical junction for our young nation, and we urgently need a Papua New Guinean who has a vision for our country and who can pull the nation together and lead us forward.

He said there was a very worrying “fake government” which had fostered deep hatred under the Marape leadership that was tearing at the cohesion that had kept the country peaceful.

‘No celebrations’
“There are no celebrations around the country despite the apparently overwhelming election of Pangu candidates,” he said.

“Very strange, no one at all seems proud of their apparent chosen leaders, rather people are scared with no one to turn to with all avenues for justice closed off to the regular person.

“The national general election has magnified the level of violence, hatred, and unfairness in society and it is time for a leader to step forward who can bring peace and execute on clear policies.

“I am prepared to support alternative prime minister candidates as I and my party are prepared to do whatever it takes to rescue PNG,” he declared in Port Moresby.

“I can assure those who may contemplate being the next prime minister, that the propaganda coming from the locked and guarded at Kalabus Pangu (Loloata Resort) is not true.

“Leaders are worried the economy is in tatters. They are asking why our economy is performing so badly that the IMF has announced that they are opening a dedicated office in Port Moresby to monitor more closely the Treasury functions.”

O’Neill said the closure of the Porgera mine and the failure to move ahead in three years with any new major investments such as Wafi Golpu, along with massive borrowings and wastage had “shredded our financial position”.

He said genuine leaders did not want another five years like the last three.

“Our children are growing up thinking this violent society is normal,” he said.

“We now seem to be in freefall economically and socially and need to use this moment in time to reset ourselves and move forward with new leadership.”

Gorethy Kenneth is a PNG Post-Courier journalist. Republished with permission.

It is often said that Papua New Guinea elections are fought on local issues, and this is no doubt the case. However, national issues have certainly featured prominently in this year’s election campaign in the run-up to voting, which started yesterday.

One of the striking features of this year’s election is the clear choice, at the national level, between James Marape, the incumbent PM and head of the Pangu Party, and Peter O’Neill, the PM before Marape, head of the People’s National Congress (PNC), and the person widely perceived to be Marape’s main rival for the top job.

Both have been putting out newspaper ads and press releases. Both — guaranteed of their own re-election — have been touring the nation trying to attract support for their candidates.

• READ MORE: Other PNG election reports

Each has ruled out joining forces with the other to form government after the election. (In PNG, a coalition government is inevitable.)

Marape was O’Neill’s Finance Minister, but these days there is no love lost between the two. Marape said recently, “Papua New Guineans either vote Pangu Pati back to continue its reconstructive work in rescuing the damaged national economy, or make the mistake of returning PNG to the hands of the People’s National Congress”.

O’Neill, for his part, accuses Marape of inexperience and a lack of achievement, saying, “This government lacks simple and basic knowledge and experience … to manage this country.”

Marape is running on his record, saying that O’Neill left the economy in a mess (“bleeding and struggling”, to use his famous line), and that, despite the additional havoc caused by covid-19, he has been busy leading a process of economic and budget recovery.

Much more transparent
There is certainly some truth to this. The Marape government has been much more transparent about the economy and budget, opening its books to the International Monetary Fund where O’Neill refused to do so.

One full-page ad taken out by Marape is titled “Marape Economic Record: Protect the Budget. Protect the Economy”. Another summarises his flagship “PNG Connect” road-building programme.

To the extent Marape does focus on policies, they are ones already implemented, or at least introduced. Policies highlighted by the PM in his interview with EMTV’s veteran journalist John Higgins include an increase in the tax-free income threshold, and support to help SME (small and medium enterprise) borrowing.

Marape continues to run hard on his “Take Back PNG” slogan. Here he is promising change, but of a very vague sort, committing in his EMTV interview to “change the resource laws framework completely”, while still reassuring investors that they will get a fair return.

O’Neill is also running on his record, defending his own, and critiquing Marape’s. His press release attacking Marape’s ad claimed that “the PNG economy has been ruined in three short years”.

However, O’Neill is also putting more emphasis on new policies, noting in his interview with Higgins the 14 policies approved at the recent PNC convention. These policies, which feature prominently on the PNC Facebook page, cover a wide range of issues, from political stability to public services reform, job creation to law and order, and investing in infrastructure.

One PNC policy is to abolish the system of loans for higher education that the Marape government has started to introduce. That would save the government money, but many of the PNC policies are expensive and unrealistic — for example, high schools for every local-level government, a bank for every district, and a nursing and teachers’ college for every province.

Vulnerability over Porgera
Marape’s major vulnerability in terms of his reputation as an economic manager relates to Porgera, the large gold mine that was closed in April 2020 shortly after its 30-year lease expired in 2019, and which, despite an agreement being reached for its reopening, is yet to do so.

The terms agreed for that reopening are said to be no more advantageous to PNG than those on offer before it closed.

O’Neill’s reputation as an economic manager is tarnished both by the country’s poor economic performance under his stewardship (formal sector employment and non-resource GDP per capita declined in most of the years he was PM), and by some spectacular cases of waste during his time as PM.

PNG lost US$100 million to the abandoned Solwara underwater mining project, and more than that through O’Neill’s UBS loan, labelled an “unnecessary disaster” by the Royal Commission Marape set up to investigate it.

Both sides blame the other for an increase in government debt. For the record, the debt to GDP ratio increased from 19 percent of GDP in 2012 to 40 percent in 2019 under O’Neill, and then to 52 percent of GDP in 2021 under Marape.

Trends in interest to GDP are also of interest. This variable increased over the same years from 1 percent to 2.6 percent of GDP under O’Neill, but has actually fallen since to 2.4 percent of GDP under Marape, who has been successful in securing highly concessional loans from development partners.

Each side also blames the other for allowing the exchange rate to depreciate. In fact, what matters is the real exchange rate, and this has not depreciated since the boom days of 2012, thereby preventing the economy from adjusting and leading to foreign currency rationing which has been a drag on growth.

A competitive currency
Even though the overwhelming majority of voters are rural and would benefit from a depreciation (earning more from their coffee sales, for example), a more competitive currency is one policy no politician wants to come anywhere near.

How influential this pre-election national jostling, positioning and posturing will be in the elections that started yesterday remains to be seen. As unlikely as it seems, one cannot rule out a third candidate for PM emerging post-elections.

But PNG citizens, if they want to make it the basis of their vote, do at least face a choice between two front-runners for the top job, and their two parties, and indeed between two economic narratives. That surely is a good thing.

Dr Stephen Howes is the director of the Development Policy Centre and a professor of economics at the Crawford School, Australian National University. Kingtau Mambon is an economics tutor at the University of Papua New Guinea School of Business and Public Policy (SBPP). This article was first published on the DevPolicy Blog and is republished under a Creative Commons licence.

Today is officially the last day of campaigning in Papua New Guinea’s 2022 National General Election.

Count tomorrow until Monday as rest days, but in politically charged PNG, anything is possible, including illegal last-minute clandestine campaigning.

Polling is set to begin Tuesday, July 4, when millions will exercise their democratic right at the polls to elect their 118 MPs.

• READ MORE: Other PNG election reports

The exercise has been tainted by violence, mainly in the Highlands, and allegations of ballot tampering, but this has not discouraged the will of the people to get over this election.

“Wok Mas Go Het Yet” (Work must go on) has been the nationalistic slogan from patriotic Papua New Guineans who see it as their duty to fulfil their electoral obligations by overturning the results of 2017.

The 2022 national ballot will be a game changer for a country that has seen and experienced more upheavals in the past 5 years then any other time in its 47 years of independence.

Since the issue of writs on May 29, poll watchers have predicted a titanic struggle between the two main political parties PANGU (Green), led by incumbent Prime Minister James Marape and People’s National Congress (Red), led by former PM Peter O’Neill.

Red versus Green ‘armies’
Both the PNC Red Army of O’Neill and the PANGU Green Army of Marape have been at loggerheads in various campaign locations but the real test will come down to the wire on polling day.

Who will muster the numbers to gain power when the writs are returned on July 29?

Here is our analysis, based on our political coverage since last year, and based on analysis of the 2017 election results.

There have been many insights released and floated by scientists, political analysts, geologists and even by table mamas, wannabe “glassman” (sorcerers) and journalists on their bets.

The political landscape has been divided between Marape and O’Neill, though there may be other leaders like opposition leader Belden Namah, Patrick Pruaitch, William Duma, Sir John Pundari and the ‘Last Knight Standing’, Sir Julius Chan, who are contenders for this coming election.

However, all eyes are on the resource-rich provinces of Southern Highlands (O’Neill) and Hela (Marape).

This tectonic fracture was clearly evident in November 2020 when O’Neill tried sponsoring a vote of no confidence and he funded the Vanimo Camp, but Marape’s Loloata camp won that contest.

‘Take Back PNG’ mantra
The divide is obvious. Marape has mostly those who are first and second term MPs who are inclined to the “Take Back PNG” mantra and the philosophies behind it, while O’Neill had his old school politicians who all dreamed to be PM some day with the likes of Namah, Pundari, Charles Abel, Davis Steven, Powes Parkop, Sir Julius, Duma and Nick Kuman to name a few.

And as the nation goes into polls in three days time, this divide of the two classes of politicians still remains with the emerging heavyweights yet to show their power.

However, a “dark horse” in the shadows might emerge where we could see the rise of Enga if the battle of the Southern Highlanders does not work according to plan.

While it will be anybody’s game and being in the land of the unexpected, if the trend of the last elections where the ruling party returns to form government (National Alliance in 2007, People’s National Congress in 2012 and 2017) then it should be PANGU in 2022, but will they have the numbers to form government?

While some are sure of victory and already counting their eggs with the grand announcement of coalitions, others are holding their cards close to their chest like a true poker grandmaster.

This is the newspaper’s political projection from the election team at the PNG Post-Courier which will focus on the political party seats likely to win when polling starts on Tuesday.

Election projections
We project that of the 111 MPs in the last five years, 55 percent of sitting MPs will most likely lose their seats in this year’s 2022 National General Election.

Based on the 2017 NGE results, the sitting MPs who we project will not return are those that have scored less than 10 percent of total votes in their first count, and MPs that scored between 10– 20 percent in their first count are at extreme risks of losing their seats.

So these two categories make up about 55 percent of the sitting MPs, which translates to 57-60 MPs who most likely will not return.

To predict the number of seats to be won by each political party, we will use the simple winning percentage technique of each political party in 2017 to predict the potential wins for 2022 seats.

We will adjust for new political parties and also adjust for the PANGU Pati as it is going into this election as the ruling party.

We will also look at the main political parties and the independents and review each political party in 2017 versus the number of candidates each party endorsed in 2017 and the current 2022.

The independents make up 40 percent of the candidate list for 2022 among 53 political party endorsed candidates.

‘Dark horse’ parties
Then we have the “dark horse” parties that we will also talk about including their party leaders.

At the start of this election, PANGU went in with 40 but were down to 38 sitting MPs (2 had died) and the PNC was next with 15, NA 8, URP and ULP (less than 8 MPs).

The 2017 election results detailed that PNC had the highest winning numbers with 29 seats, National Alliance with 15 seats and PANGU and URP both returned 10 seats.

The rest had 5 seats or below with the exception of Independents that won 13 seats.

The tentative projections for the top five political parties and the independents for 2022:

• PNC endorsed 95 candidates in 2017, won 29 seats, a 31 percent win rate and in 2022 our projection is that of their 97 endorsed, 32 are likely to win.
• PANGU endorsed 69 in 2017, won only 10 seats, a 14 percent win rate and in 2022 they have endorsed 81 candidates 2022. Projection: 20 seats likely to win.
• United Resource Party (URP) endorsed 34 in 2017 and won 10 seats, a 29 percent win rate. In 2022, of 49 endorsed candidates, projected to win 14 seats.
• National Alliance Party (NA) endorsed 73 candidates in 2017, won 15 seats, a 21 per cent win rate. In 2022, they have 63 candidates; they will likely win 12 seats.
• PNG Party (PNGP) endorsed 87 candidates in 2017, won 4 seats for a 5 percent win rate. In 2022, they have endorsed 84; our projection is that they will win 5 seats again.
• The Independents had 1921 candidates in 2017 and won 13 seats, a 1 percent win rate. In 2022, they increased to 1500 and our projection is that they will win 10 seats.
• Of the women candidates, we expect a strong woman rally and predict a 5 seat mandate.

Republished with permission.

Three major parties have emerged as frontrunners to form the next government in Papua New Guinea with their party leaders eager to be next Prime Minister.

These are current coalition leader PANGU, headed by incumbent Prime Minister James Marape, opposition leader Belden Namah’s PNG Party and the People’s National Congress led by former prime minister Peter O’Neill.

These leaders and the parties have invested heavily in their campaign and candidates for next month’s general election. They are using strategic campaigning including social media outreach to network with supporters in the rural areas.

• READ MORE: Other PNG elections reports

It is always a numbers game.

The party that wins the most seats gets the invite to form the next government with its leader the most likely Prime Minister.

But politics in PNG is fluid and smaller parties with critical numbers often hold sway over formations of government.

Eleventh hour horse trading in the past has always featured prominently with the formations of government and smaller parties would also be riding shotgun with the bigger parties.

Three-way race
If anything, this is a three-way horse race with each party trying by any means on the campaign track to derail the other, even to the extent of attacking opponents, setting fire to their posters, and burning their properties.

All three leaders have been hot around the country, shopping their candidates to the voters, selling policies and even discrediting other parties, bringing in tension along the way.

PANGU’s James Marape is confident of returning to form government in the next Parliament and says he will step down if otherwise.

“I am taking the government formation to Wewak and taking all members who win and we will form the government there,” declared Marape.

Pangu is banking on 75 candidates for this election and Marape has travelled over four provinces to support their candidates.

Vocal opposition leader Belden Namah has also openly put up his hands to become Prime Minister after 15 years on the other bench.

“I am serious in the business to be Prime Minister of PNG after this election,” said Namah, who is leader of the PNG Party, which has endorsed a total of 50 candidates.

Ready to lead
Namah added he had never raised his hands for the role in respect of late Sir Michael Somare but now he was ready to lead the country forward.

Another strong contender is former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, leader of the People’s National Congress party, who has fielded 95 candidates contesting various seats across the country.

O’Neill has made it clear that the PNC party is ready to return to power.

He reportedly said that he and the PNC party was poised to return to government and “rescue” the country.

He said: “The new government needs to work harder… with a clear mandate to a political party with policies to deliver to the people and the country.

“To date, only PNC party has put [out] our policies, which are aimed at delivering basic services to our people and improving living standards.”

Other credible leaders
But while all eyes are on Marape, Namah and O’Neill, there are other credible leaders who just may be the new Prime Minister after the elections are over.

National Alliance Party leader Patrick Pruaitch, currently deputy PM, may have a chance, having been part of the two most recent coalition governments. For this election NA has endorsed a 59 candidates.

Other leaders like Powes Parkop, William Duma and Don Polye are also in running for the role having expressed their intentions.

While all these leaders vie for this top post, the one that comes through with the most numbers will be invited by the Governor-General to form the government.

The Papua New Guinea general election is on July 2-22.

Republished with permission.

Opposition People’s National Congress leader Peter O’Neill is urging Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape and the government to refrain from signing any agreements with China when their foreign minister visits Port Moresby today.

“Now is not the right time,” the former prime minister said of the visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and of any likely deals to be struck between the two countries.

Using more diplomatic words, he said: “A foreign minister of any nation visiting our country is an honour and as a gracious host, PNG would welcome the opportunity to showcase our culture, country, and investment opportunities, especially with a world superpower such as China.”

• READ MORE: China in the Pacific reports
• Other PNG elections reports

“Democratic processes such as National General Elections only come around every five years in PNG and the small window of eight weeks of our election timetable should be preserved without international, high-level visits,” he said.

The Chinese top government envoy, who is State Councillor and Foreign Minister, jets into Port Moresby just after midday today for a short visit to meet Prime Minister Marape and Foreign Minister Soroi Eoe.

China and PNG will sign off on a Green Sustainable Development Policy which also covers Trade and Investment and Energy, among other issues.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Elias Wohengu said yesterday that the visit would be brief as he would arrive in the night and would head back to China after meeting Eoe and paying a courtesy call on Marape.

Bilateral meeting tomorrow
He said that the official bilateral meeting would be held on Friday morning with Eoe.

“The meeting will be minister-plus nine on both sides,” Wohengu said.

“Thirty minutes after the meeting, he will make courtesy call on Prime Minister James Marape before he flies out of the country to China.

“He will sign one agreement, which is the Green Sustainable Development Policy.

“On the security status of PNG, we will deal with it ourselves.

“He is coming back on his return trip to China from his Pacific Islands Forum ministers meeting which was held yesterday, co-chaired it physically out of Suva.

PNG the ‘last lap’
“So on his return lap, his last country visit is PNG before he flies out.

“He was in Fiji and also visited other Pacific Island countries.

“There has been resentment over Pacific Agreement on security matters.”

China has said it is willing to make joint efforts with PNG to inject stronger impetus into the overall development of relations between China and the Pacific Island countries.

“Both as developing countries, China is also willing to, together with Papua New Guinea, strengthen strategic coordination, and jointly voice maintenance for multilateralism and support for free trade in various international arenas,” it has said.

O’Neill said in his statement that writs for the elections were issued on May 12 dissolving the current Parliament and Members of Parliament were now contesting the election and should not sign any agreements on behalf of the State, particularly with China.

“All election related preparations have been made or should have been made well in advance and any donations of security equipment or agreements for China to provide security or election support this late in the timetable is improper,” he said.

‘Superpower tensions’
“Tensions in the region between global superpowers from the West and China are driving foreign leaders to give a high amount of attention to the Pacific.

“These tensions that exist between larger countries are not our doing and we should not be unnecessarily caught up as these larger nations shadowbox.

“We desperately need partnerships with high quality investors to lift the standards of living for our people, but they must comply with our procurement laws and be done in a transparent way to ensure the best returns for our people.

“There are some Chinese companies and, indeed, some Singaporean and Australian companies, who have not been subject to normal procurement procedures that warrant urgent investigation.”

O’Neill said Marape should not have encouraged this visit which draws PNG into a regional and global matter that it does not have any business on choosing sides.

• Papua New Guinea’s general election is July 9-22.

Republished with permission.

Central to the selection of the prime minister in Papua New Guinea following a general election is Section 63 of PNG’s Organic Law on Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC), which was passed in 2001 (and then amended in 2003).

Section 63 requires that the Governor-General invites the party with the highest number of MPs following a general election to form the government.

The main aim of the section is to ensure that the appointment of a prime minister after a general election is done in an “orderly way with direct relationship to the way voters expressed their wishes”.

• READ MORE: Other PNG elections reports

Analysis shows that the passage of OLIPPAC has influenced government formation. First, it has increased the probability that, as is now a legislative requirement, the PM comes from the largest party.

This has happened in all elections since OLIPPAC was legislated (2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017), but only happened in two out of the five pre-OLIPPAC elections (1977 and 1982).

For example, as Table 1 shows, in 1997 the People’s National Congress Party (PNC) had the sixth highest number of MPs but still was able to put forward the successful candidate for PM.

Second, Section 63 also seems to have increased the odds of an incumbent PM being returned. Since the first post-independence election in 1977, five incumbent prime ministers have been re-appointed as PM following one of the country’s nine national elections (see Table 2).

Two developments closely related
The other four times a new prime minister was appointed post-elections. The five times the incumbent was returned are 1977 (Somare), 1987 (Wingti), 2007 (Somare), 2012 (O’Neill) and 2017 (O’Neill). Only two of the five incumbent returns are before the first enactment of OLIPPAC in 2001, and the other three are all post-OLIPPAC.

These two developments are closely related. Over the life of the Parliament, MPs tend to join the party of the PM, meaning that that party goes into the election with by far the largest number of MPs. For instance, PNC won 27 seats in 2012, led by the incumbent PM Peter O’Neill, and formed the government.

More MPs joined PNC, and by the time the 2017 elections came around, PNC had 55 MPs. Even though PNC lost 34 sitting MPs, with only 21 getting re-elected, it added seven new MPs in the 2017 elections.

This took PNC’s numbers to 28 MPs, and, after the 2017 elections, it wound up forming the government.

About half the incumbent MPs don’t get re-elected every election, but in general voters do not vote along party lines. Even if they do, and even if there is a swing against the PM’s party, because it has such an advantage going in, it is likely to emerge as the largest party as well.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled the restrictions imposed by OLIPPAC on the movement of MPs between parties unconstitutional. This means that MPs can move parties in the period between when they are declared winners following the national election and the appointment of the PM.

What happened in 1987, 1992 and 1997 — when parties with fewer MPs formed the government — could be repeated, Section 63 notwithstanding. All MPs would need to do is submit their letter of resignation to the party that endorsed them for the election, together with a letter of acceptance from the new party they intend to join, to the Registry of Political Parties and Candidates before the election of the PM, and their movement to the new party would become official.

Little incentive to leave
However, we have not seen that happening. This is because there is little incentive for MPs in the largest party to leave if it is likely to become the party of government. Rather, other MPs will join, by joining either the largest party or the governing coalition.

The only incumbent PM not to benefit from the passage of OLIPPAC was, ironically, its architect, Sir Mekere Morauta. He did not go into the election with the largest party, and he certainly did not emerge from it with the largest either.

This should remind us that there is no guarantee that the incumbent PM will be returned post-election. But it does seem that Section 63 has had the unintended consequence of increasing the probability of this happening.

Most view stability as a good thing, but the problem is that the more likely the incumbent is to be returned at the general election, the more pressure there will be to remove him (or perhaps one day her) by a vote of no confidence – since that becomes the only way to do it.

It may be no coincidence that both PMs who have so far benefited from Section 63 (Somare in 2002 and 2007 and O’Neill in 2012 and 2017) lost power mid-term on the floor of Parliament.

Note that the provisions of Section 63 of OLIPPAC do not apply to a vote of no confidence. In a vote of no confidence, any political party (or MP) is eligible to nominate a candidate to contest for the prime minister’s seat. Even an MP without a political party is eligible to be nominated for the PM’s post.

Section 63 was passed with good intentions, but has led to a situation in which increasing stability either side of elections may be reducing it between elections.

Michael Kabuni is a lecturer in political science at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Papua New Guinea. Dr Stephen Howes is the Director of the Development Policy Centre and a Professor of Economics at the Crawford School. This research was undertaken with the support of the ANU-UPNG Partnership, an initiative of the PNG-Australia Partnership, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The views are those of the authors only.

Only two of Papua New Guinea’s general elections — in 1992 and 1997 — have had some semblance of credibility since the country’s independence in 1975, says a political analyst.

Speaking at a seminar in Port Moresby, Dr Joe Ketan, general manager of Divine University’s business and research arm Diwai Pacific Ltd, gave an overview of the country’s electoral governance, saying it was the worst when it comes to forming a new government.

“The country’s election processes are intact. However, the system is being hijacked,” he said.

• READ MORE: Other PNG election reports

“The state-owned enterprises are struggling, many essential services have collapsed, and the security agencies of Royal PNG Constabulary, PNG Defence Force, PNG Correctional Service and National Intelligence Organisation have all lost integrity with having lack of credibility in upcoming elections in June.

Dr Ketan, formerly head of the Department of PNG Studies and International Relations at DWU, said: “We have a terrible input process in the country [over] how we bring in our leaders into Parliament and the output is really bad.

“The security agencies lack discipline, have a low morality, and have issues with funding. While we look into the future, the government will repeat history.

Extra steps needed
“We need to take extra steps to ensure that the 2022 election is credible because with the last six terms of elections only two since independence have had some resemblance of credibility — in 1992 and 1997,” he said.

“In 2007 and 2012 it was equally bad with political instability between both former prime ministers Peter O’Neill and Sir Michael Somare.”

Institute of National Affairs executive director Paul Barker raised concerns about the common roll having not been updated from several years ago.

Barker said there was no proper data of eligible voters and current population and the government had done nothing about the issue.

Funding short by K362m
Meanwhile, Miriam Zarriga reports that with just nine days to go before the issue of 118 election writs on April 28, the government has yet to release K362 million (NZ$151 million) of the Electoral Commission’s K462 million (NZ$193 million) funding for the election costs.

Documents obtained by the Post-Courier show that the Department of Treasury has released a total of about K287.6 million ($120 million) to only seven agencies.

These payments are as follows;

– Electoral Commission: K100 million paid; K362 million outstanding;
– Police: K111 million paid; K43 million outstanding;
– PNG Defence Force: K50 million paid; K22.8 million outstanding;
– Correctional Service: K11.6 million paid; K42.4 million outstanding;
Other departments;
– National Broadcasting Corporation: K10 million;
– Department of Justice and Attorney General: K2.5 million; and,
– Ombudsman Commission: K2.5 million.

The National Intelligence Organisation (NIO), Registry of Political Parties, Office of Security Co-ordination and Assessment (OSCA) have yet to receive their funding.

Marjorie Finkeo is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

Prime Minister James Marape has called on Papua New Guineans not to vote for “money, relatives or cargo” in the country’s 2022 general election that kicks off later this month.

He made the call yesterday on the third anniversary of his resignation from the O’Neill-led government on 11 April 2019 due to “sheer frustration” at the way the country was being run.

Marape on that day in 2019 had resigned in protest at the way he said at the time Peter O’Neill was running down the country.

• READ MORE: PNG heads to the polls in June this year — will it be a chance for women to finally shine?
• Other reports on PNG elections

Reflecting on that occasion, Marape urged the people “to exercise your right to vote wisely in the 2022 elections”.

“Don’t vote for money, don’t vote for relatives, and don’t vote for people or parties who have sold your birthright,” he said.

“If I have not done well for this country, if I am not the leader of your choice, then vote in someone else who can do better.

“Pangu Pati, and the coalition that I have worked with over the last three years –– including National Alliance, United Resources Party, United Labour Party, People’s Party, Liberal Party, National Party, People’s Movement for Change, Allegiance Party, Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party, One Nation Party, People’s Labour Party, Social Democratic Party and others –– have tried our best to stabilise our economy and restore credibility for this country.”

‘Steadied the ship’
He said so much had happened since that fateful day on 11 April 2019.

“I never knew I was going to be Prime Minister. I resigned [as] one man because I was fed up with the way Peter O’Neill was running down our country.

“Yes, he was doing some good, but the greater part of him was for personal gratification and gain and I could not knowingly remain in his government.”

Marape said the country had been through a lot of political turbulence since he took office, the most-infamous being the failed no-confidence vote of November 2020, spearheaded by O’Neill.

“There were political challenges right up until the 18-month grace period of my election as prime minister was up in November 2020,” he said.

“There were economic challenges, there were covid-19 challenges, but we have prevailed through the Grace of God.

“We have steadied the ship.”

The writs are issued on April 28, and voting is due June 11-24.

Republished with permission.

Papua New Guinea’s Justice Minister and Madang MP Bryan Kramer has been referred to the Public Prosecutor by the Ombudsman Commission for 14 counts of alleged misconduct charges.

The minister declared this at a media conference after the Ombudsman Commission delivered a letter informing him of the allegations and the referral.

Kramer, who has often been labelled as a “corruption fighter”, vowed to contest the charges.

• READ MORE: ‘I will eventually get killed’: Meet Bryan Kramer, Papua New Guinea’s anti-corruption tsar
• Bryan Kramer Report – Kramer’s Facebook journalism page

He slammed the allegations, which come on the eve of the national elections in June, as “absurd” and “ridiculous” and from an “incompetent” Ombudsman Commission.

While details of the 14 allegations were not disclosed to the media, the Post-Courier understands two allegations relate to articles he posted on his Facebook account.

The first relates to Kramer allegedly scandalising the judiciary by posting articles insinuating a conflict of interest by Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika.

The second allegation also relates to Kramer scandalising the judiciary by posting articles accusing Ialibu-Pangia MP Peter O’Neill and his lawyers of filing a fake warrant of arrest to deceive and mislead the court in 2019.

Other allegations
Other allegations relate to misappropriation and misconduct through the Madang District Development Authority.

In a brief response to the allegations, Kramer said the following over the first two allegations:

“The allegations of scandalising the judiciary are misplaced and nonsensical. It’s not an insinuation.

“It’s a fact the CJ, who I understand is the complainant in this allegation, is a close friend of the former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and was appointed on an NEC submission sponsored by O’Neill.

“On the allegation scandalising the judiciary by posting articles on Facebook accusing O’Neill and his lawyers of filing a fake warrant of arrest to deceive and mislead the court in the matter OS JR No. 720 of 2019; the lawyer and registry staff were in fact criminally charged and after considering the evidence the Committal Court has ruled there is sufficient evidence to commit them to stand trial in the National Court.”

At Wednesday’s press conference Kramer discredited the investigations process applied by the Ombudsman Commission.

“On December 4 2021, I wrote to the Chief Ombudsman requesting an extension of time to respond to the allegations, and more importantly, asked that they provide the evidence they relied on to form the opinion that I was guilty of misconduct in office.”

He said his request was denied and he was told the investigations were confidential.

Convenient time for opponents
However, Kramer contends that after they formed their opinion, he should have been afforded the right to view the evidence. He noted that the timing of the referral had come at a convenient time for political opponents as the country is two months away from an election.

If a leadership tribunal is appointed to look into the allegations, Kramer will be subsequently suspended from office and duties.

“Everyone in this country knows, in terms of a member of Parliament that is carrying out major reforms in fighting corruption, would be myself.

“So given these allegations are ridiculous and the amount of corruption out there, that for some reason, the Ombudsman Commission saw fit to try pursuing allegations that, mind you, are completely ridiculous, against me on the eve of election,” he said.

“I intend to challenge these allegations, firstly, in the National Court, so seeking orders that the court direct the Ombudsman Commission provide me the evidence that I requested for breach of natural justice and once that evidence is provided then I look forward if the Ombudsman continue with these ridiculous allegations to then go before the tribunal and defend these allegations.”

Thierry Lepani is a PNG Post-Courier journalist. Republished with permission.

Papua New Guinea’s parliament has adjourned for almost four months, dashing an attempt to oust Prime Minister James Marape.

The adjournment allows Marape to avoid a no confidence vote.

Earlier, the opposition had tabled a motion of no confidence against Marape.

• READ MORE: Chaos in PNG politics as prime minister adjourns parliament, avoiding no confidence vote
• Covid rife in PNG’s Parliament precinct

The opposition listed the former prime minister Peter O’Neill as its nominee for alternate prime minister.

However, PNG’s constitution doesn’t allow confidence votes against a sitting prime minister in the 12 months before an election.

The country is due to go to the polls in July next year.

The opposition is expected to challenge the adjournment in court, with O’Neill alleging it was in breach of rules around parliament’s minimum number of sitting days.

Covid-19 outbreak
But the adjournment was deemed necessary by government after the announcement of figures indicating a quarter of staff at Parliament are infected with covid-19.

Papua New Guinea crossed the threshold of 10,000 covid-19 cases yesterday, with 91 known deaths. However, health officials believe the true number of cases is much higher.

Parliament’s speaker, Job Pomat, told MPs that from preliminary sampling of 167 people within the parliament precinct, 42 – or 25 percent of them – tested positive for the virus.

RNZ Pacific reports that most of those infected were staff rather than MPs, but several MPs tested positive earlier this year, and Pomat said the situation was serious.

ICYMI – Preliminary testing for Covid-19 among staff at Papua New Guinea’s parliament precinct indicates a quarter of them are infected.https://t.co/qJ6OJkFLu1

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) April 21, 2021

On the advice of the National Pandemic Response Controller, David Manning, Pomat said all staff and members were to undergo compulsory testing for the coronavirus.

Pomat said that prior to the letter he had already issued a similar directive.

“I have now issued further directives for compulsory testing to be conducted to both members of staff of parliament and political staff,” Pomat explained.

Another Vote of No Confidence is being lodged – former PM Peter O’Neill expected to be listed as the Opposition’s candidate for PM. https://t.co/YrU1vT1D3B

— Natalie Whiting (@Nat_Whiting) April 21, 2021

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) has sent prayers for the recovery of the former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Sir Michael Somare, who is critically ill with pancreatic cancer.

Sir Michael, who served as prime minister four times in Papua New Guinea, is also the founder of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). He is a figure who has played an important role in supporting ULMWP to become a member of the group.

Now 84, Sir Michael is being treated at the Pacific International Hospital in Port Moresby, as reported by Asia Pacific Report.

• READ MORE: Papua New Guinea’s ‘father of the nation’ Michael Somare is in palliative care
• PNG’s founding father Sir Michael Somare ‘critically ill’, says family
• Sir Michael Somare critically ill

PNG’s The National newspaper said that Cardinal Sir John Ribat had celebrated a special Eucharist with Sir Michael and his wife, Lady Veronica, at his hospital bed.

ULMWP mengirimkan doa bagi kesembuhan mantan Perdana Menteri Papua Nugini, Sir Michael Somare yang dikabarkan sakit. #PapuanLiveaMatter https://t.co/yWfvKA9VTp

— jubi.co.id (@jubidotcom) February 22, 2021

The executive director of ULMWP in West Papua, Markus Haluk, said the movement and the people of West Papua also sent prayers for the recovery of Sir Michael Somare.

“The people of West Papua [send] healing prayers for Sir Michael Somare,” Haluk told Jubi yesterday.

Haluk said that the news of Sir Michael Somare’s health condition reminded him of the meeting between ULMWP leaders and Sir Michael Somare at the MSG forum in Port Moresby in February 2018.

‘Look to the future’
“I remember a message from Sir Somare, ‘West Papua don’t look at the past, but look to the future. I have opened my heart, you [ULMWP] are not alone anymore,” said Haluk.

Haluk also remembers that a few minutes later the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea at the time, Peter O’Neill, came to the MSG meeting venue.

ULMWP leaders were standing and chatting with Sir Michael Somare.

Haluk, realising O’Neill had arrived, wanted to turn around and greet the prime minister, but Somare prevented him.

“Sir Somare grabbed my shoulder, winked at me, telling me, ‘Don’t turn to face PM O’Neill. Later he will come in your midst ‘. I also followed Sir Somare’s body language,” said Haluk.

What Sir Michael Somare said came to pass. After Peter O’Neill greeted all invited guests, ambassadors and MSG delegates, O’Neill went to Somare’s circle with the ULMWP delegates.

“I spontaneously greeted PM O’Neill. ‘Nopase waaa… waaa… waaa…’ (Papuan greetings to an honourable figure). Sir Somare gasped at my greeting. O’Neill greeted, ‘waa… waa… waa… Thanks Bro ‘.

“Then we shook hands with PM O’Neill,” said Haluk.

‘That’s Papuan politics’
Haluk said he was very impressed with the meeting.

“That’s Papuan politics, Melanesian politics. Everything flows from our hearts. [We] understand each other, acknowledge each other. You are important to me. We both need each other. Continue to keep the fellowship alive,” said Haluk.

Haluk said the West Papuan people remember the stories and services of great figures such as Sir Michael Somare.

According to Haluk, the people from Sorong to Samarai sent prayers for the recovery of Sir Michael Somare.

“Commemorating all the great services and sacrifices for the Papuan people, from Jayapura, West Papua, we send sincere prayers for healing to Sir Somare. I hope you get better soon,” said Haluk.

This article has been translated by an Asia Pacific Report correspondent from Tabloid Jubi and published with permission.

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape has rejected opposition leader Belden Namah’s call for him to resign.

Namah’s call came after the Supreme Court yesterday ordered Parliament to sit next Monday, quashing the government’s recent adjournment of Parliament until April.

The court ruled that the Speaker’s move to overrule an earlier adjournment allowed by his deputy and recall Parliament last month, when the opposition was not present, was unconstitutional.

• LISTEN TO RNZ DATELINE PACIFIC: The PNG political crisis (Duration 5′ :32″)

“If you want to get me out of office, then the proper place is contest through a vote of no-confidence process on the floor of Parliament.”

Parliament appears evenly split, with Marape saying he had the support of 55 of the 111 MPs.

Marape said the MPs with him could “not be bought or sold”, characterising the opposition’s move to remove him as driven by some MPs’ personal interest to be prime minister.

But his government is under significant parliamentary pressure, as the Supreme Court ruling rendered all Parliamentary business on November 17 invalid.

That included the government’s passing of the 2021 budget, which will have to be tabled again – although this time the opposition MPs will be present.

The opposition has not revealed who its nomination for alternative prime minister would be.

O’Neill key player
The former prime minister Peter O’Neill, who filed the successful Supreme Court challenge, remains a key player in efforts to remove Marape.

Last year, Marape led moves to oust O’Neill, who resigned before a Parliamentary vote elevated his former close ally to the leadership.

O’Neill said that Marape should do what he did when he had lost a clear majority and resign.

Marape has meanwhile appealed for the public to remain calm, despite the political turbulence.

Today, Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil and 12 other ministers in Papua New Guinea’s James Marape government crossed the floor to support former prime minister Peter O’Neill and opposition leader Belden Namah’s bid to move a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister James Marape.

A total of 41 members from the government side crossed to join Namah and O’Neill and provide them the 57 votes required (majority is 56) to take control of Parliament business and change the Permanent Parliament Committee members to ensure their planned notice of a no confidence vote makes its way to the floor of Parliament.

• READ MORE: Papua New Guinea stands by for new government after MPs abandon James Marape
• PNG’s deputy PM and other MPs cross the floor
• PM James Marape: ‘It’s not over’
• Fresh political turmoil in PNG

So was this expected?

Short answer is Yes.

Behind the scenes, I have been tracking the likes of Basil, William Duma, Charles Abel, Sir Puka Temu, Sir Julius Chan, Paias Wingti, and Chris Haiveta, expecting them to make a play for a change of Prime Minister.

I was very much aware that Basil was in secret talks with O’Neill and Namah, who were so desperate to change the government that they would mislead Basil into crossing the floor.

Basil believes he will be the next Prime Minister; so does Chan and O’Neill.

PM Marape informed
I brought this issue to the attention of Prime Minister Marape on numerous occasions so he would be informed on the what was going on behind the scenes.

However, he wanted to believe that both Basil and Duma would stay loyal to the government because he afforded their parties’ every request.

57 MPs voted with the Opposition today. Opposition has numbers to change PM.

39 MPs voted with PM. PM claims to have 52 supporting him.

57 + 52 = 109 MPs, Two MPs unaccounted for in #PNG‘s vote of No Confidence numbers game pic.twitter.com/rd74TV1XHe

— MARTYN AWAYANG NAMORONG (@MartynNamorong) November 13, 2020

While I note some will say this is a lie because I said there would be no vote of no confidence in the November session, I was factually correct. The November session is over, and Parliament is now adjourned to December 2020.

What is the play?

Right now, I still don’t believe there will be a vote of no confidence. More importantly, the motion for a vote can’t be moved for another four weeks.

Eighteen days from now – on Tuesday, 1 December 2020 – Parliament reconvenes. The Opposition will submit its notice of a no confidence vote against Prime Minister Marape to the Speaker.

The notice must be signed by no less than 12 members and name the next Prime Minister (which is not yet decided).

Naming ‘next PM’
On Wednesday, 2 December 2020, at 1pm, the Speaker and Permanent Parliament Committee will meet to table the notice and confirm it is in order, meeting the constitutional requirements of no less than 12 members signatories and naming the next PM.

Provided the notice is in order, the Speaker will direct the Clerk of Parliament to list the notice on the Parliament Notice Paper.

The next day, on Thursday, 3 December 2020, Parliament will reconvene. The Speaker will announce that he received the notice of the no confidence vote from the opposition and adjourn Parliament for seven days.

On Thursday, 10 December 2020, Parliament will reconvene to deal with the motion of no confidence.

So, folks, that’s almost one month away and right now Basil, O’Neill and Namah have only 59 Members, which they have to keep intact until the day of the vote.

In the meantime, the Marape government needs only to wait around for five members to realize they were badly misled, and that it wasn’t such a great idea to cross the floor. The public will also weigh in, ending their re-election bid in 2022.

Struggle to stay together
What is certain is that most, if not all, politicians will struggle to stay in camp for seven days, let alone one month.

It is also important to note that a sitting Prime Minister will always have the last say on whether a vote of confidence is moved on the day of the vote or not.

Right now, the government has the luxury of the full resources of the country and greater public support.

Support that will only build over time. Because the people of Papua New Guinea are sick of corruption, self-interest and greed.

Bryan Kramer is Papua New Guinea’s Police Minister. He is also one of the most transparent ministers on social media. In his rare spare time, he writes columns on issues for his Kramer Report web and Facebook pages. The Pacific Media Centre republishes his columns with permission.

September 16 – yesterday – marked the 45th year of Independence for Papua New Guinea. It also marked just over a year and three months since I was appointed Minister for Police, following the collapse of the O’Neill government.

I note many people are asking why I am so quiet in my role as Minister for Police, after years of being vocal in the fight against corruption.

The short answer is: I’ve been busy. Busy working around the clock to reform and improve the Police Force.

• READ MORE: Kramer Report on Facebook
• Marape urges PNG citizens to work together for ‘better nation’

As a Member of Opposition, you don’t really have the mandate to reform the systems of government. You are literally on the outside, looking in.

Your mandate is to expose and oppose the government of the day in an effort to keep it accountable by keeping the public informed.

When you become a member of the government, you don’t have the luxury of time to write in-depth articles that expose corruption. Instead, you are busy trying to actually fix the problems you have been complaining about while in opposition.

After one year in office, what has become disturbingly evident is the extent of the problems.

Corruption deep rooted
Now, having spent time on the inside, I can see the extent of corruption in PNG. It is so deep rooted and so entrenched in every aspect of politics and business that it is almost beyond comprehension, and appears never-ending.

Under eight years of the O’Neill government the country was, and is, on the verge of collapse. Given the extent of the damage, it will take five years just to stop it from sinking further. It will take a generation to turn it around.

What is the way forward?

There are many who believe the solution is simply to arrest corrupt politicians and high ranking government officials.

But who is going to do all the investigations and make the arrests?

I would be happy to. Unfortunately our laws don’t give the Minister of Police power to make sweeping arrests. And I don’t expect Parliament to be in a rush to change the law to give me those powers any time soon.

So for now, the power to arrest and lay charges remains with our Police Force.

But many of our best and most experienced police officers have either retired, been dismissed for trying to do the right thing, or have left to pursue a career in the private sector.

Servant to corrupt politicians
Sadly, after eight years of the O’Neill government’s reign, the Police Force, once described as the pride of the country, was reduced to a private security business, servant to corrupt politicians and dodgy foreign businessmen.

Following my appointment as Minister of Police, I found our Police Force in complete disarray and riddled with corruption. The very organisation that was tasked with fighting corruption had become the leading agency in acts of corruption. Add to that a rampant culture of police ill-discipline and brutality.

How bad was it?

Senior officers based in Police Headquarters in Port Moresby were stealing from their own retired officers’ pension funds. They were implicated in organised crime, drug syndicates, smuggling firearms, stealing fuel, insurance scams, and even misusing police allowances.

They misused tens of millions of kina allocated for police housing, resources, and welfare. We also uncovered many cases of senior officers facilitating the theft of police land.

After one year, what have we achieved?

Under the Marape-Steven government, we have taken the first steps to implement sweeping reform.

Reforming from top down
Today, the Police Force and law and order has become the centrepoint of national discussion. And that’s exactly where it needs to be.

The Police Force is now getting the attention it so desperately needs.

We are reforming from the top down, following changes in Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner for Police. We are now at Assistant Commissioner and Director level, and expect to get down to Provincial Police Commander and Constable level by this time next year.

The best means to fight corruption and bring meaningful change is to restore our Police Force to the pride of the country. The Marape-Steven government has started that process. The past year was spent laying the foundations. In 2021 we will build on those foundations.

So back to the question: why am I so quiet?

Perhaps the reform of the Police Force is simply the calm before the storm.

Bryan Kramer is Papua New Guinea’s Police Minister. He is also one of the most transparent ministers on social media. In his rare spare time, he writes columns on issues for his Kramer Report web and Facebook pages. The Pacific Media Centre republishes his columns with permission.

This article attempts to put the current governance crisis at the Fiji-based University of the South Pacific (USP), one of only two regional universities in the world, in a broader regional perspective. If Pacific regional integration and coordination means anything, then this would be a good moment to demonstrate it values academic freedom and institutional autonomy and good governance at the regions’ universities. The author, former vice-chancellor of the University of Technology in Papua New Guinea, revisits a study he did in 2014 about the PNG university system published in USP’s Journal of Pacific Studies [Schram, 2014].

During the last weeks, after reports emerged about gross mismanagement and breaches of the rules of the university at USP under the former administration, this week the Executive Committee of the University Council decided to suspend the current vice-chancellor for alleged “misconduct and breach of rules and procedures”, despite all the evidence pointed in the opposite direction of the former administration and some council members.

The current vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, is a reputable academic with an impressive track record as a scholar, as well as an executive experience as deputy vice-chancellor at one of the better universities in the United Kingdom. During his long and distinguished career, he developed specific technical expertise in innovation and research policies which are highly needed in the region.

READ MORE: Nauru president accuses Fiji group of ‘hijacking’ USP in vendetta

First principles of university governance
Although there are many different university governance systems for universities, it is generally agreed that academic freedom and a degree of autonomy, like a free and independent press, are essential for a democracy to function properly. There are two channels in which dirty politics, special or personal interests can seep into the texture of universities: one way is by political parties using student politics, and the other way is through the university councils. Often we see a bit of both.

University autonomy is not absolute and has several dimensions, which is why the European University Association, for example, publishes an annual scoreboard on university autonomy.

Organisations like Scholars at Risk monitor threats to individual scholars and academic freedom. In case of serious incidents various human rights reporting mechanisms are used. The price of liberty after all is eternal vigilance, as Thomas Jefferson allegedly said.

In the Pacific, the university system is usually based on the Australian system which favours strong university autonomy independence. This regularly clashes with tendencies of Pacific governments which see university as government departments and want control over all appointments and budgets.

Since universities are statutory organisations and are established by an act of parliament, governments shirk away from abolishing university autonomy de jure, rather than use a number of de facto mechanisms.

As professional international university executives, we add value by bringing our experience from world-class universities in how to get things done, how to access external funding and generate internal funding, and through our professional networks.

This type of know-how and experience is usually hardly available locally.

As vice-chancellor of the PNGUoT, for example, when I enjoyed Council’s support from 2014 to early 2017, I was able to take big strides forward in establishing good governance, effective and efficient management, while at the same time create productive partnerships with industry, mobilise international support, and push the digitalisation, accreditation and academic quality agendas.

When, however, foreign university executives are continually exposed to unwarranted attacks, often fuelled by a deadly mixture of envy, xenophobia, or fear to lose face, we cannot do our jobs. The education of the next generation of Pacific leaders suffers as a result.

The end of university autonomy in PNG
University autonomy in PNG ended during the Peter O’Neill years with the Higher Education Act 2014 which had as the only purpose for the government to gain control over the universities.

Article 109 stipulated the direct appointment of the chancellor and for the vice-chancellor made the government of PNG the appointing authority. Before this Act was gazetted I warned the then Minister of Higher Education, asking him to scrap article 109, to no avail.

As co-chair of the PNG Committee of Vice-chancellors and University Presidents, I was seriously concerned about this type of backsliding.

From 2012 to 2018 there were no less than seven Ministers of Higher Education, which did not help to create good governance.

In 2016, the students of the University of Papua New Guinea in the capital Port Moresby, and the students of the PNGUoT in Lae demanded then Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to submit himself to questioning after credible and serious allegations for corruption had been made.

Peter O’Neill flatly refused and exactly one year ago allowed police to shoot hundreds of rounds peacefully protesting students. An investigation was promised but never occurred, despite my reminder in an interview for ABC Pacific Beat.

At the PNGUoT in Lae the students’ response was immediate but quick thinking by the Metropolitan Superintendent Anthony Wagambie and our mediation, we were able to contain the situation on campus. The threat to the students and the universities was loud and clear.

The prolonged university crisis of 2016, however, resulted in the council being replaced by Peter O’Neill’s appointees and the student representative councils being suspended for an indeterminate period. After the “stolen elections” of 2017, the allegiance of university council members and staff started to shift, since they were all expecting O’Neill to stay on until the next elections in 2022.

Oddly, O’Neill was pushed out of a role in government and resigned as Prime Minister in May 2019. With his Australian friends, O’Neill who likes to boast and dream of becoming the “first Pacific billionaire”, spend most of his time in his own $55 million mansion in Sydney, or at his son’s place, a “modest” $13 million mansion in the same town, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

When he returned to avoid being thrown out of Parliament last month, he was arrested to respond to allegations for one of the many grand corruption cases and put in a two weeks quarantine. Hopefully, the police are able to produce a proper indictment this time, which can stand up in court to get a conviction.

With O’Neill’s ousting as Prime Minister, university chancellors and council members are now no longer politically protected and feel exposed, which surely in 2021 and 2022 – an election year – will cause more political mayhem in PNG university governance.

Pacific universities case studies
PNG 2013 and 2018: PNG University of Technology (PNGUoT)

In 2013, while in exile in Australia after my first run-in with the Peter O’Neill government, I wrote an article about the importance for universities in Papua New Guinea of establishing good governance and mainstreaming implementation of concrete strategic plans using various proven methods [Schram, 2014].

Later I gave a seminar at the Australia National University where I warned that the PNG university governance reform was failing.

In 2012, I was attracted to the vice-chancellor role of the PNG University of Technology (PNGUoT) because the government had promised to modernise its governance in the wake of the Independent Review of the PNG University System (IRUS, also called the Namaliu-Garnaut Report), and make a considerable investment in the structurally underfunded PNG education system from revenue of the LNG project.

Professor Garnaut, interestingly, was later also declared persona non grata by Peter O’Neill and prevented to enter the country, like so many other foreign professionals during the disastrous O’Neill years.

The review made clear that at the PNGUoT an internationalisation and academic quality agenda had to be pursued vigorously, and the university’s reputation had to be restored with all stakeholders after the official investigation in 2013 led by the late Supreme Court judge Mark Sevua had shown a widespread practice of mismanagement of funds and breaches of due process by the University Council.

In April 2014, a new council had been appointed, and I was called back to lead the university. In 2016, my term was renewed after a performance review. Nevertheless, in 2018 the PNGUoT gave in to political pressure and the witchhunt against the foreigner started again, based on the same baseless allegations as in 2012-13 of not having a doctorate which had already been disproven by an official investigation. Madness.

For those willing to check, here is the official record of my doctorate which I proudly defended on 24 November 1994 at the renowned European University Institute in Florence (Italy), and later published with Cambridge University Press.

My doctorate is explicitly recognised in all EU member states, the USA and Costa Rica.

During the PNGUoT crisis in 2013 as well as in 2018, the support in my regard of Scholars at Risk in New York and the academics at Australian National University, and several journalists knowledgeable about PNG affairs was unfaltering, and I am grateful for that.

Now that in PNG Peter O’Neill has finally been arrested and apparently finally needs to answer the serious and credible allegations, it seems there may be another opportunity for university reform.

His government created fantastic levels of corruption, and the non-resource growth of the economy diminished year upon year between 2012 and 2017.

Each year, the PNG government in order to stay afloat borrowed at unfavourable conditions, massively increasing public debt, and bringing the country close to bankruptcy and threatening debt default.

Needless to say, the promised additional university investment never materialised, and I could only use internal savings to make necessary investments. The PNG Australia relationship meanwhile had been poisoned by the Manus Refugee Camp, where asylum seekers were held unlawfully for years.

PNG 2018: University of Natural Resources and the Environment (UNRE)
In an effort to modernise university leadership in PNG, in 2015 the British professor John Warren was appointed as vice-chancellor of UNRE. VC Warren and I immediately coordinated our strategies in line with the declared government policy following the IRUS (Namaliu/Garnaut) report.

As co-chair of the PNG VC Committee, I attended their graduations and met all their council members.

After working with council to establish accountability and governance processes, we vigorously worked on an academic quality and internationalisation agenda. The advice of other Vice-Chancellors in the Pacific region and Australia to first establish proper financial management, and balance the budget was valuable.

In fact, the savings obtained by stopping wastage, and establishing proper financial control could immediately be invested in improving the learning and working environment on campus, something that both PNGUoT and UNRE desperately needed.

At UNRE the challenge to establish reliable broadband internet remained great, which seriously affected their operations and the ability to attract and retain faculty members.

VC Warren worked with the Academic Board (Senate) and the University Council to establish proper appointment and promotion procedures for academics, as well as robust assessment or exam policies. At this point, VC Warren was attacked, even physically, by members of the AB who felt embarrassed they could not explain how grades were produced.

They went immediately over the head of council and started to spread lies and rumours among members of the Peter O’Neill government, which gullible as they were, were taken for true. As a result, Peter O’Neill decided to appoint a new chancellor, who however escalated the attacks on VC Warren.

Things quickly got really nasty and dangerous.

At this point, the pressure on foreign vice-chancellors in the country mounted to dance to the tunes of the O’Neill regime. First, in April 2018 I was pushed out and despite reaching an agreement with council, I was arrested when trying to return home at Jackson’s International Airport in Port Moresby.

The police which presented no evidence and was acting directly on orders of Peter O’Neill through the ousted Pro-Chancellor Ralph Saulep, managed to keep me hostage unlawfully retaining my passport for one month, after which a judge in the National Court granted me permission to go home.

The whole sad episode was described on ANU’s Development Policy blog, and several articles in The Times Higher Education (1 and 2) and The Australian (1 and 2) and other international press in Italy and the UK, thus tarnishing the reputation of the country and its universities.

Less than one month later the other foreign vice-chancellor, John Warren, was threatened and had to flee for his life.

At the end of 2017, University Council members had shifted their alliance after O’Neill successfully stole the 2017 elections, with full support from the Australian government at the time.

Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop, for instance, declared the 2017 “successful” before they were even finished, and while serious elections violence was ongoing in several highland provinces.

Fiji 2020: The University of the South Pacific (USP)
The crisis situation at USP is still ongoing, and I know the political background and personalities more superficially. As co-chair of the Pacific Islands University Network, which we set up in 2012, I visited USP regularly which hosted the secretariat of the network.

When he took over last year, vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia asked council to be consulted over senior appointments, so as to be able to appoint his own independent executive team. He was denied this common courtesy.

Subsequently, he reported to council about lack of accountability and various breaches of university rules involving the appointment or renewal of various university administrators. This seems to have set off the current crisis with the Executive Committee (EC) of council suspending him for supposed misconduct without, however, having any primary evidence.

Rather, all evidence presented points to mismanagement by members of the previous administration and current council.

In his report to the Executive Committe, VC Pal writes the following:

“EC receives this report and takes urgent action both internally and externally. It is incumbent upon USP to be critically aware of its fiduciary and legal duties and responsibilities, especially in regards to donors and authorities that demand transparent and accountable management in the disbursement of public funds. It is further recommended that EC take corrective actions with the highest priority accorded to these matters.”

He then describes a long list of irregular appointments, which in some cases led to excessive expenses, and in all cases have constrained his ability to lead the university effectively.

Fortunately, support for “VC Pal” is strong and solid, and we hope that this becomes clear to all the council members and they lift his suspension after the next council meeting. The episode however in a regional perspective leaves a bad taste of corruption and xenophobia. The threat is that national dirty politics capture a regional university, which then goes down in political infighting.

Let us hope it will not go any further, and VC Pal can continue his good and important work. As a regional university, for 40 percent funded by mainly New Zealand and Australia, it would be essential Australia joins New Zealand, Samoa and Nauru in their wish to put this episode behind them, and stop the baseless attacks on USP’s VC.

Making a public statement however may not be enough.

Final remarks
Since 2018, both PNG universities plunged into an ever-deepening crisis. Since the student representative councils were rendered powerless or suspended, the students’ voice was effectively silenced. Both universities are now unable to retain honest and professional staff, with the Papua New Guineans being the first to leave, followed by all expatriate faculty members with other career options, and work experience at world-class universities.

All others are desperate to leave, but often unsuccessful.

PNG universities may have a second chance if their council is renewed and the council members appointed by Peter O’Neill lose their seats. It is imperative the students’ voice and university autonomy is restored, by revoking article 109 of the 2014 Higher Education Act, which only purpose was to establish strong political control.

The University of South Pacific can well emerge stronger from the present crisis, if it is short and the commission doing the independent investigation is indeed independent and given a broad mandate.

This is what saved my position in 2013 when Judge Sevua’s team established there was nothing wrong with my appointment or actions, and rather focused its attention on the mismanagement overseen by the previous university council and management.

VC Pal Ahluwalia today indicated he would cooperate fully with the investigation, which is the right thing to do. He has no other option.

It would be important, however, the main stakeholders and in particular Australian government make their support for good governance and VC Pal is heard, before this institution too succumbs to political infighting as has happened in PNG.

References
Schram, Albert (2014). University Governance and Transparency in the PNG University System, Journal of Pacific Studies, Volume 34, pp. 77-90 (ISSN 1011-3029). Retrieved from https://www.usp.ac.fj/fileadmin/files/Institutes/jps/Volumes/Volume_34_No_1_2014/Full_Text_-_University_governance_and_transparency_in_the_PNG_higher_education_system.pdf

• Albert Schram: My wrongful dismissal and malicious prosection – a warning

The arrest of former Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill on his arrival home in Port Moresby was featured today on Pacific Media Centre’s Southern Cross segment on Radio 95bFM.

He was arrested for questioning over allegations of purchasing two generators for 50 million kina (US$14 million) from an Israeli company without approval of the National Parliament.

O’Neill had only just returned to PNG from Australia and was quarantined for 14 days and was granted K5000 bail.

LISTEN: Sri Krishnamurthi on Southern Cross

Also discussed on the programme by Pacific Media Watch contributing editor Sri Krishnamurthi, was the pro-independence FLNKS seeking a delay to the referendum for two months because of covid-19 disruptions in New Caledonia.

However, anti-independence politician Sonia Backes said she was firmly opposed to the delay.

The ongoing saga of the past week between print giants NZME and Stuff, which went to the High Court with NZME claiming it had exclusive negotiation period Stuff owners Nine Entertainment Australia, was also highlighted.

However, Justice Sarah Katz said Stuff was getting another offer from a prospective buyer, which was revealed this afternoon to be Stuff’s chief executive Sinead Boucher.

• Presented by The Wire host Sherry Zhang and producer James Tapp 
• Pacific Media Centre’s Soundcloud channel 

Papua New Guinea’s former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has denied a claim that he has fled the country to avoid being arrested.

This is despite police last week withdrawing an arrest warrant for O’Neill, after his lawyers had launched a legal challenge to its validity.

The warrant was issued for the Ialibu-Pangia MP at the Waigani District Court on October 11.

READ MORE: Bryan Kramer: O’Neill flees country as national court dismisses case preventing his arrest

PNG’s Acting Police Commissioner David Manning said investigators sought the warrant in relation to a corruption case.

The national court issued a stay on the arrest while O’Neill’s legal team sought leave for a judicial review of the warrant.

But the Police Minister Bryan Kramer posted on Facebook that O’Neill fled to Australia on Friday shortly before the National Court ruling on his judicial review proceedings.

However O’Neill has rubbished this claim, saying he had flown to Sydney to be with his children.

“I have every right to travel and attend to my children’s needs,” O’Neill told RNZ Pacific.

The MP has also denied Kramer’s claim that O’Neill and his lawyers earlier fabricated a defective arrest warrant document to put before the court.

Last Thursday after police withdrew the warrant, O’Neill’s lawyers argued against the move, saying police would just seek a fresh warrant to avoid the review.

The State Solicitor, however, argued that O’Neill’s lawyers were trying to delay the matter by keeping it in court.

The case was adjourned.

• This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand

Papua New Guinea police have issued a warrant for the arrest of former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.

According to EMTV News, the Waigana district court issued the warrant which was based on evidence previously compiled by police investigators.

Acting Police Commissioner David Manning said he could not reveal the details of the charges but said the warrant was issued last Friday.

READ MORE: Phil Fitzpatrick: PNG’s Kramer ‘crucial’ law and order change maker

“Investigations into this particular case involving the former Prime Minister have been ongoing and the weight of the evidence that came to light before the police detectives necessitated an application to be made to the courts for a warrant of arrest.

“We have made it very clear when we came into office that we will look into all outstanding criminal cases of national significance including police shootings as well as high level corruption cases,” Manning said.

Police located O’Neill at the crown hotel in Port Moresby but he has so far refused to cooperate.

According to RNZ Pacific, O’Neill has responded in a statement that he was not informed or presented with a warrant from any member of the police force.

“If this was a serious matter, not a political power play, a formal process would be in place that would have seen legal representation made to my office,” O’Neill said.

He said the corruption claims were “false and fabricated in a clumsy way by the Police Minister (Bryan Kramer) and relate to renovations to the Yangaum Health Centre in Madang”.

O’Neill said he would be available at any time to hear the complaint, “but I warn any member of the RPNGC who might be part of the Police Minister’s political unit, to think carefully and respect and honour the oath you swore to our Nation”.

Commissioner David Manning has appealed to O’Neill to cooperate and “avail himself to investigators.”

By RNZ Pacific

Papua New Guinea’s police minister claims there is a plot involving the former prime minister to have him arrested.

Police Minister Bryan Kramer said high ranking police officers were plotting his arrest after a complaint by the former Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill.

Writing on Facebook yesterday, Kramer said he had received intelligence reports detailing the plot, although he has not released them.

READ MORE: Sacked police chief claims he will challenge his removal

Kramer said they included a complaint filed by a journalist who he claimed to have exposed accepting payments from an MP.

The police minister said he would not be going into hiding and would make himself available for police interviews.

“Since taking office, I have declined police close protection, police escort or even a designated driver,” he said.

“I regularly get asked about the risks that come with what I do. My response has always been and will continue to be I have no question of doubt I will eventually get killed for what I do.

“It goes without saying when you get in the way of those stealing billions in public funds, they will do whatever it takes to get rid of you.”

Kramer last week replaced police commissioner Gary Baki and his two deputies, prompting Baki to apply through the courts for a restraining order against the move.

• This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says he will resign from office if found guilty of improper conduct in securing the controversial K4 billion (NZ$1.8 billion) UBS – Union Bank of Switzerland – loan five years ago.

He said during question time in Parliament yesterday that he was open to total scrutiny but insisted all other players, including private lawyers, accountants, Oil Search, Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited, and all members named in the report, including former prime minister Peter O’Neill, would be open to the commission of inquiry.

Marape said the Australian Security Commission would be asked to provide information on the loan while the UBS commission of inquiry would act as a precursor to what the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC), would eventually be and would continue as a buffer for corruption into the future.

READ MORE: PNG leadership rivals O’Neill, Marape both implicated in UBS loan saga

The then government of Peter O’Neill had borrowed A$1.239 billion (K4bn) from the Australian branch of UBS to buy 149,390,244 Oil Search Limited shares in 2014.

“The UBS report that was furnished in this House and emanates from the Ombudsman Commission was more geared towards establishing the culpability of leadership breaches in the context of those of us who held offices in relation to our subscription to the Leadership Code of conduct,” he said.

“When I made the announcement in response to the tabling of this report, it was my humble opinion that a greater cry was out there. While the focus was on those of us that hold leadership the offices pertaining to the subscription of Leadership Code, the UBS saga extends beyond leadership breach and culpability that relates to the leadership, a greater step back and a dive into the entire UBS saga in the first instance.

“The OC report is one that has come out for the benefit of the public and Parliament and for the benefit in the instance for the OC to pick on and expand beyond just a report, and see those of us implicated and breach of the leadership code and for them to initiate individual proceedings in this manner,” Marape said.

Terms of reference
“The COI (commission of inquiry) must be established to fully ascertain whether there are other corruptions involved in the entire saga, an inquiry will be set up on the earliest I have asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney-General to bring into Cabinet at the earliest a paper that will entail the inquiry start, when it will terminate and what the boundaries of the Terms of Reference of the inquiry.

“The investigations will not stop at the leadership level and that involves some of us including the former prime minister, in the process of UBS our country lost money and lost in the billions and we need to know exactly how much we lost.

“Oil Search will be asked to answer several questions including what happened to the 10.01 per cent of shares the country should have a share in, with KPHL asked on their involvement in the UBS loan as well.

“The former PM made a suggestion that the UBS saga predates even as to when UBS took place, it might be correct it may not be correct, the question of corruption the question of the possibility of corruption doesn’t only entail leadership breaches, but goes beyond this one to fully ascertain what has transpired.

“And in the name of giving honest sincere answers to the public who demand accurate information on what has taken place.”

Marape said the commission “must be established to fully ascertain whether there are other corruptions involved in the entire saga because the question is whether there is corruption in the UBS transaction”.

He added the inquiry “must establish who are the middlemen, the nation talks about corruption.

Leadership breach?
”We need to establish not only Leadership Code breach but entire criminality in it if there was any criminal offence conducted by anyone”.

“Money flowed from UBS to purchase of Oil Search shares, what happened beyond the Oil Search share, did PNG government spend any money it? The nation deserves greater scrutiny instead of just leadership scrutiny, how much did we lose in the process and revenue that was meant to support the budget of 2014-2016 if we did lose it, the inquiry must ascertain and establish exactly how much we lost,” Marape said.

“We want this to be concluded at the earliest and questions must be framed to make up the terms of reference when it is established.”

Miriam Zarriga is a reporter with the PNG Post-Courier.

Following the election of James Marape’s as Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister, on Sunday, he issued a declaration on Facebook that soon had the foreign media (and social media) agitating over just one phrase.

“Work with me,” he wrote, “to make PNG the Richest Black Christian Nation on earth.”

True, they were rather provocative words, and they were repeated in his statement, but there was more – much more – that Marape had to say.

READ MORE: A message to PNG’s Prime Minister James Marape

And in that more was plenty for the rest of us, and indeed for the world beyond Papua New Guinea, to chew on.

But before I move to that, let me pause for a moment and be a bit grateful that Papua New Guinea now has a Prime Minister willing to commit his thoughts, values and aspirations to social media.

Marape promises to continue to “communicate with the nation using this medium”.

I guess it’s inevitable he will attract the usual low life trolling, mocking, attacking and denigrating, but let’s hope he does manage to find the time and patience to communicate in this way.

It will make a big difference to both the governors and the governed to know what the Prime Minister has on his mind.

So what were the most significant ideas and issues Marape decided to open with?

Marape ‘up for change’
First of all, he said he is up for change. There is no indication in the statement that he sees his role as anything other than a disconnect from the O’Neill era.

And in handing down a number of explicit commitments, he offered the PNG people a checklist by which he and his administration – now being formed – can be judged in the coming weeks and months.

“I am set for the bigger and greater challenges, in changing the course our country must travel on for better development for our people,” he said.

“I have a band of like-minded leaders sitting on both sides of the national parliament and we are driving an agenda to grow the economy in a safe, secured and educated country where all citizens are making an honest productive living…”

It is a clear indication of his intent to draw talent from “both sides of the aisle”, as the Americans say.

Unity government
This is good news for PNG because, if the Marape era is to be characterised by something akin to a “unity government”, it will have the opportunity to work in a more Melanesian style than the adversarial style of the Westminster system upon which its Parliament is structured.

And, as Martyn Namorong writes, if this Melanesian form can be successfully achieved it will be culturally and politically more congruent with the how Papua New Guinean society functions.

Marape also showed astuteness in explaining why he had chosen particular members of the caretaker cabinet ahead of appointing a full ministry, anticipating commentators like me whose eyebrows had soared at this group that seemed to pay more tribute to the immediate past than the future.

“I did a caretaker arrangement to appreciate the political structure we had,” he said, “but this week I will fill in ministers I assess can work in key sectors for productivity and not just for political convenience.”

How this eventuates in practice will provide the rest of us with an early marker of whether the promised bipartisan approach to Parliament will be implemented. Much talent rests among those steadfast MPs who, at some considerable cost, refused to join O’Neill in his depredations – people like Juffa, Kua, Kramer and Morauta.

Corruption
Now let me turn to the word that dare not pass DFAT’s lips – corruption.

Marape dared let it pass his lips, and its presence hovered over much of his declaration, especially here: “I will instruct the new justice minister to bring Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in the first instance, so let us all play by the rules now going forward.”

He told both private and public sectors what the new regime would mean for them in this context.

“Our contractors now have a Prime Minister who expects nothing in return for giving state contracts. All we expect is: do your fair bidding with the right price and get your job done.

“Don’t offer inducement to me or any ministers or public servants in the chain of procurement and contract management.”

And further: “Public servants and politicians, earn your salary and don’t ask for special favours. It must start now if it hasn’t started yet!”

Warning to multinationals
And for the big guys, a long distance early warning: “To multinational companies who operate in our resources sectors, I am not here to chase you away but to work with you so that we can add value to the benefits that emanate from the harvest of our natural endowment.

“All projects agreements that are in compliance (with) and congruent to all our laws will be honoured (and) I will be meeting with key resources sector and I request you all to assist me as to how we must grow my Papua New Guinea economy.”

Marape said he has a fresh team of PNG advisors looking into all resource laws and that he intends to tailor new legislation for implementation in 2025. Thus having neatly assuaged any fears about sovereign risk, he took a step towards a different future for resource exploitation in PNG.

At the same time, Marape said he will ask the National Procurement Commission to ensure contracts under K10 million (NZ$4.6 million) are “strictly” reserved for citizens and local companies and that contracts above that threshold must also have local partnership involvement.

“To local (small to medium sized enterprises) and contractors, we have a special incentive plan for you,” he said.

“Tidy your company books, pay your honest tax and, if you want to go the next phase of your business, we will inject very soft term loans (possibly 5 percent repayment rate over a 40 year period)…. Prepare to be part of our programme to resuscitate our businessmen and women.”

‘Take back PNG’
Marape added that he will be asking “all young educated PNG citizens” for their views on Governor Gary Juffa’s motto to “Take Back PNG”.

“We will organise for your voices to be heard,” he said. “I don’t buy into outside advisers, we have in the intelligent and experience pool in country, let us mobilise into cohesive units.”

Calling himself the “chief servant of my country, Papua New Guinea,” he said he was willing to make hard calls and asked of citizens to offer him “a good law and order environment” including stopping tribal fights (with an plea to his own province, “my Hela, please!”).

Tonight, at a time to be advised but surely ahead of the State of Origin rugby league clash, Marape is expected to deliver a state of nation address on radio and television.

“But for now,” he stated, “you can see where my mind is and those of you who want to work with me please align here or offer me better solution to make PNG the Richest Black Christian Nation on earth, where no child in all part of our country is left behind.”

• This article is republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission and was originally published by Keith Jackson’s blog PNG Attitude.
• More PNG stories

James Marape, Papua New Guinea’s former Finance Minister and the man who led the defections that brought down the Peter O’Neill government, was today elected the country’s eighth prime minister.

Another Highlands leader as member for Tari-Pori, Marape was the power-broker in the moves to shake up the government.

The 48-year-old politician, first elected to Parliament in 2007 beginning his portfolio as Secretary for Works under Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, eventually moving to become Education Minister and then Finance Minister under Peter O’Neill – until last month when he led the breakaway.

READ MORE: Bryan Kramer – Watch for ‘The deceit, the backstabbing and the clowns’

Continual disagreement’s with O’Neill saw Marape leave his position, resigning as Finance Minister, the first crack in the once solid government dam.

The month that followed, was an arena of intense politicking, punctuated by widespread public dissatisfaction on the leadership of now ex-Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.

Verbal sparring on the one hand, and divisive beliefs on the other, all played out for the country to see.

O’Neill had been a major influence on the state of affairs in a nation teeming with natural resources, and who had been accused on multiple occasions of corruption amid a failing economy.

Camly sidestepping
Earlier this month, O’Neill had appeared unperturbed, calmly sidestepping his opponents in suave fashion before speaker Job Pomat adjourned Parliament.

That three-week hiatus, however, creating a snowball effect that would see Marape build up his own coalition of alliances, with some of the country’s most influential leaders, all answering the calls to his banner.

He adopted Oro Governor Gary Juffa’s slogan “Take back PNG” to maximum effect, using multiple media platforms to get that message across.

It worked.

Marape was the darling of the media, captivating audiences.

With statistical evidence yet to be presented, public reactions so far show Marape as being the most popular leader in the nation.

For observers, Marape comes as a breath of fresh air, bringing with him the vibrancy of youth, against the backdrop of a maturing democracy in Papua New Guinea.

Leadership confidence
The confidence in his leadership was evident, with an overwhelming 101 – 8 votes in Parliament today, ahead of other prime ministerial nominee, another former PM, Sir Mekere Morauta.

Morauta had been Prime Minister under similar circumstances after a political crisis that saw 1999 Prime Minister late Sir William (Bill) Skate deposed.

Moving forward for Marape, the feeling of euphoria will undoubtedly be shortlived.

Papua New Guinea’s current failing economy, a loss of investor confidence and on-going public service issues, will be a major hurdle to be overcome.

Hurdles that have both been inherited from the previous administration in power, and that he had had a contributing hand in, something that he himself admitted to when queried three weeks ago about the controversial Swiss bank UBS dealings regarding Oil Search share acquisitions which were subsequently released by the PNG Ombudsman Commission.

And with these issues only a fraction of what needs to be addressed, a looming 2022 election gives Marape little time to make any serious changes.

And while there is the aura of euphoria, scepticism still remains, with Morauta declaring “we have a new prime minister but the same government”.

Barrage of criticism
Prime Minister Marape knows the level of accountability that he will be held to, with Papua New Guinea’s 8 million citizens, and outspoken parliamentarians all watching – one of whom is the firebrand Bryan Kramer whose constant barrage of criticism over the past two years has seen the public now more politics-savvy than ever before.

Marape is quite attuned to what the nation is saying.

In his inaugural speech, Prime Minister Marape paid heed to the collective influences that will shape his time in office.

“I am encouraged and strengthened and comforted by the fact that I have energy, youth and strength and stamina in many first-timers and second-timers who are in this house on both sides of the floor.”

This formed the crux of one of his arguments in the lead up to today, that it was time for a new generation of leaders to hold the reins of government.

It is no revelation that the old guard of PNG politics is fading into folklore: Sir Mekere, Sir Julius and Paius Wingti, are among the only elder statesmen – Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare and Sir Rabbie Namaliu the only absentees – from PNG’s post-independence era.

More decisions and discussions will follow over the course of Parliament, Papua New Guinea and the international community are watching intensely, Marape’s opportunity has come, and with it, the burden of an office that saw his predecessor relegated.

RNZ Pacific’s Johnny Blades reports that Marape, voted in by fellow MPs on Thursday and sworn in at Government House following the resignation of Peter O’Neill on Wednesday, called for unity in Papua New Guinea.

During his maiden speech in Parliament, Marape likened himself to a choir master bringing different singers together to deliver a harmonious performance.

Members from both sides of the house were implored to follow “his music”.

“I will conduct and try my absolute best and every one of you can sing your parts,” he said.

• The Pacific Media Centre republishes EMTV News items with permission.
• RNZ Pacific’s Johnny Blades reports from Port Moresby
• Scott Waide’s blog on PNG affairs
• More PNG stories

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has finally resigned.

O’Neill told Parliament today he had tendered his resignation to the Governor-General this morning.

“Mr Speaker, I want to inform this honourable house that at 9.45am this morning, I delivered to His Excellency the Grand Chief Sir Robert Dadae, the Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, my letter of resignation so we can deal with this matter once and for all. Once and for all,” O’Neill said.

READ MORE: Crisis? What crisis? A new PNG prime minister might not signal much change

He has been in the role since 2011, but lost his strong majority in Parliament after mass defections from his government in the past month.

O’Neill’s formal resignation today came as he was facing a likely confidence vote brought by the opposition after he had appeared to backtrack on an earlier commitment to step down this week.

Leading opposition MPs today praised the Prime Minister for listening to the people by stepping down to allow new leadership.

‘Cry of our people’
“By your resignation today, you beat me and beat many of us and outclassing many of us to the view some of us have of you that you are power hungry. Today you showed that you still have the heart to listen to the call and cry of our people,” said opposition MP James Marape.

The resignation paves the way for a parliamentary vote for a new Prime Minister.

The New Zealand government said it was watching the unfolding political developments in Papua New Guinea closely.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the situation in PNG iwas still developing, and as such New Zealand would continue to monitor it.

However, she said it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.

Australian PM criticised
Meanwhile, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been criticised for his reaction to the announcement by former PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill that he would stand down this week.

Morrison praised his counterpart as a great friend and partner.

However, a former PNG Prime Minister, Sir Mekere Morauta, said the praise was inappropriate, unhelpful and discourteous.

Sir Mekere claimed it echoed how the Australian government interfered in PNG’s 2017 election by supporting O’Neill.

• This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.
  
• More PNG stories

By Jamie Tahana, Johnny Blades and Koroi Hawkins of RNZ Pacific

Papua New Guinea’s Parliament erupted in chaos yesterday as the Speaker, Job Pomat, refused two key motions put forward by the opposition in its attempt to remove Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.

It was the first time the government and the opposition had come face-to-face after a three-week break, during which time dozens of government MPs have defected to the opposition at its base at Port Moresby’s Laguna Hotel.

Furthermore, the resumption of parliament came just two days after O’Neill announced that he would step down this week, but has since backtracked on that commitment.

READ MORE: EMTV News journalist Adelaide Kari reports on the parliamentary motions

However, on Tuesday, the opposition declared former treasurer Patrick Pruaitch as its nominee for Prime Minister in a planned motion of no confidence against O’Neill.

Ahead of the session, the opposition said it had the support of 67 MPs — a clear majority in the 111-seat house. That appeared to show as MPs filed into the chamber of Parliament, with a number of empty green seats surrounding O’Neill.

However, within minutes of Parliament opening, decorum had dissolved, many upset with the decision of the Speaker Job Pomat to refuse a motion to suspend a standing order, and a motion to have himself removed.

Pomat said he was not constitutionally bound to allow the motion.

‘Show me in the constitution’
“I am only asking asking if this house … can show to me in the constitution, or in the standing order, this is how we must get rid of the Speaker … let’s do it,” Pomat said.

The opposition member, Bryan Kramer, was outraged: “Parliament can remove the prime minister, how is it that you can remain and no one can remove you even if you do something wrong?”

After about half-an-hour, the chamber had dissolved into a screaming match. “Can you f**king wait,” shouted Fabian Pok, as members argued over various interpretations of the constitution.

After several more minutes, things nearly come to blows, with several MPs leaping from their seats, close to a fist-fight.

He tried screaming “order” to no avail, so shortly before 3pm Pomat finally gave up, adjourning parliament until 10am on Wednesday.

But as the Sergeant-at-Arms carried the mace out to a chorus of screeches, two opposition MPs snatched it from him and tried to place it back on the table.

As the hustle on the floor continued, O’Neill, who had earlier said “we don’t have to have a circus in this house”, as he challenged the opposition to table its motion, shuffled out of a side entrance, a grin across his face.

Speaker compelled to return
But it wasn’t over. Opposition MPs had remained in the chamber, and Pomat was compelled to return to tend to outstanding matters.

Twenty minutes after the adjournment, the bells rung out again, and government members rushed back into the house. It kicked off with another opposition MP, James Marape, moving a motion to remove the government members on the Parliamentary Committee on Private Business, which is the committee that vets and determines the validity of motions.

MPs Allan Bird, Charlie Benjamin, Johnny Alonk and James Donald of the opposition were then selected as the committee’s new members

Marape also successfully moved a motion to remove the chairman of the Appointments Committee, Koi Trappe, and replace hime with opposition MP Philip Undialu.

Marape was pushing his luck with the next motion which was against the deputy speaker, to which Pomat explained he would respond in similar fashion to the earlier attempt at the motion against himself.

The opposition subsequently withdrew the motion before Parliament was adjourned to 10 o’clock today.

Pressure on PM to resign
The parliamentary drama comes as the prime minister has been under growing pressure to resign. On Sunday, he said he would step down as prime minister this week.

The prime minister also announced that former Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan would replace him, although by law only Parliament can elect a new prime minister.

Furthermore, he is yet to tender a formal resignation with the Governor-General. On Monday, he instead filed a Supreme Court application regarding the rules of motions of no confidence, with his office confirming he would delay stepping down until that matter was heard.

The Supreme Court has said it will hear the application on Friday.

The opposition is still looking to table a motion of no confidence against O’Neill this week which, if in order, would likely result in a confidence vote against the prime minister as soon as next week.

• This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand. Images from EMTV News.
  
• More PNG stories

Sir Julius Chan says there has been a huge misunderstanding over yesterday’s press conference, reports EMTV News.

His comments follow a media frenzy that had him being called “Acting Prime Minister”.

“I have not been designated any ministerial role by Peter O’Neill”, he said today.

READ MORE: Embattled O’Neill ‘handing over’ PNG’s leadership to Chan

Sir Julius Chan said he was not Acting Prime Minister, although honoured to be considered as the government’s alternative when the resignation of the PM takes place.

“The existing Prime Minister has no power to nominate a new Prime Minister of his choice, Peter O’Neill simply designated me [as] the provisional caretaker of the government Coalition

“I want to be very clear – this is not a position I am seeking.

“However, I love Papua New Guinea, and there is a desperate need right now to unite the country, to heal our wounds, and to make the wealth of this country work to the benefit of the people of this country.”

O’Neill commended
The New Ireland governor commended Peter O’Neill for taking, what he believed what was necessary for Papua New Guinea by announcing his intentions.

“He is respecting the desires of the people, of the country, and stepping down.

“He simply asked me to help by maintaining order among the members of the coalition and helping the coalition to work with all parliamentary members to make a wise and uniting decision concerning who should become the next Prime Minister.”

The 79-year-old politician, said he had been approached by both factions as a potential candidate for the nation’s top job.

“I do not need the job, frankly. I have plenty of work to do in New Ireland. I am governor of my province and legally remain so unless I am called to take up a post at the national level and sworn in as such. ”

But, Sir Julius said, if he was called, then he would serve.

“If we are honest, we have to admit the country is facing huge problems. If the members of Parliament – and I mean both opposition and government – feel I can contribute to dealing with those problems over the next year or two, then I am willing to do whatever I am asked to do to help make that happen.”

Sir Julius Chan has been involved in PNG politics since the late 1960s and served as Prime Minister on two occasions from 1980-1982 and 1994 – 1997.

• EMTV News items are republished by the Pacific Media Centre with permission.
• More PNG stories

By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific

Papua New Guinean Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has announced that he will step down from the role, after weeks of defections from his coalition government.

O’Neill held a press conference yesterday in Port Moresby, indicating that he would resign “in the coming days”.

After almost eight years in the position, he said he would hand over the leadership to Sir Julius Chan, a 79-year-old who has had two previous stints as prime minister.

READ MORE: PNG’s O’Neill announces he is stepping down as PM

The prime minister’s resignation is not final until after it is received in writing by the Governor-General. O’Neill said he would visit the Queen’s representative this week, to “clear the way for the Parliament to vote for the next prime minister”.

However, the prime minister yesterday afternoon conceded that recent political movements had indicated to him there was a need for change in leadership.

Pressure has been building for weeks on O’Neill’s coalition government with an exodus of MPs, including senior ministers, from his People’s National Congress party, joining the opposition.

As of Friday, with the defection of William Duma’s United Resources Party, the opposition was claiming to have 62 MPs in the 111-seat Parliament, as it sought to oust the prime minister by a parliamentary motion.

‘Change of direction’
Today, O’Neill appeared alongside Sir Julius and other leaders of coalition parties.

“We have agreed to a change of direction, that the leadership of our government will be now handed over to Sir Julius Chan, who is a veteran leader and one of the founding fathers of our great nation,” O’Neill said at the press conference.

“In consultation with coalition government partners, we have decided to ask Sir Julius Chan to lead the team in government for the remainder of this term of Parliament,” O’Neill said in a statement issued later on Sunday.

Usually, under provisions of PNG’s constitution, the deputy prime minister takes up the vacancy when a prime minister steps down. In this case, Deputy Prime Minister Charles Abel has been overlooked by O’Neill in favour of the leader of a coalition partner, the People’s Progress Party.

The plan to pass the reins to Sir Julius comes after O’Neill recently lost the large majority support he had enjoyed in Parliament since 2011, as a flood of grievances over PNG’s ailing economy, deteriorating basic services and festering corruption allegations finally turned the tide against him.

‘Government in waiting’
Following O’Neill’s announcement, the opposition held a press conference at its Laguna Hotel base. Leading figures in the group said they would not believe O’Neill’s announcement until he formally resigned.

Opposition power broker James Marape, whose resignation as Finance Minister last month sparked the exodus, cautioned over “mixed signals” from the government.

“There is no such thing as the prime minister resigning and handing over leadership to someone who is not even a minister of state. That is legally not correct.”

Leading opposition MPs described their group as a government in waiting. Over recent weeks, lobbying between MPs has been intense, with at least two more government MPs joining the opposition today.

Environment Minister John Pundari made it to the Laguna just before the opposition decided to lock the gates of the complex at midday today, while another pair of government MPs looking to join the fray this afternoon were turned away.

But O’Neill, speaking from his base at the Crown Hotel, argued that maintaining a government based around his People’s National Congress and the remnants of his coalition would be best for the interests of political stability.

‘Dangerous mix’
“There is no way that I could stand by and allow the opposition to come into government with their dangerous mix of wild ideas,” O’Neill said.

A political, and potentially constitutional, crisis is brewing, because O’Neill’s move to hand over the role of prime minister to Sir Julius will not be readily accepted by opposition MPs.

Marape warned that attempts could be made by the O’Neill regime to sabotage processes of Parliament at this important juncture.

Yet with the opposition appearing to have a majority, a vote for a new prime minister is likely in the coming days once Parliament resumes tomorrow.

• This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.
• More PNG stories

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has announced that is resigning, citing a need for change, after weeks of unrest in the government.

O’Neill held a press conference today in Port Moresby, announcing he would stand down “in the coming days”

After almost eight years in the position, he said he would hand over the leadership to Sir Julius Chan, who has been prime minister three times before.

READ MORE: Background to Peter O’Neill’s resignation

O’Neill’s resignation is not final until it is received in writing by the Governor-General.

However, the prime minister this afternoon conceded that recent political movements had indicated to him there was a need for change in leadership.

Pressure has been building for weeks on O’Neill’s coalition government with an exodus of its MPs joining the opposition, including senior ministers and MPs from his People’s National Congress party.

As of Friday, with the defection of William Duma’s United Resources Party, the opposition was claiming to have 62 MPs in the 111-seat parliament, as it sought to oust the prime minister by a parliamentary motion.

‘Change of direction’
Today, O’Neill appeared alongside his deputy Charles Abel, Sir Julius and other leaders of coalition parties.

“We have agreed to a change of direction, that the leadership of our government will be now handed over to Sir Julius Chan, who is a veteran leader and one of the founding fathers of our great nation,” O’Neill said.

He said that the way would be paved for new leadership in Papua New Guinea. Sir Julius would effectively be an acting prime minister until Parliament decides on the position.

With the opposition appearing to have a majority, a vote by MPs for a new prime minister is likely in the coming days once Parliament resumes on Tuesday.

• This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.
• Power shift in PNG Parliament
• More PNG stories

Dear Prime Minister,

You sold all our todays and were about to sell our children’s tomorrows too. You were in the most enviable and powerful position to do what is right and just by the people of Papua New Guinea – my people.

But instead you and a few chosen vultures and pirates and similar characters who you call “friends” chose to exploit our people and destroy our people’s future. All for profit and all for greed.

You and these despicable and greedy selfish raiders and plunderers will not package pieces of our homeland and sell it to benefit yourselves only.

READ MORE: Revealed – PNG PM Peter O’Neill’s ‘very bad’ Oil Search deal

Every Papua New Guinean is a shareholder of Papua New Guinea. They all have a say. And they won’t stand for it.

They are rising up to fight. That’s what we do when our homes and children are threatened by war. Your war. A war to take all that is ours and sell it to your friends and cronies.

Now I asked myself often why? Why would a Papua New Guinean destroy his own people? It is as if you don’t care about this country and are not from it.

I believe the answer to that is emerging soon enough. This question and all the questions rising from this need answers still.

Vultures and pirates
For your information, we are not going to let you do that. We are not going to let you and these vultures and pirates and minions of yours package and sell our children’s birthrights.

Land is our life. It will not be sold.

Ever.

We are taking back what is ours – and our children’s, our beloved Papua New Guinea.

Piece by piece.

You made a mistake. You arrogantly thought that the leaders supporting you would remain silent and continue to do so.

But you forgot one fundamental fact.

Not blinded by greed
They are Papua New Guineans. Not all would be blinded by your greed and agree to all your madness.

That’s not why they were elected. To follow and obey the destruction of this great nation at your will and whim for the benefit of your evil plundering and marauding pirate friends!

They are not all blind and deaf and ignorant as you have so arrogantly assumed. Many were disturbed and unable to sleep at night.

The cries of their mothers and sisters in our remote rural hamlets could be heard. The bitter protests of our landowners who trusted you and lost all their hopes was too loud.

The crumbling stations and districts and aid posts bereft of medicine and services could not be un-seen. The roads and buildings you built at exorbitant inflated prices with your friends could not be accepted.

Meanwhile, our children sat packed in hot dusty prisons to learn from unpaid teachers, our police had no vehicles and fuel to protect people and property.

The list of all you could have rectified but ignored to do so is grim and dark.

Master conductor
You were instead the master conductor of an evil symphony, with one wave of your hand you diverted our proceeds of resources offshore so you could get more loans that our we and our children and their children would pay off at huge cost for years to come.

With another wave of your hand you allowed a foreign owned company to sell us medecines from a source cited by the World Health Organisation for selling counterfeit drugs. With a deft flick of your wrist you invested in the plundering of our sea bed, and with the other hand you stifled action on addressing the plunder of our forests … and on and on it went.

Your arrogance and ignorance led to this terrible miscalculation that will bring you down. You thought that the elected Papua New Guinean leaders would keep supporting you as you destroyed our country and our people and their children’s future.

But as Papua New Guineans, many of these elected leaders would not stand for it. That is why they have stopped supporting you and started to listen to their peoples cries and are now with their people and not with you.

Signed on behalf of,
People of Papua New Guinea

#TakeBackPNG

• Gary Juffa is an opposition MP and Governor of Oro Province. He has long been a critic of the O’Neill government and an outspoken critic of illegal logging operations in Papua New Guinea. This open letter was first published on his Facebook page.
• More defections from O’Neill government in power shift
• More PNG crisis stories

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The biggest coalition partner in Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s coalition government has defected to the opposition in the most dramatic shift in numbers in Papua New Guinea’s power struggle.

State Enterprises Minister William Duma arrived at the Opposition’s Laguna camp early this afternoon following days of intense negotiations behind the scenes, reports EMTV News.

As leader of the United Resources Party (URP), Duma brings with him 11 MPs to the opposition.

Along with him was Higher Education Minister Pila Niningi and Police Minister Jelta Wong.

Duma immediately held a news conference in which he expressed his reasons for leaving the government. Chief among them was the controversial loan with the Swiss bank UBS.

“I have never come out publicly. But I can say that I was one of those that opposed the UBS deal. My colleagues, Don Polye and Kerenga Kua…we were terminated for speaking out. We were not terminated for incompetence,” he said.

‘Call for a change’
“I forgave our Prime Minister and I served him. But I have come to a point where I cannot serve this Prime Minister any more.

“It is in the best interest of the people who we represent that we join the Opposition and call for a change in government.”

About half an hour before William Duma’s arrival, Commerce and Trade Minister Wera Mori, arrived at the opposition camp where he was welcomed by opposition MPs.

The Post-Courier reports that the opposition camp is now understood to have 62 MPs. Fifty six MPs are needed to form a majority in the 111-seat parliamentary Haus.

Parliament reconvenes on Tuesday.

• EMTV News stories are republished with permission.
• PNG power struggle stories

The Papua New Guinea Prime Minister’s call to “crack down” on social media has created immediate controversy, with politicians and journalists calling it unconstitutional.

Peter O’Neill made the announcement on Monday following a cabinet reshuffle, saying that social media spreads false and misleading information, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

Governor of Oro province Gary Juffa said the Prime Minister’s call “threatens to destroy the very fabric of the freedom of the people which is enabled by the constitution,” Papua New Guinea Today reports.

READ MORE: Marape accuses PNG government of ‘sabotage ploy’ to delay vote

“The constitution provides for the people to have the right to be free, they also have the freedom to express, their opinions, beliefs, religion, ideas and information.

“Even the US President is subject to false news and does not attempt use that as a reason to control social media in the USA.”

Consolidating support
The announcement comes at a time when O’Neill is consolidating support in an attempt to defeat an impending vote of no confidence against him.

Papua New Guinea Today also reported O’Neill justifying the announcement:

“Fake news is destroying our country. Recently we had a young person killed in Boroko. So this must be put to an end.”

In a blog written on Monday, PNG columnist Sylvester Gawi defended social media, writing that the person killed in Boroko “was a result of undertrained and under resourced police force that continually discharged firearms without any accountability”.

He also claimed that the proposed crackdown on social media was “adopted from Communist China” and undermined the role of democracy.

He wrote that the prime minister had delayed tabling an Independent Commission Against Corruption Bill.

“Be a leader. Table it Mr Prime Minister,” he wrote.

“If you really wanna (sic) listen to people of Papua New Guinea than you will start by having faith in our people. Stop relying on foreign advisors who control your cabinet to court house and in public space.

“We know who you are, you are a real neo-colonialist preying on our people. It’s time for change, we are taking back PNG from your Chinese and Australian friends.”

O’Neill said the cabinet would review social media platforms when it convenes tomorrow.

• PNG plans crack down on social media

Cabinet will review social media platforms in Papua New Guinea when it convenes on Thursday, says Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.

Speaking at Government House yesterday after announcing four new ministers and a mini reshuffle, O’Neill said the government would crack down on fake news that was being spread on social media.

He was adamant that the government would review social media platforms and this would be the first task of the new Communications and Information Technology Minister Koni Iguan.

READ MORE: PNG plans to shut down Facebook for a month

He said there was too much fake news that was sending bad signals and destroying the nation and its people and this must stop.

“Cabinet will have a complete review of social media in the country, led by Minister for Communications,” O’Neill said.

“There is a lot of fake news destroying our people, destroying our society. We have lived without social media for thousands of years before.”

O’Neill said too much fake news and false information was being circulated which was destroying the government, the nation and its people.

Minister’s first task
“Government will review the social media platform and that will be the first task of the newly appointed Communication Minister,” O’Neill said.

“I want to assure you that the Communications Minister’s first responsibility will be to review that so we can make sure that the correct information and the truth are put forward to the nation so that they can be well informed on what is happening in the country.

“Fake news is destroying our country and recently one of our young people got murdered in Boroko because of fake news. This cannot continue, we must put an end to it so I want to assure you that cabinet at its first NEC (National Executive Council) meeting which will be held on Thursday we will look at how we can manage this going forward.”

O’Neill said that the Attorney-General had now been directed to make sure he brought the ICAC Bill to Parliament in the next session so that people are comforted on the fact that our government is working in making sure that this bill saw the light of the day.

“Our officials have been very slow, we are frustrated by that but I can assure you that we are trying to get it through on the floor of Parliament as quickly as possible so we can address some of the fake news and fake allegations that are going around in the country,” O’Neill said.

“It is our responsibility, the government’s responsibility, so we will review that so we can make sure that the correct information and the truth and facts put forward so everyone will be well informed of what is happening in the country.”

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior Post-Courier journalist.

• More PNG stories

Papua New Guinea’s political opposition has gone on the offensive, accusing Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s government of attempting to delay and defeat the vote of no confidence motion outside Parliamentary process.

Senior opposition members delivered the vote of no confidence motion to the Speaker yesterday afternoon.

But there are serious concerns that the government is “tampering” with the process. The vote has been delayed until May 28.

READ MORE: Papua New Guinea’s leadership crisis

The opposition’s nominee for Prime Minister, Tari-Pori MP and former Finance Minister James Marape, was furious at the manner in which the Speaker ruled against an early resumption of Parliament.

Marape also told the news media that the government removed opposition MPs who were on a Parliamentary Private Members committee that decides on the validity of votes of no confidence motions.

“What has happened today is that you saw a ploy by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s government to sabotage the process of a vote of no confidence motion,” he said.

“They removed membership of the private members committee which had Hela Governor Phillip Undialu and Southern Highlands Governor William Powi.

“They put members on the committee who are pro-government. We are appealing to the Speaker that they must not stand against the will of the people.”

Opposition dismay
In Parliament, Speaker Job Pomat allowed a motion to adjourn the Haus to May 28, much to the dismay of the opposition which sought to have the next session on the week of May 15.

“What showed today was that the Prime Minister was not confident on the numbers on the government side.”

After Parliament rose, Speaker Pomat held his own news conference to explain parliamentary processes, saying he had received the vote of no confidence motion and that due process would have to be followed.

“Today I made rulings that I had to make. The rulings were based on votes. The numbers showed it. I want the people of Papua New Guinea to know that this is the process of democracy. I was not forced. It was my decision.”

In previous years, Speakers have faced the brunt of the opposition’s ire for making decisions seen to be in favour of the government side. Speaking in the that context, Pomat said the democratic process demanded that decisions followed parliamentary process.

The government plans to use period between now and May 28 to reorganise its numbers.

Prime Minister O’Neill said ministries would be allocated to new people to fill in vacancies.

In PNG politics, some of those ministries will be offered to coalition and opposition members to boost and maintain the government’s numbers.

This article is published in collaboration with EMTV News.

A former editor of the PNG Post-Courier has condemned his old newspaper for an article “insulting the intelligence” of Papua New Guineans as tension builds over the looming vote of no confidence in the government this week.

Parliament resumes today and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill faces the biggest challenge to his leadership since 2011. But the no-confidence vote is not expected today.

Writing on social media, Alexander Rheeney distributed yesterday’s Post-Courier story favouring O’Neill drawn from a government press release and said today the country deserved “independent” coverage.

READ MORE: PNG vote of no confidence too close to call

“Woke up to more trash published by Papua New Guinea’s oldest daily newspaper and my former employer,” said Rheeney, who is also a former chair of the PNG Media Council and currently an editor of the Samoa Observer.

“This is not a story — it quoted a PNG Government press release verbatim — without incorporating critical background on Peter O’Neill’s role in 2011 in usurping the [Sir Michael] Somare government from office, an action which the PNG Supreme Court later declared to be illegal and ordered the Somare government’s reinstatement.

“Please stop insulting the intelligence of Papua New Guineans with your content and start practising real journalism, which will empower rather than disempower citizens.

“If anyone knows who the editor of the Post-Courier is these days, get a screenshot of my post and send it to him or her.

‘Critical juncture’
“PNG has come to a critical juncture in its history, and we in the media have a responsibility to give readers, listeners and viewers independent coverage of the political developments in Port Moresby and the looming vote of no confidence.”

As editor of the Post-Courier, Rheeney was renowned for his ethical and independent brand of journalism.

Under a “staff reporters” byline, the entire 14 paragraph story in the Post-Courier yesterday was a directly quoted press release.

The story claimed the O’Neill government was “firm and ready” with its coalition partners to govern for the rest of the parliamentary term, “as they were mandated by the people of Papua New Guinea at the 2017 elections”.

O’Neill was quoted as saying his government still had the support of 60 MPs in the 111-seat Parliament.

The Prime Minister praised his government’s policies and accused the National Alliance Party of “vigorously encouraging the behind the scenes activities to destabilise political parties” in the country.

‘Too close to call’
Meanwhile, a seasoned analyst and commentator on PNG politics and affairs, Keith Jackson, described the looming no-confidence vote as “too close to call”.

Jackson, who publishes the PNG Attitude blog, said that the “disparate alliance of opposition forces had achieved a narrow lead” in the race to gain support to oust O’Neill.

He said that as more politicians had joined the self-declared “alternative government”, they had brought with them a litany of complaints about the capability of the O’Neill administration

Jackson quoted former prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta as saying: “We have a government that is government by one man for one man, for his benefit and the benefit of his friends.”

“The PNG that Michael Somare, Julius Chan, Paias Wingti, Rabbie Namaliu and others shaped has been changed profoundly and for worse in the last seven years by just one man.

“Papua New Guinea is sick and we get sicker if we don’t change this man. We can fix it. We have the medicine.”

Members of the “alternative government” in Papua New Guinea have nominated former Finance Minister James Marape as their choice for prime minister, reports RNZ Pacific.

• End of the Somare era – and start of O’Neill’s era – Background
• More PNG no confidence vote stories

By Scott Waide

The opposition group calling itself Papua New Guinea’s “alternative government” camping at Laguna Hotel in the capital Port Moresby say they are ready for Parliament when it resumes tomorrow.

Tari Pori MP James Marape, the former Finance Minister, said their camp was steadfast despite not declaring any candidate for the Prime Minister’s post. Marape was later named as the alternative prime minister.

“The Opposition is kind enough to offer the opportunity for anyone for the PM seat,” Marape said, adding the camp had 57 MPs who were ready to come to the Haus tomorrow for the no-confidence vote. But the vote is not expected on Tuesday.

READ MORE: Outcome of challenge to O’Neill too close to call – Keith Jackson’s analysis

Grand chief and Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas also joined the Laguna camp today.

Sir Peter was greeted with much jubilation from Marape and other MPs.

The Enga Governor reiterated that he had been instrumental under Prime Minister’s leadership but now was committed to hear the “cries of the people” and that was for a better government.

“My advice has fallen on deaf ears, my stand to join Laguna camp is to do government business differently and focus on the priority areas to improve lives of people.”

Change wanted
Among leaders who spoke, former Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta said like-minded leaders wanted change and better leadership.

Meanwhile, another coalition partner of the People’s National Congress has announced its defection.

People’s Party leader and Jiwaka Governor Dr William Tongamp said that under the party constitution, rule of law and zero tolerance of corruption were the two points stressed when comparing government leadership.

Tongamp said that under his leadership, the party would camp with the alternate government at Laguna.

Former party leader and Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas was present during the announcement this morning.

Scott Waide is a EMTV News deputy news editor and Lae bureau chief.

• Wouwou rejoins PNG breakaway camp as O’Neill loses more support

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

All five MPs from Sandaun province have now joined Papua New Guinea’s breakaway camp at Port Moresby’s Laguna Hotel after the return of Sandaun Governor Tony Wouwou.

Wearing a Trukai Fun Run t-shirt, Wouwou appeared quite jovial as he was welcomed by other MPs into the leadership crisis camp.

And the breakaway camp now believe they have the numbers to oust Prime Minister Peter O’Neill as the rival groups shape up for the no-confidence vote this week.

READ MORE: PNGi investigates corruption, networks and the issues

About 1000 extra police are reportedly being deployed in the capital for tomorrow.

Scott Waide of EMTV News reported last night that during the past week Wouwou had been attacked and ridiculed on social media after he had initially appeared in an opposition news conference.

Then later – on the same day – Wouwou declared that he was a “diehard member” of O’Neill’s ruling People’s National Congress (PNC).

“We have the member for Vanimo Green, the member for Aitape-Lumi, the Member for Nuku and now we have the Governor,” former Defence Minister Solan Mirisim said in the news conference.

Consent needed
“I am here as the Member for Telefomin.”

Various MPs, including East Sepik Governor Allan Bird, defended Wouwou, saying he needed to seek consent from his people before officially moving to the opposition.

Vanimo-Green MP Belden Namah, who did a head count this afternoon, said the camp now had two-thirds of the governors in the country.

He added that it was a sizable figure that expressed how provinces were feeling, reported EMTV’s Waide.

Wouwou’s arrival this afternoon now adds one more MP to the camp, taking the total to 58. Fifty seven MPs are needed to defeat O’Neill’s government in the 111-member Haus of Parliament.

Earlier at the weekend, seven members of the Pangu Pati – PNG’s first and oldest political party founded by Sir Michael Somare – had joined the breakaway camp led by former Finance Minister James Marape who quit O’Neill’s government last month.

Soon after resigning from Pangu, the MPs were welcomed at Laguna by Marape and other leaders.

Not managed well
Speaking on their behalf, Central Governor Robert Agarobe said their stand was to change government leadership.

Morobe Governor Ginson Sinou said the country had not been managed well despite the vast mineral and forestry resources available.

Sinou said this was the time to stop the current leadership for the good of the nation.

Carmella Gware of Loop PNG reported that Deputy Prime Minister Charles Abel said the PNC support “remains solid”.

Addressing the media on Saturday evening at the Crown Hotel, in the presence of Milne Bay Governor John Luke Crittin, Abel stressed the PNC’s teamwork “despite our good brothers leaving us”.

“We certainly take on board all those issues that were raised by our brothers and issues that were raised by myself,” he said.

‘Understanding attitude’
“And I’m so thankful that the party and our Prime Minister has the understanding attitude that they have, we go forward together, we take on those issues, and as a team, we continue to respond to those issues.”

RNZ Pacific’s Johnny Blades reported opposition MPs were “quietly confident” that they had the momentum to remove O’Neill as his government “reels from a series of resignations”.

He said the opposition Laguna Hotel camp was offering an “open door” for any more government MPs who wished to join their bid to remove the prime minister.

• Five ministers quit O’Neill government

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The latest group of Papua New Guinea MPs who have defected from Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s government include three senior ministers, making a total of five to quit the ruling People’s National Congress Party coalition.

They held a news conference in Port Moresby yesterday slamming O’Neill’s leadership.

Health Minister Sir Puka Temu, Defence Minister Solan Mirisim and Forests Minister Douglas Tomuries announcing their resignation from their portfolios, and from the PNC party, reports EMTV News.

They joined former Finance Minister James Marape and Justice Minister and Attorney-General Davis Steven who resigned last week.

Six other MPs also quit the party yesterday.

According to reports today, rebel government factions of government MPs had gathered at Port Moresby’s Laguna Hotel and already numbered about 57 in the 111-seat Parliament ahead of the no confidence vote due on Tuesday. The Opposition numbers about 24 seats.

Mirisim, who is also the member for Telefomin, called on other MPs to leave the coalition.

PM asked to resign
He told the news conference that during the PNC caucus meeting on Wednesday, Sir Puka Temu had asked Prime Minister O’Neill to resign as he had “lost the confidence” of the cabinet.

The negative response from O’Neill led to the defections and resignations.

In other developments in the ongoing parliamentary crisis, 15 Pangu MPs have resigned from the party effectively killing the party’s parliamentary wing of the country’s oldest political party, reports EMTV News.

The move is meant to put an end to the ongoing conflict between the executive arm of the party led by President Patrick Pundao and General Secretary, Morris Tovebae.

Lae bureau chief Scott Waide reports that in the 2017 elections, “a long running feud evolved into a tit-for-tat power play” when the executive wing had nominated candidates for the same seats contested by those endorsed by party leader, Sam Basil, who is now part of the O’Neill government.

Prime Minister O’Neill is yet to issue an official response to the ongoing exodus of coalition members.

He was attending the National Lands Forum in Port Moresby when the three ministers and other MPs announced their resignations.

The Pacific Media Centre republishes news items in collaboration with EMTV News.

Pangu Pati – the political party that gave Papua and New Guinea independence from Australia – may finally splutter on its colourful history and wind up with no members in PNG’s Parliament by next week.

Its apparent death knell was announced yesterday by party leader Sam Basil, who – along with his 14 MPs – say they have agreed to quit the parliamentary wing of the country’s oldest party before Tuesday’s vote of no confidence.

If this happens, it will signal a chapter in the life of Pangu where it will, for the first time in more than 50 years, have no MP in the House.

READ MORE: O’Neill gives away millions – greatest sell-out in PNG history

Under Basil, Pangu swept through Morobe during the 2017 general election, claiming eight of the 10 seats, and is a key ally in Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s People’s National Congress (PNC)-led coalition, but recent bickering between its non-parliamentary wing and Basil had led to his ouster as leader.

Basil announced last week he would soon launch his new party, Our Party.

However, the party’s general secretary, Morris Tovebae last night said Basil was not the Pangu leader, and had not been a Pangu member since being ousted by the court.

He said he or his executives had not received a single resignation letter from the 14 Pangu members.

Interim party leader
He said the Pangu party executive met and agreed to appoint Morobe Governor Ginson Saonu as its interim party leader, and Saonu had accepted to lead Pangu.

He said this appointment would be formally announced by the party executives shortly.

In Lae, Basil acknowledged that Morobe was the birth place and stronghold of Pangu, started by founding Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, but he and his party members had agreed to leave Pangu.

Basil admitted that the resurrection and dominance of Pangu Pati becoming the second biggest party in the current O’Neill-led coalition government was manifest of his leadership and not necessarily on the following of the Pangu Pati.

“I believe that we’ve got good players and good policies, unfortunately we didn’t get the first call of the peoples wish of the government they elected, so we respect that wish and are serving under the current government,” he said.

Basil said they would work with parties that shared common principles into the next election.

He said with the looming vote of no confidence, the Basil-led faction had made a promise to the O’Neill government and would stand by that promise as the second majority party.

Standing by PM
He said if the PM’s PNC party could not number up, they would have to tell the PM and move out.

Basil said but now if the PNC party had the numbers, they would stand by the prime minister.

Member for Sumkar Chris Nangoi, who accompanied Basil, reaffirmed his commitment to Basil, saying that he was voted by the Sumkar people who made a choice between two Pangu Pati candidates contesting the same seat.

He said one was put in by the Pangu Pati executives and the other by Basil, and the outcome showed that the people believed in the leadership of Basil by voting for Nangoi.

Frankiy Kapin and Gorethy Kenneth are Post-Courier reporters.

Three Papua New Guinean provincial governors and two other MPs have resigned from Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s People’s National Congress Party in what appears to be a significant power shift.

Enga’s Sir Peter Ipatas, Southern Highlands Governor William Powi and Hela’s Phillip Undialu resigned from the PNC. They were joined by the Member for Komo-Magarima, Manasseh Makiba, and Member for Esala, Steven Davis

The move is a major development in the PNC. Sir Peter, Undialu and Powi have been the PNC’s strongest allies and key links between the party and other Highlands MPs.

READ MORE: Life after #Marape – PNG’s ‘glass men’ still trying to work out what’s next

The three governors made the announcement at a news conference in Port Moresby today. They were accompanied by Jiwaka Governor, Dr William Tongamp.

In announcing his resignation, the Enga Governor Sir Peter said his move follows close consultation with his people. He thanked the Prime Minister for the opportunity to serve in the PNC government.

Hela Governor Phillip Undialu was less diplomatic.

In a statement, he outlined his reasons for exiting the party which included the  loss of confidence in the Prime Minister’s leadership, the delay in distributing earthquake disaster funds and a general dissatisfaction among other MPs.

The resignation follows the exit of high ranking ministers, long-standing Finance Minister James Marape and Davis.

In a Facebook posting, opposition Member for Madang Bryan Kramer warned more government members were likely to resign.

As the calm breaks and the storm sets in, it is surely the beginning of the end of Peter O’Neill’s reign,” he said.

“Loyalty to God and country and not a corrupt Prime Minister.”

O’Neill is visiting China this week as part of the Belt and Road initiative.

Jack Lapauve is an EMTV News reporter. This story is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s partnership with EMTV.

https://www.facebook.com/looppng/videos/798610997172406/

Loop PNG video of the PNC breakaway MPs media conference today.

Former Papua New Guinea prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta has strongly criticised “foreign governments and organisations”, singling out Australia, for their assessments of the 2017 PNG national election.

Sir Mekere accused them of “whitewashing the rigging and corruption associated with it”.

He was reacting to shocking revelations in independent election reports published by the Australian National University and Transparency International.

READ MORE: The rigging of the 2017 election – money, politics and corruption

“The ANU report and the report of TI PNG stand out in stark contrast to the remarks made by some foreign governments and in other observer reports of the 2017 election,” he said.

“While those other observers noted irregularities, mostly with the electoral roll, they failed to expose the widespread abuse, violence, intimidation and rigging that voters experienced.”

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

A former prime minister has accused Papua New Guinea’s current leader Peter O’Neill of exposing the country to “international ridicule and criticism” over the lavish staging of APEC and failure of the meeting to make the customary Leaders’ Declaration for the first time in its history.

Sir Mekere Morauta, MP for Moresby North West in the nation’s capital, today declared in a statement: “APEC has revealed to the world the corruption, waste and mismanagement within the O’Neill government, and their devastating effects on the nation and citizens.”

He said the leaders summit had shone an international spotlight on O’Neill’s “crude and cynical attempts to play one nation against another”.

READ MORE: PNG security forces strike at Parliament for unpaid APEC allowances

Sir Mekere also accused the prime minister and lacking an ability to understand the nuances of international relations and the dramatic geopolitical changes happening in the region.

“What should have been a moment for PNG to shine on the international stage instead descended into chaos, including embarrassing diplomatic incidents, international media allegations of financial and procedural impropriety and organisational disarray,” Sir Mekere said.

“Papua New Guinea’s international standing has been diminished.”

The former PM said the issue for Papua New Guinea was not a failure of the international APEC organisation, the countries involved, or of PNG’s professional diplomats – it was an issue of failed leadership.

Quality of life
Sir Mekere said PNG should not have hosted APEC in the first place.

The K3 billion “lavished” on the event should have been spent on improving the quality of life of ordinary Papua New Guineans.

“Instead we have preventable diseases such as polio, leprosy, TB and malaria surging and people dying – 21 children are now known to have contracted polio,” Sir Mekere said.

“Many schools are closing across the nation. Public servants are not being paid properly and other entitlements such as superannuation payments are being withheld.

“Essential infrastructure outside Port Moresby is crumbling into the dust, and government systems and processes are failing by the day.”

However, Prime Minister O’Neill said he had made history in inviting Pacific Island leaders to take part in the APEC leaders summit, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

“I know Australia, New Zealand and PNG are active members of APEC, but there are also countries within the Pacific region that have their own story to tell,” O’Neill said.

Reception dinner
He said this when he led the Pacific leaders to a reception dinner hosted by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the Australian High Commission residence last night.

Pacific leaders who attended included Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai and the Prime Ministers of the Cook Islands, Solomon Islands and Tonga.

“I would like to thank the Pacific leaders for joining us here at the margins of the APEC meeting.

“Again [the reason] to bring the Pacific Island leaders’ to APEC is that we don’t want to be forgotten out of the APEC community,” O’Neill said.

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

More than 500 US marines and US Navy servicemen have arrived in Papua New Guinea to bolster a massive security operation as the country counts down to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit this weekend.

The security forces arrived on Tuesday on board the USS Green Bay, reports EMTV News.

This is the second time a US warship has visited PNG in two months.

In October, guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy visited Port Moresby, following visits by the US Under Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly in September and the chief of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Phil Davidson, in August.

The USS Green Bay is expected to deploy Huey helicopters in the area over the next few days as part of their preparation to support APEC.

USS Green Bay is a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship that was commissioned by the US Navy in 2009. It is deployed to Sasebo, Japan, as part of the Amphibious Force 7th Fleet.

‘Last paradise on earth’
Meanwhile, the Post-Courier reports today that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill told international media APEC host nation Papua New Guinea was the “last paradise on earth”.

Many international journalists had written and published “cheeky articles” about a poor country like Papua New Guinea hosting one of the biggest global meetings ever – the 2018 APEC summit.

When asked to respond to reports that detailed that PNG as poor, the prime minister replied: “Do we look poor?”

He continued: “Everybody is entitled to their views, they can say whatever they want but we are rich in culture, we are rich in history – thousands of years of history, in fact – diverse in our population, diverse in our ethnic grouping, best country in the world, last paradise on earth.

“So if they don’t want to come, well bad luck, if they want to come and visit us more, we welcome them with open arms,” he said proudly.

The Pacific Media Centre republishes EMTV News items with permission.

• More APEC stories

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

A Bougainvillean leader has accused Papua New Guinean Prime Minister Peter O’Neill of “undermining” the island’s 17-year-old peace agreement and the independence vote due next year.

Martin Miriori also condemned O’Nell for lacking sensitivity over Bougainville that struck a New Zealand-brokered peace agreement which ended a 10-year civil war and included a referendum vote on independence.

Miriori, a Panguna landowner and pro-independence leader, was reacting to a statement by O’Neill at the Business Forum in Brisbane last week and repeated in PNG’s The National newspaper that the vote was not about independence, but what was best for the people of Bougainville.

READ MORE: PNG prime minister says Bougainville vote is not about independence

“When the prime minister comes out openly making such a statement in public, my view is that he is already undermining the good intentions and the spirit of the Bougainville Peace Agreement which, among other issues, clearly states that the issue of independence for Bougainville will be also among the options for a referendum vote to be taken by the people [in] June next year,” he said today in a statement.

“This is also the common understanding of the international community as well [as] including the United Nations,” Miriori said.

“For the prime minister to water down the main focus on the independence issue at this time is simply a big slap on the face [of] the people of Bougainville.”

Miriori said Bougainvilleans would not have “fully committed themselves” to the joint partnership with Papua New Guinea in the peace process if they knew that they were “going to be tricked”.

“We must not lose the trust and confidence of the people at all cost, and in doing so try to confuse them by making such statements, which could easily undermine all our good work and tireless efforts being invested in this very delicate and sensitive process since we first fully committed ourselves at Burnham [New Zealand] in July 1997 towards achieving lasting peace by peaceful means,” Miriori said.

RNZ Pacific reports that O’Neill told the Business Forum in Brisbane that when the outcome of the referendum was tabled in the national Parliament, he was sure every MP would vote in the interests of a unified and harmonious country.

Guitars instead of guns
Meanwhile, the film maker of a forthcoming documentary about the Bougainville peace process, Soldiers Without Guns, has released a trailer.

In a social media message message to supporters last week, Will Watson said: “We were celebrating the 20th anniversary of lasting peace for Bougainville yesterday.

“Yes, the 30 April 1998 was the signing of the peace accord.

“The other big news is that I completed the trailer for the upcoming movie, Soldiers Without Guns. It took lots of work but I think it describes the Pacific’s worst civil war and peacekeeping with guitars instead of guns.

“Still lots of work to do to complete the film. I hope you like the trailer.

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

Australian medical doctors will be at earthquake-affected areas soon to give medical aid and complement the local medical efforts to people who need medical help, the Post-Courier reports.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill made the announcement yesterday, saying that paperwork was underway currently to fly them in.

Health Minister Sir Puka Temu said the government had asked Canberra for its doctors who were well organised in emergency situations.

“As soon as a clearance from the Medical Board is finalised, these doctors will be brought into the country,” he added.

Parliament is expected to sit this month to pass emergency legislation that allows for the establishment of a restoration authority for the earthquake affected areas, reports EMTV News.

The restoration authority will also govern the spending of funds allocated for the immediate and long-term rebuilding of the Hela, Southern Highlands and Western provinces.

The government may also consider a short-term budget strategy to deal with revenue shortfalls caused by the quake.

According to a United Nations report published on Reliefweb, 544,000 people have been affected in the PNG earthquake and 270,000 are still in need of immediate humanitarian assistance.

There is an urgent need for medicine, shelter, food and water. People are terrified, sleeping in the open.

Also, 26,000 people have been displaced in Western Province.

• More PNG earthquake stories