The unprecedented conviction of police officer Derek Chauvin in the United States for the murder and manslaughter of George Floyd is testament to the hard work of Black Lives Matter organisers and protesters.

It might seem as though someone who spent nine minutes and 29 seconds pressing his weight through his knee into another man’s neck – all captured on video – would be a slam dunk for a conviction. But history shows us otherwise.

Thirty years ago, blurry footage taken with a home camcorder from an apartment balcony showed the world four white police officers beating Rodney King, an African American man on his knees. The police used batons, between 53 and 56 times.

• READ MORE: The racist roots of American policing: From slave patrols to traffic stops
• Justice for George Floyd: Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdicts must result in fundamental changes to policing

Those officers were charged with excessive force and assault. Their lawyers argued they could not get a fair hearing in Los Angeles, so the trial was moved to a conservative county with a higher proportion of white residents – reflected in the makeup of the jury.

Their lawyers also argued, successfully, that the audio on the recording be omitted because it would prejudice the jury. Instead, they screened it frame by frame.

Without the sounds of the blows striking King and the screams of bystanders urging the police to stop, the video persuaded jurors of the defence lawyers’ arguments that the officers were acting in self-defence.

One juror later told reporters she believed King was in “total control” of the event. That juror believed one of the defence lawyers, who said “there’s only one person who’s in charge of this situation and that’s Rodney Glenn King”. She was sure a Black American man presented a violent threat, even while on his knees and clearly injured.

Justified police violence
This idea – that Black bodies somehow contain coiled violence ready to be unleashed at any moment – has justified police violence for years. This is true for police perceptions of African American women, such as Breonna Taylor in her own home, as well as for African American men.

It has meant the legal test of whether the use of force is “excessive” has fallen further along the spectrum of violence when it comes to cases in which the victim is Black.

This is true in Australia, too, where more than 400 Indigenous people have died in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and not one person has been convicted of a crime.

This belief means that even when police killings are captured on video, as in the cases of Eric Garner, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, prosecutors find reasons not to indict and juries find reasons not to convict.

This belief also means that even when the victim of a police shooting is a child, like 12-year-old Tamir Rice, shot by an officer previously deemed unfit for the job, no police officer was charged with a crime.

Of course, police violence that disproportionately targets African Americans long predates portable video cameras.

As many have noted since Floyd’s murder, the origins of US policing lie in the control of supposedly disorderly populations – whether of enslaved people or, after the end of slavery, an impoverished class of labourers including Black people and immigrants.

Black people the target
As African Americans migrated from the agricultural southern states to cities in the US South and North, police forces adapted accordingly. Ever since, at every stage of the “law enforcement” process, Black people are disproportionately the target.

This includes in law-writing; neighbourhood patrols; the exercise of discretion over arrest, indictment, and plea bargains at trial; jury decisions; and judges’ decisions regarding fines and sentences.

Whether it’s the so-called 1960s War on Crime or the 1980s War on Drugs, the whole of policing in the US rests on anti-black racism.

As historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad argues in his excellent book, The Condemnation of Blackness, the entire justice system itself rests on the criminalisation of Black Americans. For many, the apparent criminality of Black people is evident in the proportion of them in prison or on bail or remand or parole. It’s a vicious circle.

Reports and commissions by government, not-for-profit organisations and academics have long identified racism as the cause of the problem. This started in the 1920s with the report into the 1919 Chicago Race Riot. The 1968 Kerner Commission Report made recommendations that have been repeated reports since.

So why is the problem so intractable?

In short, profit. The “justice system” in the United States generates enormous revenue for a small group of people. Its services, ranging from public and private prisons, reform programs, well-resourced police and other legal systems, pays the salaries of literally millions more.

Policed, charged, and incarcerated
Where African-descended people were once enslaved to provide cheap labour, they are now policed, charged, indicted and incarcerated at staggering rates.

It cannot be left to police departments to reform themselves. The only reason Chauvin has been convicted is because of the extraordinary labour of activists, which has focused attention on this case.

Almost simultaneous with the verdict on the charges being read out, another African American child — this time a 15-year-old girl called Ma’Khia Bryant — was shot dead by Ohio police.

It is time, rather, that calls to abolish police be taken more seriously. To many, this campaign seems outlandish. But as the work of Ruth Wilson Gilmore and others points out, democracies elsewhere in the world flourish with only a small fraction of the proportion of incarcerated people as in the United States.

Where life is precious, life is precious,” Gilmore says.

Achieving a society in which police and prisons are not necessary is no easy task, especially when those profiting from current arrangements hold so much sway. We need, as writer, Mellon Foundation president, and inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander says, the imagination and courage of Black artists.

Alexander points to Pat Ward Williams, who asked in 1986 of photographs of lynched Black people, “Can you be Black and look at this?”

In his closing statement to the jury, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell said with anguish:

You were told, for example, that Mr. Floyd died because his heart was too big […] [but] the truth of the matter is – that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr Chauvin’s heart was too small.

Dr Clare Corbould is associate professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Dash cameras have been installed in Papua New Guinea police vehicles to monitor the activities of drivers and officers using them.

Police Minister Bryan Kramer has stressed the importance of using vehicles for work purposes only and not to transport family members or for drinking sprees.

“The days of misusing [police] vehicles are gone,” he said.

• READ MORE: Papua New Guinea police reforms

“You will be monitored through the dash cams on each of the vehicles and the GPS tracker installed in each of the vehicles.

“Gone are the days of hiding from every complaint laid against you.

“You cannot hide what you are doing.

“It [will be] recorded and accessed by the CCTV operators and the police station commander.”

Waigani police station opening
Kramer attended the opening of the renovated K4.6 million (NZ$2 million) Waigani police station by Prime Minister James Marape last week.

He said there had been reports of some officers using police vehicles for sex, drinking, and transporting women or family members which were an abuse.

The station was also declared a “station of excellence”.

Kramer said all officers at the station would be wearing the same colour uniforms and have their name tags displayed all the time.

“This is what we want for accountability and transparency,” he said.

The Pacific Media Centre republishes The National articles with permission.

Retired and serving police officers in Papua New Guinea are being investigated for alleged offences such as gun-smuggling, fraud and theft, according to Police Minister Bryan Kramer.

It includes “massive corruption at the police headquarters in Port Moresby by retired and serving senior police officers”.

“Cases now under investigation are the smuggling of firearms, land/housing fraud, payroll fraud, drugs, fuel theft, insurance scam, stealing from the retired officers’ pension fund and misusing police allowances,” Kramer said.

• READ MORE: Bryan Kramer: One year in – why so quiet on corruption?

“Investigations are halfway complete in most of the cases.

“Arrests will be done at the completion of the investigations.”

Kramer said the “massive corruption” at police headquarters in Konedobu was done during the term of the previous government led by former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.

Kramer said the police force, once described as a national pride, had been “reduced to a private security business serving corrupt politicians and dodgy foreign businessmen”.

Weapons on-sold to province
Meanwhile, a source at police headquarters said detectives were struggling with the investigations into the smuggling of guns allegations because the suspects were retired senior police officers.

“These retired senior officers purchased firearms for the police force and brought them into the country,” the source said.

“However, the firearms were then smuggled out of Port Moresby to another province by a private security company.”

Clifford Faiparik is a reporter for The National newspaper in Papua New Guinea. The Pacific Media Centre republishes National articles 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.

The Lokataru Legal and Human Rights Foundation says there are two problems with the Indonesian police which have developed during the era of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration.

These two problems are “politicisation” and “police professionalism”.

“Perhaps it’s still the same as the problem before, particularly during the era of Jokowi’s administration. One of the problems is the politicisation of the police and the second is the problem of police professionalism,” said Lokataru executive director Haris Azhar during a Setroom virtual presentation broadcast by CNN Indonesia.

Azhar said the police today were a result of the democratisation of Indonesia since 1998 and there should have been institutional improvements in the police as an institution.

In the process of their development, however, the police had now become a political tool of those in power.

This was reflected by the different legal treatment afforded to groups who were pro and against the government or those in power.

“Law enforcement is discriminative, targeting groups outside of the power holders. Even if there are reports of cases from outside those in power, it doesn’t automatically mean that they will be followed up. There have been many cases like this, particularly in the lead up to elections,” he said.

Politicisation related to professionalism
Azhar said that this politicisation was also related to police professionalism.

“Because of politicisation in the end they’re not professional. But in the context of law enforcement, providing security, I think we can find a pattern. I’ve long been advocating police affairs,” he said.

Based on his advocacy work, he has found cases which are only dealt with after there is an order from above or it has gone viral on social media.

Not only this, Azhar has also come across cases where investigators ask those making reports for money so that the case would be dealt with quickly.

On the other hand, he has also found police who do work professionally.

“So this [lack of] professionalism is not just the disturbed face of the police in the eyes of the public, but they also betray other officers within the police,” he said.

Speaking on the same broadcast, the head of the National Police headquarters information bureau public relations division (Karopenmas) Brigadier-General Awi Setiyono did not deny that police officers committed violations.

Trying to improve
He said, however, that the police were endeavoring to improve.

“God willing, on the matters raised by Haris related to the handling of cases which have to wait for an order, I think we’re getting there, the police are getting better. We already have monitoring instruments, control functions,” he said.

Setiyono said that the existence of unprofessional police officers was because of the mentality of officers who were easily seduced.

“This goes back to the mentality of personnel, it’s true also that there have been temptations. And up until now on that kind of thing we have never compromised. If we straighten it out, there are many reserve players with us,” he said.

Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Lokataru Ungkap 2 Masalah Polisi di Era Jokowi”.

Where does the responsibility of Tonga’s Police Commissioner lie?

Is it to the Police Minister and Cabinet? To the king and the Privy Council? Or should it be directly to the people?

Should the Commissioner be appointed by Cabinet, by the  monarch or by direct vote?

These questions were at the heart of the package of changes which the late ‘Akilisi Pōhiva government failed to get through Parliament and which the current government has now dropped.

But is there a perfect system and would it ever be workable?

Police commissioners in Tonga are currently supplied and paid for by the New Zealand government. At times they have faced an uphill battle combatting corruption and trying to improve efficiency in the force.

In the past this has led to the extraordinary sight of the Police Minister openly attacking Police Commissioner Steven Caldwell and supporting dismissed officers.

As Kaniva News reported in March 2018, during the Pōhiva administration, Minister of Police Māteni Tapueluelu openly sided with a number of officers protesting about their treatment.

Many people would have seen this as an attack on the Commissioner’s independence and an attempt to impose political restraints on the role.

Police commissioners
In New Zealand, the Commissioner of Police is appointed for a five-year term by the Governor-General. The Commissioner is accountable to the Minister of Police for the administration of police services, but acts independently in carrying out law enforcement decisions.

In Australia, the appointment and responsibilities of the Police Commissioner in each state follow roughly the same pattern.

In Queensland, the Police Commissioner reports to the Minister for Police.

In New South Wales the police force is described as a servant of the Crown. While independent of government, the Police Commissioner is responsible to the minister.

In Victoria, the Chief Commissioner of Police is appointed by the Governor in Council (the Cabinet and the State Governor) for a five-year term.

In South Australia, the police force is headed by the Commissioner of Police, who reports directly to the Minister for Police.

In Western Australia, the State Government and Executive Council (the State Cabinet and the State Governor) appoints the Police Commissioner.

In the United Kingdom, the situation is even more complex.

There are 41 police and crime commissioners in England and Wales who are directly elected.

In London, the City of London Police are overseen by City of London Corporation. The mayor of London is responsible for the governance of the Metropolitan Police.

In Northern Ireland, the Police Service of Northern Ireland is supervised by the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

In Scotland, Police Scotland is overseen by the Scottish Police Services Authority.

The British Transport Police and the Civil Nuclear Police, which operate across the UK, have their own authorities.

In the United States, direct election of public office holders is common, often involving  positions that in other countries would be government appointments.

Separation of the powers
Behind the debate about the position of the Police Commissioner lies the doctrine of the separation of powers.

This holds that government consists of three branches, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary and that all should function independently and without interference from the others.

The Austrian Parliament has declared: “History has time and again shown that unlimited power in the hands of one person or group in most cases means that others are suppressed or their powers curtailed. The separation of powers in a democracy is to prevent abuse of power and to safeguard freedom for all.”

In the New Zealand context, the legislature consists of Members of Parliament and the Governor-General. The role of the Legislature is to make laws and to scrutinise the Executive.

The Executive consists of ministers and government departments. The role of the xecutive is to decide policy, propose laws, which must be approved by Parliament and the Governor-General and administer the law.

The Judiciary consists of all judges. The role of the judiciary is to interpret and apply the law.

In order to prevent abuses of power and ensure each part acts as a check on the others, all three branches operate independently.

In Australia, the doctrine of separation of powers is reflected in the Constitution, which governs the Commonwealth.

This is intended to prevent the kind of dictatorship that occurs when all branches are controlled by a single authority, or the kind of corruption that can emerge from the opportunities that unchecked power brings.

After the democratic reforms that have occurred since 2010, it is unlikely that many voters would want to see too much power concentrated in one or a few hands.

The reforms have also generated a deep seated desire for accountability to the public from all levels of government.

The question for voters is how they want appointments like the Police Commissioner to be handled.

Should they be purely in the hands of the government, so appointees would be responsible to the public through the government.

Should they be made as they are now with king and Privy Council involved, a process the Pohiva government opposed?

Should figures like the Police Commissioner be directly elected by the public?

What do you think?
E-mail Kaniva News at kanivatonganz@gmail.com and we’ll share your views in a future story.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster announced today that Armed Response Teams will not be part of the New Zealand policing model in the future.

A trial of the teams of police carrying firearms (ARTs) were launched in Counties Manukau, Waikato and Canterbury last year and ended in April.

In recent days, mass protests across New Zealand against police brutality – sparked by the killing of African-American George Floyd in the US on May 25 – have renewed opposition to armed police and the response teams specifically.

READ MORE: Democrats to unveil sweeping police reforms in US in wake of Black Lives Matter protests

Commissioner Coster said the decision to scrap the teams was based on preliminary findings from the trial evaluation – which is yet to be completed – feedback from the public, and consultation with community forum groups.

“It is clear to me that these response teams do not align with the style of policing that New Zealanders expect,” Coster said.

“We have listened carefully to that feedback and I have made the decision these teams will not be a part of our policing model in the future,” he said.

“As part of this, I want to reiterate that I am committed to New Zealand Police remaining a generally unarmed police service.”

Valued community relationships
Commissioner Coster said police valued their relationships with the various communities they served, and this meant working with them to find solutions that worked for both.

“How the public feels is important – we police with the consent of the public, and that is a privilege,” Coster said.

The trial aimed to have specialist police personnel ready to deploy and support frontline staff in critical or high risk incidents.

“We can only keep New Zealanders safe if we can keep our staff safe too,” he said.

“That is why police has invested in the new body armour system, we have strengthened training, and given our officers more tools and tactical options.”

Police were looking into “broad tactical capability” to ensure critical response options remained fit for purpose, he said.

“We will still complete the evaluation into ARTs and that will now inform the wider tactical capability work programme.”

Any further options arising from this would undergo consultation with communities, Coster said.

Opposition to trials
There had been widespread opposition to the trials, including a Waitangi Tribunal claim being filed by justice advocates arguing the Crown breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi by failing to work in partnership with, consult, or even inform Māori about the trial.

Māori Associate Professor of Law Dr Khylee Quince said the new Police Commissioner had clearly “read the room” in deciding to scrap ARTs.

She said Māori and Pasifika communities were already at the receiving end of a disproportionate amount of police force and adding guns to the mix would have only led to a death.

“It’s important we have a police force that not only the public trusts but that commits to the kind of policing we want in New Zealand.

“And we’ve had a clear public message that people do not want routine arming or militarisation of New Zealand police.”

She said if the ARTs had been rolled out as a permanent fixture it would have only been a matter of time before someone was killed.

‘Someone was going to get harmed’
“I don’t buy the fact that the police only drew their firearms five times. At some stage someone was going to harmed.

“I think the fact that the trial was only six months is the only reason there wasn’t a fatality in that time.”

Last week, Labour Māori Caucus said they had met with Police Minister Stuart Nash and made their views opposing the general arming of the police force very clear.

“While the decision to deploy the ART trial was independently made by the then commissioner of police, and not a government initiative, we as a caucus acknowledge the general feeling of lack of consultation about the trial that exists – especially within Māori,” Labour Māori caucus co-chair Willie Jackson said.

A survey on on the ARTs found 85 percent of participants did not support the trial.

Justice reform advocate Laura O’Connell Rapira said 91 percent of people surveyed were less likely to call the police in family violence situations if they knew the police had guns.

‘Better off’ without armed police
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said she welcomed the decision and communities were “better off” without ARTs.

“This is something to celebrate. We commend the New Zealand Police for listening to the public outcry during and after the ART trials. They have listened to the community, and made the right call,” Davidson said.

“This decision today reinforces the need for people to make their voices heard. We know that people of colour, in particular black and brown communities, do not feel protected with armed police on patrol.”

However, Davidson said there were still systemic problems police needed to address.

“There is still work to do in terms of ending systemic discrimination and systemic racism within the police, it has been well established that is still continuing and that’s why the further arming of police was heading in the wrong direction,” she said.

She said more holistic solutions were needed instead to keep communities safe, such as mental health and youth support.

The party’s justice spokesperson, Golriz Ghahraman, said the move was a step “against the American-style militarisation” of the police force.

National Party police spokesperson, Brett Hudson also agreed that the commissioner made the right choice, saying that firearms were already available to police when needed for public safety.

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Papua New Guinea’s new Police Minister Bryan Kramer, once the Opposition MP scourge of the former Peter O’Neill-led government, is continuing to use his social media outlets in an effort to “clean up” governance as a minister.

After ex-Police Commissioner Gary Baki staged a press conference at the Police Headquarters to announce he would be applying to the lawcourts for a restraining order against the National Executive Council (NEC) on its decision last Friday to revoke to sack him and appoint Francis Tokura instead, Kramer was quick to use social media to add some “transparency” around the controversy.

Baki issued a press statement titled: “Acting Commissioner Baki to seek restraining order against Government on appointments”.

But minister Kramer replied on his Facebook page that “with due respect to the former Commissioner, the title of his press statement is misleading on account he is no longer the Acting Commissioner.

“In fact he is no longer a member of the force and should not have staged a press conference at Police HQ in Police uniform,” Kramer said.

In his public statement, Baki read out his 8-page media release at a news briefing and Kramer respnded point by point:

Due process
Baki stated: “Why did the government not follow due process and appoint them as substantive Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners instead of in acting capacities?”

Kramer: “All appointments whether temporary or substantive shall be made by the Head of State, acting with and in accordance with the advise of the National Executive Council given after consultation with the Public Service Commission and any appropriate Permanent Parliament Committee, which in this case is the Permanent Parliament Appointments committee. It may take about two weeks to a month for due process to be observed so that substantive appointments can be made instead of acting.”

Baki: “So the Police Minister and the government is playing with the lives of careers of police officers.”

Kramer: “Am I playing politics with the lives of career police officers? Hardly, it is more a case of their career expired/retired by operation of law.”

Baki confirmed in his press statement that his contract had expired on May 7, 2019, while the contracts of Deputy Commissioners Jim Andrews and Raphael Huafolo had expired on July 4, 2019.

Section 91 of Police Act states Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners shall retire in accordance with the terms of their contracts. In this case all three contracts expired giving effect to the vacancies in office and need for urgent acting (three month) appointments.

Baki claimed that when his contract expired, he was reappointed Acting Commissioner on May 8, 2019, by the O’Neill-Abel government.

Process not followed
Kramer said that Baki had correctly stated that “all appointments whether temporary or substantive shall be made by the Head of State, acting with and in accordance with the advise of the National Executive Council given after consultation with the Public Service Commission and any appropriate Permanent Parliament Committee. This is provided for under Section 193 of Constitution.”

However, did Baki’s appointment as Acting Commissioner follow due process by being in accordance with Section 193 of the Constitution?

Kramer said the “short answer is no”.

In a meeting with Baki, following his appointment as Minister for Police, Kramer requested that he be provided documentation supporting his appointment. He explained he had submitted an application for re-appointment to the then Minister of Police Jetla Wong.

However, due to political impasse around the same period Wong had failed to submit his application before NEC.

• Police Minister Bryan Kramer’s full response
• More PNG stories

Papua New Guinea’s new Prime Minister James Marape has overseen a shake-up of cabinet which he says will drive reform the country needs.

The new National Executive Council, announced by Marape this afternoon in Port Moresby, includes two leading members of the opposition in recent years.

The Madang MP Bryan Kramer, an outspoken government critic with a massive following on Facebook, has been appointed Police Minister.

READ MORE: Marape apppoints 3 opposition MPs to new PNG ministry

Sinasina-Yongamugl MP Kerenga Kua, another trenchant critic of the former Peter O’Neill-led government, has been appointed Minister for Petroleum and Energy.

In both cases, an MP who has pushed for reform in a key sector now has the opportunity to implement changes in that area.

Marape’s announcement of Kramer’s appointment was met with cheers at Government House.

“He’s the first to admit that police operate in the rule of evidence and the rule of law,” Marape said.

Police heirarchy
“So we will be asking of him, in the first instance, to restore credibility in the entire police hierarchy. It’s not only about the commissioner or a few sections of the police. The entire police structure is dysfunctional at the moment.”

Marape, who has underlined that his government will review laws governing resource sectors, said he looked forward to working with Kua in the vital petroleum sector to ensure the country has an adequate share of the benefits.

“Of course, he comes from the other side of the house. And he did not cast a vote for me [as prime minister],” Marape explained.

“But this is not about me, this is about the right thing for the country, taking the best men we have around.”

Marape and Kua have both opposed the O’Neill government’s move in April to sign an agreement with French petroleum company Total for the US$13 billion Papua LNG gas project in Gulf province.

They cited concerns that landowner interests were being undermined in the deal, and that the O’Neill government had rushed the deal through without meeting mandatory requirements.

Triggered defections
Meanwhile, the Esa’ala MP Davis Steven has been appointed PNG’s Deputy Prime Minister. He and Marape were the first senior ministers to resign from the O’Neill government in April, triggering a series of defections which ultimately forced the former prime minister to resign.

Other notable cabinet appointments were Bulolo MP Sam Basil as the Treasurer, and O’Neill’s former deputy Charles Abel, the Alotau MP, as the Finance Minister.

Abau MP Sir Puka Temu has been given the portfolio of Bougainville Affairs, which is of critical importance given the Bougainville independence referendum is to be held in October.

Kikori Open MP Soroi Eoe is the new Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, replacing Rimbink Pato who had been in the role since 2012.

Marape paid tribute to Pato’s work during his long stint in the role, but explained that there was no room for the Wapenamanda MP given the need to balance regional interests in the cabinet.

“I can’t afford to have more Engans in cabinet with me,” Marape said.

Cabinet split
The prime minister has also made a major change to the shape of cabinet by dividing it in two, which is an attempt at bringing reform with more inter-ministry cohesion than has been seen in the past.

One division will be in charge of the social sector, Marape explained. This will be led by the deputy prime minister and will cover sectors such as Health, Education, Police and Justice

The other area, which the prime minister himself will lead, is concerned with the economic sector, and will include Treasury, Finance and National Planning.

Notably, the National Alliance, which has led PNG’s opposition in the past two years, has not been given any portfolios, despite voting for Marape as prime minister. This seems to confirm that they will be the core of the opposition in the foreseeable future.

While there has been an injection of fresh talent into the National Executive Council, around half of the ministers who were also part of O’Neill’s cabinet, leaving a question mark over the prospects of true reform.

Marape’s cabinet:
1. James Marape – Prime Minister
2. Davis Steven – Deputy Prime Minister and Justice and Attorney-General
3. Joseph Yopyyopy – Education
4. Lekwa Gure – Civil Aviation
5. Wera Mori – Commerce and Industry
6. Renbo Paita – Communication and Energy
7. Wake Goi – Community Development, Youth and Religion
8. Chris Nangoi – Correctional Services
9. Saki Soloma – Defence
10. Soroi Eoe – Foreign Affairs and Trade
11. Jeffery Kama – Environment, Conservation and Climate Change
12. Dr Lino Tom – Fisheries and Marine Resources
13. Sir Puka Temu – Bougainville Affairs
14. Elias Kapavore – Health and HIV/AIDS
15. Nick Kuman – Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology
16. Justin Tkatchenko – Housing and Urban Development
17. Petrus Thomas – Immigration and Border Security
18. Pila Niningi – Inter-Government Relations
19. Alfred Manase – Labour and Industrial Relations
20. John Simon – Agriculture and Livestock
21. John Rosso – Lands and Physical Planning
22. Kerenga Kua – Petroleum
23. Bryan Kramer – Police
24. Sasindran Muthuvel – State Enterprises
25. Westly Nukundj – Public Service
26. Emil Tammur – Tourism, Arts and Culture
27. William Samb – Transport and Infrastructure
28. Michael Nali – Works and Implementation
29. Solan Mirisim – Forest
30. Sam Basil – Treasury
31. Richard Maru – National Planning and Monitoring
32. Charles Abel – Finance and Rural Development
33. Johnson Tuke – Mining