A new council at the university of Papua New Guinea could soon be appointed, says an academic who led last week’s staff boycott at the country’s main national university.

Dr Linus Digim’Rina, head of the Division of Anthropology, Sociology and Archaeology, is a key member of the National Academic Staff Association (NASA).

Dr Digim’Rina said almost all university staff boycotted their duties for three days last week, following the suspension of the council in January.

READ MORE: UPNG shutdown crisis – the facts behind the turmoil

Higher education minister Pila Niningi cited allegations of corruption and sexual misconduct against the council in his decision to install an interim body.

But the interim council’s composition angered staff which led to the boycott, Dr Digim’Rina said.

“We avoided describing it as a strike action because there was no resolution from NASA … So it was a voluntary call on individual members of staff, everybody who are concerned about governance issues.”

On Wednesday last week, the minister accompanied by the government’s chief secretary, Isaac Lupari, met with university staff and undertook to take three actions, Dr Digim’Rina said.

‘New team altogether’
“One, complete the process of the appointment of the vice chancellor. Two, conduct an independent investigation into the allegations… And three, appoint a new council with a new composition, a new team altogether,” he said.

“That’s why we committed ourselves to return to classes last Thursday.”

The staff presented a list of names for appointment to the council which is subject to approval by the National Executive Council (NEC), Dr Digim’Rina said.

“That will be presented to NEC on Thursday, deliberated and a decision reached,” he said.

But some of the interim councillors could remain.

“The minister indicated during the presentation that he would like to keep not all but a few of his own appointees including the chancellor and that didn’t go down well with university staff,” Dr Digim’Rina said.

The chancellor, Jeffrey Kennedy, criticised NASA last week for taking industrial action on issues not related to employment.

Room for more
Kennedy said he expected his interim council to be in place until the end of the year but noted there was room for two more members to be appointed.

But the composition of the interim council does not adequately represent the university, Dr Digim’Rina said.

“A one-sided majority of the members have come from management, corporate administration and real estate backgrounds,” he said.

“There were also allegations rolling around… whereby the minister seemed to be bringing in friends and business partners into the council membership.

“Although it’s only an interim council it’s all to do with business. It’s not representative enough of the academic programmes within the university or civic organisations within society.”

Nevertheless, the need for new leadership “was recognised by university staff”, Dr Digim’Rina said.

“The previous council wasn’t necessarily performing at its best. We generally felt after so many years the council could have done a bit better,” he said.

Slow responses
But its performance may have been hindered by previous administrators, including the vice-chancellor and registrar, failing to implement council decisions in a timely fashion, Dr Digim’Rina said.

“I can say the previous council together with the previous administration, they were quite slow. The need for change was recognised by university staff,” he said.

“And in a strange way the minister’s intervention was quite necessary.”

As for completing the appointment of the vice chancellor, Frank Griffin had come through a robust selection process under the previous council that staff were “proud of”, Dr Digim’Rina said.

The minister, has appointed Kenneth Sumbuk as interim vice chancellor, who Dr Digim’Rina said was one of the candidates rejected during Professor’s Griffin’s selection.

But even though the minister had lost confidence in the previous council, he could not now claim to be sceptical of Professor Griffin, Dr Digim’Rina said.

“If that were the case the minister would have stepped in before the process was completed. Not after.”

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

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has sidelined the University of Papua New Guinea interim council but has retained interim chancellor Jeffery Kennedy.

The decision yesterday appeased the disgruntled National Academic Staff Association (NASA) members who have agreed to return to classes today.

According to NASA working committee head, Dr Linus Digim’Rina, the ouster move was relayed by government Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari on behalf of O’Neill yesterday.

READ MORE: UPNG shutdown crisis – the facts behind the turmoil

The new university council would be “open to dialogue” among members of the UPNG staff, Higher Education Department and the interim university administration, Dr Digim’Rina said.

Those who were sidelined included pro chancellor Jerry Wemin and acting vice-chancellor Dr Kenneth Sumbuk.

University of PNG academic staff “stopped work” on Monday in protest against the recent appointments.

Dr Digim’Rina said last night when all parties decided on a new appointment process nominations would be submitted to the National Executive Council for approval.

“I can assure you that NASA and all UPNG staff (those taking voluntary action) will sustain pressure to make sure the process is completed as soon as possible,” he said.

The chief secretary told UPNG staff yesterday that O’Neill had taken note of staff grievances “to acknowledge the process of the appointment of the vice-chancellor”.

“It (the process) has followed the statute of the university…it has followed the guidelines on merit-based system where it has protected and safeguarded the appointment of vice-chancellors since 1965.

“And that process must be completed and consistent with the Higher Education Act,” Lupari said, adding that Professor Frank Griffin’s appointment as vice-chancellor would be subject to Cabinet approval.

NASA acting president Mark Kia said that according to the documents received from O’Neill and the Higher Education Minister Pila Niningi, the acting chancellor Kennedy would not be retained and the opportunity was now given to the UPNG community to suggest names for the position.

He said that because the process to appoint Dr Griffin was not completed in due time, yesterday’s decision instantly allowed the process to continue and documents would be filed next week for NEC endorsement.

The announcement of Kennedy’s retained position was, however, met with murmurs of disapproval from UPNG staff yesterday who had had to wait for almost five hours to hear O’Neill’s decision.

They were not happy that Kennedy had not been sidelined. Niningi told UPNG staff members that his “hurried decision” that had led to the “stop work” was due to “lack of communication” with the university.

He maintained that he wanted to see good governance and would make no apology.

The three issues raised by the UPNG staff members was for the government to appoint Dr Griffin vice-chancellor, reinstate the duly-appointed registrar, Dr Peter Petsul, and remove the current council.

Leiao Gerega is a reporter with the Post-Courier. The photographs are by a Pacific Media Centre correspondent.

The University of Papua New Guinea has for a long time been in need of far-reaching reform. But not all change is good, and what has happened this year at UPNG has taken the university in the wrong direction.

In late January, the Higher Education Minister, Pila Niningi, dissolved the UPNG Council, appointed a new interim council, and put in his own choice of vice-chancellor, all on the grounds that the old council was not performing.

You can see his reasons for the decision, basically a number of serious performance and integrity issues, in this just-released ministerial statement. It seems convincing.

READ MORE: UPNG interim council claims stop work by staff ‘illegal’

But what the minister has never mentioned is that the selection process for the position of UPNG Vice Chancellor was concluded last year and the result informally made public early this year. That process, widely regarded to be transparent and credible, resulted in the appointment of Dr Frank Griffin as the new vice–chancellor.

Just when everyone was expecting the formal announcement, the minister instead made his move, dissolving the old council and appointing a new council and VC. To make matters worse, the the minister’s choice of interim VC competed unsuccessfully for the position last year, and is the subject of serious and well–known allegations.

The government’s inability to explain the timing of its decision, and even to talk about last year’s VC selection process, let alone why it was overturned, goes a long way to explaining the sense of illegitimacy and controversy that surrounds the university’s new leadership arrangements and the protest shutdown by staff this week.

It is one thing to say that the old council was not performing. It is another to override, without explanation, what was widely seen as a credible process. That way lies disputation and worse performance, not better.

Registrar’s critique
The controversy will not fade simply with the passage of time. The recently sacked registrar has just delivered a stinging critique. University staff have now started protesting by stopping lecturing.

At his 2018 PNG Update address, Deputy Prime Minister Charles Abel spoke of the need for more Australian lecturers in PNG and more links between Australian and PNG educational institutions. But PNG cannot ask for such support and then behave however it wants.

Without some decent governance and adherence to good process, greater integration with the Australian education system will simply be impossible. At the regional level, UPNG is far behind the Fiji-based regional University of the South Pacific (USP), and what is happening now will only increase the gap.

The issue is also one for the Australian government. The now-retiring former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s flagship project, the Pacific Precinct, has UPNG at its heart, and a mandate around ethical leadership. Australia has just built three new buildings for UPNG.

All is not lost. Many at the university are unhappy. And at least some commentators are speaking out.

Trade Union Congress president John Paska has described the recent UPNG appointments as “horribly wrong”.

For now, friends of UPNG such as myself watch on in dismay. Reform, not needless turmoil, is what the university needs.

Professor Stephen Howes is director of the ANU Development Policy Centre, and leads a partnership programme between ANU and UPNG. This article was first published by the Dev Policy blog.

• UPNG shut down

The University of Papua New Guinea registrar Dr Peter Petsul has become the first victim of the new university council, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

Dr Petsul was suspended on Monday on full pay for 14 days by new Chancellor Jeffery Kennedy at the country’s national university.

READ MORE: Unions slam ‘farcical’ appointment of chancellor, VC

In sidelining the registrar, Kennedy wrote:

“Dr Petsul has been suspended for 14 days starting on 11th February 2019.

“During this period, he is given an opportunity to show cause and respond to the council why drastic actions should not be taken against him.”

Dr Petsul was sidelined after failing to effect a council decision to rescind a decision by the former council to increase school tuition and boarding fees.

Kennedy has instructed the acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Kenneth Sumbuk to appoint an acting registrar to run the administration.

In early January, RNZ Pacific reported that most UPNG students faced a massive 29 percent hike in their fees this year.

Some degree courses, such as medicine and nursing, faced even bigger increases.

At the time, UPNG’s public relations director James Robins said other expenses, such as accommodation, were unchanged.

But Robins said this compulsory fee, along with the annual government budget allocation, was needed to cover basic costs so students can complete their programmes.

Last month, the PNG Trade Union Congress slammed the appointments of Jeffrey Kennedy as chancellor and Dr Sumbuk as vice-chancellor in an ongoing controversy over the university’s governance.

• More PNG stories

Papua New Guinea’s Trade Union Congress has slammed the appointments of Jeffrey Kennedy as chancellor and Kenneth Sumbuk as vice-chancellor of the University of Papua New Guinea, reports the Post-Courier.

President John Paska said the congress had initially welcomed the announcement to investigate administrative malpractice and other aspects of the university but these two appointments now questioned the credibility of the exercise.

He said this was a governance issue which attracted public attention and commentary.

“With the stroke of a pen the Minister, Pila Niningi, has turned what appeared to be a step in the right direction into a farcical exercise denigrating it into a comical show piece,” he said.

“Last year we questioned the selection process of candidates for the vice-chancellors position. Our questions emanated from information received about serious allegations that had been raised about Professor Sumbuk’s administration of K23 million (NZ$11 million) for various UPNG activities.

“We are not in any way pronouncing guilt on Sumbuk but the fact remains serious allegations hang over his persona that only a properly constituted investigation can ascertain to the contrary. To the best of our knowledge no investigation has been conducted to determine the veracity of the allegations,” he said.

Sources report that the university council had already recommended the appointment of Professor Frank Griffin, a former head of science at UPNG as vice-chancellor. However, the council was sacked on Monday and new members appointed.

Integrity in question
Paska told the Post-Courier Sumbuk’s integrity and credibility remained in question.

“Meanwhile, we query the eligibility of Mr Kennedy for the position of chancellor of the university. How does he qualify to be chancellor?

“Something is horribly wrong. The wheels of credibility and integrity of this investigation have collapsed before moving an inch. Unless otherwise my personal confidence in this exercise is shattered and I believe so is the public’s.”

“We call on the Prime Minister to intervene and rectify the situation, Paska said.

The National reports that the interim council would look into the 13 areas identified in a 2013 external audit as requiring attention, and implement them.

Acting vice-chancellor Professor Sumbuk told The National after his appointment by the interim council at its first meeting yesterday that he would “revive UPNG’s academic standard and review the 2013 external audit”.

Council ousted
“As we settle into the new academic year, we will audit all 13 areas of the university management that has not been done (since 2013),” he said.

“Parents and students must not worry about anything as there will be nothing shaken or swept under (the carpet). I am looking forward to facilitating the investigation and reviews proposed by the government.”

The 10 council members were appointed on Monday by Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Pila Niningi after ousted acting chancellor Dr Nicholas Mann and acting vice-chancellor Vincent Malaibe.

Niningi said he had to make the changes because of the failure by the university council to respond to queries he had made on matters regarding the institution since last July.

However, Dr Mann told The National on Wednesday that they would reserve their comment on their “sidelining” by Niningi because they were seeking legal advice from the university’s lawyers.

“Whether the decision to sideline us is proper or not, that would be advised by our lawyers and then we will announce it to the public,” Dr Mann said.

The council also rescinded the hike in compulsory fees, which will remain at K2939 (NZ$1300).

• More PNG stories

A letter from the former vice-chancellor of Papua New Guinea’s University of Natural Resources and Environment (UNRE) in Rabaul says senior staff urged him to leave the country for his own safety after a scurrilous attempt had been made to level trumped up criminal charges against him.

A member of UNRE staff has revealed a letter to the university’s council which explains to its members exactly why Professor John Warren left hurriedly and without formal ceremony this month, with the experience of former University of Technology vice-chancellor Dr Albert Schram fresh in his mind.

Earlier this year, there were attempts to detain Dr Schram in PNG as an act of vengeance following his identification of corrupt practices at Unitech.

READ MORE: Albert Schram: My wrongful dismissal and malicious prosecution – a warning

Dr Schram was later able to leave the country when he realised a conspiracy against him was beginning to take shape and was able to regain his passport and return to Italy.

In his letter to the university council, Prof Warren says he hopes it will clarify the circumstances surrounding the events that led to his sudden departure which occurred after the UNRE chancellor Kenneth Sumbuk accused him of spreading rumours that he (Sumbuk) wanted to take over the university.

“On five separate occasions he mentioned the possibility of reporting me to the police over this,” Prof Warren wrote.

“Although I was aware of rumours that the chancellor wanted to be vice-chancellor, they had not been circulated by me. In fact I considered them trivial gossip.

‘Very disturbed’
“However, I was very disturbed by the chancellor’s repeated threats to report me to the police.”

At a hastily-called council meeting on July 26, Prof Warren’s authority was constantly undermined and normal protocols and procedures ignored and ridiculed by the chancellor. It seems council members themselves also failed to assist, resolve or regularise matters.

“By the end of the meeting my job had become untenable, and I submitted my resignation the following day,” Warren wrote.

Prevailed upon to remain for a transition period by PNG Higher Education Secretary Fr Jan Czuba, Prof Warren at first agreed but was then informed by senior UNRE staff that they were concerned about his safety if he remained.

The same afternoon he received news that a court order was about to be served on him and, after consulting the British High Commission and his lawyer, and with the Schram case in mind, he decided that “although the charges were ludicrous, I should leave PNG as quickly and quietly as possible”.

He added: “This I did, regrettably without being able to say goodbye to my many close friends and colleagues.

“My decision to accept the position of vice-chancellor at UNRE was not motivated by financial or career reasons,” Prof Warren said.

‘Significant reduction’
“I took a significant reduction in salary when moving to UNRE and have no ambition to work in academia following this appointment.

“I was motivated purely by a desire to help UNRE improve as an organisation, to enhance the education received by its students, and to promote the sustainable use of natural resources in PNG.”

Since his departure, angry UNRE students have been boycotting classes and demanding an explanation of the events that led to his departure.

But Prof Warren will not be coming back. “Under no circumstances will I be returning to UNRE as vice-chancellor,” he said.

In his letter to the university council, he accused it of repeatedly overturning decisions it had no authority to make.

“It is extremely poor governance for council to undermine the authority of the vice-chancellor unless there is a significant disciplinary issue,” he said.

“If you were unhappy with my performance, you should have said so and I would have been happy to step down. Instead you took over the responsibilities of the CEO.”

Making up rules
Prof Warren said council members should consider their positions.

He did not say this, but it can be observed here, that the chancellor and council should be sacked and the operations of Fr Czuba’s struggling higher education authority put under scrutiny.

However, with PNG rapidly becoming a place where people make up their own rules as the normal functioning of organisations breaks down, none of this will happen,

The prospects of PNG’s higher education system recovering and strengthening through the application of qualified, competent and dedicated leadership seem a long way off.

Keith Jackson is a retired educator, teacher, civil servant, police maker and broadcaster who lived for many years in Papua New Guinea, but who also had experience in Fiji, India, Indonesia, Maldives and the Philippines. His blog PNG Attitude was established to address a major issue – “the silence that, for too long after PNG independence in 1975, existed between Papua New Guineans and Australians.”

PNG government inquiry says UK academic’s intimidation claims don’t stack up

MY ARREST
Now that I have safely left Papua New Guinea, I feel free to write about what happened and was not reported in the national media.

As Vice-Chancellor (President) for the PNG University of Technology (Unitech) appointed for two terms, I worked with seven Ministers of Higher Education, and three different Chancellors.

My achievements in this period speak for themselves. Most significantly, after an independent account went over all the university accounts, we achieved an unqualified, clean audit report by the Auditor-General for the first time in over two decades, and became one of the handful of agencies with this distinction.

READ MORE: Dr Schram absconds on bail – claims PNG prosecution ‘political’

This has been my commitment to the Unitech community from the outset.

We completed 13 major infrastructure projects on campus, restored the reputation of the university internationally by signing 23 agreements. This allowed us to send 77 Papua New Guineans abroad for training of which 27 for doctoral programs, of a total of about 150.

Despite [an] active internationalisation and professional accreditation strategy which required our presence elsewhere, we sent over 10,000 emails per year, chaired over 60 meetings on campus per year, spent each year over eight months on campus and in country.

To be accused by former colleagues of being dishonest, lazy and incompetent is truly bizarre in the light of these facts. Might does not make right, and a lie does not become true the more you repeat it.

The five years I was on campus, however, there were four attempts to dismiss me, an almost yearly exercise. The first time was for disclosing confidential information, then for “false pretence”, then for inciting ethnic tensions, and finally again for false pretence.

This last time, after receiving an infamous catalogues of bizarre and baseless allegations, we decided we had enough, and when the council’s lawyer came with a proposal to settle the matter, I accepted this on 18 April 2018.

On 1 May 2018, while returning to the country on a tourist visa, I was detained at Jacksons airport in Port Moresby, not while attempting to exit the country as reported by the media.

The police took my passport to assure I would turn up for an interview at the police station the next day, but then refused to return it and did not charge me with any crime within 24 hours as is required. Police practices in the country have been reason for concern, as can be seen in the recent report of Human Rights Watch.

The next day, May 2, the Honorary Consul of the Netherlands, Stan Joyce, came personally to demand the return of my passport which by international law must occur within 24 hours. The police waited him out, and held on to my passport until they charged me on May 7 for “false pretence”, alleging I had presented a false doctorate with the purpose of obtaining employment in the country.

The incident has caused a stir in the international press, most notably in The Australian and in The Times Higher Education in the UK, a leading industry publication. Prof Stephen Howes, who is one of the leaders in the academic collaboration between Australia and PNG, wrote: “These developments are outrageous, damaging, and scary”. In my home town in Verona, Italy, it was even front page news.

Verification of academic credentials
Supposedly only the production of an original doctorate would prove my innocence. The verification of academic credentials, however, never rests on the production of an original, but always involves direct communication with the originating university and higher education agencies in the country. I produced a certified copy for the police which was sent directly sent to the Honorary Consul of the Netherlands [in PNG].

The current secretary of the Department of Higher Education and his predecessor went through a rigorous verification process communicating by email, by speaking to the [European] university and communicating with the professor members of the thesis committee who were present during my thesis defence. This should have put the matter to rest, but instead confusion was allowed to prevail.

Some journalists contacted these same professors, and in fact I published in 2014 one of their emails on this blog hoping that would be the last word on the issue. My book was also published by Cambridge University Press in 1997, which is based on my doctoral thesis from 1994.

I have answered all other questions raised regarding my doctorate and none of those questions prove any wrongdoing. The police however refused to acknowledge any of this evidence, although they received it.

The National Court has spoken
After the hearing in the National Court on May 22 we received the headline that we needed: “Schram allowed temporarily to leave the country”. We did not get the headline we deserved, however, which is “Schram first wrongfully dismissed and then unlawfully charged on false pretence”.

In his judgement of May 22 on the bail conditions, the judge in the National Court – the second highest court in the country – was deliberately explicit on the substantive case: there is not a shred of primary evidence suggesting I have falsified anything, while there is overwhelming evidence that in fact my doctorate is genuine.

Finally, an independent judge has said what anyone with common sense could have concluded since the complaints were made in 2012.

The judge blasted the police and the complainant Ralph Saulep, and wrote in his judgment:

“In spite of this overwhelming evidence (presented by Dr Schram) Mr Saulep continues to dispute the authenticity of the applicant’s doctorate degree. I find this ridiculous and difficult to fathom especially when neither he or the police are in receipt of evidence from the European University Institute in Florence Italy, confirming their allegations and suspicions.”

The judge continued:

“The current charge, with respect, lacks the primary evidence to prove the elements of falsity. Whether they will have such evidence by the 12th of June 2018 (the next hearing) is anyone’s guess. The reality is that they have failed to do so when the allegations were raised in 2012″….

Since 2012 when the complaint was filed by the former [Unitech] pro-chancellor Ralph Saulep the police have failed to produce any evidence, and in fact cannot do so because there is no basis for it in fact and in truth.

In a state of law it is not up to the accused to prove his innocence, but for the police to prove substantial primary evidence of a crime and proof guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

The judge regretted I had been put in a position to prove my innocence, but pragmatically accepted the situation and my commitment to proof my innocence: “The refusal by Mr Saulep and the police will now cause the appliance to use his own expense to prove his innocence.”

It stands to reason therefore the case will be thrown out at some point in time, and my innocence will be established.

All this is of course damaging for police and the complainant – former pro-chancellor Ralph Saulep, in 2012 dismissed by the Minister with former Council members for mismanagement – and the University Council, which [earlier this year] dismissed me for no valid reason. The lack of evidence had already been indicated earlier by Keith Jackson.

Since the conditions for the settlement with the Council, which included no criminal prosecution, have now been violated, I do not consider myself bound to this agreement. In any case, for justice to prevail and the people of PNG to be liberated from police abuse, I must describe the facts.

This whole case is hugely damaging for the country where human rights and the police force are already severely criticised in the recent report from Human Rights Watch in New York.

If any tourist can be arrested for not being able to prove anything about his/her identity (birth, credentials etc.) and subsequently charged on “false pretence”, and then having to incur costs and waste time to prove his/her innocence at their own expense, we must warn all tourists and visitors.

The joys
From 2014 to 2016, though I had three wonderful years when Sir Nagora Bogan, a wise Chancellor, kept the politicians out of my hair, [when we] focused all our energies on the development, and on efficient, transparent accountable management, of the University.

Despite these recent experiences of politically driven persecution, my wife and I love the wonderful people of Papua New Guinea. We did not come to PNG to get rich and worked on local salaries paid in the national currency, but we came to make a difference. Although many things we tried, failed, our records of achievements speak for themselves.

So far, I have lived in seven different countries in Latin America and Europe, but the people of Papua New Guinea are the most warm, welcoming and generous people I have had the honour of meeting. After six years, for example, we have six wonderful young men who call us father and mother, three babies named after us, and I have four new brothers, subsistence farmer or fishermen living in villages like 80 percent of the population.

In addition, we have been adopted as Chiefs (for external affairs) in Busama Village, which is arguably a greater achievement than being appointed Vice-Chancellor. This new family is not after our money, but genuinely included us in their families, and communities.

The sorrows
Regrettably, when Sir Nagora Bogan resigned as Chancellor at the end of 2016, politics crept into the university governance with a deadly combination of external meddling and toxic internal administrative politics.

In 2016, we dealt as best as we could with major shortages in funding, and a terrible student crisis instigated from outside the university.

The university crisis in 2016, which led to the students wounding and killing each other on the campus of the PNG University of Technology, and the shooting of students on the campus of the University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby was a direct consequence of politicians and aspiring politicians using students to fight their proxy fights before the elections in 2017.

A similar thing happened on the campuses in 2011 the year before the 2012 election, and let’s hope it does not repeat itself in 2021.

In 2017, it got worse with a battle for the control of the development rights of Uni-City on campus land, and land held by the University Development & Consulting Ltd, the commercial arm of the university now chaired by Sam Koim.

First the two Australian consultants, the urban planner and the financial consultant were pushed out and then apparently it was my turn. The transparency in the expression of interest process has now been lost, and it is rumoured that the development of this “prime real estate” will now occur with the support of Chinese government companies.

The need for truth telling
The feeling of being object of political prosecution is strangely familiar to me and my wife after my earlier experience of being deported three times from Papua New Guinea in 2013.

There is nothing quite like it. Entering a parallel world where lies are truth, and all people are blind, deaf and mute. In this world, you are completely along because there is no point in trying to have a reasonable conversation with anyone. A truly terrifying world, but the truth will set us free.

In 2013, while holding a current work visa for Papua New Guinea, I was denied entry twice on March 8 and May 9 and deported to Australia.

My deportation was done with the consent of someone at the highest level of government and, given the circumstances at the time, may actually have enhanced my personal safety considerably, or possibly even have saved my life.

While we must recognise each country has the sovereign right to deny anyone entry, there must be a process in place, and the visa must be cancelled formally.

We all have two eyes to see reality and two ears to hear what others say, but only one mouth to speak the truth. If one eyes, or one ear fails, we can still be part of the world around us and work hard to make a positive difference. When our only mouth fails, however, we are condemned to live in a world created for us by others, and unable to control anything.

Telling the truth for me is not about revenge, nor is it not about me. A world where those in leadership position are in a state of delusion and denial, and base their decision on incorrect information, the rule of law cannot possibly be upheld.

A world with no consistently applied rules is bound to descend into chaos and anarchy. As a higher education leader, such a world makes higher education unnecessary and redundant because qualification and competence do not matter, and academic credentials have no meaning.

What’s next?
As I said, my wife and I did not come to the country to get rich, but neither did we expect the financial ruin we are facing now. The legal fight with the Council for wrongful dismissal first and now the fight for my malicious prosecution by the police has drained all of our resources we needed to sustain ourselves while I am still unemployed. I missed two job interviews because of my arrest.

Our lives have been turned upside down. We seem to be the only ones to pay the price for the fight for good governance at the PNG University of Technology and for a police that upholds the rule of law. Why?

Because I gave my word to the court, I will go through the costly process of having a public notary in Italy legalise my original doctorate and send it through the appropriate diplomatic channels to the committal court in Waigani. This should clear all charges forever.

Afterwards I will claim damages for all the financial losses, opportunity costs and defamation of character I suffered. Some people will lose face, be demoted or lose their jobs, but without accountability there is no justice, and without justice there is no peace, healing and the opportunity to advance.

It is anybody’s guess what happens next. Given the series of incidents of abuse of ministerial authority and police power, and the recent publication of the Human Rights Watch report, in my view it seems a parliamentary inquiry into police abuse is warranted.

The current debacle shows that the performance of the University Council also fails to impress, and it seems time now to implement the long awaited reform and create an independent university council of no more than 13 members, rather than the current councils of 30+ members filled with political appointees.

It is too easy for the University Council to simply distance itself from my arrest, while it failed to clear me of those charges after the Sevua Investigation in 2014. In 2018, it brought these same trumped up charges based on the identical materials from 2012, and failed to see there was no evidence.

For me personally, my case should be thrown out for lack of primary evidence, and then it may not be necessary for me to return for a hearing on 12 June, if a hearing will even take place at all.

It is also likely my government will file an official protest and not allow me to travel back to PNG given the abuse of police power and the state of lawlessness this has produced in the country.

There is no limit to madness once it takes root: will I be charged for indecent exposure for having lost a few buttons on my shirt during the flight? Just saying, anything seems to go now.

Negative travel advisories for tourists from different may be issued, and universities will be unable to recruit qualified academics. Last week, for example, Unitech already lost a head of department, who is now back in the USA, and another respected academic because of what happened to me.

Like all of us academics, journalists and other knowledge workers who cannot return to the country, it makes us sad that until amends are made and the police has been restructured and under control, we will not be able to see our friends and our new and beloved family in PNG.

Selected references
Australian National University, Development Policy Blog: “The Outrageous & Unfounded Arrest of Dr. Albert Schram” (13 May 2018, Canberra, Australia)

The Australian, Tim Dodd: “PNG Vice Chancellor Albert Schram Charged with False Pretence” (16 May 2018 – Melbourne, Australia)

Times Higher Education, Chris Havergal: “Former V-C Arrested upon Return to Papua New Guinea” (16 May 2018 – London, UK)

PNG Attitude blog, Keith Jackson: “National Court Mulls Albert Schram’s Application to Leave PNG” (18 May 2018 – Noosa, Australia)

• No plans to return to PNG for former Unitech head
• More Papua New Guinea stories