Updates in PNG affairs

Much has happened since my last post, some I will mention next.

• PNG University of Technology Saga

Unitech students went on strike demanding among other things the return of Albert Schram who was their Vice Chancellor before being removed by the university council. The government has stepped into the situation and set up an inquiry into the issue. Former judge Mark Sevua has been tasked to conduct the inquiry and come up with findings and recommendations for the government. The inquiry is still on as of the writing of this post.

• Overhaul of the Police Force

The Police Force has been ridiculed alot by the public and as such, the government has made changes to the force. One of the change include the rotation of Provincial Police Commanders (PPC) to different provinces so as to avoid complacency. They have also put a stop to reservists from working as part of the force.

• Election Petitions over

Only one so far I know that has resulted in success and that was for Mr. Aimo's petition against Isikel Anisi which the court ruled in favor of Mr. Aimo and was made Member for Ambunti-Drekikir Electorate replacing Mr. Anisi. All other election petitions have been dismissed and a few have sought a higher court ruling.

• State Entities with new Boards

The government has put in new people as board members to all its state owned entities, including, Telikom PNG, PNG Power, Post PNG, to name a few. This was done to promote effective service delivery.

• Drive to combat corruption

This is one of the governments major pillar to minimize corruption in all levels of government. A task force sweep team was set up and headed by Sam Koim to investigate corruption and fraud in the government systems. Quite a few arrests have so far been done and there are more still to come. Mr. Koim has found a big hole in the procurement process of the finance department where laws need to be changed to close these holes.

• Upgrade of Major Roads

This is another one of the governments major pillar is to increase infrastructure development in the country and the country's major roads are taking up most of its budget. The highlands highway, Lae - Madang highway and new highways connecting Madang - Mt. Hagen, and Kerema and Western Highlands have been prioritised to be worked on immediately.

2013 Budget - Rural Focused

The Government has just announced that the 2013 Budget will be Rural Focused as most of it will go directly to the District levels via the Provincial Governments and their LLGs for themselves to administer. This is to relieve the mass misuse of funds when it all sits in Waigani, Port Moresby. This concept will also relieve the national government in administering the full budget but focus mainly now on major national infrastructures and the public service. The provincial governments will in turn administer its own roads, bridges, schools, health and provincial assets. So, should the province not see any benefits or improvements then they themselves will be held accountable. The budget will also assist farmers in subsidizing the short fall in prices for their cash crops hence empowering the small-holder farmers to keep on producing thus the agriculture sector as a whole will improve. Basically the whole aim of the government with this budget is to see provinces be financial independent.

Recent Past Issues

Much has happened since my last post in the likes of the Royal visit to the country by Prince Charles and his wife Camilla. A lot of talk was said about the improved road conditions that came about as a result of the visit by the Royals in a short period of time and only to the locations where the Royals will be visiting, hence causing the buzz by the people. Otherwise, the visit went smoothly, with Prince Charles giving his speech at the Sir John Guise stadium where he made the crowd go up in roar as he spoke in the local language of Tok Pisin. There is also the Asylum Centre in Manus which is now complete and awaiting the arrival of the first refugees to enter any time now. The locals on the island and their members have negotiated a development package with the Australians as part of the agreement. Some of the assistance to the islanders include the upgrade of the road from Momote Airport to the town centre. The Lorengau hospital will be renovated and upgraded. There will be 20 classrooms built as well and 10 teachers offices, and the upskilling of medical officers to name a few. Air Niugini's Boeing 737 which usually services the international routes has now been made to run domestic routes with the first domestic port to fly to is the Momote Airport on Manus Province. Its other domestic ports include Tokua Airport in Kokopo, Boram Airport in Wewak and Gurney Airport in Alotau to name a few. There is also the K6 Billion Loan from the China EXIM Bank which debates about it are ongoing in the media and social network sites. Recent media reports say that the loan process has been approved and is nearing completion in its details of the loan. From this loan, much will go into the infrastructure developments in the likes of major roads like the Highlands highway and various other roads throughout the country. Still on infrastructure, it is said that improvement of our current Power and Communication infrastructures will be done with the help from this loan also. The Taskforce Sweep Team has also made inroads in arresting and charging individuals in various corrupt practises and is still ongoing. A recent talk by the Team Leader Sam Koim in Sydney about the various properties owned by Papua New Guineans in the North Queensland area by certain high profile individuals to a total value of more than K1 Billion is questionable as to how this was possible. Otherwise much of the big news that happened recently in the country has just been briefly mentioned and smaller issues will be discussed in my later posts.

37 Years old and counting

Papua New Guinea just turned another year older on the 16^th of September, last Sunday. The nation came out in colours of Black, Yellow and Red to display the country's colours and celebrate its 37^th Birthday this year 2012.

In Port Moresby, celebrations were held at the Jack Pidik park at 5mile with traditional dances and singsings, as well as Art and Crafts were sold. Over at the University of Papua New Guinea, the annual independence celebrations were staged there also. University Students came out in their traditional attires and sang their traditional songs to show their culture and tradition to all in celebration of the country's birthday.

Over in Goroka, the Goroka Show was held as is every year to showcase all the culture and traditions that Eastern Highlands has to offer as well as celebrating the countries day of Independence.

In Aussie, Papua New Guineans came together also as was seen in Brisbane over at Roma Parkland where all came together to celebrate and meet and greet with other Papua New Guinean's on this day of Independence.

In all, every Papua New Guinean whereever he/she may be, it was a time for one to show and say I am a true Papua New Guinean.

Papua New Guinea Tuna Fishery

PNG TUNA FISHERY

These are the four main tuna species now commonly referred to as the highly migratory tuna species. They are commonly known as Skipjack, Yellow fin, Big eye and Albacore. From 2005 to 2010 the average annual catch for PNG was 500, 000 mt. In 2010 PNG made a record catch of 749, 000 mt. At the going Skipjack price of US$1, 800 per metric ton. The 500, 000 mt average PNG catch is valued at US$0.9 Billion. There are three main commercial fishing methods used in the capture of tuna being; Purse Seine, Long Line and Pole-and-Line. The Western and Central Pacific Ocean is bordered by 400 North and South of the Equator and 1100 East longitude and 1500 East Longitude. This Ocean is referred to as the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO). Tuna Fisheries in the WCPO is managed under the WCPO Tuna Commission. The multi-gear Tuna Fisheries in the WCPO made an average annual catch of 2.2 million metric tons between 2005 and 2010. The average annual tuna catches in the PNA waters for the same period is 1.4 million mt representing 32% of the world catch and 64% of the WCPO. PNG's catch represent 54% of PNA and 34% of WCPO. At the 2011 tuna price of US$1, 800 per metric ton. The value of world catch is US$7.7 billion. The estimate value of raw tuna to PNA member Countries is US$2.5 billion and PNG is US$1.35 billion. The status of the principal species, (Skipjack) stock taken by Purse Seine Fishery in WCPO was in a very healthy status whilst the other two species, yellow fin and in particular the big eye stock was low and pose a management concern by the WCPO Tuna Commission.

Having understand this huge potential in revenue that can be gained from this industry, the government of this country should very much invest heavily into this industry as it is self-sustaining and a renewable resource. Currently we have foreign nations taking a huge chunk out of our tuna resource for their benefit giving very little back. Papua New Guinean's and those in power should open their eyes to this and come up with Policies and Laws to benefit local participation into this industry and phase out foreign companies.

Service Delivery Mechanisms Reviewed

It is good to read and see the news of members of parliament expressing concern and taking action to review the service delivery mechanism for our country. The Public Service institutions of our country has too many complacent workers occupying these positions for a very long time and have lacked the initiative and drive to carry out their duties to serve the people of this nation quickly and on time. The Prime Minister is angry that his recent initiative to provide free education for all grades up to grade 10 isn't being delivered well, as the second and final payment of the school fees have yet to be paid to the schools because the people responsible in the education department are not actively doing their jobs. As a result, the chief secretary Mr. Zurenuoc has expressed his disappointment over this issue and will be disciplining those responsible for their slackness. This is one of the many examples that clearly show that the public service machinery needs to be reviewed and overhauled so as to bring out the much needed change that it requires. With this sort of mindset that our members have and backed by our Prime Minister, PNG is definitely set to see some major changes in the next 5 years. Let us the people of this good nation assist our elected leaders where we can to bring about this change for the good of our nation.

2012 PNG Government Formed

The elections are now over and government has just been formed, Peter O'Neil has been unanimously voted in as the Prime Minister for Papua New Guinea's 9th Parliament. Last night he allocated the 33 ministries to his government members and they are as follows:

Prime Minister - Peter O’Neill.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Inter-Government Relations - Leo Dion.
Minister for Treasury - Don Polye.
Minister for Public Enterprise and State Investment - Ben Micah.
Minister for Forest and Climate Change - Patrick Pruaitch.
Minister for Transport - Ano Pala.
Minister for Agriculture and Livestock - Tommy Tomscoll.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration - Rimbink Pato.
Minister for Public Service - Sir Puka Temu.
Minister for Religion, Youth and Community Development - Loujaya Toni.
Minister for Environment and Conservation - John Pundari.
Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and technology - David Arore.
Minister for Justice and Attorney General - Kerenga Kua.
Minister for Defence - Fabian Pok.
Minister for Education - Paru Aihi.
Minister for Finance - James Marape.
Minister for Petroleum and Energy - William Duma.
Minister for Housing and Urban Development - Paul Isikiel.
Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture - Boka Kondra.
Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry - Richard Maru.
Minister for Sports and Pacific Games - Justin Tkatchenko.
Minister for Labor and Industrial Relations - Mark Maipakai.
Minister for Health and HIV-AIDS - Michael Malabag.
Minister for Police - Nixon Duban.
Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources - Mao Zeming.
Minister for Correctional Services - Jim Simatab.
Minister for Communication and Information Technology - Jimmy Miringtoro.
Minister for Mining - Byron Chan.
Minister for Works and Implementation - Francis Awesa.
Minister for Autonomous Regions - Steven Kama.
Minister for Lands and Physical Planning - Benny Allan.
Minister for National Planning - Charles Abel.
Minister for Civil Aviation - Davies Steven.

There are quite a number of new members taking up ministries as well as Loujaya Toni, a female to be given a portfolio. We shall wait and see how these Ministers manage their respective portfolios before we can make our personal judgements on their performances.