The Catholic Bishops oppose the Inquiry on the Declaration of Papua New Guinea as Christian Country

23 May 2021

KEITH JACKSON
| Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG & Solomon Islands
NOOSA – The Catholic Bishops Conference has expressed dissatisfaction at the Marape government’s lack of consultation with churches in initiating an inquiry about whether Papua New Guinea should be declared ‘a Christian country’.
“All considered, we do not deem it necessary to introduce amendments to the current PNG Constitution,” the bishops said in a statement.

Leading the conference were Anton Bal, Archbishop of Madang, Sir John Cardinal Ribat, Archbishop of Port Moresby, Otto Separy, Bishop of Bereina, and Paul Harricknen, President of the Catholic Professional Society.

The Catholic Bishops Conference said it disapproved of the inquiry in its totality and deemed it as unnecessary, especially in its aim to amend the Constitution.

Archbishop Bal said a Constitutional amendment to declare PNG a Christian country seemed to make a mockery of the nation’s existing laws and urged the government not to use the Constitution as a means of promoting political ideologies.

“We believe that the democratic system of government established by the founding fathers of the nation is not to be renounced now in favour of a theocratic one embodied in a confessional state,” he said… continue on: https://www.pngattitude.com/2021/05/bishops-condemn-christian-nation-move.html

CBC PNGSI Press Release, 20 May 2021
+ ANTON BAL                              
Archbishop of Madang
President, CBC PNG/SI

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Island have stated during the panel discussion at CBC Centre – Gordons on the 20^th, May 20201 that “it is not necessary to introduce amendment to the PNG Constitution involving the Preamble, the National Goals and Directive Principles, Sec. 45 (Freedom of Conscience, Thought and Religion), and Sec. 46 (Freedom of Expression). The answer is basically “no” to all queries in the proposed questionnaire of the above-mentioned consultation for at least the following four main reasons: Religious freedom is non-negotiable, the Preamble to the Constitution already pledges to guard and pass on Christian principles, Christianity in Papua New Guinea is divided into many groups, and the Constitution was drafted by good and inspired Christian leaders” …

The bishops further propose their views that there is no need for constitutional amendments to declare Papua New Guinea a Christian country.  It already is one…

  As Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).  It is inappropriate for the government to use its coercive powers to ensure that its citizens adopt certain religious practices. …

Union (concern) slams staff termination.

May 24, 2021 The National Business

The PNG Banks and Financial Institution Workers Union has condemned the decision by the National Development Bank (NDB) to terminate two of its members.
A union statement said the termination of the two employees was a direct infringement of the workers’ rights to form or join a trade union.
It also alleged that infighting in the NDB is delaying the roll-out of the K80 million government funding to facilitate lending to small micro-medium enterprises.
“Section 47 of the Constitution of PNG as well as the International Labour Organization Convention 98 and Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights give workers the right to form and join a trade union organization,” it said.
“The NDB management (decision) is a blatant disregard for workers’ welfare and abiding by good industrial practice.
“The injuring of employees on account of being a member of the union is an offence under section 63 of the Industrial Relations Act.”

Pope Francis said that Labor unions are essential to society. Labor unions that protect and defend the dignity of work and the rights of workers continue to have an essential role in society, especially in promoting inclusion.

“There is no good society without a good union, and there is no good union that isn’t reborn every day in the peripheries, that doesn’t transform the rejected stones of the economy into corner stones,” the pope said on June 28, 2017 during an audience with Italian union leaders. https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2017/06/28/pope-francis-labor-unions-are-essential-society

Eight people killed in tribal fight

May 4, 2021 The National Main Stories
By Elias Lari
The raging tribal fighting in Porgera has claimed eight lives over the weekend, Porgera Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) president Nickson Pakea says.

Pakea said the killings were related to on going fight between two tribal groups with each group losing four lives…

He said fighting was raging fiercely in Laiagam, Mulitaka, and almost the entire electorate of Lagaip-Porgera, resulting in many deaths since last year.

 “The bodies were located by the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church youths when they crossed the fighting zones with their brass bands as a sign to call off the fight,” Pakea added.

“The tribal clash is like a genocide with at least one death a day. “The authorities must take quick and serious counter-actions to stop the tribal war…. Continue on: https://www.thenational.com.pg/eight-killed-in-tribal-fight-2/

The 7^th law of the Ten Commandments of God says “Thou shalt not kill”

The Catholic Church proclaims that “human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. Catholic’s oppose acts considered attacks and affronts to human life … such as genocide, torture, the direct and intentional targeting of noncombatants in war, and every deliberate taking of innocent human life”.

Therefore, Nation must protect the right to life by finding increasingly effective ways to prevent conflicts and resolve them by peaceful means. ” Pope John Paul II wrote and spoke extensively on the topic of the inviolability of human life and dignity in his watershed encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, (Latin for “The Gospel of Life”). 

Can the Land issue at ATS repel the Chinese challenge?

03 May 2021

Keith Jackson 

NOOSA – I thought this was going to be a good news story, but now I’m not too sure. Late last week, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape seemed to move with lightning speed to stop a developer evicting residents and destroying homes at Port Moresby’s ATS settlement.… but, I got some disconcerting news.

The ATS land at 8 Mile was traditionally owned by three men from the original Koari people who, in 1995, gave their consent to settlers from Oro Province to live on the land. The leaders of the settlement once said they had documents to prove this arrangement. … According to various sources the population in ATS is about 10,000, many of whom are unemployed and in serious financial hardship.

According to the Department of Lands, in 2008, under suspicious circumstances, title was given to Dunlavin Limited, a Chinese company. In 2013 police attempted to execute an eviction order from Dunlavin and ordered the settlers, who had been given no notice, to leave.

Dunlavin took out a new court order to evict people living on portion 695 of the land giving notice of 120 days which ended last Thursday…
Immediately, the equipment moved in and, despite the 120 days’ notice, once again the settlers were caught unawares by bulldozers moving in, this time it seems to construct a road…  So the people of ATS, all 10,000 or so of them, are at present in limbo…Continue on: https://www.pngattitude.com/2021/05/ats-again-repels-developer-challenge.html

The Catholic Church morally speaks that “Occupancy is the actual taking of thing belongs to no other with the intention of making its own. It is a valid title to ownership, as long as it transgresses no existing rights of others and no just positive laws, because nature offers earth and all its goods for the good of all mankind.”

Invest in primary health care

May 7, 2021 The National Editorial

Providing proper medical care is the primary responsibility of the Government.
The Government should ensure that medical equipment in hospitals and clinics are the best to deal for the health of the people.
Investing in health is investing in people, which is essential for sustainable long-term development outcomes.
Failing to invest in health leads to poor health outcomes and has a profound economic impact, resulting in high costs for Papua New Guinea…. It covers rehabilitation and care at the end of life as well. Primary healthcare means care closer to home and intervening early to prevent many illnesses from becoming serious. Strong primary healthcare reduces demand on hospitals. It includes community-based solutions to tackle issues such as mental health.

A robust primary healthcare system works with other sectors to create healthier environments and prevent injuries and illness.

The healthcare service delivery is provided by a combination of government, private facilities and church facilities – the majority of which are located in urban and is funded by a combination of government tax revenues, donors, and the user.
For PNG, we have a crises in the health system.

Employment in PNG in a worry

7, May, 2021
Post Courier
By Gorethy Kenneth
More than 2500 university graduates have applied for 50 non-specific jobs advertised for seven days this month by a newly established Papua New Guinea business. And more than 200 have applied for a managerial position in just one day, also all university graduates, the company said.

The company was looking for grades 10 or 12 certificate holders to work in various sections of the office including shop and office assistants, cashiers and various others, instead 98 per cent of applications received were university degree holders and graduates who are desperately looking for jobs.

PNG Office Works, a newly established business in Port Moresby, said it was very disheartening to see university degree certificate holders applying for jobs that suit grade 10 and 12 leavers.

 “What am I supposed to do? I cannot employ all of them, let alone of course I will have the best brains, but I am only looking for 50,” the company’s owner said. 

“Times are tough and being a Papua New Guinean, seeing these young scholars desperately looking for jobs is very heartbreaking. I wish I had employed all of them.”…

Continue on: https://postcourier.com.pg/employment-in-png-a-worry/

“Laborem exercens (Latin: Through Work) is an encyclical written by Pope John Paul II in 1981, stated that “We must first direct our attention to a fundamental issue: the question of finding work, or, in other words, the issue of suitable employment for all who are capable of it.” The problem is not a lack of resources—”conspicuous natural resources remain unused”—but poor organization. The criterion of full employment will only be achieved through planning and coordination among all the indirect employers, and a better coordination of education with employment. Moreover, it is a duty of a society … to help its citizens find opportunity for adequate employment (GS 67). Naturally if a national economy has not sufficient places of work for all, the unemployment cannot demand jobs which are not needed or for which no money is available.

St. Thomas Aquinas said   Work provide for daily livelihood, prevents idleness which is a source of many evils , curbs the rebellious flesh and enable a man to give alms from his material surplus “.

Peaceful reconciliation among youths

May 10, 202,
Post Courier

By Ian Mathew
Youth from Malaguna one, Matupit and the Kombiu Local Level Government in Rabaul district met at the St Francis Xavier Catholic church last week to settle their differences and end a fighting in Rabaul town. The fight took place two weeks ago in the town which resulted in four youths receiving serious knife wounds and hospitalized.

Last week the disgruntled youths from both sides reconciled at the Kuragaga Catholic Church, witnessed by Governor Nakikus Konga, public servants and church representatives.
The occasion saw youths apologize publicly and share shell money and food in the ENB tradition…

Continue on: https://postcourier.com.pg/peaceful-reconciliation-among-youths/

Catholic perspective: solidarity is very essential in our society. “We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Pope Paul VI taught that “if you want peace, work for justice.” The Gospel calls us to be peacemakers. Our love for all our sisters and brothers demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by violence and conflict.”  Blessed are the peacemakers: For they shall be called the children of God (Mt. 5:9).

Wisdom needs to prevail in Alotau crisis

PNG ATTITUDE
SCOTT WAIDE
My Land, My Country

An open letter to Prime Minister James Marape .

Late yesterday the situation in Alotau was reported as stable but police were expecting another major assault on Giligili prison by the Tommy Baker gang to release 11 members facing charges of arson, piracy and armed robbery. Forty police have been deployed from Port Moresby to reinforce local personnel – KJ.
Lae – Dear Prime Minister, I am writing this for your consideration so you might provide counsel and guidance to those in your charge. The situation in Alotau is spiraling out of control. The trend is dangerous.

The people are unhappy with both crime and the manner in which the government and its agencies are responding to it.
There are underlying issues that need to be resolved through dialogue – not by the barrel of the gun.

While I have a voice, your ear and a platform on which to stand, I ask you to urge caution.
Do not let people die on your watch. Do not let your people be abused by the instrumentalities that you ultimately control.
There are questions that need to be answered and we cannot get answers only by sending in troops.
There is a place for it. But we have to handle this situation with tact and diplomacy…. Continue on:https://www.pngattitude.com/2021/05/wisdom-needs-to-prevail-in-alotau-crisis.html,

The Catholic Social Teaching emphasis about the dignity of life calls us … to prevent genocide and attacks against noncombatants; to oppose racism; and to overcome poverty and suffering. Nations are called to protect the right to life by seeking effective ways to combat evil and terror without resorting to armed conflicts except as a last resort, always seeking first to resolve disputes by peaceful means. We revere the lives of children in the womb, the lives of persons dying in war and from starvation, and indeed the lives of all human beings as children of God.

Nurses protest over awards

May 11, 2021 The National Main Stories

By Lulu Mark
Nurses in Eastern Highlands have stopped work and are staging a sit-in protest, demanding that their awards are implemented, an official says.
Papua New Guinea Nurses Association (PNGNA) Goroka branch representative Nocksy Gunure told The National that the protest that started yesterday would continue today and they expected Health Minister Jelta Wong and Eastern Highlands Governor Peter Numu to address them by tomorrow.
He said a petition was given to Wong and Numu and their concerns were:

• The nurses award 2016-2018 not being implemented;
• COVID-19 allowances; and
• Implementation of the new nurses’ award 2021-2023.

Attempts to confirm whether Wong or Health secretary Dr Osborne Liko was aware of the petition yesterday were unsuccessful…

Continue on: https://www.thenational.com.pg/nurses-protest-over-awards/

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has identified in the Social the Social Teaching of the Catholic “the Dignity of Work and the Right of Workers that “The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected–the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to private property, and to economic initiative.

“Do not withhold wages from your workers, for their livelihood depends on them.” Deuteronomy
24:14-15  .  “All workers should be paid a just and living wage.” Matthew 20:1-16.

Bangladeshi decry attacks, threaten to wind-down operations

Post Courier 
May 4 2021

By Gorethy  Kenneth

The PNG-Bangladesh Business Association, whose member businesses employ more than 50,000 Papua New Guineans around the country, are threatening to shut down shop if the government does nothing to stop the continuous criminal attacks against their members.

There are more than 100 Bangladesh businesses operating throughout PNG that employ locals in general and various divisions and distribution of jobs.

The association said in Port Moresby alone, they employ more than 20,000 Papua New Guineans.

Executive chairman of the PNG-Bangladesh Business Association, Mohammed Wahed, told the Post-Courier that they wanted to go on strike and close their operating businesses, whether big or small, but because they employ thousands of locals, they will meet this week again to make a decision.

 “We employ many Papua New Guineans, and if we make a decision to go on strike and close all outlets and businesses, of course, our businesses will be affected, but who will suffer most?” he said.

 “Our people, who are working each day to make ends meet especially in this tough time.

 The law and order situation is critical now…. “This is our country, we want to work together for PNG.”…

In the space of a week, more than four Bangladeshis working in the city have been brutally injured, wounded and stabbed, with some threatened for cash. Over the weekend, a Bangladeshi national was slashed and injured in his shop at Taurama, a suburb of the capital city…. “This is too much for our citizens who are not only here to make money but provide jobs and help Papua New Guineans,” he said.

Mr. Wahed said they will make a decision once the executives meet to finalise their proposal to the government.

Pope John Paul II wrote in the 1987 encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis  (the Social Concern) that “All the peoples of the world belong to one human family. We must be our brother’s keeper, though we may be separated by distance, language or culture. Jesus teaches that we must each love our neighbors as ourselves and in the parable of the Good Samaritan we see that our compassion should extend to all people. Solidarity includes the Scriptural call to welcome the stranger among us—including immigrants seeking work, a safe home, education for their children, and a decent life for their families”.

We, PNG as Christian nation must embedded deeply into our constitution, must have respect for investors and other business partners in our country. The security and safety of one’s life is very vital.  Citizens and leaders of this nations must take immediate action to do away with evil behaviors as said in the articles below.

Family health association reopens office in ENB

May 4, 2021, The National

By Michael Wartovo
The Papua New Guinea Family Health Association (PNGFHA) has reopened its office in Kokopo, East New Britain (ENB), to help tackle rising cases of violence against girls and women in the province.

“It is timely for PNGFHA to reopen its office here after seven years,” ENB deputy administrator Levi Mano said.

Mano, officiating at the closing of the one-week-long training of peer educators on eliminating violence against girls and women, highlighted the importance of child abuse issues.
“Many social issues like child abuse, sexual harassment and violence against women are rising and it is timely for the PNGFHA to be active again…

 The Catholic Church teaches that man is not only a sacred but also a social person and that families are the first and most basic units of a society. It advocates a complementarian view of marriage, family life, and religious leadership. Full human development takes place in relationship with others. The family—based on marriage (between a man and a woman)—is the first and fundamental unit of society and is a sanctuary for the creation and nurturing of children. Together families form communities, communities a state and together all across the world each human is part of the human family.

It is enriching to see the following article which people can take ownership to help mothers, sisters and children who are being abuse in our society.  

Cops suspended for failing duty

May 10, 2021,
The National main stories

By Sylvester Wemuru
 Madang Commander Supt Mazuc Rubiang has suspended a group of Walium Highway Patrol 14 policemen for failing to perform their duty.
A vehicle travelling from Madang to Mt Hagen went off the road at Naru on the highway between Walium and Madang.
Supt Rubiang said a passenger died in the accident and the vehicle was set ablaze by opportunists after the policemen left. “The policemen had left an accident scene when they should have remained to investigate,” he said. “I had instructed the policemen to be at the scene to assist the passenger but after arriving at the scene, they left.

“I am upset with my men because a passenger had died and it was our duty to protect lives and properties. I instructed them to provide security at the scene but they left and it was burned.”
Supt Rubiang said road accidents were happening daily and people were losing their lives due to careless driving.
He said Madang’s crime rate was also going from bad to worse with daily armed robberies reported.
“We are trying our best to respond with the very limited resources that we have. There were more than five armed robberies reported over the weekend,” he said.

The Catholic Church teaches that every person has a duty and responsibility to help fulfill these rights for one another, for our families, and for the larger society”.

The Vatican II document stated that from the Christian doctrine on work, there arise “every man’s duty to labor faithfully” (GS 67). For every man is called to serve his fellowmen and to cooperate with God in the unfold of his creation naturally to that extent that he or she is able to do so. …  Moreover, every worker or profession is oblige to render the service conscientiously which he/she agreed to perform and for which he/she is paid. Whoever performs his/her works badly, does not comply with his obligations, or conducts his job carelessly or recklessly, sins against justice.

Therefore, whoever neglect should brought to the justice and are oblige to restitution.

Over 1.4 Million Papua New Guineans experience Gender Based Violence

24/5/2021

Posted By Staff Reporter : An estimated 1.4 million Papua New Guineans are affected by gender-based violence annually, with accusations of sorcery one of the many issues women and girls face, an inquiry has been told.
A two-day public inquiry on gender-based violence before a special parliamentary committee in Port Moresby heard that it worked out to a woman dying or being injured every 30 seconds through such violence.
Issues raised included prosecution, funding, polygamy, and access to services by victims. Voice for Change founder Lilly Be’Soer who is based in Jiwaka told inquiry chairman Charles Abel that accessibility to services by women in rural areas was a big problem. 

Continue on: https://www.pngfacts.com/news/over-14-million-papua-new-guineans-experience-gender-based-violenc

Many Saints in the History of Catholic Church always emphasis about the equality of human dignity between man and Woman. St. Ambrose writes: “everybody, man and woman must know that he bears God’s image and likeness.” St. Basil declares: “the woman no less than the man possess the privilege of being created after God’s image. Both sexes have the same dignity, both have the same virtues” St. Francis de Sales adds: “the woman is equal to the man, especially in the claim to grace and glory, which glory is the fruit … of the image and likeness of her creator.” (Karl H. Peschke.  Christian Ethics Moral Theology in the light of Vatican II. V.2,  2001)

Fr. Ambrose Pereira : Truth needed to solve issues

May 17, 2021, The National

The Secretary  for  the Social Communication Commission of Catholic  Bishop Conference, , Fr Ambrose Pereira says Papua New Guineans need to get out of the back of their “black mirrored screens”, hit the streets and meet face-to-face with society to understand today’s socio-economic situation.
“Communicating the truth for the common good of all people is important to counter social ills and problems,” the Vatican envoy said.

“Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, we still need to openly speak about the stories and issues facedbytheoppressed, suffering, poor, voiceless and faceless. “We require the truth to help remedy problems.”

The Catholic Bishop Conference of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands discussed the role of journalists, youths and parents’ roles and responsibilities in Catholic families to commemorate world communication day (WCD) and international family’s day yesterday.

Fr Pereira emphasized the importance of WCD and recalled Pope Francis’ message and urged journalists and Christians to leave their comfort zones and encounter first-hand the lives of people at the grassroots level. The President of the Catholic Professional, Mr. Paul Harricknen described family’s love as an institution that was the hallmark of God’s love for humanity.

“Marriage and family are an institution built for the experience of God’s love and for this very love to be shared for society’s well-being,” he said.

Bishop of Vanimo, Francis Meli spoke about the love of God in marriage and family and his call to cherish and nourish it.

“To be happy and joyful, families need to be prayerful and God-centered in all that they do and to never lose sight of these values that he has shown and granted us,” he said.

Youth secretary Elizabeth Aribi said parents were a source of encouragement for their children.

Vatican II, Decree on the means of Social Communication stated that Catholic Church was founded by Christ our Lord to bring salvation to all men. It feels oblige, therefore, to preach the gospel. In the same way, it believes that it task involves employing the means of social communication to announce the good news of salvation and to teach men how to use them properly.

Teach children ethical values

May 6, 2021The National  Editorial

Editorial
Domestic and sexual violence concern continues with a wide variety of opinions being aired throughout the nation. Others include alcohol abuse, law and order and the list goes on.

The most outspoken have called for tougher penalties to be imposed, raising awareness so victims know their rights and what help is available and others are just armchair critics waiting to pick out on the failures.

There is a huge challenge now to change and make a difference and that will only be through educating young Papua New Guineans.Today’s society has broken many rigid barriers.

Our ability to communicate with each other within PNG is historically a recent development.
Previous generations often remained geographically restricted and had only vague ties with other tribes in adjourning land.

We need to stop and think about the process of transformation that our societies have undertaken in the past century.

Many of our sons and daughters now move freely throughout our nation and beyond.
Movement involves exposure to new customs and beliefs and rigidly held taboos are very often the first to fall.
Our societies today include a rapidly increasing generation of young adults and youths whose parents are from different provinces.

Fifty years ago, such off-springs were rare; they tended to be the children of policemen or teachers who moved regularly throughout PNG and who often married outside their own village systems. Continue on: https://www.thenational.com.pg/teach-children-ethical-values/

In the Light of Vatican II, the Church teaches that “The Educational tasks requires that parents look after the moral and personal development of their children. The human person must be formed in view of his calling by God and  of his future responsibilities in Society. (Karl H. Peschke.  Christian Ethics Moral Theology in the light of Vatican II. V.2, 2001)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
          Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
                        Where there is injury, pardon;
                                       where there is discord, unity;
                                                     where there is error, truth;
                                                               Where there is doubt faith;
                                                                         Where there is despair, hope;
                                                                               where there is darkness, light;
                                                                                  where there is sadness, joy. 
(St. Francis of Assisi)

Compiled by James WAU
CBCPNGSI Social Concerns Acting officer

Mental Health Concerns

April 20, 2021The National  

Chairman of the Directorate of Social Change and Mental Health Services (DSCMHS) board Cardinal Sir John Ribat, MSC and DSCMHS acting director Dr. Uma Ambi during the introduction of the board members and members of the mental health tribunal to the mental health fraternity last week. – Picture supplied by LULU MARK
Rising mental health problems and illnesses have placed Papua New Guinea (PNG) in a dilemma that needed immediate solutions, Health Minister Jelta Wong says.
“Currently, mental health services coverage in PNG is low, but mental health disorders and traumatic effects are increasing drastically in homes, schools, and communities, particularly in a fast-growing populace,” he said.
“The imbalance is not healthy for our young developing nation.”
Wong spoke at the introduction of the new board members of the directorate of social change and mental health services, members of the mental health tribunal, and the mental health fraternity last week.
“More than 50 percent of the country’s population of 10 million are children (who) are valuable assets of any country’s development and ought to be protected psychologically to develop well into mentally healthy adults who contribute to nation-building in one way or another, directly or indirectly,” he said.
“A mentally healthy workforce and society are vital for high work productivity in workplaces and schools.
“We must accept the truth that mental and behavioral disorders are common, affecting people sometime in their life.
“One in four families is likely to have one member with a behavioral or mental disorder.
“It is important to understand that identifying, diagnosing, and treating mental disorders are unique.”
Wong said last year’s World Mental Health Day theme was “Mental health for all, greater investments, greater access”, which the Government supported unconditionally.

Council of Churches launch Prayer plan

April 14, 2021,The National Main Stories. https://www.thenational.com.pg/council-launches-prayer-plan/
By LORRAINE JIMA

According to the council, the program started early this week.
Council acting chairman Cardinal Sir John Ribat has appealed to Christians, church congregations, fellowship groups and church institutions to join the church leaders in observing the 21-day in prayer and fasting period.
“This is a time we can all unite together as people of God to face a life-threatening challenge of the world with our theme for meditation during the 21-day prayers and fasting based on Isaiah 40: 31,” Cardinal Sir John said.
He said people should use this time to reflect on the challenges faced by many families and individuals affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Cardinal Sir John said it was evident that many people, living during the time of the pandemic, needed prayers to overcome their negative emotions created by fear, stigma and other causes and to develop a positive mindset by drawing closer to God who was the only hope and source of life in the face of a global pandemic.

“But those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed,” he said. Cardinal Sir John said some churches under the Body of Christ alliance had begun their 21-day prayer and fasting program on holy Thursday.

Foreign land grab disaster in Pomio

24 April 2021, https://www.pngattitude.com/2021/04/sabl-decisions-disastrous-for-pomio-people.html

PAUL PAVOL

POMIO The people of West Pomio in East New Britain Province lost most of their land and forest under the controversial, government-backed, Special Agriculture Business Lease (SABL) scheme.

Today, eight years after a Commission of Inquiry condemned the SABL program, there are still a number of active schemes in the West Pomio area with Malaysian logging conglomerate Rimbunan Hijau the major player in logging and promised oil palm.
It is only now that the people of West Pomio are feeling the real consequences of the wrong decisions made 10 years ago and of what problems they invited into their communities.
People enjoyed the first three years of logging from 2010-13, when they were receiving payments from export royalties.
In those days, I mostly stood alone and was shamed for fighting the corrupt land dealings.
Meanwhile, around me newly-monied people were drinking alcohol into the night, something never seen before. Now everyone is back to much less than square one.
The Asians have distanced themselves, married local girls and live a high standard of life. The local resource owners have been abandoned.
The promises of water, electricity and other developments have not been fulfilled.
The government-funded road from Palmalmal to Mu and Pomai villages is not maintained and has not been upgraded as promised.
Environmental issues have now become a grave concern for the local people…

Social issues have also escalated to levels never seen before. Drug and substance abuse is on the rise and there is now a cultivation and trade in drugs in the oil palm camps.  Consumption of home brew is also on the rise…
 Other issues include non-payment of compensation to injured workers.
After the Commission of Inquiry found the SABL leases were illegal, the government promised to cancel them and restore stolen land to the customary landowners. Those were empty promises, just like the promises of the logging and oil palm companies.
In West Pomio we are suffering the consequences of the Papua New Guinea government’s ongoing collusion with foreign companies.

Paul Pavol is a land rights advocate and fought to reclaim his and his people’s land appropriated by the government-backed and court-condemned Special Agriculture Business Lease. In 2016, Paul was awarded the Alexander Soros Foundation Award for Environmental and Human Rights Activism for fighting to protect and reclaim his community’s land.

Address GBV, honour legacy

April 13, 2021, The National

PARLIAMENTARIANS met on March 23 united to end gender-based violence (GBV) and to honour the nation’s founding father Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare’s legacy and vision on equal, just, unified, and peaceful Papua New Guinea.
“As elected members of parliament, we commit to using our political platforms to promote women in leadership positions in our country, particularly parliament,” Parliamentary GBV committee co-chairman and National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop said at the meeting in Port Moresby.
“Women are leading change everywhere in our country.
“Why are they not in Parliament?”
Parkop said women leaders in Parliament would bring PNG together to address the ongoing scourge of violence against girls and women.
“Violence has continued to hurt us all,” he said.
“We commit to stand beside our sisters, to make room for them at the table of national governance, and to play our role in voicing their needs in a parliament that is currently void of their presence.”
Co-chairman and East Sepik Governor Allan Bird said: “As the 2022 elections near, we commit to working with our brother MPs to balance our next Parliament with the equal inclusion of women’s voices.
“I call on all PNG citizens to honor Sir Michael by continuing his legacy and achieving his dream of equality, one people, one nation, united under God.”
Committee chairman and Alotau MP Charles Abel said: “As a first step, we need reserved seats for women immediately.”

Punishments should be reasonable

April 19, 2021The National Letters     

Kukum (Morning Cloud)

The enforcement of the emergency orders vested on the National Pandemic Response Controller’s office by the Constitution is abused by rogue cops and officers.
The citizens have the right to protection of law under section 37 of the constitution.
They should not be punished with punishments that are not described under law. This is not happening because people are reluctant to abide the emergency orders. Ordering people to do push-ups and hugging the opposite sex in public places is uncalled for. The application of law should be clear. People who break the law have rights and deserve to be treated with dignity.
That’s why punishments for breaking the law shouldn’t degrade someone’s dignity.
The emergency orders should be reviewed and law enforcers should do right by the people.

Justine Pendene,
UPNG Law Student

Debate needed about polygamy

April 1, 2021 The National Letters

POLYGAMOUS marriages happen in custom-oriented societies in the world.
Polygamy is the practice of marrying multiple spouses.
When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call it polygamy.
When a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry.
A marriage including multiple husbands and wives is a group marriage.
The term refers to a man or woman having multiple wives/husbands depending on their local norms.
Papua New Guinea is no exception. It is an accepted norm where a man can marry more than one wife. There are no restrictions on the law.
In the West, marriage is strictly monogamous, which means there is only one husband for one wife.
Marrying more than one wife is a crime of bigamy. There are strict rules regarding marriages in countries such as Australia, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom.
Polygamy is alien to the West. If someone wants to remarry, that person has to divorce the first wife or husband.
That person cannot remarry if he/she is still married to the first spouse. This system of divorce and remarriage is known as serial monogamy. Any child born outside of the family is considered illegitimate. Property succession laws recognize the legitimate child in the family in an event of the death of the father. Illegitimate children are excluded and not considered in property distribution…
(To continue, refer to: https://www.thenational.com.pg/debate-needed-about-polygamy/)

James Litai,
Wabag

Citizens urged to protect themselves

By Carmella Gware
15:13, April 6, 2021

LOOP PNG

A bleak picture was painted of Morobe’s health landscape by nurses and health extension officers, who are overworked, lack resources and manpower but are forced to work in inadequate, cramped facilities.

With doctors standing down from their jobs at the ANGAU Memorial Provincial Hospital, the COVID-19 hospital lacking emergency drugs and other critical medical supplies, the Nurses Association Morobe president, Siling Awasa, is urging citizens to protect themselves against the virus.
She outlined that sunlight (heat) contributes to the healing of multiple health conditions, including severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Eat a lot of fruits, garden food, do small exercises around your house and steam – steam every day,” she said.
Awasa stated that with COVID-19 having a general protein and fatty layer, high temperature destroys the structure. This is why COVID-19 patients steam themselves on a daily basis.

She stressed on taking precautionary measures before the virus attaches itself to an individual’s lungs.
Meantime, the nurses and HEOs are looking forward to an audience with the Morobe Provincial Health Authority on Wednesday, the 7^th of April. If they are not satisfied with the outcome of the gathering, an ultimatum will be issued that may include them stopping work as well.

 Introduce food subsidy policy, (reduce crime)

April 19, 2021The National Letters

PAPUA New Guinea is known for its petty crimes.
Criminal activities such as pick-pocketing, breaking and entering and shoplifting are prevalent in our towns and cities. This paints a bad image of the country. We need to understand what triggers such activities.
They don’t just happen because a person has bad intentions to ruin someone else’s life. Many steal in order to survive. That’s why the Government should subsidies food.
When people have sufficient food, they won’t need to steal.
Majority of the Papua New Guinean households do not have balanced meals a day.
The average Papua New Guinean would be able to afford a balanced diet on a daily basis only if the prices of basic foods are low. The country needs to implement a food subsidy policy now.
I don’t think people will need to steal if rice can be bought at a lower price.
Subsidizing food works for others countries and can work for us as well. The Government can conduct a nationwide research to gather views of its citizens about food consumption.
Let’s try it out.

Maru Igabi

(PNG Family Health) Association revives operations to address issues

April 21, 2021 The National https://www.thenational.com.pg/association-revives-ops-to-address-issues/

THE Papua New Guinea Family Health Association (PNGFHA) has revived its operations in East New Britain to help address issues affecting the people.
“We will need to have a good working relationship with the governments and other stakeholders to advocate health-related issues afflicting communities,” association executive director Michael Selani said yesterday.
“We are focusing on issues of sexual reproductive health, family planning, gender-based violence and other issues affecting communities.
“We have a health clinic in Kokopo that is providing sexual reproductive health services and also a youth centre that is specifically for the young to access information on various issues that they face.
“We believe our youths need a safe space to access safe information and services but we are facing challenges and cultural barriers.
“We are trying to work with community leaders, institutions and the government to try to convince them that the issues need to be transparent and be discussed openly at community, district and the provincial levels.
“Only then the people can access the information and the services that they need.
“We also want to work with stakeholders, such as police so that we can convince leaders and the people that we care for their welfare.”
Selani said the range of issues affecting communities in East New Britain were unwanted pregnancies, peer pressure, family problems, rape and incest and many others that needed immediate attention.

Focus on Rural Areas

April 13, 2021The National Letters

IT is a dream for all rural communities around the country to have permanent classrooms, health centers, church buildings, bridges, roads, and other infrastructure developments.
But those dreams and wishes are never achieved due to the failure and negligence of those in power.
Most times, leaders and Government agencies focus more on receiving praise and honor instead of getting the real work done.
They give away huge amounts of money for already-developed infrastructure in towns and cities instead of focusing on rural areas.
This is a big slap in the face for those in rural areas.
Money and resources should go where they are needed the most.
Why spend money on schools, hospitals, and church infrastructures in urban areas that are already in permanent materials? …. (To continue, refer to: https://www.thenational.com.pg/focus-on-rural-areas/
Nim Yekagol,
Popondetta

Doctor warns of (Covid 19) mutation

April 20, 2021,The National

A MEDICAL doctor has warned that the Covid-19 virus has a tendency to mutate and spread among people who had not displayed any symptoms.
Deputy director for PNG Institute of Medical Research Dr. Clare Rock said during a panel discussion in Port Moresby on Saturday that people should exercise the safety measures in place.
“The symptoms easily spread between people who do not have it, but this is a manageable risk between people if safety protocols are adhered to,” she said.
“The vaccine boosts the immune system.”
Dr. Rock was among other health experts who spoke at the Covid-19 talk session at the Catholic Bishops Conference in Port Moresby.
The talk organized by the Catholic Professional Society of PNG was themed: “Informed for our well-being” and focused on testing and vaccines.
It was held virtually through the online platform “Zoom” to connect with participants in the country and abroad.
Several other speakers connected via the Facebook page of Radio Maria PNG.
Speakers included Dr. Moses Laman, deputy director PNGMRI Dr. Clare Rock, associate professor of medicine from the John Hopkins School of Medicine, US, and pediatrician from the University of Papua New Guinea School of Medicine Prof John Vince.
Moderating discussions throughout was consultant and member of the Catholic professionals association Simon Anakapu.
Prof Vince stressed that the benefits of using the vaccine far outweighed its disadvantages and countered any moral dilemmas that people might have, particularly now that its younger generation was contracting the virus.
“Papua New Guinea is a young country and the bulk of its population is comprised of young people, and through whom the Covid-19 was silently circulating and now it has struck,” he said.
He revealed how our people, even in the prime of their working lives, had died from the Covid-19 virus.
“These were perfectly healthy people who died from the infection in the age range of 24 to 60s, and this makes the situation more serious,” Prof Vince said.

Crime increases at Bus Station (Monitor bus stops at Badili, Koki)

April 13, 2021The National Letters

AROUND 5.40 p.m. last Sunday, a woman was stabbed in the hand by a thief who snatched her bilum in a PMV bus at Badili bus stop opposite the police station.
As the thief hurried away, a brave man retrieved the bilum from him and handed it over to the woman who was bleeding.
She then sought help at the police station.
No police officer was in sight.
I am worried that despite the police station being nearby, bag-snatching and violence has been happening frequently for many years and a lot of women and men have become victims.
Last year, a thief attempted to snatch my waist bag but failed as I kicked him out of the bus. …(To continue, refers: https://www.thenational.com.pg/monitor-bus-stops-at-badili-koki/)

Concerned Citizen

Come together, end tribal fights

April 13, 2021 The National Letters

BEFORE the 2011 massacre in Kainantu, the town was known for law and order problems.
It was referred to as a “cowboy town”.
Since the 2011 massacre, law and order issues have been going out of control.
The current rising tribal conflict and violence shows how ineffective Kainantu authorities are in handling law and order issues.
After 45 years of independence, issues relating to law and order remain the district’s biggest worry.
It is time to gather public opinion on how best to address this issue.
Comparatively, Mendi town, in Southern Highlands, and Wabag town, in Enga, are facing similar challenges with law and order issues despite resources spent in ensuring safer communities.
I see that the issue is beyond the authorities’ control.
The authorities, police, warring tribes and leaders should agree to sit down and discuss how best to put an end to all these fights.
These tribal fights are having negative effects on businesses and affecting development.
I understand that it will be difficult to totally stop tribes from fighting against each other but if they can come together and agree upon something, things will change.

Alex H Jafa,
Chairman, City Watch Inc

Defiant company ordered to shut down in Giregire

April 15, 2021, https://postcourier.com.pg/defiant-company-ordered-to-shut-down-in-giregire/

By Poreni Umau
A Kokopo based balsa processing company was forced to shut-down their operations yesterday in the East New Britain Province.
Environmental health and safety officers from the Kokopo-Vunamami Urban Local Level Government (KVULL) effected the closure of the facility at Giregire.

The officers, with the help of the Kokopo police response unit and detective Senior Sergeant Hillary Sirinjui of the transnational crime unit, directed the company to close down operations until further notice.

This was because the company, Eternal Investments Ltd, allegedly breached several laws, including operating without a trading licence, operating in a residential area, no safety workplace policy, no protective gear for employees, operating in a filthy and unsafe workplace and no proper waste management plan.

Last week Kokopo Urban gave the company a one month grace period to complete processing what they have in stock and directed the manager David Chan at a meeting not to take in any new stock and shut down.
However, Mr Chan did not take heed of the agreement and proceeded to take in more balsa which was discovered by the Kokopo Urban officers Relvie Tapla and Benson Marubat.

The joint operation by the police and Kokopo Urban has seen the confiscation of passports of the company’s manager and other foreign staff, a directive to cease operations, the premises locked and workers sent home until while the company, police and Kokopo Urban will meet next Tuesday at the Kokopo police station to ensure all requirements are met by the company.

Snr Sergeant Sirinjui said other necessary fines will be imposed against the company next week after all investigations are completed while the Kokopo Urban officers have remained firm that Eternal Investments Ltd must face the consequences of seriously breaching of the country’s laws.

Social safety net saves us, but we need more

12 April 2021 PNGATTITUDE

JOHN KURI PORT MORESBY – Ten years ago, a bag of 10kg rice cost something like K20. Today, stores sell a 10kg rice bag for between K31 and K35.

PNG Consumer Price Index 2018-2021, Ten years ago a live chicken cost K20. Today it’s K40. By the look of  things, the price of live chickens will go all the way to K50 – my
prediction  for 2023. And we probably wouldn’t notice it.
That’s the way of things in life. The price of goods and services always goes up.
Ten years ago, the bus fare for municipal stops in Port Moresby was 50 toea. Today, anywhere you want to go, short or long, one kina.
Seldom do prices go down. The best we can hope for is that prices will remain steady as long as possible.
The chart above shows the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over a four year period in Papua New Guinea.
In simple terms, the CPI measures the cost of living. This chart shows you what you already know. The cost of living is increasing quite steeply.
To appreciate the impact of increases in cost of living consider this. The Teaching Services Commission payroll covers around 85,000 employees, the biggest payroll in PNG.
Add this figure to the employees of all government agencies and the total is around 200,000. This government payroll consumes around 30% of the PNG national budget every year.

Including the private sector, the total workforce in formal employment in PNG is about 300,000 which is just 3.3% of the total population of about nine million.
So you can see how many people are left – they’re either babies, at school or in the informal economy.
People in the informal economy don’t have a guaranteed income. Price increases affect all of us, but informal economy workers are the most vulnerable of all.
So the question is: how can the government help the majority of Papua New Guineans meet the demands of the increasing prices of goods and services?… (To continue, refers to: https://www.thenational.com.pg/mental-health-concern/)

Catholic Health Australia injects $270,000 into Caritas funds for PPE in PNG as corona-virus cases increase

9 April 2021
By STAFF WRITERS

CATHOLIC Health Australia members said they will match Caritas Australia’s funding to bring the total amount raised to over $500,000 to fight COVID-19 in Papua New Guinea.
It amounted to an immediate injection of $270,000 earmarked for urgent distribution of personal protective equipment in remote areas.
At the start of the pandemic in March last year, Caritas Australia purchased $250,000 worth of PPE and partnered with Caritas PNG to distribute to 19 dioceses, which reached 235 health facilities and an estimated 1,462 health workers.
CCHS PNG program manager Graham Apian said the help was desperately needed. “There is much uncertainty and fear about COVID-19 leading to community discrimination,” Mr Apian said. “We have seen disruption to the normal supply of goods and services. The health facilities we have will be forced to close if there is a shortage of PPE.”

PNG faces a potentially catastrophic outbreak of COVID-19, with nearly 100 new cases reported daily… (continue reading : https://catholicleader.com.au/news/catholic-health-australia-injects-270000-into-caritas-fund-for-ppe-in-png-as-coronavirus-cases-increase/)

 (Logging) Companies warned to pay up

April 14, 2021The National l
Walter Schnaubelt

FOREST Minister Walter Schnaubelt has warned timber operating companies in Papua New Guinea to immediately pay their outstanding levies and royalty payments to both the landowners and the Government.
Schnaubelt sounded the warning following failure by most companies and operations to meet their obligations under various agreements.
“They are fully aware of the legal ramifications associated with non-compliance of their legal obligations as stipulated under the agreements and the underlying laws of the country governing the forestry sector,” he said in a statement. Schnaubelt said many companies were not new to the fact that they had to abide by the legal requirements of the operating and export sales agreements.
“These companies have signed agreements with the landowners and the State to pay various parties on time,” he said.
“Many have not complied with the provisions of their respective agreements under which they operate and therefore have outstanding payments.”
Schnaubelt called on operators to take action and pay their outstanding amounts.
“This is critical to the economy,” he said.
“That is why we cannot allow such serious fiscal anomalies to undermine the revenue flow and foreign exchange earnings for the country through the forestry sector.”
Schnaubelt said landowners and communities needed to be remunerated.
“Considering the landowners were mostly rural or remotely based and had difficulty accessing Government services, the needed to be paid their royalties from the resources harvested from their land,” he said.

Disappointed with alleged fund abuse

April 1, 2021The NationalLetters

IT is disheartening to read and hear about funds earmarked for the Covid-19 operations being abused by the mandated authorities.
We hear of hospitals and health workers complaining about lack of personal protective equipment and other relevant equipment to combat the Covid-19, but, yet, some people see fit to gain at the expense of the people.
So much funds were given by donor partners and other countries and they will be interested to know if these funds were used for their intended purposes.
Some countries may refuse to help us in the future because of this.
People in authority misusing funds should know that they are dipping their hands into something that is not theirs.
To gain dubiously at a time of famine, sickness or natural disasters is inhumane. It is only the wicked and heartless who do such deeds.
Sir Creek

Women rescued

April 26, 2021 The National Main Stories

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
POLICE yesterday managed to rescue two women from torture by a group of men who had accused them of practising sorcery in Port Moresby.
Police Commissioner David Manning condemned the “primitive behaviour” which “has no place in society”.
He told The National that those who witnessed the ordeal of the two women must assist police in their investigation.
“If we are to aspire to be anywhere in the future as a society and country, we need to allow the rule of law to take its rightful place,” Comm Manning said.
“Law and order break down when people take it upon themselves to dispense their corrupted version of justice.
“I encourage the witnesses and the families of the two women to assist with the investigation by giving statements, and more importantly, assist in seeking justice for the two women.”
Police staged the dramatic rescue exercise yesterday afternoon after being tipped off on what was happening at the Mango Mine settlement at 5-Mile, Port Moresby North-East electorate.
One of the two women managed to escape from the group of men and was running away when police arrived.
Police said the two women had been tied and assaulted. They had severe burns and knife wounds. They were treated by St John’s Ambulance officers at the scene before being taken to hospital.
Police noticed around 20 men fleeing the area when they arrived.
They managed to free the second woman who was tied up and lying in a garden.
National Capital District/Central police commander Assistant Commissioner Anthony Wagambie Jr and Metropolitan Superintendent Gideon Ikumu described the incident as a heinous and vicious act of torture which would not be tolerated in Port Moresby.
Wagambie called on the people from various districts living in the capital city to change their behavior and attitude.
“I condemn this vicious act of torture on two helpless mothers.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
        Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
                   Where there is injury, pardon;
                                       where there is discord, unity;
                                                     where there is error, truth;
                                                             Where there is doubt, faith;
                                                                    Where there is despair, hope;
                                                                           where there is darkness, light;
                                                                                     where there is sadness, joy. 
(St. Francis of Assisi)

Compiled by James WAU
Acting CBCPNGSI Social Concerns Officer

Rise in marijuana consumption worrying

March 3, 2021The NationalLetters

There has been a spike in marijuana sale and consumption nationwide and it’s starting to become a norm.
Marijuana is prevalent throughout our nation.
The trade and usage of marijuana is surging and many of our communities have been riddled with youths and few older folks consuming it as normal cigarettes.
This is alarming and scary.
One usual place in which the drug is sold and smoked openly is at Port Moresby’s Unagi Oval in Gordon.
Smoking, buying and selling of this illicit drug has been ongoing with people not bothered about it.
Even the police in civilian clothes turn a blind eye when seeing drug addicts smoking openly. This trend shows a clear sign of moral decay.

Maru Igabi

One Nation, One people of God

Funeral Mass for Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare

– Rosemary Yambune and Abigail Seta

Port Moresby: A Requiem Mass was held at the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium to honour and celebrate the life of the Late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare on Friday, 12th March 2021. It had the theme: ‘One nation, one people of God.’

The stadium was packed to capacity with several thousands of Papua New Guineans, each braved the scorching sun for long hours to bid farewell to the founding father of the nation. The mood was somber and people chatted in low tones while the 500 strong special choir formed of representatives from the different parishes sang under the baton of Peter Kakao. The harmonious singing rendered praise and thanks to God and set the stage for the liturgical celebrations to follow. School students from various secondary schools in Port Moresby assembled on the lawn right in the middle of the stadium, each holding the PNG flag high.

Celebrating the Mass was Cardinal Sir John Ribat MSC, Archbishop of Port Moresby together with 11 Bishops as concelebrants. Masters of Ceremonies were Dadi Toka Jnr Chairman of the Motu Koita Assembly and Deputy Governor for National Capital District with Mr Samson Kaipu as the Funeral Mass Commentator.

At the start of the mass, the grand chief’s casket was escorted into the stadium by the PNG Defense Force as they solemnly played requiem tunes on their bagpipes. The entrance procession consisted of the pall bearers who carried the casket behind the Cardinal and the bishops into the stadium to commence the Eucharistic celebration. Cardinal Ribat then laid the bible on the casket that was already draped in the black, red and gold flag of Papua New Guinea.

In his homily, Cardinal Ribat highlighted the readings of the day. “The readings perfectly illustrate for us who Sir Michael Thomas Somare was and also provide a splendid summary of the life of our founding Prime Minister, the husband, loving father and a friend to many”, he said. The Cardinal spoke of the joy and enthusiasm with which he lived out his faith. “He was not only involved in the political space, but also lived out his faith in his daily life”, he said.

Connecting the gospel (Jn 17:4-8, 18-21) to the life of the late Grand Chief, the Cardinal said that he had found Sir Michael as a man of integrity and faith. “He was the salt and light for this nation and other nations, he never concealed his faith in Jesus Christ and his death helps us to promote public discourse”. The Cardinal stressed on the aspect of the unity of all people and that the life of Sir Michael should help us all to overcome divisions. “We lower our flags, we pray, we bow our heads in search of a thing, anything that might unite us”, he said.

The offertory procession was led by the New Guinea Islands dancers. Symbolic gifts from the different provinces of Papua New Guinea and the Council of Churches were then presented to the Cardinal. Following the solemn consecration Eucharistic ministers fanned out for the distributed the Holy Eucharist to Catholics across the stands.

The eulogy of the late Grand Chief was then read by his daughter, Dulciana Somare-Brush. She beautifully highlighted the highs and lows of her father’s life, stressing: Fidelity to Country, Fidelity to community and Fidelity to family and marriage… .

Covid-19 is real, take it seriously

March 8, 2021 The National Editorial

The best defence to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the coronavirus is to strictly follow all Covid-19 health protocols.
The Covid-19 is real.
It knows no boundary and does not discriminate.
The Government last year imposed a lockdown, followed by a state of emergency, in its effort to have an isolation strategy so authorities could pinpoint if the virus was present after the first breach of security.
The Government, last March 24, declared a 14-day partial lockdown after the first coronavirus case was confirmed on March 20.
The purpose of the lockdown was to allow the Government to assess and put in place mechanisms to control and prevent any further spreading of the virus.
The announcement then caused confusion, anxiety and fear among the public with many describing the directive as harsh despite the restrictions being more relaxed compared to the lockdown but it had to be done.
The fight to contain the Covid-19 pandemic is global.
All nations are working together on this.
It was for everyone’s benefit that these measures were put in place – from social distancing to getting into crowded areas and the simplest reminder of personal hygiene.
The message of practicing hand hygiene (wash your hands regularly with soap and water), respiratory hygiene (cover your cough) and social distancing as a prevention measure was the new rule.
At one time…
Two glaring areas of concern that popped up during the state of emergency was the need to disseminate accurate information in order to maintain order and for people to remain calm.
How we communicate about the Covid-19 is critical in supporting people to take effective action to help combat the disease and to avoid fuelling fear and stigma.
Another was the failing health facilities and system.
PNG does not have the capacity to deal with this virus if there is an outbreak.
PNG has less than 500 doctors and less than 3,000 nurses for a population well above 8 million.
We, have, in place, the “Niupela Pasin” document which is the new way of living that makes basic hygiene and safe distancing a part of our new culture – as individuals, as families and as communities.
It means adopting behaviors and actions that are consistently practiced to reduce risk of the Covid-19 and other infectious disease.
It involves a society where people take responsibility for their own health and their families.

Sand mining proposal defeated

08 March 2021

NEWS DESK
PORT MORESBY – A controversial plan by the Singapore based Powerplus Group to mine sand along a 38 kilometre stretch of coastline in Madang has been defeated.

The government regulator, the Mineral Resource Authority (MRA), has written to mining opponents informing them of the withdrawal of the mine exploration application. This comes after the application met with strong opposition from local communities and environmentalists and concern from tourism operators.

Local people accused the MRA of having been co-opted by the mining company and hurriedly forcing through a consultation process without allowing local communities to have their voices heard.
Communities were worried they would have to relocate their homes and lose valuable fishing rights which they rely on for food and income.

There were also fears for the endangered leatherback turtles that nest along the coastline and the future of the Karkum Conservation Area.
Community opposition to the mining plan and the potential impacts gained national and international media attention.
The background of the company and business people involved were the focus of two investigative reports by the anti-corruption initiative PNGi.
Locals were also supported by former chief justice and politician Sir Arnold Amet, who is from Madang.
Amet had promised to support court action to challenge the MRA approval process.
According to the MRA, the amount of negative publicity generated by the mining proposal “caused the parent company to review its position” and withdraw its application.

Block access to porn sites

March 9, 2021 The National Letters

PAPUA New Guinea is a Christian country and we have a strong cultural taboo on obscenity and explicit content. Obscenity in our societies is becoming a norm.
As a result, kids in primary school now have easy access to porn via their smartphones.
It is polluting their minds. This is bad as they are the future minds of this country.
From that, we can see they type of generation we will have in the future. We had a lot of sex crimes committed in the last couple of months.
I call on the Government block access to porn just as Muslim countries are doing to save our future generations.

Patex Lukas,
Unitech

Speed up corruption investigations

March 16, 2021The National Letters

Heads of public institutions should be held accountable for everything that goes on within their organizations.
If an alleged corrupt act is exposed, the employer (State) should investigate the head without hesitation.
This does not happen in most cases due to the intertwined bureaucratic responsibilities executed corruptly by a network of cohorts who delay the outcomes of investigations to frustrate the concluding process to the National Executive Council.
The scapegoat is always the suspected whistle-blowers who are terminated for no cause. There should be a disciplinary watchdog unit created at the Prime Minister’s Department to crack the whip on agencies such as the Department of Personnel Management, Public Service Commission and Department of Justice and Attorney-General to speed up investigations on any pending allegations of misconduct against a head of a government agency.
By mid next week when normalcy returns, the Public Service minister will be under the spotlight to crack the whip on his department and the Public Service Commission for delaying the termination of certain political cohorts of the previous government.

New website reveals secrets of the loggers

24 March 2021

NEWS DESK
| PNGi Forests

PORT MORESBY – For more than 25 years, deep in the remote and inaccessible tropical forests of Papua New Guinea, a huge industrial complex has been operating.
Foreign owned companies have been bulldozing tracks, felling huge trees, cutting logs and dragging them to the coast to be loaded onto ships and sent overseas.
According to official records, since 1993 at least 78 million cubic meters of unprocessed logs, with a declared value of around K28 billion, have been exported from the forests of PNG.

It is an industry that has attracted much criticism. Rampant corruption was first laid bare in the seminal Barnett Commission of Inquiry, but a new Forestry Act that followed did little to stem the tide.

Allegations of illegal logging, human rights abuses, violence, trespass, environmental damage and unsustainable logging have all be born out in numerous court cases, published reports and even television documentaries; but nothing seemingly has ever changed.

More than 150 different companies have been involved in the plunder. Some of them, like Rimbunan Hijau and WTK have become household names, but most remain anonymous and unknown.

Who are the companies that have been involved in the industrial logging of PNG forests? Where have they operated? How much timber have they exported? And on what legal basis?

These are all questions that until now have had no answer; the anonymity of the logging industry is one factor that has allowed it to operate with impunity. But a new online forest portal, PNGi Forests, changes that.

The new portal combines data collected from a number of different sources shines a light on PNG’s industrial logging industry.

PNGi Forests, which you can link to here, allows the user to search and filter information on logging companies, their ownership, their logging operations and their exports.

Lack of funds forces hospital to scale down operations

March 23, 2021The NationalNational

By JINA AMBA
The Western Highlands health authority does not have enough funds to support its normal operations, says an official.
Acting chief executive officer Jane Holden said the Mt Hagen General Hospital closed most outpatient services and by Wednesday (tomorrow) hope to reduce inpatients from 250 beds to 100.
Holden said the hospital had been working on this for 10 days and currently have 138 patients.
This excludes the Covid-19 isolation beds.
Holden said the cuts applied to drugs and medical supplies meant they were being asked to buy the increasing volumes of the supplies and drugs.
She said if the hospital gets funding, they will try and maintain a service at 80-100 beds, if not, they will need to close.

Priests hospitalized after group of rascals broke into their house

March 23, 2021The NationalNational

Three Catholic priests have been hospitalized after a mob allegedly broke into their house and attacked them in Milne Bay last Thursday morning, Southern Region commander acting assistant commissioner Negi Riga said.
“The mob entered their house in Alotau at about 1am with guns and knives and attacked them. They also ransacked their house and escaped with valuable items,” he said.
“The priests are admitted to the Alotau General Hospital and are recovering.”
Riga said he has not received full details yet and is not aware of the motive behind the attack on the priests.
Meanwhile Alotau MP Charles Abel also posted on his Facebook page confirming the attack on the priests.
According to sources in Alotau, more than 30 suspects had broken into the house and assaulted the priests.
“Prior to the attack on the priests’ house, this mob also attempted to attack the Alotau Police Station but police open fired at them and they escaped,” Riga said.
“They then unleashed their frustration at the priests and attacked them.
“The priests’ house is about 50 meters away from the police station.”

Nurturing vital, says Dr. Ambi

March 23, 2021The NationalMain Stories

The increasing number of sexual abuse of minors reported in Papua New Guinea is a concern and it goes back to the upbringing of the perpetrators, an official says.
Directorate of Social Change and Mental Health acting director Dr. Uma Ambi said there were many ways of looking at the causes of such abuse.
She said to perform the act abuse on minors depended on ones choices, the person’s choices which could be influenced by other activities the perpetrator engaged in such as watching or viewing pornographic materials.
“It always depends on the person’s (perpetrator) upbringing which includes his or her home and family, peers, culture and the environment,” Dr. Ambi said.
“It may also depend on the person’s sexual desires.
“Some choose to do that because they have issues in their upbringing.”
Dr. Ambi said the perpetrators in these abuse cases were bad people (man or woman).
“The person (perpetrator) is sick, physically sick or psychologically sick,” she said.
“These are people with psychological and personality disorders.”
Dr. Ambi said these people were not mentally ill because people with mental illness could not do that.
“It has nothing to do with mental illness – it’s to do with their personality and their intensions (motives) and what they want to gain out of doing this,” she said.
Dr. Ambi said it all came down to morality and a person’s principles.
She said ultimately each family had to take the responsibility and parents needed to ensure that children were raised in the right way.

Allow women to prosper

March 9, 2021 The National Letters

IT is unimaginable and disturbing that the space for women to thrive is still shrinking despite the evangelical zeal for equal opportunities, justice and fairness.
The progress that has been made in opening up environments that nurture and cultivate women’s emancipation is still questionable.
From political arena, company directorships, science and technology to business and leadership, the representations of women are still far too low than should be.
Women’s full and effective participations and leadership in all areas of life drives progress for everyone.
Women in developed countries or developing countries are still facing some man-made insurmountable obstacles which prevent them from unlocking their potentials.
In some countries women are still oppressed on the pretext of traditions and culture.
They experience rape, forced marriage, genital mutilations and lack of access to education.
It is also a disgraceful that gender stereotypes are often used to justify violence against women.
Everyone should be involved in creating environment where women flourish.

Handsen Chikowore,
United Kingdom

People Displaced  by Flood

#pngnews #looppng #tvwannews
https://bit.ly/LoopPNG-YT

More than 50 people have been displaced after floods destroyed their homes and gardens at Tiri Village, Ialibu-Pangia District in Southern Highlands Province.

Community leader, Julius Kimba, said the continuous rainfall caused the River Mambu to flood, covering the houses and gardens along the river bank and locals who live along the Mambu River have lost much of their food gardens, homes and the footbridge.

The recent disaster has further worsened the situation on ground as Siwi-Utame has been lacking basic government services for years.
Kimba said it gets very difficult to reach out for assistance when natural disasters hit them.

Meanwhile, community leaders at Tiri are appealing to the Southern Highlands Provincial Disaster Office and the Ialibu-Pangia District Development Authority to provide relief to the displaced people.

Youth need role models, lecturer says

March 8, 2021 The National Education

By MARTHA DERUAGE
YOUNG people who waste their time on social media or on the streets tend to find purpose if they have a role model to look up to, a university lecturer says.
“Every human being has the potential to do something great with their lives and if young people find their purposes or are directed to the right path, they will do something great that will contribute to the country’s development,” John Kaupa Kamasua, social works strand leader and lecturer at the University of PNG, who is leading a book project that has a collection of successful stories of Papua New Guineans, said.
The book, Eight million possibilities, compiles stories of triumph and excellence from Papua New Guineans around the country and abroad.
Kamasua said he came up with the idea to start the book project in 2018.
He said story collections had been done and a committee was set up.
“The aim of the project is to change the mindset of people because when people change, the society change and that would ease a lot of social problems that we face,” Kamasua said.
“Story telling is still considered as one of the most effective ways of bringing across messages, inspiring people and selling ideas or concepts.
“A child from remote Karamui, Telefomin, Kaintiba or Baining will read the stories from the book and be inspired.
“A youth completing college or university education will read the stories and see themselves doing something with their lives, by developing confidence and self-belief.
“Everyone’s life is a gift that is meant to be shared with others.”
Kamasua said success stories of Papua New Guineans would have more impact if they were shared to the younger generations.

PPC: Cops facing rape charges

March 9, 2021 The National Main Stories

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK

SIX policemen are under investigation for allegedly kidnapping and raping a 27-year-old woman in Western’s Daru last Tuesday, Acting South Fly commander Sr Insp Ewai Segi says.
“The policemen allegedly took the woman from the Samari settlement at about 9pm to the back of the airport where she was raped,” he said.
“The woman has already lodged a police report against the policemen. They will be dealt with criminally and administratively upon the conclusion of the investigations.
“The Daru police station commander and the Office-in-Charge of Internal Investigation Unit were instructed last week to conduct a thorough investigation because the case is now of public concern and interest.”
Sr Insp Segi said the case was about individual policemen going rogue and tarnishing the image of the force.
“They will have to be dealt with individually,” he said.

Police: Crime rate rising

March 23, 2021The NationalMain Stories

CRIME rate in Madang is apparently rising fast because police visibility has dropped during the weekends because police vehicles have been locked up by the Madang district officer.
Police officers told The National that they felt unsafe and it was risky to respond to night calls of armed robberies and burglaries even just a few metres from the police station.
A police officer said the vehicles that were donated to Madang police were taken away and locked up at the Madang district office.
“I thought the vehicles belonged to the police because the money that were used to buy the vehicles were from the people and not our local MP’s personal money,” he said.
“If he says that the vehicles are overused, he should help the police service the vehicles and not take them all to his office when the crime rate in Madang is deteriorating fast.”
A resident in the New Town area said burglaries were becoming a daily and nightly nightmare.

Doctor raises concern over increasing number of children with cancer

October 7, 2020The National

Doctor raises concern over increasing number of children with cancer

THE number of children with cancer recorded at the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) is increasing every year but there are still many children with cancer in communities. Acting paediatric coordinator Dr Gwenda Anga said “In the last five years, it is estimated that around 300 children with cancer were seen at the hospital,” she said. “Initially, we had 20-30 per year and then it went up to 50-60 per year. “But we are still missing a lot of children.
“The increasing numbers is due to more awareness among health workers in recognising the signs and symptoms and referring them for further care.
“About 30 per cent of our children successfully complete treatment.” Dr Anga said it was important that children were brought to the hospital early to receive the treatment available.
She said the treatment for each childhood cancer was different and the regimes ranged from three months to two years – depending on the diagnosis.

We must change from extraction to inclusion

06 October 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/10/png-must-change-from-extraction-to-inclusion.html#more

PORT MORESBY – With the release of a new report today, Act Now!, Jubilee Australia, and the Oakland Institute, call for an urgent change of course from political leaders in Papua New Guinea. The report, ‘From Extraction to Inclusion’, analyses the country’s economic and development performance since its independence in 1975. The main finding is that the PNG economy has relied on the large-scale extraction of abundant minerals and other natural resources, under the illusion it will improve the lives of its citizens. Yet, on most indicators, PNG is faring worse than its Pacific neighbours and any progress that has been achieved does not reflect the huge value of the resources extracted.

“PNG has allowed some of the world’s largest mining, petroleum and timber companies onto its shores to extract gold, silver, copper, nickel, oil, natural gas, tropical hardwoods and palm oil,” said Dr Luke Fletcher, lead author of the report. “Yet, positive changes have been limited and the economic and social development that has been repeatedly promised has not been delivered. ”The report reveals that relying on the extraction of natural resources has failed to improve people’s lives for a number of reasons. The extractive industries tend to operate as enclaves with little connection to the rest of the economy. Foreign companies are allowed to externalise their enormous social and environmental costs while banking most of the profits offshore. They also contribute relatively little to government revenues. And the growth of these sectors has been accompanied by poor governance, theft of public money, and corruption.

“PNG has already lost much of its accessible forests – part of the third largest rainforest in the world – and this is a disaster for a country where forests constitute a key source of construction materials, food, and medicine for large swathes of the population,” said Frederic Mousseau, policy director at the Oakland Institute. “The pollution of land and waterways by mining waste has also had devastating consequences for local communities, compromising their access to fresh water, to food sources, and to prime gardening land.”

‘From Extraction to Inclusion’ also details how extractive operations often involve widespread human rights abuses. Communities opposing extractive projects face repression, threats, and violence. Through its comprehensive and objective review of the facts and figures, this new report makes it clear that it is urgent for PNG to change course and put people back at the centre of its development policies.

Frieda mine plan disregards human rights

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/10/frieda-mine-plan-disregards-human-rights.html#more

09 October 2020

Lyanne Togiba and Ben DOHERTY
PORT MORESBY – The plan for the largest mine in Papua New Guinea’s history carries a risk of catastrophic loss of life and environmental destruction and “appears to disregard the human rights of those affected”, according to United Nations officials. In an extraordinary intervention, 10 UN special rapporteurs have written with “serious concerns” to the governments of Papua New Guinea, Australia, China, and Canada, as well as the Chinese state-owned developers of the gold, copper and silver mine proposed for the remote Frieda river in the country’s north. The UN’s special rapporteur on toxic wastes, Baskut Tuncak – who has since retired from that role – and nine other senior UN officials, jointly signed letters in July “to express our serious concern regarding the potential and actual threats to life, health, bodily integrity, water [and] food”.

The letters ask for governments and the company, PanAust, to respond to key questions including an alleged “lack of information for free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous people” to the mine proceeding. The mine, if approved and built, would be the largest in PNG’s history, and one of the largest in the world, covering 16,000 hectares. To be built on the Frieda river, a tributary to the Sepik in the north of New Guinea island, it is forecast to yield gold, silver and copper worth an estimated US$1.5bn a year for more than 30 years.

The UN rapporteurs argue the “the project and its implementation so far appears to disregard the human rights of those affected”. There is particular concern a proposed dam to store up to 1,500 Mt of the mine’s tailings could break, destroying villages downriver. “The proposed location is a seismically active area. The risk of major earthquake causing damage to the dam will persist for millions of years. PanAust said it had engaged in “extensive and ongoing engagement … over several decades” with those affected by the mine, running information sessions in nearly 140 villages, attended by more than 18,000 people.

Do we really need sand mining in Madang?

https://mylandmycountry.wordpress.com/2020/10/13/do-we-really-need-sand-mining-in-madang/

As a Singaporean company with Chinese interests works to get approval to mine sand along North Coast of Madang, many Papua New Guineans are unaware of the impacts of this multibillion dollar global industry. Sand Mining remains, largely, under the radar in Papua New Guinea. The lack of understanding of the environmental and social impacts of sand mining puts communities  at risk of bad decisions that could cause  widespread destruction. Niugini Sands Limited wants to mine a  50 kilometer  stretch of beaches where people from 10  communities live.  The beaches also include the villages of Tokain and Karkum where endangered leatherback turtles come to nest every year. PanAust said it had engaged in “extensive and ongoing engagement … over several decades” with those affected by the mine, running information sessions in nearly 140 villages, attended by more than 18,000 people.

Moresby’s gangsters have high level connections

29 October 2020 – Scott Waide.

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/10/moresbys-gangsters-have-high-level-connections.html#more

For nearly two decades, senior journalists who covered the work of foreign cartels in Papua New Guinea have continually warned successive governments of the impending threat of organised crime. It is no longer just a threat.

In 2003, a father of three, came to the EMTV office in Port Moresby, his face covered in blood from a cut on his head. Earlier, he had an altercation with a Chinese shop owner in Gerehu after finding that his primary school age child had become addicted to playing horse race gambling machines. The machines were made of wood and the electronic parts brought in from China. The businesses that made them had warehouses in Hohola, Gerehu and several other locations around Port Moresby. They were essentially, slot gambling units that paid small amounts of money if your ‘horse’ won.  The machines had no clear legal classification at the time. They could not be easily taxed under the gaming laws and they were a cross between poker machines and arcade games. The man had found his son at one of the shops playing the machines when he should have been in school. He confronted the Chinese shop owner and the argument escalated into a fight.

This was just one of many confrontations that happened in a space of three years. It took several public protests, intervention by churches, the Public Accounts Committee and other government agencies before the proverbial wheels of justice began turning … slowly. The Public Accounts Committee, under chairman and Bogia MP John Hickey went after the cartels, summoning every relevant government agency including the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC). Hickey became the target of several attacks.  In one instance, in the middle of a Public Accounts Committee hearing, his house, in a relatively well protected area, was broken into. Police were called to the scene. He suspended the hearing temporarily and was in subsequent days placed under police guard. IRC Commissioner David Sode was called to give evidence. His testimony at the hearing exposed a network of businesses dealing in counterfeit products, illegal gambling and arms smuggling. Nearly every one of them was being investigated by the IRC for tax evasion.

As the investigation continued on several fronts, the cartels were bold enough to attempt to assassinate David Sode himself. Information was leaked from within their own circles and the police and the IRC came down hard and arrested a kingpin. According to the evidence gathered, the man had five gun licenses in his name, all issued by the government of Papua New Guinea. Within government circles, there was a lot of frustration.  Officers within the National Intelligence Organisation (NIO) said they had limited success convincing police to arrest several key figures involved in human trafficking and gun smuggling, despite repeated offences and evidence provided to police.

During joint raids by customs, IRC and the police Transnational Crimes Unit, the media was shown documents which were authorisations from senior ministers and high ranking government officials. The cartels were using government officials to authorise their operations. Several arrests were made. The lead police officers, the NIO and transnational crime unit faced stiff resistance when they tried to deport a group of foreign nationals during that period. The Chinese Embassy paid for lawyers to represent them, arguing that they had the right to remain in the country. The head of the NIO, Bob Nenta, eventually succeeded in ensuring the deportation happened. At the end of that episode, several people were deported and the horserace machine operation crushed.

Mother Saved

Medical stores blamed for disrupting medical supply chain

September 10, 2020 The National

THE five area medical stores caused many problems in the medicine distribution supply chain, a Public Accounts Committee inquiry revealed.
Committee chairman Sir John Pundari told Parliament yesterday that the medical stores were the “bottlenecks and may have outlived their usefulness”.
Sir John said a lot of medicine went missing or were misplaced in the stores.
“They have a slow response to orders and poor recording of medicine levels, (contributing) to medicine shortages in the country,” he said. He said security issues in stores around the country were raised during the inquiry by health department and health facility staff.

Bishop condemns rape, opposes prostitution

September 9, 2020 The National

A CHURCH leader has condemned as inhuman and cruel the recent gang-rape and assault of a sex worker in Port Moresby who was left to die on a roadside.
Evangelical Lutheran Church PNG head bishop Rev Dr Jack Urame said the men involved had taken advantage of her vulnerability and should face the law for it.
“They have no respect for the defenceless woman,” Rev Urame said.
“They only wanted to satisfy their desire without considering her safety.”
He said just because she was a sex worker did not mean she deserved that kind of cruel treatment. “No matter who she is and what she is doing, she is still human and deserves better treatment,” he said. “Gang-rape and beating a woman in such a cruel manner is unacceptable. “It indicates how disrespectful some men are to women, especially women in vulnerable situations.” He however opposed prostitution, saying human beings are created in God’s image “and not commodities to be sold”. “God created human beings and accorded them with dignity and value, not with price tags,” he said. “We are created in God’s image and we are his temple.”

Reflect on nation’s achievement, failures, says Bishop Urame

September 15, 2020The National

FORTY-five years as an independent nation is a long journey and everyone should critically reflect on the nation’s achievements and failures, a church head says. The achievements are our strengths and pride while the failures are lessons to learn from and find new ways to improve, said Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG head bishop Rev Jack Urame.
“There is huge potential to do more and better but we must admit that there are critical development challenges we must address and overcome them,” he said.
“Some of the challenges are manageable but others are not. On the occasion of our 45th independence anniversary, let us reflect on some of the challenges and address them so that future generations do not suffer the consequences of our ignorance today.
“We must admit that there is a lack of progressive development. There is an imbalance in the physical growth of our country.
“Most of the infrastructure development is concentrated in urban areas and many rural communities are neglected. Many of the colonial infrastructures are falling apart.
“Roads are deteriorating, bridges are collapsing, schools and health facilities are aging while law and order issues are increasing. “After 45 years, life in many rural communities has not improved much while urban migration continues to increase, thus urban settlements have expanded throughout. “This adds additional social and economic stress to the country.
“We have not sufficiently addressed the economic inequality – there are enough resources in the country to meet the needs of the citizens but living standard has not improved much and many families are living below the poverty line.”
Urame said the wealth of the nation was not properly managed.

Public service a threat to security & unity

16 September 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/09/public-service-a-threat-to-security-unity.html

NEWS DESK| Kalang FM News PORT MORESBY – Acting Chief Secretary to Government, Ambassador Isaac Lupari says the public service is a threat to national unity and security. He says the system of the PNG public service is broken.

The reason he says this is because there is no reform or policy development. Controls are lacking and appointments and recruitment are based on association rather than merit. Lupari says discipline is poor without sufficient investment in skills development and training. He says at all levels appointments are made based on political affiliation and place of birth.

At the provincial and district level, 99% of public servants in provincial administrations and 95% in the districts come from within, as a result PNG continues to see a continued decline in services. This extends also to our police service, schools, and health clinics. Lupari says public servants have become territorial where they act on self-interest rather than the interests of the nation, and they have failed to deliver for the public they serve. The government spends K4.6 billion each year on public service payroll.

“A stable and capable public service is critical to the unity and long term economic and social security our nation,” Lupari added

The Covid-19 ‘new normal’

16 September 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/09/the-covid-19-new-normal.html

MICHAEL DOM
LAE – The global pandemic of Covid-19 has had many repercussions to daily life and keeping abreast with World Health Organisation recommendations, the Papua New Guinea government has also defined the ‘new normal’ for its citizens. But to thousands of the peri-urban poor, struggling to survive during trying economic times, the impact of policing health measures is just another normal day.

At Nine Mile on the Okuk Highway outside Lae City, PNG’s economic hub, market vendors, mostly mothers, have set up their vegetable selling activities along the side of the road, seated one meter away from moving traffic. The highway-side markets have been going strong since the middle of May this year, even before the first official nationwide lockdown ended on 2 June. It’s a basic survival need for households with annual incomes less than 2,000 Euro (K8,000).Nine Mile market is one of a number of popular fresh vegetable markets set up on an informal basis along the highway leading out of Lae. It operates in the afternoons seven days a week but was officially closed during the April to June enforced Covid-19 lock-down, when an expatriate worker fell ill to the viral infection in a hotel at Ten Mile.

Informal marketing is the most important economic earning activity for more than half of the population while it is estimated that only about 15% of the country’s eight million people have formal means of employment. Yet informal vegetable markets are given scant attention by local level governments for even the most basic services, such as sanitation as simple as a source of clean water to wash hands, let alone a latrine. The best the women marketers at Nine Mile can hope for is that the police won’t turn up to run them off and destroy their produce, as was done to women in a similar predicament in the capital city Port Moresby.

This normal is not new.

True independence starts in the mind.

18 September 2020   https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/09/true-independence-starts-in-the-mind.html#more

LAE – If you don’t like the state of the country, commit yourself to changing it.  You don’t have to be in politics to do it. If there is trash outside your fence, pick it up. It is not the job of city and town authorities to pick it up for you. If people aren’t doing it, commit time to teaching them what is right.

It takes time and effort. Nobody gets paid. Don’t expect rewards. Building a country doesn’t work that way. If you have a job, if you are employed, arrive 15 minutes early every day. Work one hour extra each week for free. If you are unemployed or work for yourself, think about ways to help your community, instead of being a burden on those around you. Fix the potholes in your road. Yes, your road. Not the government’s road.

Make sure the children in your neighborhood, your community, your family, go to school on time. Help your relatives start businesses. Help your brothers and sisters create jobs. Help them to be independent. Why should jobs be created only by foreign investors? Why should we work for slave wages when it is in our hands to create work for our own people? If we are to work for pay, it must be for ourselves and for our own countrymen and women who understand the complexities of PNG society and the family obligations that come with it. Our systems are different.

Teach the youth in the community about the true reasons why the government allows alcohol to exist and allows the troubles it causes to go unabated. Teach them about the slavery of mind and spirit caused by alcohol. We have great opportunities here in this country. We have a young country waiting to be molded into how we want it to be. It starts with little actions, hard work and consistency. Stop sending lazy petitions to heaven when you have not done the work here on earth. Stop demanding for an end to corruption when you are a person that turns up late for work and mistreats your fellow Papua New Guinean. Shame the government into acting by being better than your leaders. Only an independent thinking people will choose the best leaders to represent them.

Mass arrest

September 21, 2020The NationalMain Stories

A GROUP of 81 students is expected in court today charged with cult worshipping, homebrew and drug consumption and drinking in a public place. East New Britain police commander Chief Inspector Joseph Tabli said two girls reported the matter to the Kokopo police station on Saturday after they were robbed of their bags and phones while delivering food to their boyfriends in the group. Police found the 81 students at the Mamapua beach between Butuwin and the Kokopo Secondary School in Kokopo. He said when police arrived, the students aged between 16 and 21 were allegedly in the middle of “worshiping” a young man. The 81 were taken to the Kokopo police station where they were detained overnight before being interrogated.
“The reason we kept them overnight was because they were drunk and unable to talk properly,’’ Tabali said. “On Sunday we began talking to them and called all their parents who expressed their disappointment over the activities of their sons.” He said 74 had been charged with loitering and released on a K100 police bail. One is charged with being in possession of marijuana and detained.
Six have been charged with being in possession of homebrew and granted a K400 police bail each.
The 81 students are expected to appear in the Kokopo court today.
Police will write to the schools explaining why the students have been arrested.
“While we will charge them according to the law, the schools will deal with them according to their own rules and regulations,” Tabali said. He urged parents to know the whereabouts of their children at all times. “If your child comes home late, question him or her where they have been.
“Know where your child is. You do not want police calling you to come down to the station or even worse the morgue to identify your child. “Talk to your children every day. Remind them the laws are there to protect everyone in the community and breaking the law will see them facing police.”

Mass surrender to law

September 28, 2020The National

MORE than 300 men have surrendered to Madang police for various crimes including arson, rape and cult activities among other offences, police commander Supt Mazuc Rubiang says.
He said 272 of them were from the Transgogol area.
Supt Rubiang said 83 had been processed and 25 of them were arrested and charged with wilful murder and sent to Beon jail. He said a further 36 men from South Ambenob surrendered and were being kept at Jomba cell to be screened and processed.
According to police reports, the majority of the men said they wanted peace and normalcy to return to their communities and had turned themselves in following weeks of law and order awareness by stakeholders in Madang. Meanwhile, Supt Rubiang said three major car accidents were reported in Madang on Saturday.

Children diagnosed late

September 28, 2020The National

MANY children with cancer in Papua New Guinea are diagnosed when they are in the late stage of the disease, doctors say. Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) general pediatric surgeon Dr Jack Mulu said in other countries, children were taken to the hospital earlier, diagnosed and treated appropriately. “For our setting they come at a very late presentation,” he said.
Dr Mulu was speaking during the childhood cancer awareness month celebration at the PMGH children’s cancer ward on Friday. “It has been very challenging managing these cases,” he said.
“Sometimes we just say we open the patient up, it goes beyond the operative, we say we can’t go any more because it’s inoperable. “Sometimes, when it is operable, we do everything under the sun and then we say we’ve done everything under the sun.
“With prognosis, sometimes they do well, sometimes they don’t but we continue and provide services. “We do what we can.” Dr Mulu said they had problems, shortfalls and limitations, but doctors at PMGH always did their best to treat and care for patients.
He said there were three pediatric surgeons in the country at the moment and three more were undergoing training. He said it was important to think about the other parts of the country as well and they hoped to train more doctors in the future.
PMGH acting pediatric coordinator Dr Gwenda Anga said there were 40-60 children with cancer coming through PMGH yearly and 20 were on treatment currently.

PNG’s job crisis and COVID-19
https://devpolicy.org/pngs-job-crisis-and-covid-19-20200807/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pngs-job-crisis-and-covid-19-20200807

There is no doubt COVID-19 is causing great economic damage all round the world, and Papua New Guinea is no exception. One estimate from the PNG Trade Union Congress is that more than 10,000 jobs in the private sector have been lost due to the pandemic and the subsequent state of emergency. Nambawan Super has recently indicated that unemployment claims are up by 25% in May and June.

There is no official data yet, but, if we accept the 10,000 figure, how big a blow is it? The sad reality is that PNG has been haemorrhaging jobs since 2013, the year in which PNG LNG construction was completed.

The Bank of PNG (BPNG) tracks formal sector employment every quarter. June 2013 was actually the highest that index has ever reached since independence. For the purposes of this analysis, we set that quarter equal to 100. Employment has fallen most quarters since. There was a brief recovery around the time of APEC at the end of 2018, but the index had fallen by March of this year to 87.6, its lowest since June 2013. This is a level not seen since 2009 – that is, more than a decade ago. In the meantime, the population would have grown by some 30%.

ANZ Research Pacific Insight 10 August 2020

PNG’s budget assumptions under threat, cuts inevitable

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Hon James Marape said recently that he was handed a weak economy in 2019 and that’s the main reason government revenue in 2020 will be well below expectations.

PNG’s economic performance has been below par for several years. The economy has been bumping around the bottom of the cycle waiting for a recovery in construction, in particular resource investment, to come through. Without such an upturn, 2020 was never going to be better. With no recovery in sight, it is no surprise that government revenue will undershoot targets this year, notwithstanding the impact of COVID-19.

With a smaller revenue pool and a large component of budget deficit yet to be funded (see below), we believe the government’s goal of sticking to the record spend of K18.7bn in 2020 is ambitious. In our view, it will have no choice but to cut expenditure via a supplementary budget later this year.

Many dying from preventable diseases, says doctor

August 12, 2020The National

MANY people are dying of preventable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and cancer, while everyone is focusing on the Covid-19, a doctor says.
Deputy chairman of the PNG Health Board Dr Mathias Sapuri said while the Covid-19 pandemic was a major health issue that required the government’s focus, the health system must be strengthened to cope with the Covid-19 as well as existing health challenges.
Dr Sapuri said the government must be mindful of preventable deaths from other diseases due to the reduced availability of essential drugs and medicines while more attention was given to the Covid-19.
“Most of our routine health services have ceased or scaled down and significantly affecting our nation’s health service delivery,” he said.
“We do not know the actual figures yet but reports are saying (that) more deaths are occurring due to diseases like cancers, malaria, TB and others.”….
“Public must not be made to feel scared to go to hospitals and get treatment,” he said.
“People with existing diseases need care and treatment.”
Dr Sapuri said medicines from overseas and health consumable supplies for many other health conditions were way past the eight month deficit.
The non-availability of these medicines has resulted in patients not getting the treatment they needed.

Sea piracy a concern

August 17, 2020The National

Samarai-murua MP Isi Henry Leonard says that criminals are strangling efforts to deliver much needed government services and economic projects in his large maritime electorate in Milne Bay. “We are really at the mercy of the pirates,” he said.
“We are spending most of our funds, time and energy in chasing them instead of delivering our programmes. “We just spend K500,000 last month in deploying a mobile squad from Port Moresby to hunt them (pirates) down in our many isolated islands.” Leonard said this on Friday during the presentation of the Samarai-Murua 2018 DSIP acquittal report to the Department of Implementation and Rural Development secretary Aihi Vaki. “The increase of sea piracy is also another very important factor that has caused a lot of business confidence to drop in the district and also affected the movement of people,” he said..

Clinic on the verge of closing

August 17, 2020The National

THE Salvation Army Clinic at Koki in Moresby South, National Capital District, will close in the next two weeks if funding from the government is not made available, an official says.
Salvation Army land and property manager Bugave Kada said the clinic was operating with its own means to serve the community since March 31. “It has been very challenging for us with limited funds to continue the operation and has come to a state that we cannot continue anymore,” he said.
The clinic signed a memorandum of agreement in 2018 with the Health Department but were never given funding until Oct 2019, receiving only K200,000. The funds sustained the clinic for six months until March this year. “Even with the Covid-19 and the closure of other clinic commends we are still operating to serve the community”
Kada thanked their main partners, the Health Department, NCD Provincial Health Authority and Christian Health Services who supported the clinic during the last few months
According to SA acting director for health Charlie Clement the clinic served a total population of about 27,000.
Services offered include general outpatient, baby clinic, immunisation, post-antenatal care, people living with HIV and Aids and other services offered at the clinic free.
Clement said the closure of the clinic would make life harder for the people.
He appealed to the Health Department, NCD PHA, and NCDC to assist with funding for the clinic.

Lack of audit raises concern

August 27, 2020The National

TRANSPARENCY International PNG has raised serious concerns on the Government’s lack of follow through on its promise to conduct and table a proper audit of Covid-19 state of emergency funding. TIPNG chair Peter Aitsi said with the August sitting of Parliament commencing this week, the Government had 21 days left to produce and table in Parliament a report on SOE expenditure, as required under Section 8 (3) of the Emergency Act 2020.
Aitsi said an announcement by Police Minister Bryan Kramer last month on the completion of an internal audit report covering K45.3 million in funding released to the Health Department raised a number of questions:
What about the funds and emergency supplies donated, given or otherwise injected into Covid-19 emergency response operations (figures TIPNG based on available public records indicate an estimated total value of these external contributions at approximately K145 million)?;
If not the Emergency Controller, then who is responsible for reporting on this additional tranche of funding?; and,
Why did the Government not use an independent external auditing firm? “TIPNG has not been able to see a financial report which comprehensively captures all the various contributions (funding and in kind) provided by both the international and domestic community in supplementing government allocations for Covid-19 emergency response operations,” Aitsi said.
“Our country has seen the overwhelming support and contributions made by international and national organisations to Covid-19 emergency operations since February.
“These contributions are all publicised on both mainstream and social media.
“However, as it stands, the government has yet to fully account for the total value of resources received and expended under the Covid-19 SOE,” he said.

PNG to be officially declared a ‘Christian country’

12:55 pm on 19 August 2020 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/423898/png-to-be-officially-declared-a-christian-country

Papua New Guinea’s National Executive Council has approved a proposal to formally declare the country Christian under the Constitution.

The Post Courier newspaper reported the preamble to the Constitution said PNG was founded on two basic principles – of cultural heritage and Christianity.

Prime Minister James Marape said PNG had more than 20 different Christian churches.

“Many who claim to be Christian integrate their Christian faith with some indigenous beliefs and practices,” he said. “The influence of the church has over the years transformed many societies across the country to the extent of replacing some of their cultural beliefs, while some have merged culture with religion.

Marape also said the churches provided 60 to 80 percent of social and welfare services in the country. “Church networks are trusted by most people.”

He said the proposal of declaring PNG a Christian country was justified by the overwhelming number of citizens following the religion and the influence it had on Papua New Guineans.

However he added that while the preamble starts with “noble traditions and the Christian principles”, Section 45 of the Constitution recognised other religions as well.

“Every person is given the freedom of religion and to practice it as long as it does not interfere with the freedom of others, but this freedom is not complete freedom.

“It can be regulated or restricted by the government for purposes of defence, public safety, public order, welfare and public health as per section 38 (general qualifications and qualified rights) requirements.”

Marape said Section 55 also further promoted equality of citizens irrespective of religion.

He said therefore any amendment to declare PNG a Christian country would not have any major constitutional implications.

The unChristianity of becoming a Christian state

30 August 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/08/the-unchristianity-of-becoming-a-christian-state.html#more

PORT MORESBY – In a recent article, Dr Eugene Ezebilo of the Papua New Guinea National Research Institute asserts that “PNG’s Constitution does not recognise Christianity as the country’s religion”.

He proposes that if PNG wants to be a Christian state, Section 45 of the Constitution should be amended to specifically recognise Christianity as the state religion and a state church be established.

Following this, the PNG National Executive Council recently approved a proposal to formally declare PNG a Christian country under the Constitution.

While this may seem logical for a country like PNG where 97% of its people identify as Christians, the framers of the Constitution understood that it would result in religious authoritarianism, a pernicious consequence.

The PNG Constitution finds its origins in God. It protects every man, woman and child and gives them certain unalienable rights while simultaneously conferring upon them certain obligations and duties towards fellow humans.

One could certainly argue, and indeed I would, that the PNG Constitution is founded on objective moral laws, values and duties, and the idea that God is the source of objective moral laws, values and duties, and, therefore, that God is the source of the Constitution of PNG.

The Preamble to the Constitution states in no uncertain terms that this nation was established under the “guiding hand of God” and pledges to pass on to future generations the “Christian principles that are ours now”.

Beyond these references in the Preamble, however, Dr Ezebilo is correct that Christianity or God is not explicitly part of the PNG Constitution.

Section 45 deals with freedom of conscience, thought and religion, and makes no reference to Christianity. This omission is intentional.

First, an explicit preference for a particular religion in Section 45 would be a direct contradiction of that very clause.

Second, Section 45 emanates from rich Christian concepts that find their origins in God.

The freedom to choose was given by God so that humans can decide to love and obey Him freely, for without the freedom to choose a person cannot truly love.

It ultimately follows that a person can decide to not love and obey his fellow humans and God. Therefore, Section 45 when referring to the human right of freedom of conscience, thought and religion is not in contradiction with Christian principles and teaching. It is consistent with them.

The case of Somare v Zurenuoc 2016, regarding the removal of sculptures from the National Parliament, hinged on the National Court’s interpretation of Section 45 of the Constitution.

The court’s interpretation was as follows: that everyone has the right to practice, manifest and propagate their religion and beliefs.

However, they are subject to a number of restrictions including not interfering with the freedom of others, not intervening in an unsolicited way into the religious affairs of other persons who have different beliefs, and, finally, not forcing their religion on other persons.

This interpretation is in harmony with Christianity.

The unification of the church and state would present several significant problems. Throughout history, it has resulted in states usurping power by claiming divine authority for political use.

The inquisitions throughout Europe at the beginning of the twelfth century are evidence of states managed by tyrannical clergies and evil politicians.

Second, the separation prevents undue influence on the church by the state. Every government measure is compelled by the use of force, which stands in direct contradiction to the principles of the Christian church.

The union of the church and state would result in the latter corrupting the former. History is replete with the desecration of churches by the state, such as the infiltration and corruption of the early Christian church by the Roman government.

Third, which church would actually be selected as the state church? PNG is home to a number of thriving and in some ways competing denominations.

The American legislator Thomas Jefferson recognised the importance of the separation of church and state.

Thanks to his and others’ efforts, the First Amendment to the US Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

This ensures both that the government does not show preference to a certain religion and that the government does not take away an individual’s ability to exercise religion.

In other words, the church should not rule over the state, and the state cannot rule over the church. With the separation of church and state, the freedom of religion and conscience is assured, conflict becomes less likely and cooperation for the common good is much more likely.

Christianity contains the foundational principles that permeate the Constitution of PNG. A lack of preference for Christianity and establishment of any official religion in the PNG Constitution is crucial for the sustenance of order and harmony in PNG.

It would be unchristian to amend the Constitution to give preference to Christianity.

Robin Oge is a medical doctor and public health scientist at the Port Moresby General Hospital

PNG hospitals brace for Covid-19 surge. 27 July 2020 https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/07/png-hospitals-brace-for-covid-19-surge.html

PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea’s Covid-19 outbreak could overwhelm its health system within days, the country’s pandemic chief has warned, as masks have been made compulsory in the capital, and the government has called in the World Health Organisation and the military for help. PNG’s pandemic response controller David Manning said a dedicated isolation unit

established in Port Moresby to treat Covid-19 could soon be overwhelmed if current infections trends continue. The largest number of infections are of healthcare workers who have been working in a Covid-19 testing lab and been exposed. The governor of Port Moresby, Powes Parkop, told Australia’s ABC that the capital faced “a situation that we dreaded, simply because of the impact of the virus and also our capacity to respond. “We simply don’t have the capacity, we don’t have enough space in isolation facilities, in the hospital, we don’t have enough medical officers and we don’t have enough equipment,” he said. By global standards, PNG’s known Covid-19 infections remain low – with just 39 confirmed cases – but it has trebled in just over a week. There are also significant concerns that infection rates are far higher than reported because of low testing rates, particularly in remote areas. Manning conceded that outside Port Moresby testing has been “very limited”. A nationwide testing sweep during the country’s declared state of emergency found at least 300 people with Covid-19 antibodies: it appears they have had the disease and recovered. PNG had gone more than a month without reporting any new cases of Covid, before two major clusters, first at the country’s military headquarters, Murray Barracks, and then at

Port Moresby general hospital. Marape announced masks would be compulsory outside the home in Port Moresby, a city where more than half of the nearly 500,000 population live in densely crowded unofficial settlements where social distancing is difficult. PAPUA NEW GUINEANS AGAINST VIOLENCE Dominica Bessie Abo Young Dr Rebecca Williams serving the remote rural people of Kompiam diligently for five years now. Many a times she reach the sick and dying on foot walking the rough terrains of Kompiam in Enga. She could have easily chosen to work in a Provincial or City Hospital but has committed her life to serving the majority of our population in remote rural area. As her mother I was concerned about her taking up this call initially but her reply to me was, “If I don’t do it who else is going to do it.” There are other health care giver’s out there like

her serving the population at large in the rural remote parts of PNG without much government support. They do not travel in limousines on paved road or fly in jet planes to reach their clients. They walk through rough terrains on foot climbing mountains, crossing fast flowing rivers in rainy or sunny weather. They need government support to continuously support the rural population. Most of the Church Health Services have been

closed for some months now due to lack of government funding support. Who is going to attend to the sick and dying in the remote rural areas of PNG? Successive governments have been barking a lot about wanting Medical Officers to serve in rural areas. It is only hot air where is the support?

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Domestic violence a pandemic in PNG: UN

July 14, 2020 The National

DOMESTIC violence is a different kind of pandemic in PNG which requires immediate action to stop, an official says. “Like coronavirus, it requires immediate action to stop – justice to hold perpetrators to account, health services to treat wounds, housing for women and children, opportunities for women to earn and control their own income so they can build a better life,” UN Women’s country representative Susan Ferguson said. UN resident coordinator Gianluca Rampolla said violence against women and children was a scourge. “Civil society, including churches and unfunded women’s organisations, continue

to carry much of the burden for this emergency,” Rampolla said. “The UN redoubles its commitment to support the Papua New Guinea Government as it bears the primary responsibility for recovery from this plague. “Prevention and response to domestic violence will improve the lives of many women and children suffering abuse; and prevention and response will improve the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic itself.” The UN thanked development partners for their support to eliminate violence against women and children in PNG. The Real State of Emergency. Jennifer Baing-Waiko The real State of Emergency is the Demon in your community, patriarchal abuse of power and resources: … Let’s all be honest about this we are surrounded by violence against women on a daily basis. At least once a week someone connected to me or near to me faces domestic violence. Just two weeks ago a women had her cheeks stabbed open by a husband who had to be taken to jail with our car. We jailed one of my close relatives for trying to strangle my cousin sister in my own house while I was breastfeeding my child last year and had just arrived home from Port Moresby. Our country is sick!! The sooner we confess it we

can start the process of healing it. Children growing up on the street at market places, neglected by their parents busy playing cards until late at night. Children physically and sexually abused due to neglect and acceptance of perpetrators in our communities!!! ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!! We have to pay police fuel money to come and protect us, families getting cartons of lamflaps as compensation for sexual crimes against women and children!!! Sick nation, sick people we have all become!! The foundation was never built properly we are crumbling to pieces let’s stop pretending that things are improving, they are not!!! We are only trying to cover the bleeding wounds and open sores of this nation. We want real and meaningful change, not money and handouts, bel kol mani!!!! Check yourself, reflect on your own attitudes. Our minds are in the gutters. We need to start with the next generation and build up from there. This is a cursed generation. Look to your

children and the youth of this nation for change. #womenslivesmatter

Official: 3mil living under poverty line

July 8, 2020 The National

AN estimated three million people in Papua New Guinea are living below the poverty line, a senior Government department official says.

Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) director of food security branch coordinator Brown Konabe said the data was based on a lack of income because one way to have food security was to have money.

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Konabe pointed out that the country had a high rate of malnutrition because of protein deficiency.
“Children under five years old have a very high level of protein deficiency due to not getting enough protein in their daily diet,” he said.

He said the number of those living under the poverty line stood at 48 per cent and was one of the highest in the world

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Covid-19 & the urban poor 11 July 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/07/covid-19-the-urban-poor.html#more

PORT MORESBY – On the eve of Papua New Guinea’s state of emergency shut down, little did informal vendors know how this sudden decision would snap their daily livelihoods. While the state of emergency was a crucial measure to prevent the spread of the virus, the restrictions imposed had a devastating impact on the majority of urban people.

“Suddenly everything comes to a close, like as if our lives were put to stop by a greater agenda,” said one vendor. The government was caught unawares and severely underestimated the impact of the lockdown on the urban poor.

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The belated attempts to provide food were uncoordinated and failed to compensate for the loss of earnings.
Morata is one of Port Moresby’s largest squatter settlements, one of many shanty towns and settlements throughout the country. It is densely populated; home to thousands of people whose main income is generated through informal economic activities. The impact of the state of emergency restrictions on the people of Morata was immediate and severe; with the poorest families faring the worst. Within two weeks, incomes had dropped by as much as 90% for the poorest families. On a typical evening, with an average of over 15 mouths to feed in a household, middle to high income earners were able to survive the first few weeks. Sadly, low income earners immediately went without food.

The primary problems revealed by our survey were:

Access to food and other supplies.

Public transport suspension.

Public gatherings prohibited.

Markets price increase.

Restricted access to health and education.

Hunger and starvation. 95% of households confirmed they skipped meals in the first week of the state of emergency and experienced hunger and starvation in the second week. Five percent of respondents went to churches to get food through the government supported feeding program.

The pandemic has amplified and further widened the gap between rich and the poor.

Gender violence: Much at stake in Jennelyn case 11 July 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/07/gender-violence-much-at-stake-in-jennelyn- case.html#more

PORT MORESBY – Never has a court case concerning domestic violence captivated the

nation like the one involving Bosip Kaiwi, charged for the wilful murder of his partner, Jennelyn Kennedy. Already there are public concerns about how police are handling the situation; concern justified based on many accounts of police officers failing to carry out their duties diligently and without favour or bias. The honest and dedicated police officers seem to be outnumbered by bad coppers who are tainting the image of the force. And all this exacerbated by other high profile cases swept under the rug. The result is obvious – public trust and confidence in the police force has been eroded to an extent where its members are treated with disdain and doubt. One gets the feeling that we are reaching a breaking point in our nation’s history as people lose trust in the justice system. It seems just a matter of time before we witness a nation engulfed in jungle justice where people will take the law into their own hands. In a country already marred by revenge killing, the last thing we want is for the justice system to fail totally.

Kennedy’s’s death and Bosip Kaiwi’s court case be a watershed moment in our nation’s ability to address gender based violence? The majority of Papua New Guineans would like to think so.

WHO: Too many die in childbirth

July 14, 2020The National

THE country has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the Western Pacific with two women and 20 newborns dying per 1,000 live births, says World Health Organisation

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(WHO). It is based on its 2016-2018 Demographic and Health Survey. “This number is unacceptably high,” says WHO country representative, Dr Luo Dapeng. “Although progress has been made in PNG’s maternal health statistics, too many women continue to die during childbirth.” Dr Luo said with the essential resources, skilled workforce and political leadership, many of these deaths could be prevented. “Families must also make it their priority to ensure that pregnant women continue their ante-natal and post- natal checks, even in the midst of the Covid-19,” he said. “This is very important to allow health-care workers to check for any early warning signs and treat any concerns. “Currently, only 40 per cent of women deliver their babies at a health facility supervised by

a skilled health worker.” HEALTH CRISIS AN EYE OPENER ON THE CARE FOR THE POOR Fr. Giorgio Licini. Post Courier – 14 July 2020, p. 11 The current crisis in the health sector in Papua New Guinea is an eye opener. The nurses and doctors of the Christian Health Services and Catholic Church Health Services have scaled down or completely interrupted work by the 3rd of July due to no release of operational grants and no payment of salaries by the government since January 2020. The financial difficulties of the government in these times of pandemic and apparent change in economic policies and foreign investments can be understood. The question, however, arises when it comes to the setting of priorities. The health services of the different Christian denominations in PNG cover about 50% of the total national health sector. The fact that they are located mostly in the rural areas, where there is nearly no government infrastructure, tells how vital these services are for millions of disadvantaged citizens in the country. Yes. Salaries may have been delayed by relying on the fact that Church management serves

as a deterrent against quicker abandonment of duties. And the Churches may in effect be able, as in similar instances in the past, to mobilize emergency resources for a few fortnight contributions. But the Churches are not raising taxes. Without government paid salaries, their health services would be all gone in much less than one year. The government must be careful not to undermine its claimed Christian inspiration with practices that jeopardize it, such as spots of blurred financial accountability, neglect of remote areas, financial rewards for hosting scores of asylum seekers and refugees who never aimed at our shores. The issue here are the rural health services. Should they fall again at a very low level of priority, then the commitment of the government to the most disadvantaged people in the country could be seriously questioned. In a post COVID-19 poorer world, there will be no margins for personal and corporate greed; or human arrogance will once again push millions to the fringes, and in conditions of

starvation, sickness, and death. Papua New Guinea is a rare example of a country refraining from investing in armaments and weapons of war. Still the task of ensuring sufficient financial resources for the required basic services, for the State machinery, and the infrastructural improvements for a growing population is daunting. Can’t waste a single toea. International solidarity helps, but not at the price of sacrificing human rights and moral standards. At the end of the day every person and every country are largely

responsible for their destiny. What is essential is the integrity and commitment of the leadership, which is immediately seen in the treatment reserved to the marginalized and the poor.

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PNG drops in human development

July 15, 2020 The National

PNG continues to plummet in the world human development rating 40 years on, according to Wewak MP and chairman of the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission (CLRC) Kevin Isifu. “This is a grave concern,” he said, adding that he would take this opportunity as new According to Isifu, PNG was ranked 78th in the United Nation’s Human Development Index (HDI) in 1995. He said in the same year, provincial government reforms took place in the

country. “This impacted very much on service delivery at the sub-national second-tier level of government,” he said. Isifu said in 2010, the HDI rating of PNG plunged further to 147th placing and further plummeted to 158th in 2019 – a drop by 80 places in 25 years. “After 45 years, we must reflect to see where we’ve gone wrong,” he said. “It is something that all of us need to question. “ “Every year, our gold, copper, oil, gas, logs, and fish are being exported. Every year, our budget is increasing. “We have so many resources yet our people are so poor. “It is time to go back and review these things.”

GBV out of control, says doctor

July 22, 2020 The National

GENDER-based violence (GBV) in the country has gone out of control and is an emerging public health crisis and serious human rights issue, a doctor says. Deputy chairman of National Health Board of PNG Dr Mathias Sapuri said the few high profile cases in the media of brutal murders and violent attacks on women and girls was just

a tip of the iceberg of a problem that had reached national epidemic proportions. He said the government needed to take decisive action to protect women and girls. Sapuri said a commission of inquiry should be established to look into the root causes of gender-based violence and develop effective policies to fight this social ill that was affecting society. “As a senior specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist in women’s health, I see victims of gender-based violence frequently and am alarmed by the widespread escalation of GBV in all parts of the country in the recent years,” Sapuri said. “The national government needs to take a drastic action to control and eliminate violence in all its forms. “We need evidence-based solutions for GBV in the country. “Without knowing the root causes of GBV in the country we cannot afford to adopt reactive measures to address a serious public health issue. “We have existing laws to protect the victims but sadly these are not effectively enforced. “The country needs a new approach to

dealing with gender-based violence and the findings of a Royal Commission can help us achieve that. “Women are victims in sorcery-related allegations, women and girls are victims of polygamous marriages, they are victims of breakdown in marriages due to mistrust and infidelity, women and girls are victims in younger age marriages, they are victims over stress on finances on families” he said.

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Concern raised over doctor, patient ratio

July 20, 2020 The National

AMONG bad health indicators facing PNG, the current one doctor to 17,620 patient ratio (1:17,620) is more than 40 times worse than the World Health Organisation (WHO)

approved ratio of 1:400, chief consultant to the University of Goroka’s school of medicine and teaching hospital project Dr John Tonar says. He said the medical school and teaching hospital project was attached to the current

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programmes the university was delivering; it would greatly assist PNG to reduce the ratio and its ailing health indicators. Tonar outlined the rationale for the project and the doctor-patient ratio stood out. He was accompanied by chancellor of UOG Joseph Sukwianomb. “Some developed countries in the world meet the WHO ratio, in PNG we need 23,000 doctors to meet that requirement with a current population soaring towards 8.9 million people,” he said. “The 120,000 health workers currently in our health system, just cannot satisfy the demand,” Tonar said. He said the only medical school in the country produced 30 to 50 doctors annually, a the cost of around K20 million under an Australian-devised curriculum, there were some

compromise in the quality of doctors graduating every year. “The scenario does not help the indicator, PNG is rated 154th out of 187 countries in the world in the human capital development index, the situation is not only for medical professionals and manpower in the health sector but other sectors as well. “We even do not have 1,000 doctors in PNG, we have below 950 doctors in the country, according to the National Doctors Association statistics,” Tonar said. He said with a 2.5 per cent population growth rate annually, with the sector leaning on deteriorating colonial health facilities with minimal manpower it could not absorb the demand. Tonar said the question was how the country could improve its ailing health indicators.

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/07/icac-will-not-be-politically-independent.html

ICAC will not be politically independent 22 July 2020 EDDIE TANAGO

PORT MORESBY – Papua New Guinea’s proposed Independent Commission Against Corruption will not be free from possible political interference under the terms of the draft bill to be debated in the next session of parliament. The prime minister will chair and the leader of the opposition will be a member of the committee that appoints both ICAC commissioners and the members of the oversight committee that will constantly review the operations, functions and powers of the ICAC. The prime minister will also have an absolute power to block investigations into corrupt conduct where he determines the matters under investigation should be kept secret on the grounds of national security, international relations or the public interest. Both these provisions are completely unacceptable and fundamentally undermine the basic principle of an ICAC that it must be independent and free from any possibility or even perception of political interference. The power to block investigations on the grounds of national security, international relations or public interest

is one that should be given to the chief justice who should make a determination on the basis of arguments from both the government and the ICAC. It should not be an absolute power given to the prime minister. Catholic Bishops raise concerns at Press Conference Port Moresby: Following a week-long Annual General Meeting (AGM), the Catholic Bishops

have raised concerns and issues relating to their ministry as shepherds and pastors.

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A press conference was held on Thursday, 2nd July, at which pressing issues were presented by the newly elected president of the Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Anton Bal, Archdiocese of Madang supported by sixteen other Bishops. “The primary mission of the Church is to help people to encounter the loving and saving person of the Lord Jesus. The Church is also concerned with the totality of the human person and their life in the world and therefore we have considered these issues,” stated Archbishop Anton Bal. According to the statement by the Bishops, the first point highlighted the joint decision of Catholic Church Health Services and Christian Health Services to stop work at health centres.

“The bishops came to the very difficult conclusion of endorsing the joint decision of the Catholic Church Health Services and Christian Health Services because the government has failed to pay health care personnel under these agencies for several months.” They are urging the government as a matter of justice to reimburse the full amount owed to the nurses, so that they may continue their crucial work of caring for the sick and suffering. There was also a mention made by Bp Francis Meli about the operational grants due since 2017 for the medical schools run by the churches. Bishop Anthon Bal said the Bishops are grateful for the measures being taken to safeguard the people of PNG from the threat of COVID-19. At the same time, the bishops urge the government to adhere to legitimate constitutional principles when instituting further measures. “We urge the government to adhere to legitimate constitutional principles when instituting further measures and that transparent accounting must also be made of all funds secured for the purpose of the COVID-19 mitigation and response.” Another point stressed upon was the issue of violence. Abp Anton Bal stated that the church

promotes the respect for human life at all stages and rejects all kinds of violence including domestic violence, sorcery accusation violence and tribal fighting. “The bishops join the wider society of PNG in their condemnation and horror at recent examples of brutality and violence toward women. These practices, which are all too common and often committed with impunity must cease,” he said. He also pointed out that the bishops are concerned that unscrupulous people are taking advantage of many people in our communities with illegal financial schemes and others who are lending money at exorbitant rates of interest. The Bishops are now calling on the appropriate government offices to investigate these matters and to prosecute those found guilty of these immoral practices which harm the poor above all.

The concern of asylum seekers and refugees was also raised at the Bishops AGM where they met with H.E. Jon Philp, High Commissioner of Australia to PNG and raised important issues regarding their welfare.

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Transparency and Coronavirus

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/05/transparency-weighs-in-against-corruptavirus.html 31 May 2020

| Transparency International PNG Link here to the full article which includes useful tables

PORT MORESBY – As most countries have begun scaling down safety measures against Covid-19, Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) has heightened its efforts in calling on the government of Papua New Guinea to implement measures to safeguard state of emergency funding against misuse and misappropriation. This call to action by TIPNG comes after concerns raised by PNG treasury minister Ian Ling Stuckey in early April regarding allegations that a bulk of the initial K23 million released by the PNG government for the Covid-19 state of emergency had been spent on hire cars and media consultants.

Although PNG prime minister James Marape and police minister Bryan Kramer have since refuted these allegations, the government has yet to provide verifiable evidence in support of their statements.

The greatest concern for Papua New Guineans is PNG’s track record of grossly mishandling government sanctioned special projects for which project funding and management are exempted from strict transparency and accountability protocols. Such protocols are normally provided under the PNG Public Finances Management Act, and include competitive bidding and the Integrated Finance Management System or IFMS.

The most recent example of exemption from these requirements was the 2018 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, hosted by PNG, during which, millions of kina are believed to have been spent by the previous government, often on questionable expenses. The debacle notoriously came to a head when hundreds of police, military and prison guards stormed and vandalised the PNG parliament over unpaid allowances. Despite calls from TIPNG and other PNG citizens, no financial reports have been made available to the public since, with many service providers still waiting to be paid.

If corruption is not prevented, Covid-19 could have a devastating effect on PNG, with the potential loss of life exacerbated by mismanagement and the misapplication of resources.

Our systems worked, so what happened?

04 June 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/06/our-systems-worked-so-what-happened.html 

| My Land, My Country

The quality of transport infrastructure – especially roads and bridges – determines the price of food. Apart from consumption, this single factor influences the rate of supply and demand to a large extent. Economists can argue about the theory.  But if you ask any kaukau and broccoli  seller in Lae or Madang where produce from the highlands ends up, they will tell you why their prices are high in many instances.

If a road section is damaged (which happens a lot), the bags of food have to be shouldered to the other side of the road where another vehicle has to be found. The carriers have to be paid and the vegetable dealer pays twice for transport. Where does he pass on the cost? To the consumer in Madang or Lae.

Papua New Guinea’s food security challenge has to be confronted on multiple fronts.At the top of the list of priorities should be local production and food security followed by the country’s food distribution network – roads and bridges. Food production and research hubs – if that’s what you want to call them – have to be reestablished.  I say reestablished because we had them in the 1970s and 1980s. They were called DPI (Department of Primary Industry) stations. Those stations were located in strategic locations around the country. They were nuclei for research, agricultural support and seed distribution.  Government workers lived and worked at those stations. Some still do, but without the support they used to get. Those stations were connected by well-maintained road networks managed by the Works Department, which had a similar system of works camps along highways and feeder roads. The DPI stations supported farmers by providing advice, managing disease outbreaks and attending to the impacts of natural disasters. All this was done by the government of Papua New Guinea.

We seem to be suffering from generational amnesia. It is baffling that we keep trying to reinvent the wheel when we already had systems that worked for our people. Why can’t we bring them back? ….

The bottom line is, we had systems in place. Systems that worked. We listened to wrong advice in the 1990s and look where it got us.

Lung cancer killing many, says doctor

June 2, 2020 The National

 LUNG cancer affects a significant population and is a top-killing cancer in Papua New Guinea, a doctor says. United Nations in-country physician Dr Mathias Sapuri said this during the commemoration of World No Tobacco Day by the PNG Cancer Foundation (PNGCF) on Sunday.
“It is important to know that smoking leads to the development of lung cancer,” he said.
“Children and adolescents should not pick up the habit of smoking.
“Exposure to smoking by family relations are common, where a parent or relatives currently smoke, it’s most likely that children adopt the habit.”
Sapuri stressed that passive smoking (the breathing of other people’s smoke by non-smokers) was a concern as it could affect people. He said it was important to break the cycle.

4,000-plus church health workers waiting to be paid

June 11, 2020The National

MORE than 4,000 health workers employed under the Church Health Services (CHS) are still waiting to be paid after more than four months, officials say. The CHS and the Catholic Church Health Services (CCHS) are calling on the Health Department to immediately release their outstanding pay and operational grants.
Catholic Bishop Francis Meli said the salary and operational grants from February to June as appropriated in the 2020 Budget were yet to be released. He urged the Government to pay outstanding operational grants for all church-run health worker training schools from 2017 to 2020.
They are giving the Government 15 working days to release the funds. “An indefinite stop-work will commence at 8am on July 3 unless outstanding salary and operational grants from February to August are paid in full and cleared by the Banks,” he said.
Bishop Meli said the churches had their own ethics and values and to stop work or strike was always the last resort. “But health workers and training schools have run out of patience,” he said.
“We know that it does not sit well with many but we have come to a stage where we have to make a decision for fairness and justice for our health workers nationwide.”

Agency hospitals may stop

June 26, 2020The National

 MORE than 700 health facilities run by churches may stop work next week if the Government does not release all their outstanding funds, officials say. The Christian Health Services (CHS) and Catholic Church Health Services (CCHS) were forced to serve a stop-work notice through the Health Department on June 10 giving the state 15 working days to release the outstanding grants from February because staff had been deprived of their salaries for four months.
Chairman of the executive and general assembly of CHS, Japalis Kaiok, told The National yesterday that the Government responded by releasing a month’s operational and salary grant of K6 million as appropriated in the 2020 Budget and it was distributed last Friday.
Kaiok said that was basically the February grant that covered two fortnights.
“Although the one-month grant was released, we still need the four months grants (March-June),” he said. “The church-run training schools operational grants since 2017 are still outstanding as well.
“To confirm with you if the government has come very clear and positive on their commitment for the four months, that’s something that we still need to hear from the Government,” Kaiok said.
The churches are an important partner in healthcare service delivery in PNG with 4,764 health workers, 745 health facilities and 19 health worker training schools.
“We are very mindful of the impact and the consequences it (stop work) will have on the population but we can’t compromise on our statement. “We will stand by the conditions of the petition until July 3.”

Momis bows out with a sense of fulfillment| Radio New Zealand

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/06/momis-bows-out-with-sense-of-fulfilment.html#more

AUCKLAND – In his last speech in the Bougainville parliament last Thursday, president John Momis spoke passionately about a political career that began nearly 50 years ago. He spoke of how it began in the early seventies when he was anointed by chiefs in Kieta in a cultural ritual and sent on a mission to help the people determine their own future.

Dr Momis said the success to date of the peace process is down to the unity, creativity and productivity of the people. “We are very lucky, although we face a lot of challenges, but we have also been very creative, productive and despite the  differences we have worked together to achieve so much,” he said.

The president also spoke of the coming consultations on the result of the Bougainville referendum, where the new Autonomous Bougainville Government will have to consult with the Papua New Guinea national government. He called PNG prime minister James Marape a responsible leader, who recognises the Bougainville issue is a national issue. Dr Momis encouraged both governments to continue to work together. The two term president said he will “bow out with a sense of fulfilment and a sense of gratitude that the Almighty has seen fit to ask me and you, mere humans, to share in his creative power to create something new.”

Plant More Trees campaign underway

17 June 2020https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/06/plant-more-trees-campaign-underway.html#more 

PORT MORESBY – A campaign to plant more trees in Port Moresby and Papua New Guinea has been initiated by Travel4Green (T4G) PNG, a not-for-profit project in partnership with Catholic Bishops Conference.The campaign has adopted the ‘Keep It Clean. Go Green’ under Pope Francis’s Laudato Si statement and the PNG Conservation and Environment Protection Authority’s recently launched ‘10-million trees in 10 years’ target.

The joint campaign is aimed at involving students in tree planting activities and monitoring PNG’s standing forests to make the environment and communities healthier and more livable.

Annual Progress Report 2019 for the United Nations in Papua New Guinea

Development Trends

The Papua New Guinea economy grew by 4 per cent in 2019 driven by commodity exports, agriculture and logging. Government expenditure prioritized free primary healthcare, infrastructure projects, and the Provincial and District Services Improvement Program.

Despite socioeconomic challenges including high rates of unemployment, especially among young people, lack of educational opportunities, underrepresentation of women in governance and decision-making, violence against women and girls, malnutrition and limited access to improved water sources, life expectancy continues to increase in PNG. Digital economic innovative intervention, and information and communication technologies (ICTs), also gained momentum in several government sectors. Furthermore, the Bougainville Referendum Commission conducted a peaceful, violence-free referendum.

Development Context

PNG, a lower-middle-income country ranked 155 out of 187 countries in the 2019 Human Development Index, is the only Pacific country in the low human development band of the Index. Population statistics indicate that 52 per cent of the population is below 24 years and 85 per cent of the population lives in rural areas.1 The country faces a number of challenges in translating economic growth into inclusive, sustainable human development, including chronic youth un- and underemployment, which remained unchanged at 2.40 per cent in 2019,2 as well as low absorption of school leavers into the formal employment sector.

Opportunities for formal tertiary education are minimal, and opportunities for paid untrained workers even more limited. Unemployment is felt, not only among the youth, but throughout the abled population. It is a substantial contributing factor to the challenge of law and order, to the continued, and indeed increasing, levels of crime and violence, and high costs of security protection. Uncertain economic conditions and rising fiscal pressure affect the country and contribute to the breakdown in the rule of law in both highland and coastal provinces. In all, there is an imperative for peace and greater social cohesion throughout the country.

The complex challenges and exciting opportunities PNG witnessed in 2019 included the change in National Government, a referendum on the political future of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, two budgets, a cabinet reshuffle, and new infrastructure such as the Coral Sea Cable communications system. A vote of no confidence in the O’Neil government in early May ultimately led to a change in Prime Minister in late May. On 7 June, the new Prime Minister, James Marape, swore in a full cabinet. Significant reshuffling followed in mid-November. Years of deflated economic and social progress, including political will, have put a considerable constraint on the progress of the new Government’s focus and other development work.

The new Government expressed its commitment to improving the quality of life for Papua New Guinean citizens by addressing health, education, and law and order. The Government proposed to grow the economy through investing in the skills, business and employment opportunities that would unlock the country’s potential, promote economic development outside of Port Moresby, and clamp down on corruption.
The Government set out to increase the country’s internal revenue by 50 per cent, from a PGK10 billion a year on-average internal revenue.

The wisdom from my culture

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/06/the-wisdom-from-my-culture.html#more 11 June 2020 SCOTT WAIDE | My Land, My Country

LAE – Three years ago, I asked my dad what the role of women was in his culture and how women were treated. This was when another incident of violence came to the fore. I needed to understand how his culture dealt with women and their place in society.  My dad is a man of huge contrasts; he is an immaculately patient being with a frighteningly explosive temper. He is not someone you would easily walk over. If you did, it was because he tolerated the situation or he walked away from a fight. His restraint was and still is legendary. He was not a saint. He did extend his share of violence to poor unsuspecting souls who chose to pick on him.

Even in his worst, he never laid a hand on my mum. The wisdom in his reply has stuck with me since. His was a warrior culture, where the men pretty much ruled the daily affairs of the tribe. The decisions on where to settle, which alliances to forge, which clans to attack and destroy were made by men. However, the secret counsel and the influence came from the women. Our ancient culture understood the purpose of the man’s ego.  The women guarded it. They did not interfere or publicly embarrass their men in front of their peers.  But in decisions that were going to be disastrous, the women chided and counselled their men.

The man’s wealth came from the women who cared for the gardens and the pigs in partnership with her man. A careless woman spelled the downfall of her husband. Society understood that wars could be started because of the words of women and disastrous battles that could affect generations in the future could also be avoided through a woman’s counsel. Women were not mere property.My dad said despite the fierce reputations of the grandfathers, women were rarely beaten or abused. Shouting or fighting with your woman in front of your elders was shunned. It spoke of a man with boyish tendencies, unable to control his emotions and unable to function as a thinking, intelligent warrior in battle.

He said it was expensive to fix domestic disputes that came to the attention of older people in the tribe.  You had to pay compensation in pigs and whatever they demanded. Basically, if you are man enough to strike your woman, you must have the wealth and the emotional stamina able to fix multiple relationships affected by your actions. Diplomacy in the home and outside of it was a skill every man had to learn.

Years ago, when my mum was a feisty, hotheaded, young woman, I used to hear her say during my dad’s most frightening moments, “Noken wari, em ba no nap paitim mi.” I understood much later why, he always calmed down.  First and foremost, he loved his woman too much to strike her. Second, as per the wisdom of the ancestors, it would be too emotionally expensive to fix several relationships that came with the woman he loved. The disrespect shown to his in-laws – the young men and women who came to look up to him would be very difficult to repair.  The trust would be broken and it would take years to fix.  To restore his honour, he would work to repair all those relationships.

The parallels to the 21st century relationships remain the same.  Abuse has high penalties –emotional, financial and legal. That is the wisdom from my culture. You have to understand your own cultural context from your elders

PNG TokStret (internet)

CONCERNS ON THE PASSING OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY BILL 2020

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MEDIA RELEASE

We make this Statement as protest. Firstly for the manner the Public Health Emergency Bill 2020 was rushed into Parliament by the Government and passed on Friday 12 June 2020. There was no prior wider consultation, openness, and debate in Parliament. The law was rushed in total secrecy without justification. Secondly, the law has serious constitutional issues, lacking transparency and accountability for political expediency, which required greater consultation with all stakeholders prior to presentation in Parliament.

We are told that the Bill that was introduced in Parliament was different to the initial draft that was circulated to Members of Parliament prior to the Parliament sitting on Friday 12 June 2020. The following are our fundamental concerns.

First and fundamentally, the Bill takes away the powers and functions of the Legislative Arm to the Executive Arm. In doing so it not only compromises the supervisory and oversight powers of Parliament on the Executive, but it surrenders or delegates its powers without reservation. A State of Emergency under Part X of the Constitution is a power vested on the Parliament during an emergency. This is so especially when the rights and freedoms of people under the Constitution are to be suspended and subjected to severe restrictions and deprivations. Only Parliament through the elected Representatives of the people can, when the occasion necessitates, make those decisions. By the Bill the Parliament’s supervisory and control powers under S. 239 appears to be abrogated and divested in the Executive Arm of the Government. The Parliamentary Emergency Committee provided for under Sections 240-242 are also been abrogated and divested of its functions to the Executive Arm.

Second, the Bill creates and confers more powers to the Controller seemingly without much oversight from the Executive (NEC) or the Minister responsible. While the appointment of a Controller is with the NEC there is no set criteria and qualification for the position of the Controller, except that he or she should be a public office holder (s. 7). It does not even provide from which public office the Controller will be selected from – the police, defence, CS, Health or such other public office. It is left to the prerogative of the NEC. The functions and powers of the Controller are quite unlimited during the period of the emergency (ss. 8, 9). This is dangerous given the experiences the common people experience with the law enforcement authorities in normal times. More so, when the Emergency Act already abrogates and restricts the Constitutional rights to privacy, movement, personal liberty, free speech, etc., of the people. It imposes a double jeopardy for the people.

Third, “emergency” is not adequately defined under the Bill. Any definition must be consistent with the meaning set out under Sections 226-243 of the Constitution. The definition under the Bill does not reference the relevant Constitutional provisions. This is dangerous especially when powers are left to the Executive Government of the day.

Fourth, financial accountability of public funds is seemingly without transparency and accountability. The normal safeguards to accountability under the Public Finances (Management) Act 1995, and the National Procurement Act 2018 are also suspended. It leaves room for misuse of public funds for the emergency without scrutiny and accountability. The Act effectively removes the oversight powers of the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament to the Controller.

While it is understood that the suspension of the PFMA Act and the National Procurement Act is intended to avoid the cumbersome procurement procedures in emergency situation, the oversight functions and powers of the Auditor General (SS. 213-214, Constitution) and the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (SS. 215-216, Constitution) cannot be removed. The Act abrogates their powers and functions and vests on the Controller, who is not duly qualified, and who only reports to the Minister responsible and to the NEC. Emergency if at all is a good reason for use of Certificate of Inexpediency as opposed to the public tender process under the FFMA. However, a Bill that extricates itself of the whole PFMA is a sign of bad motive.

The law does not even allow for the application of the Audit Act and the powers of the Auditor General to audit the books of the Controller after the emergency period. When audit is brought under the Audit Act it will subject the Controller to the oversight function of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament. Parliament under the Bill will be totally divested of its powers to the Executive Government, which raises serious constitutional questions.

Fifth, the following constitutional rights and freedom of the people will be suspended and deprived – liberty of the person (S. 42), freedom from arbitrary search and entry (S. 44), freedom of expression (S. 46), freedom from assembly and association (S. 47), right to privacy (S. 49), right to freedom of information (S. 51), right to freedom of movement (S. 52), and protection from unjust deprivation of property (S. 53) for the cause of public interest in public safety, public order, and public affair. This is a major fear. The Constitutional implications in the deprivation of these civil rights of the people under Section 233 of the Constitution will need the interpretation of the Supreme Court.

Sixth, the Bill does not include provisions for “Extra-Territorial Application” of the Emergency law to PNG Citizens and subjects including PNG Flagged Vessels overseas; nor does it include its application to Foreign Flagged Vessels in PNG territory. The Bill does not include under the definition of “Vessel” reference to the Merchant Shipping Act and or the National Maritime Authority Act to allow the emergency law to apply to all vessels including PNG Flagged Vessels overseas and Foreign Flagged vessels in PNG territory. The role of the NMSA in this situation is not specified.

Seventh, the penalty provisions are too onerous considering the freedoms and rights being deprived on the one hand and the K50, 000.00 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years (individual) and K500, 000.00 (corporate) fines for breaches of the emergency law on the other under S. 44. While the penalties are designed to deter and enforce the emergency laws and directions it is too onerous and untenable.

Eighth, the transitional and savings provisions under sections 53 and 54 of the Bill has retrospective effect to all past actions, decisions, procurements, monies received and used under the past emergency laws and regulations. Any transparency and accountability of the funds, assets, contracts and works etc., under the repealed Emergency (General Provisions) (COVID 19) Act 2020 will be at the discretion of the Controller, Minister responsible and the NEC. There is no further oversight from the Auditor General or the National Parliament under the Bill.

The Bill has the appearance of creating Marshall law and Police State. It is a dragonian law to democratic rights and freedoms of people. This type of law cannot be allowed in a Constitutional democracy where the freedom and rights of the people are given special protection under the Constitution. It is a law that takes away the oversight powers of the Auditor General and the Parliament through its Public Accounts Committee. It will serve a bad precedent for future Governments.

The Bill extricates itself from the application of the Constitutional law, which is tantamount to altering the Constitution. This is a serious Constitutional point. To alter Constitution it requires wider consultation and over a number of sittings of Parliament over time intervals. It was not the case with this Bill.

In light of the above concerns, we had recommended for the presentation of the Bill to Parliament be delayed and allow for wider consultation with Constitutional offices, relevant State departments, think-tank groups and organisations, churches, and the civil society. We also thought it was necessary to seek a Supreme Court advisory opinion on the Constitutional implications of the Bill. There is no real or perceived threat or danger to public good and welfare to rush and push this Bill into law, especially when we do not have local data, evidence, or deaths in PNG yet for such urgency. Reliance on outside advice and situations alone is no justification for the urgency.

We are a faith-based professional organisation and we are also concerned with the extreme restrictions under emergency laws affecting our churches and religious faith and worship activities. Whatever we do God must not be left out of the planning and measures taken in any emergencies. Our churches and people have been praying and will continue to pray for the protection and end to this Covis-19 Pandemic.

FINALLY, GIVEN THE PASSING OF THE BILL WE CALL ON THE OMBUSDMAN COMMISSION TO INITIATE A CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENCE IN THE SUPREME COURT TO DETERMINE THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THIS EMERGENCY LAW.

Paul Harricknen, OL President CATHOLIC PROFESSIONALS SOCIETY PNG

PNG Heading for Recession

08 May 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/05/png-heading-for-recession-say-forecasts.html

| Business Advantage PNG | Edited extracts

PORT MORESBY – Economists are forecasting a recession in Papua New Guinea in 2020 as the country struggles to deal with the global crisis caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.

The ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has also downgraded the country’s debt.

A report by ANZ Bank predicts that the PNG economy will be in recession in 2020, contracting by 2.6%. It says government expenditure will increase to ‘an all-time high’ of K19.3 billion, while revenue will fall by K2.5 billion. “The PNG government will have a shortfall of K1 billion in petroleum taxes and dividends, which, in turn, is due to a collapse in oil prices,” the report said. “We believe another K1.5 billion of projected overall tax revenue won’t be realised due to a lacklustre economy.

“The shutdown of the Porgera gold mine while the operator, Barrick Niugini, pursues a legal challenge to the government’s decision not to extend its special mining lease, along with disruptions at the Kainantu gold mine due to landowner disputes, will impact revenue.

Porgera Gold Mine

Business Advantage PNG (Paul Barker)

PORT MORESBY – There will be repercussions from the Papua New Guinea government’s decision not to renew the special mining lease on the Porgera gold mine. The Porgera valley is a very complex place, with communities long vying for control. Anyone treading in it should do so lightly, with thorough consultation and knowledge of that situation and avoiding disruption.

Barrick and its predecessor, Placer Pacific, had their difficulties over the years, with criticisms on social and environmental grounds, most of which the company denied.

However, the company effectively became the authority and the provider of jobs and all government services in the valley, which had a small population when it started over 30 years back and is a burgeoning community now….

Whatever the merits of the PNG government takeover or transfer plans for the Porgera mine, they will require very considerable preparation, capital, staffing and logistics to put into effect, all of which will take time and effort, and resources, which are not in great supply right now….

The government’s aspiration for taking control of PNG resources and the economy is understandable, in terms of the major overseas (and some local) resource grabbing over forests, land, marine resources, and even small businesses and jobs over recent years, and in the face of the major disappointment over the surprisingly low revenue from the extractive sector by the mid-2010s, when the government envisaged major revenue flows and planned major public expenditure….

It seems critical that a lot more dialogue is needed and an amicable outcome that does not jeopardise the limited harmony in the Porgera Valley, does not disrupt operations, employment of revenue unduly in 2020 and which does not further undermine shaky investor confidence in PNG.

Transparency to examine bias in PNG press

04 May 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/05/transparency-to-examine-bias-in-png-press.html#more

The question that has been asked by the public is; to what extent is there a bias in the media on governance issues, and more importantly, will it matter in the next major national event, e.g., the current Covid-19 emergency or the 2022 general elections?

To address this question, TIPNG looked at media trends on how the daily newspapers in PNG report on governance.

In PNG, most people rely more on print media than social media for their daily dose of current affairs and information. For this reason, understanding local print media story choices and general trends is important.

While PNG has enjoyed a relatively free media this has been under threat in recent years.

For instance, the 2020 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) world press freedom index assessed PNG to have a press whose independence is ‘endangered’, with a corresponding drop of eight places in rank since last year. Interestingly one of the reasons cited by RSF for the diminished ranking is that “Journalists nonetheless continue to be dependent on the concerns of those who own their media.”

The threats to PNG’s media freedom are most obvious when it comes to major national events that require objective reporting in the public interest.

Recent instances where the ability of the media to report have been hampered by other interests (often political) include the 2017 national election, the 2018 APEC leaders’ summit, the 2019 political transition and the 2020 Covid-19 public spending issue. Journalists in PNG are further disadvantaged by the lack of Right to Information (RTI) legislation to enable them to obtain public documents from the State. In the absence of a RTI law in PNG the media outlets are further beholden to political interests as sources of information – which further erodes public trust in news outlets.

Multi-drug resistant TB (MDRTB)

Facebook 15 May. Jimmy Drekore 

20th March PNG Reported First Covid-19 Imported Case

22nd March I stated MDRTB was more lethal than COVID-19

11th May Six Mile Clinic alone recorded 291 confirmed TB cases (last 4 months).

IF we are not vigilant it will lead to MDRTB and that PNG you can embrace yourself.

Marape Government Fails to tackle Corruption

20 May 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/05/marape-government-fails-to-tackle-corruption.html

James Marape was elected as prime minister on the back of a growing wave of discontent about political corruption and the misuse of public funds – and the initial signs from the new government were promising.

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee emerged from the shadows to hold televised hearings into the procurement of medicines and medical supplies in Health Department secretary Kase was quietly removed.

A high-powered commission of inquiry was appointed to investigate the disastrous UBS loan scandal. Vocal corruption critic Bryan Kramer was appointed police minister and ex-Task Force Sweep boss Sam Koim took command at the Internal Revenue Commission.

Meanwhile, the legislation to establish an Independent Commission Against Corruption was dusted off and brought back to parliament.

But the initial wave of optimism that the Marape government would decisively tackle the chronic corruption that is undermining service delivery and impoverishing the nation has been dashed in the face of overwhelming evidence that in Papua New Guinea it is business as usual.

Government minister William Duma, who managed to walk away from the Manumanu land scandal without facing charges despite the weight of the evidence, seems just as immune from any sanction over the Horizon Oil scandal.

The Australian chief executive of the oil company has been terminated after the board described his position as ‘untenable’ but Duma has not even been made to step aside while Australian and local police investigate.

Meanwhile 38 of the 40 Maseratis which sell for around $140,000 each in Australia are still sitting idle in a warehouse in Port Moresby. Yet the Minister responsible for the purchase, Justin Tkatchenko, who falsely claimed firstly that the cars were being imported at no cost to PNG and then were ‘selling like hot cakes’ has not answered for misleading statements or the waste of upwards of K20 million.

To make matters worse, while some APEC vehicles are sitting idle, the government is again spending millions of kina on hire cars to help with the COVID-19 response.

Nowhere is the lack of accountability more apparent than at the very heart of the prime minister’s own department……

While some people may point to the current COVID-19 crisis and state of emergency as having stalled progress on the ICAC and the UBS commission of inquiry, the truth is things were moving at a glacially slow speed even before the pandemic. In the last 10 months, despite a smattering of arrests and charges, there has not been one prosecution of a high profile leader for corruption or misappropriation and not one minister has been forced to resign or even temporarily step aside.

Group calls for lowering of flag

May 22, 2020The National

THE Catholic Professionals Society of PNG has called for the LGBTQ (lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer) flag to be lowered, saying that it was a threat to the country’s moral standing as a Christian nation. The society’s president Paul Harricknen said PNG was founded on the preamble of a Christian foundation and local tradition. “We have nothing against the LGBTQ community, our forum here today (yesterday) is about foreign governments pursuing their interest in our country,” he said. “It’s about the flag been raised, such an action makes a statement and we are against that statement because marriage is a union between a man and a woman.” “We call on our leaders of Government, civil service, churches and people to be vigilant against any blind reception of advices and terms and conditions from foreign aid givers and funding donors which are aimed at eroding and destroying our founding values, beliefs, faith and morality.
“We have a duty to safeguard these values, beliefs and principles for the present and future generations. We hope the Government can take heed of this issue. If PNG is to pursue the dream of becoming the richest black Christian nation, then issues of moral values and principles, beliefs and faith must be vigilantly safeguarded.”
Harricknen said they were not trying to incite any hate or violence against the community but only wanted the flag to be lowered.

Be vigilant: Doc

May 27, 2020The National

THE daily increase of the coronavirus cases in West Papua is a great threat to Papua New Guinea, says the State of Emergency (SOE) deputy controller and acting Health secretary Dr Paison Dakulala. The Papua region of Indonesia has seen an increase of 65 new cases, bringing a total of 686 confirmed cases.
Dr Dakulala said this week that the alarming increase meant that PNG was still in the danger zone and people should not be complacent.
In the Western Pacific region, countries worth noting are: Indonesia – 22,271 (1,372 deaths); West Papua – 130 (2 deaths); Papua – 556 (8 deaths); Singapore – 31,616 (23 deaths); Australia – 7,114 (102 deaths); Fiji – 18 (no deaths) and New Zealand – 1,504 (21 deaths)
For PNG citizens and residents stranded abroad, the Government is working to bring them back and this includes the 127 in Fiji.

PM presents over K1.8mil to bushfire victims

May 25, 2020The National

PRIME Minister James Marape presented a cheque for more than K1.8 million to the Australian government on Thursday to help those affected by bushfires earlier this year. The funds were raised through the PNG Hearts for Australia Fire Appeal 2020 by the PNG Government, business houses and individuals. In conveying PNG’s sympathies for those affected by the bushfires, Marape said it was not the amount that mattered but the goodness and kind gesture of our hearts. “We owe it to each other as neighbours, friends and wantoks,” Marape said told Australian High Commission Jonathan Philp. He said PNG’s relations with Australia was not by choice but by “our geographical location and dates back many centuries”.

The State of Emergency Cannot Fix Years of Negligence  — Michael Kabuni

Department of Pacific Affairs, In Brief 2020/15

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has registered eight positive COVID-19 cases across five different provinces since March 2020, though all have recovered. A two-week nationwide state of emergency (SOE) and lockdown to curtail the movement of people were initially declared on 23 March when the first case was reported. The SOE was extended for another two months when it expired, whilst the lockdown was lifted. The lockdown restricted travel between provinces and mandated a complete shutdown of non-essential services, whilst the SOE prevents international travel and travel to selected provinces. Despite these efforts against the spread of COVID-19, seven of the domestic cases were from local transmission. The cases of local transmission in Western Province — despite the restrictions on travel and the military deployed to monitor the borders — point to an ineffective monitoring of provincial borders, which was intended to restrict internal travel as well as travel between PNG and Indonesia, and highlight how a long-neglected health system could be put to the ultimate test during the pandemic.

This In Brief argues that PNG’s reliance on the SOE and lockdowns to contain COVID-19 is proving difficult due to years of government negligence that have led to both poor health infrastructure and limited police and military capabilities, including the ability to adequately police unauthorised movements across PNG’s borders.

DWU students, staff receive masks sewn by volunteers

May 28, 2020The National

STUDENTS and staff of Divine Word University (DWU) in Madang are beneficiaries of washable face masks sewn by a group of volunteers led by Sr Monika Steinberger. This was one of the measures DWU took to safeguard the university community from the coronavirus pandemic.
The project was supported by non-government organisation Bread for the World.
Sr Monika, who works as a counsellor at DWU, said the project began early last month and 3,400 masks were completed and distributed to students free while staff paid K3 for one. She said: “By May 11, all students received one mask each and we aim that by June 1 all students will be provided with a second one. “Thus, in case the virus reaches Madang at any time, students are prepared to wear the protective masks.
“A total of 400 masks have been sold to DWU staff and employees of Diwai Enterprise Ltd, the business of the university. “We hope to complete our project by June 5.” The masks are being made from household materials.
Precautionary measures are taken to ensure the materials are good enough to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 in lecture rooms, students’ mess and other public places on campus. “Bread for the World is covering the cost for the students’ masks.” The volunteers sewing the masks include DWU staff, female students, sisters from the Catholic Church and Catholics from the communities.

Who’s financing deforestation in Papua New Guinea? A new report follows the money.

By Rachel Ramirez on May 18, 2020

Who’s financing deforestation in Papua New Guinea? A new report follows the money.

Papua New Guinea has one of the largest expanses of tropical rainforest on the planet. But in recent years the island nation just north of Australia has seen a surge in deforestation from logging and mining, which has threatened to release large stores of carbon into the atmosphere.

Deforestation has left behind patches of bare land across the country, and indigenous communities bear the brunt of the environmental consequences. Many are wary of companies that clear the land without providing something to the local community in return. So in 2017, when the Malaysian timber company Maxland secured a permit to clear rainforest on the country’s Manus Island, it promised to plant three to five million rubber trees and said it would benefit nearby communities through jobs, royalty payments, and improved infrastructure.

Critics say that Maxland is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. According to a new report released this month by the human rights and environmental watchdog Global Witness, Maxland has not planted a single rubber tree, despite being two years into its five-year contract. Instead, the report claims that the company has prioritized illegal logging and exporting the island’s valuable hardwood timber, raking in millions of dollars in the process…..

Can coronavirus bring positive change?

28 May 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/05/can-the-middle-class-reform-the-economy.html#more   Philip Fitzpatrick

History tells us that more often than not the educated middle class are the change agents in society. This is why the Australian administration in Papua New Guinea was keen to establish an educated middle class prior to independence.

The theory goes that while the lower classes are busy concentrating on survival and the upper classes on protecting and increasing their wealth only the educated middle class has the inclination, wherewithal and time to think about social issues.

What is recognisable as the middle class actually contains two sub-sets, the educated and the aspirational. The former is largely made up of the caring professions, doctors, nurses, teachers, journalists and the like, while the latter is made up of business people. Aspirational thinkers among the middle class usually spend their days trying to climb up social ladders and tend not to be too concerned about social conditions except where they affect them directly.

It is unfortunate when the educated sub-set of the middle class becomes too comfortable and complacent because that makes change difficult. This has become blazingly obvious in places like Papua New Guinea. In Papua New Guinea the distinction between the educated and the economically aspirational disappeared very quickly. The result is a single hybrid middle class whose main interest is looking after its own interests….

An old French saying is “plus les choses changent, plus elles restent les mêmes” (the more things change the more they stay the same).

Right now, various governments across the world are grimly determined that things will indeed stay the same.

They are bending their will and resources to exactly this end: a return to normality.

Normality means a neo-liberal world in which the interests of the powerful and the wealthy take precedence over those of the poor, the weak and the helpless.

The relentless exploitation of the environment and people must be allowed to proceed at all costs, so as to fulfill the endlessly repeated mantra of “jobs n’ growth”.

Vigilant Nurse

Health system unprepared for virus

10 April 2020

Human Rights Watch

SYDNEY – Even before the coronavirus, the fragile health system in Papua New Guinea was underfunded and overwhelmed, with high rates of malaria, tuberculosis, and diabetes among its population of more than eight million.

Access to hospitals is extremely limited, with 80% of the population living outside urban centres. Prime Minister James Marape has acknowledged the country has only 500 doctors, less than 4,000 nurses, and around 5,000 beds in hospitals and health centres. The country reportedly has only 14 ventilators. A Covid-19 outbreak would be catastrophic.

To date, there have been two confirmed cases of Covid-19 in PNG. It could be that PNG will be spared the scale of the pandemic seen elsewhere such as Wuhan, a dense urban area with a mobile and older population. But Police Minister Bryan Kramer has acknowledged the country has a limited capacity to test people, raising concerns that the actual number of cases is higher.

Despite Marape’s assurances that personal protective equipment would be made available to health workers, the Ministry of Health released a situation report on 13 March detailing chronic deficiencies, as well as inadequate training on use of such equipment

Broken health system braces for Covid-19

12 April 2020

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/04/broken-health-system-braces-for-covid-19.html#more

 KOKOPO – The first that staff at Nonga General Hospital in Papua New Guinea heard that they had been treating someone with coronavirus, was when they saw the country’s prime minister announce it in televised press conference on Monday. They had been treating the patient, a volunteer health worker at the hospital, for pneumonia. She originally came into the hospital in late March, but recovered and was discharged, before her symptoms worsened and she was readmitted.

“This person wasn’t put into isolation or even a different ward. She has been walking around freely in the past few days and talking with us, so we are scared. We all left the hospital and are waiting for someone to come and explain what is happening,” said Margaret Melke, a nurse in Rabaul district, where Nonga Hospital is located.

The woman, who is now recovering at her home, is the second confirmed case of Covid-19 in Papua New Guinea. The first was an Australian mining worker, who had flown into the country. But this time the infected person is a local, who had not recently travelled abroad. The case was detected in a village near Rabaul, a harbourside town on the island of East New Britain.

The prospect of the arrival of coronavirus in a country with just 500 doctors and around 5,000 hospital beds and which struggles to deal with even routine illnesses has terrified the public. Health workers are asking how the nation’s fractured health system, which routinely leaves clinics without soap or disinfectant and where nurses report using nappies as gauze to mop up blood and rice packets in lieu of gloves, would deal with an outbreak. The country is already dealing with outbreaks of malaria, dengue fever, drug-resistant tuberculosis and polio.

“When one [Covid-19 case] is confirmed, it is a disaster for us. It is already an outbreak,” said Melke, who has spent more than 40 years working in Papua New Guinea’s beleaguered health system and is the Nursing Union leader for New Guinea Islands. “We are the frontline, but we do not have safety equipment to protect us, so how can we save others? We put our own families at risk.”…

Charles Abel‎ to Alotau District

Facebook 18 April

I’ve spent the last two days going from door to door in the settlements and in town. It’s is really just a continuation of our efforts over the last 2 months to do awareness , send people home and now deliver some rice . I’ve also spent much of my time as a leader in our villages in this electorate as shown on this page. The reality is that most of our people live in settlements and villages . In these conditions it is practically impossible for them to practice social distancing or wash their hands with soap or sanitiser on a regular basis.

Their main concern on a day to day basis is what they will eat for dinner on that particular day. A settlement dweller will rely on one of the wage earners living in the settlements or the informal cash economy in most cases. This informal economy is where the wage earners in general will buy betelnut, market food, cooked food, and resale items like cigarettes, noodles etc. There is also prostitution, sadly. The village people sell their crops to buy essential items like soap, medicine, garden tools, kerosene.

I often put myself mentally into the position of these people. Imagine if you did not get your fortnightly pay for one, two or three months. I just worry so much about the children especially. It has been four weeks of SOE now and soon five weeks. It looks like it will go much longer. We have other medical requirements that continue regardless of covid-19 such as tb, cancer, child birth etc. Access to health services become restricted by SOE.

We need to think about the wider consequences as people are put off jobs, markets close, no sports – an idle population with no income, no food and lack of access to other basic services. We are not like modern countries that can lock up in their houses or units and have savings and food stores. We are talking about the majority of our people here.

‎David Jah Blum‎ to Sharp Talk

#Reality
I saw a mother hiding in the flower garden with a packet of Cambridge cigarettes. The profit from the sale will guarantee her a 1kg packet of rice. The last thing on her mind is the dreaded COVID-19, she is more afraid of the police than some incurable disease. Personal hygiene is only for those that can afford to waste the precious water she keeps for only cooking and drinking.

An elderly man with a waist bag slung over his shoulders pretending to look at on coming vehicles discreetly pitches to anyone passing. “2 kina full buai stap” In his waist bag a handful of betelnuts with mustard to go with. Precious cargo that ensures he gets by a day with a simple meal. When you can’t afford firewood you depend on kai bars and shops for daily sustenance. He will gladly shake hands and share the lime (kambang) to any potential customer. He is more afraid of the rogue reservist policemen that occasionally beat him stealing whatever he earns because they know how he makes a living and on a good occasion will have enough cash on him to buy a 6 pack of beer. A few meters off his female partner and their malnourished half-naked children wait patiently for hopefully their first meal of the day.

Whilst politicians and bureaucrats sit in air conditioned rooms talking about the welfare and wellbeing of communities. The SoE lock down is either totally ignorant or just too plain selfishly arrogant to realise the most basic traits of human behavior. Not Papua Niuginians… What kicks a human being into survival mode. Humans beings are controlled by our instincts. We always have been, and we always will be.

Whether we realize it or not, our basic instincts govern our every decision. We like to believe that our big brains and free will grant us the freedom to be free thinkers, but in reality, the power of our primal urges is more powerful than many of us care to admit. The most developed civilised countries in the world acted like uncivilised fools over toilet paper. You won’t have to worry about PNGeans fighting over toilet paper. But when you make a mother act like a thief to feed her family, when families have no option but to become become scavengers.

“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”
— Aristotle, Greek philosopher

Fees! Fees! Fees!  (Bank of South Pacific)
1. Branch Withdrawal Fee K3.00
2. Acc Maintainence Fee K3.00
3. Branch Deposit Fee K3.00
4. Checking Balance Fee K0.50
5. Transfer Fee K2.00
6. Mini Statement Fee K0.75
7. Deposit Fee K3.00
8. Withdrawal (ATM) Fee K0.50
9. Withdrawal (Counter) Fee K4.00
10. Cheque Deposit Fee K7.00
11. SMS Banking K1.50
12. Account maintainence Fee K10.00

By looking at all this rates and surcharges imposed on customers I am thinking where’s the security of the ordinary citizens of our country. Something has to be done and it has Has To Be Now!

#ActNowBPNG
#BSPRethinkUrRates
Goodness already.

18 April 2020

MONICA MINNEGAL & PETER DWYER
| DevPolicy Blog

https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/04/god-covid-19-remote-health.html#more

CANBERRA – The first Covid-19 case reached Papua New Guinea on 13 March 2020, though it was several days before it was unambiguously confirmed. On 17 March the pandemic was declared a national security issue, and a state of emergency came into effect on 24 March.

….Jacko lived in and accessed the outside world in ways that were impossible for most of his kin. His learning, and his messages, influenced their understandings. Kiunga became quiet. Airlines throughout PNG were grounded. Port Moresby residents were now stranded in Kiunga, and Jacko filled his hours exploring the web and posting to Facebook.

Late in the morning on 24 March he posted a simple message: ‘PNG people will not be impacted by Corona virus disease’.

We were concerned that this might be the sort of message he would convey to the village people we knew. Though we seldom do this, we intervened. We wrote:

“Jacko. That is wrong. That is dangerous advice. If you love your friends and family, take this post down. You are spreading false information. People must follow the advice of the PNG health department to help prevent the spread of this dangerous virus that is killing people all over the world.”

Jacko replied: “Yes, we can advise our PNG People to take extra precautions measure to follow WHO advise from spreading the virus. Bottom line is PNG Christian country which God had placed in the center of the equator where it is consistent with a temperature of up to 26-27 degree Celsius.”

Jacko tells us that God placed the Christian country of PNG at the equator where moderately high temperatures would protect the people from the ravages of the virus. He agrees, however, that it would be sensible to take extra precautions with respect to hygiene……   (See the url for the full story….)

The prayer from next door

17 April 2020

Daniel Kumbon. https://www.pngattitude.com/2020/04/the-prayer-from-next-door.html#more

PORT MORESBY – With Papua New Guinea under a state of emergency, I haven’t been able to return to my home in Wabag and, here in the national capital, I continue to hear the lady next door pray to God every morning.

Today’s prayer, translated from the Enga and Pidgin languages, went something like this.__________

Thank you God Almighty for giving us Papua New Guinea.

It has oil, gas, gold and coffee and other rich resources but why we remain poor, only you know.

May this time of pestilence be a time when PNG can acknowledge you as our God and Saviour.

May it be a time when everybody repents and turns away from our bad ways. Forgive us our sins. Take us back. Guide our government.

Thank you for keeping us safe thus far. Destroy the yoke and set us free.

Protect our leaders and give them wisdom in our time of need.

Let them bow down before you.

This tiny germ has forced them to their knees. From there, let them see you as the only one who can give them strength to face this tiny germ.

Other countries have many doctors, nurses and money but PNG lacks everything. But God you have kept us safe.

You are a merciful God, the God of Abraham, Jacob and Esther. You are the God who sent manna from heaven, the God who gave your people water in the desert.

You are the God who fed multitudes with only five loaves of bread. You are the God who healed the sick. Let PNG see you, the God of Miracles…..

And on she prayed….and like for the last three weeks, my ears were turned in the direction of her humble home.

And the birds continued to sing providing the background choir every morning, perhaps praising God as they’ve done for millennia.