Draconian measures not the way to go

There is no question that the seemingly out of control lawlessness in the country, particularly the rise in incidence of violent crime against women and children is cause for concern for all.  

However the call for, and moves to see the implementation of draconian measures, including that of the imposition of capital punishment and the reintroduction of the Vagrancy Act must be viewed with scepticism.

The imposition of any draconian law will no doubt result in the impingement of certain individual and collective rights guaranteed under the Constitution and will open the door for opportunities for further abuse. It also gives the impression to the general public that our political leaders have exhausted every possible avenue, and have tried all conceivable means to arrest this slide in lawlessness across the country without success.

The imposition of draconian measures, including state sanctioned violence through the implementation of capital punishment is a capitulation. An admission of defeat, and of the fact that our political leaders have ‘run out of ideas’ to correct this unacceptable situation in which we find ourselves.

Accepted, measures such as a nationwide State of Emergency, or one that is imposed in known crime ‘hotspots’ will provide temporary relief, however the intention of Government should be on devising stronger and more permanent measures aimed at giving greater protection to our people, particularly our women and children.

This exercise has to be focussed on countering the root causes of the seemingly national sense of discontentment that has manifested itself in various forms, including through an obvious decline in moral standards, and the increase in incidence of opportunistic and violent crimes.

However, empirical evidence from studies in countries which have implemented, or continue to implement capital punishment in its various forms suggests that this form of state sanctioned vengeance is not an adequate deterrent to crime.

A major death penalty study carried out in the United States in 1997 found that there was no evidence that the death penalty had any significant effect on crime rates, from minor offences to major crimes such as “murder, the personal crimes of negligent manslaughter, rape, assault and robbery, as well as the property crimes of burglary, grand larceny, and vehicle theft. In other words, there is no evidence ... that residents of death penalty jurisdictions (US States that implemented the death penalty) are afforded an added measure of protection against serious crimes by executions.” Also, the finality and irreversibility of capital punishment does not support rehabilitative approaches.

Papua New Guinea’s peculiarities aside, state sanctioned murder is not the answer. Neither is the possible imposition of legislation such as the Vagrancy Act since any such legislative enactment which seeks to restrict the free movement of people will be deemed to be against the Section 52 (Right to Freedom of Movement) of the Constitution, and as such, an unconstitutional law.

The PNG Supreme Court in fact ruled that provisions of the previous version of the Vagrancy Act enacted in 1986 were a breach of several such freedoms, including the right to free movement, as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Nonetheless, concerns on restricting the movement of people across provincial borders, as well as that of curbing the increase in rural-urban migration and its related problem of increased urban settlements can be implemented through an existing legal mechanism. This is found in Section 205B (Restriction of Movement) of the District Courts Act 1963 which states in Subsection (1) that “notwithstanding that restriction of movement is not specified as a punishment for an offence, a District Court may, in addition to any other punishment or punishments imposed, also impose restriction of movement in accordance with this section.”

Subsection (3) of the Act specifies that “where a person is convicted of an offence, the District Court that convicts him may, in addition to or instead of any other punishment that may be imposed, order him to (a) not to come or be within such a part of the country as the District Court specifies, or (b) to be returned to his home, as specified by the District Court, during such period, not exceeding five years, as is specified by the Court.”

Subsequent subsections of the Act determine, amongst other things, what ‘home’ in relation to a person means.

 

Whereas the Vagrancy Act gave wide ranging arrest powers to Police, subjecting any member of the public to arbitrary arrest upon the basis of a hint of suspicion, Section 205B of the District Court Act allows the lawful and legitimate removal of persons from whichever community within which he or she has been convicted of a crime. This also ensures that members of a community who are otherwise gainfully engaged and not criminally inclined are not unnecessarily victimised as they could be under the Vagrancy Act.

 

The State does not need to impose ‘draconian’ measures which will further restrict the rights and freedoms of people who are already limited in their movement, etc., by the ever present threat of crime. It needs to revisit existing legislation and mechanisms and where found to be appropriate and lawful, apply. Where found to be weak and ambiguous, strengthen and made specific, and where found to be missing or ‘silent’, enact and enforce.  

 

Most importantly, community and national leaders must seek to address the root causes of problems that contribute to the increased marginalisation of people and the consequent national sense of discontentment simmering beneath.

Back to basics PNG

In light of the tragic events of recent past which have struck at the very core of our social and moral conscience, many people have called for radical changes to be effected to the way we dispense justice upon perpetrators of violent crime, as well as to the whole government system we have as a country, with some calling for us to adopt Communism, for example.

However, I believe that adopting a new system of government will not necessarily prove to be the answer.

Certain systems of government 'work' for different societies because of the inherent character and nature these societies possess. Communism and 'guided' democracy 'work' for China and Singapore respectively because of their peoples’ ability to subject themselves to the rule of law, in whatever form this takes, and to coexist in a relatively stable manner in communal societies. There is no universal application of systems of government to societies with distinct peculiarities. Three cases in point; Cuba, China and North Korea are all communists states, but the application of the communism doctrine varies in all three, hence the differing types of societies these countries have relative to each other. In Fiji, military dictatorship is being seen by some as working positively for them. Note though that they have two predominant cultures, we have 800.

The parliamentary democracy we have presents us with the best avenue through which we can attempt to correct the ills affecting our society. And we already have the guiding principles and documents to steer us through, our Constitution being the most significant. The National Goals and Directive Principles, as well as the Basic Rights and Basic Social Obligations provide the best prescriptions for us in all our endeavours. The fact that we have deviated from these prescriptions sees us faced with the predicaments of today.

We need to revisit these noble goals and redirect our path. At the basic level, we need to instil in our children the basic principles of common human decency. For example, our children need to go through programs such as the Scouts and Guides at the elementary and primary level, a (military or paramilitary) cadetship at the secondary level, and a national service scheme after tertiary levels. We need to have religious instruction classes brought back to schools (be gone with political correctness), for students to sing the national anthem at assemblies, to recite the national pledge, and to learn the basic principles contained in our Constitution.

Our state institutions need to be reminded that they are duty bound to give effect to all the National Goals and Directive Principles through the laws and policies they formulate (see s.25 of Constitution), in that whatever law or policy a government department or agency makes must reflect the intentions of the NGDPs at all possible opportunity. An example would be for government to ensure all policies have a 'family impact statement.' Failure to have one must result in such policies being rejected.

Solutions should be sought to address the root causes of problems such as rural-urban migration, poor housing in urban areas, lack of ready access to health and education in rural areas, and poor road and transport infrastructure, rather than being reactive to symptoms of such underlying problems that fester over time and manifest themselves through such violent crimes as we have been witnessing lately.

There is no guarantee that changing a system of government will result in change for society if there is no change in the kind of people who would most likely be at the head of whatever 'new' system we adopt. As in the case of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, we may witness pleasing changes in the initial stages, but these will prove to be superficial as the appetite for power is gradually whetted by unrestricted and authoritarian power.

As simplistic as they may seem to the 'sophisticated' minds of the 21st Century, our NGDPs nonetheless provide for us a basic framework through which we can work to make things 'right' again. We need to go back to doing things the way we used to before which ensured that life during the 'gut taim' was a lot better than it is today.

 

 

 

Sirvese's Confession

My Gulf compatriot of the Great Betel nut Debate and Rugby Union fame, Ratu Sirvese of Gerehu struck a forlorn figure when I passed by his buai market earlier this week.

So serious was his demeanor that I felt compelled to stop and enquire as to the sort of predicament he was facing. Seeing my enquiring look, he volunteered that he was extremely concerned about the kind of pages his nephews were accessing on the popular social network site, Facebook.

A self-confessed Facebook addict himself, Sirvese spends much of his day while vending, and a good amount of money on data credits, surfing the various pages he is a member of, as well as checking up on status updates from family members in Iokea and along the banks of the mighty Miaru River down to Lockyer’s old haunts in south Brisbane.

The various status updates give him a sense of closeness to his widely scattered family, offering bits of information on their overall wellbeing, as well the little shenanigans his younger nephews get up to every now and then.

Children need supervision when online. Image by www.guardian.co.uk

What concerns him most is the plethora of “downright scandalous pages” (as he puts it) available online, and easily accessible to children under the legal age of 18 years.

Fortunately for concerned individuals such as Sirvese and other equally concerned parents who have access to their children’s Facebook accounts, the site allows online “friends” to receive feeds or notifications which tell of another's recent online activities on Facebook.

This ranges from status updates, posting of comments and when one joins or accesses a page or group. Sirvese accepts that there are many groups that allow for positive social interaction on Facebook however, his concern was those with more sinister motives.

There has been a steady proliferation of PNG “confession” and “I Dare You To” pages, as well as those that boast of containing some of the country’s “hottest” images and short video files.

These sites have also come under the scrutiny of more practical and acceptable pages such as Talking Edge and Sharp Talk and the various regional and provincial discussion forums for their “immoral” content, however there seems to be little that can be done to stop the growth and spread of these pages.

The inability for Facebook regulators to determine the true age of members when they initially create an account allows many children to access these sites. Much to their moral detriment.

Sirvese’s revelation and concern is also shared by many others throughout the country as well as has been evident in the number of “letters to the editor” received decrying this growing problem.

Some feel that with the relative ease with which children can access portable file storage (flash) drives, and the ability to download and transfer files without adult supervision, a single short video or image file can end up being copied to half a school’s population in less than a day.

This assessment was corroborated by national academic and social commentator Bernard Yegiora in response to a post in the popular PNG Attitude blog concerning social network porn sites.

“There are porn groups where nude pictures are uploaded, sex talk groups, gossip groups and the list is endless,” Mr Yegiora said.

He further related an instance where he saw the posting of a picture of “two Grade 8 students from (school named) kissing and fondling each other” while still in their distinctively colored school uniforms.

Mr Yegiora said that the online community was now in a “crisis situation” although regulation of online activity would continue to prove difficult.

The issue of child access to pornography has been an ongoing concern since the World Wide Web emerged in the early 1990s. a report by Elizabeth Kaufman of the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs in the United States found that by the year 2003, there were “over 100,000 pornographic Web sites accessible for free and another 400,000 for-pay sites.”

That was a decade ago.

Kaufman continued, stating that the most disturbing feature of online pornography was that “unlike pornographic magazines, movies, and adult book stores, online pornography is easily accessible to children. Without even searching it out, pornographic material is present in pop-up ads, e-mails, bulletin boards, chat rooms, and can be accidentally found on mistyped or innocuously named Web addresses.”

Increasing numbers of children having access to social network sites such as Facebook has led to more comprehensive moves by governments worldwide to have increased national safeguards against child access to online pornography and its related scourge, online sex predators.

In the United States, “The Communications Decency Act (CDA) was passed as part of the Telecommunication Act of 1996. The CDA criminalized the knowing transmission of ‘obscene’ or ‘indecent’ communications to children under 18 years of age,” Kaufman reports.

“Under the CDA, online pornography providers had to take ‘good faith, reasonable, effective and appropriate’ efforts to prevent children from accessing their Web sites, including requiring proof of age of all users prior to accessing the pornographic material”

And with an estimated 34 percent of youngsters in the UK aged between 9 and 12 years opening Facebook accounts, concerned parent groups have been created to help parents and children understand the dangers of using Facebook.

Forbes magazine contributor and social media strategist Kelly Clay recently told of Robyn Spoto, a mother of young children and President of Mamabear, “a company which makes an application of the same name that serves the specific purpose to help parents have this dialogue with children. It then also enables parents to monitor the activity of their children on Facebook to ensure safety.”

Ironically though, Facebook’s own Terms of Service provides in its Safety provisions that while their regulators and administrators will endeavor to “keep Facebook safe,” there is no guarantee that the site would remain so.

Members are therefore discouraged from posting “content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.”

Facebook administrators also specify in their Registration and Account Security provisions that, amongst other prerequisites, members “will not use Facebook if” under the age of 13 years.

Closer to home, the Australian Government’s Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy provides some handy tips on its website for parents to use if concerned about their children’s online activities. These include the following:

“Know what your children are doing online - make sure they know how to stay safe and encourage them to tell you if they come across anything suspicious or if anybody says or does something that makes them feel uncomfortable or threatened.”

The website also advises parents to “know the technologies your children use.”

A piece of advice particularly helpful for Papua New Guinean parents who are more often than not less technologically savvy as their children would be.

The benefit of understanding and being able to use the kind of information and communication technology gadget children use is obvious. Parents are then able to access online accounts and monitor activities.

Tips on countering the negative consequences of sexual predators, inappropriate content on sites and pages, and cyber bullying are also provided, along with computer applications parents can have installed on their children’s personal computers to guard against such vile practices.

Papua New Guinean parents who are concerned about this negative aspect of the social media phenomenon and the improving information and communication industry in the country can access this information on the Stay Smart Online website (http://www.staysmartonline.gov.au/). Although it is tailored specifically for Australian users, the safety tips provided can work universally.

Going off on a slight tangent (for the purpose of our discussion anyway), Kelly Clay asks that “as it’s absolutely critical parents are actively involved with their kids’ online life, the necessity to have discussions about online behavior – especially at an early age – begs the question: Have societal discussions about kids’ online behavior become just as critical to the health and safety of children as those about their offline behavior?

With changing trends and technologies, familial and social interactions and relations in modern PNG have changed. There is a growing number of independent, urban youth who do not place much significance to respect for elders.

Nor do they value submission to, and observance of parental guidance. Firms hands are called for in such situations.

An unsupervised minor with unrestricted access to a myriad of online content is a moral disaster in waiting.

Sirvese helps provide a firm hand at home for his nephews and nieces, and often has to discipline wayward children who step outside of their home’s set and expected standards.

What he does is no different from accepted practices in societies throughout Papua New Guinea. The firm hand goes along with the gentle voice of reason.

Sirvese wants more people to use that firm hand and gentle voice of reason, as well as paying more attention and interest in the life, habits and online activities of children.

Parents must act now to safeguard their children's online wellbeing.

PUBLIC HEALTH NOTICE

Of Bank Fees and Heart Surgeries

“Haven’t had the chance to complete reading a book you’ve been meaning to? Take it with you the next time you go to a Bank South Pacific branch.”

This was an assessment by a member of Papua New Guinea’s eminent Facebook page, Sharp Talk when relating to her fellow members the amount of time one is likely to spend standing in line at banks.

As jocular as it may seem on the surface, this shared remark is indicative of the growing frustration many bank users are experiencing with the country’s commercial banks.

Happy BSP Rural Banking customers

The amount of time spent standing in line to be served, as well as the perception that banks are charging “unnecessary” fees and charges exacerbate the frustration for an already agitated bank client population.

Public discussion on the issue of “banking experience” and of fees charged by banks is not unique to Papua New Guinea.

An American NBC News report recently cited a study in the US which found that “checking account fees have hit unprecedented highs…with free checking account, one with no strings attached,” becoming increasingly rare in the American banking sector.

The report added that the average “monthly maintenance fee” for American banks had increased by an unprecedented 25 percent from 2011. It also found that amongst other fee increases, the cost of withdrawing cash from an “out-of-network” Automated Teller Machine (ATM) increased by 4 percent to US$2.50 (K5) in the same period.

This has caused increased apprehension among bank customers in the US regarding the relevance of bank products and their related fees.

In neighboring Argentina, public opinion against bank fees have led to the country’s central bank issuing directives which “will limit the ability of banks to raise prices and fees this year…a nod to consumers struggling to keep up with rampant inflation.”

According to a report published earlier this month by media giant, Fox Business, the Argentinean central bank has directed that the country’s commercial banks can only implement marginal increases at less than 10 percent on ATM and other fees despite requests for increases of as much as 25 percent.

The decision by the country’s central bank was predicated on Argentina’s macroeconomic considerations such as inflation, and to foster government initiatives to bring people from outside its formal economy (the underground economy) into the banking sector.

This segment of Argentina’s population can be likened to a majority of Papua New Guinea’s informal sector, the so-called “unbanked” portion of our population.

Less than a week after the report on Argentina’s development in bank fees, The Copenhagen Post reported increased public criticism over news that the largest bank in Denmark, the Danske Bank had restructured its bank fees, resulting in some of its customers being required to pay as much as 480 kroner (K183) a year to “have an account with Danske Bank.”

The restructure sees the bank replacing “various banking fees with a flat quarterly fee,” primarily targeted at customers with the least amount of banking traffic.

Danske Bank sees this as a measure to increase “customer satisfaction and profitability going forward.”

Danske customers see otherwise, bombarding the bank with complaints and criticism, to threats of moving banks. The bank’s Facebook page was inundated with posts from dissatisfied customers.

The Copenhagen Courier reports one poster as saying, that the move implies that “the less money you have in the bank, the more you have to pay? So the rich don’t pay anything? Not smart.”

Papua New Guinean critics of fees and charges by commercial banks have not been sparing in their criticism either. Newspaper editorial columns and online pages have been saturated with discussions on the issue, and questions have been raised as to whether the fees being charged are justified.

A queue of customers at a BSP branch

Of the three major commercial banks in PNG, the Bank South Pacific has copped the heaviest criticism from customers. So much so that on various social media sites, a number of discussion threads were running concurrently in as late as last week, with a majority of postings critical of the bank’s imposition of transactional and maintenance fees.

In an endeavor to understand the widely held perception that BSP was “robbing” its customers through bank fees, and to gauge the bank’s views of the criticisms, a series of questions was sent to the bank’s public relations department recently.

BSP CEO Ian Clyne stepped in with a request for an exclusive interview to allow the BSP management to clarify the issue of bank fees from the bank’s perspective.

Mr Clyne’s assertion is that any discussion on bank fees will not be complete without first considering the “bigger picture.”

The bigger picture here, being the bank’s overall expansion and redevelopment program which has been ongoing since 2009. An exercise which sees the complete “re-engineering” of BSPs operational and human resource capacities.

Or as Mr Clyne puts it, of having the bank undergo a “triple bypass heart surgery.”

Mr Clyne reiterated that the re-engineering and modernization of the bank’s systems includes training and education for bank staff to improve their capacity to deliver desired outcomes and to ensure customer satisfaction and retention.

With a staffing capacity of just under four thousand, 98 percent of whom are national employees, the bank’s management insists that investments in systems and people can only strengthen its position as the leading bank in the country.

Included in the bank’s redevelopment initiatives was the segmentation of services and products to cater for its differing client base. BSP First and BSP Priority will continue to cater for the corporate, high-end banking customers who account for 78 percent of the bank’s profits.

The Mass Market segment or the branches and rural agencies will continue to provide banking services for the majority of the banks customers in both urban and rural areas.

While the bank is focused on delivering greater financial inclusion for the “unbanked” sector, Mr Clyne remarked that opening rural and provincial branches should be based on cost theory of economies of scale and internationally accepted resource allocation models.

This is due to bank analysis that 26 branches operate unsustainably and continue to be supported by head office. As a nationally owned bank, the BSP is also mindful of its corporate responsibility to society in terms of providing support to communities and organisations in areas outside of the banking sector. Importantly, in driving the financial inclusivity program through rural and online or mobile banking.

The cost of this “triple bypass heart surgery” for the bank has been in excess of K500 million and the management expects to continue its redevelopment program which will see an increase in the number of EFTPOS facilities to 15,000 and ATMs to just under 300 nationwide by the end of 2013.

An aggressive rural, mobile and internet banking expansion program, a fledgling WantokMoni concept, continued remodeling and upgrading to branches and service centers will continue to ensure the bank expands a large financial outlay.

BSPs community service program through School Kricket

But all these must continue if BSP (and indeed any commercial bank in Papua New Guinea) is to achieve its aim of providing a modern and efficient banking service to its customers.

Rural and mobile banking in particular should prove to be beneficial for the estimated 85 percent who comprise our rural population in a year declared by the national government as the year for implementation.

Mobile and Internet banking options can alleviate the long waits in line at banks as BSP estimates that as much as 40 percent of customers who present themselves at branches can easily opt to access their accounts using these two options available at any given time.

Accepted, bank charges and transactional fees can be a disincentive to banking, however, they are necessary for banks to continue rolling out products aimed at providing an efficient banking service and for unbanked customers to have access to financial inclusion programs.

Juffa warns Oro people of potential disaster

NORTHERN Province has yet again been devastated by torrential rain and flooding. 

The Province has never really recovered from the 2007 Cyclone Guba, with all of its major bridges not reconstructed, except for Double Cross which is a makeshift bridge. 

Oro Governor, Gary Juffa

Commuters have been using wet crossings since 2007 and now disaster has struck again effectively cutting off 

Kokoda and Oro Bay. 

Oro Governor Gary Juffa has asked his people to be prepared for the worst, as rains continue and flooding throughout the province has cut off communities from basic services. 

This includes the township of Popondetta, which has been cut off from the main airport of Girua and seaport of Oro Bay, due to heavy flooding of the Girua River. 

In his address to the people on Radio Northern on Sunday Morning, Governor Juffa asked the people to make an effort to move inland to higher ground, not cross heavily flooded rivers, mind their children and boil drinking water. 

He assured the people that the Provincial Government was doing all it could to assess damages and would be asking the National Government for immediate assistance with food, drinking water, temporary shelter and medical aid, should the situation worsen. 

Already the floods have washed away food gardens and houses in Tufi and Wanigela and parts of the North Coast. 

Governor Juffa said while the weather at this time of the year expected heavy rainfall, the flooding was increasingly more intense every year with landslips and mudslides also becoming common. 

Governor Juffa stated that since Cyclone Guba in 2007, Oro had never been rehabilitated properly and was in grave danger from suffering more damage to its already deteriorated infrastructure.

Governor Juffa confirmed that this year the four main bridges in Oro that had been washed away, would be rebuilt and the provincial disaster plan and facilities would be overhauled to ensure better preparation for such disasters. 

Villages along the Mamba, Gira and Eia Rivers have also been affected and their food gardens remain inundated. 

In Tufi, there’s also been widespread flooding from Airara to Wuyaku, and in Tumari village, 14 houses have been washed away. Food gardens have been destroyed as well.

“I am in the process of making a submission to the National Executive council to declare Oro a Disaster Province and seek financial assistance from the Government. Provincial Disaster & Emergency Officers have been dispatched and the full extent of the damage should be known sometime over the weekend,” Mr Juffa said. 

“In the meantime, I call on the people, especially those living near rivers to move to higher grounds and to assist each other at this time of disaster.”

He said the immediate need would be for clean water, food and medical supplies especially for mothers and children. 

Governor Juffa commended the two Open Members, Delilah Gore and David Arore for their initial commitments of K10,000 each to assist the Provincial Disaster teams. 

“I am committing K20,000 from my discretionary funds to also assist the teams,” Mr Juffa added.

As soon as the full extent of the damage is known, my Office will coordinate fundraising for those who wish to assist the people of Oro.

K50 million for Hagen’s Kapal Haus

By JOHNNY POIYA

THE Western Highlands Provincial Government has allocated K50 million towards the construction of a new provincial headquarters to replace the gutted Kapal Haus. 

Governor Paias Wingti announced the allocation during the passing of the provincial budget at the Airport Motel in Mt Hagen on Friday. 

This is news to the people of Western Highlands who have been waiting since late 2009 after arsonists set fire to the province’s government headquarters under suspicious circumstances. Police work on the matter has not gone any further following the arrest of one suspect who was later released on bail. 

The allocation towards work on the new headquarters was made possible after Mr Wingti met with Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and asked for his assistance. 

The former government under Governor Tom Olga spent close to K13 million on consultancy work and demolishing of the remains of Kapal Haus while a contract with a Chinese firm to build a new headquarters costing K100m lapsed after the provincial government failed to meet a K28 million funding deadline. 

The former three time Prime Minister described the Olga Administration’s plans for the new headquarters as having gone out of its means by lying to the people for a K100m building which the province was not financially capable of meeting. 

Mr Wingti said: “This is a big project for a small province like Western Highlands. You either get guarantee from the National Government or have a lot of resources with income and security to backup the K100m project.

"It was only a gimmick. That talk about K100m is very shallow. There’s no basis. Banks don’t lend money without security. They wasted K13m of public money on drawings alone.”

The construction of a new headquarters, when Mr Olga was the governor, came under his ‘Hagen Kona Kai’ city redevelopment program.

Today's Post Courier Headlines

In the Post Courier today:

The Lae-Bulolo-Wau Highway is a national disaster waiting to be declared. It is in a shocking state and the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill will see that first hand when he does an aerial inspection of the damaged highway this morning.

Also a Gorethy Kenneth report on findings that Telikom PNG is over-charging customers for a handset mobile phone that is deemed cheap and is causing a lot of problems for customer.

Online edition also available at:

www.postcourier.com.pg

Today's Post Courier Headlines

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill is expected to put all Cabinet Ministers on notice in order to implement and deliver the 2013 budget.

His message to his Ministers is “shape up or ship out!”

National Planning Minister Charles Abel revealed this at a press conference in Port Moresby yesterday.

Also covered: Minister James Marape’s order for an investigation into the “cheating” saga. All in today’s paper.

The online edition now available: http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20130110/thhome.htm

Port Moresby Nature Park Offers New Attractions

With the 2012 festive season now a distant memory, many residents and visitors to the Port Moresby are seeking avenues to keep holidaying children occupied before the school year commences.

The Port Moresby Nature Park, located in what was formerly called the National Botanical Gardens is increasingly becoming the preferred destination for parents and children to while away the remainder of their holidays.

Park General Manager, Ms Melissa McGeorge said in a press statement that the Nature Park has experienced a huge surge in visitors in recent months.

Ms McGeorge believes that the spike in visitor numbers can be attributed to the Park’s various attractions.

“There has been a real increase in visitors to the park over the last three months which we attribute to our regular introduction of new attractions and continued improvements and upgrades.”

Ms McGeorge also attributes the growth to people understanding that the Park offers new and different experiences from its predecessor, the old Botanical Gardens that unfortunately did not always have a good reputation.

As the countries only combined botanical and zoological Parks & Gardens the site aims to promote both PNG’s diverse and unique plants and animals.

Many visitors have commented that they were pleasantly surprised with all the changes and how green and well maintained the gardens are.

Visitor Mrs Catherine Bona of Tokarara recently bought her family out to the Park and when asked what her family thought of the day she said, “A lot of changes have taken place at the Park compared to our last visit in 2011 when it was the Botanical Gardens.”

“It has been good for me to show my children the animals and plants of my village.  I think other families not able to take their kids back to the village can visit the Park to show their kids some sense of what plants and animals are found back home,” she said.

The Port Moresby Nature Park is open to the public and entry fees range from a low K1.30 for children under 12 years of age to K5 for adults. The Park is a non-profitable Trust Entity and is an initiative of Governor Powes Parkop and NCDC.   

Rainbow “Market” Vendors Continue to Pose Risk

Market vendors in Port Moresby’s Gerehu suburb continue to endanger themselves, motorists and pedestrians by marketing their wares at the old Rainbow “market” venue.

Vendors outside the fenced off area

The Rainbow market had for years proven to be popular with residents of Gerehu and buyers from throughout the city, as well as attracting sellers from other suburbs, and fishmongers and vegetable growers from neighboring Central Province.

The market had provided a good variety of garden produce, fish and game, including a bustling betel nut market on its periphery, however, a private party claiming ownership of the land upon which the market was previously situated fenced off the area late last year, forcing vendors to seek an alternate venue.

Vendors near service station

Market vendors and buyers had been advised by the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) to utilize the designated Gerehu Market, however, vendors continue to trade on a narrow strip of land adjacent to the Goro Kaeaga Road leading into Gerehu.

Meanwhile, Deputy City Manager, Mr Honk Kiap has advised residents of Gerehu and Port Moresby that renovation works at the Gerehu Market which commenced last year had been completed.

The major renovation works had included a complete leveling and reconstruction of the main market area, improvements to its perimeter fence and onsite utilities such as the ablution block and market stands.

Fishmongers and vegetable produce sellers
at the Rainbow suburb

Mr Kiap said that vendors had had been advised to move in to the renovated Gerehu Market, however many continue to illegally occupying the strip on land at Rainbow, placing themselves and others at unnecessary risk. 

Namah Responds to PM on Manus Island Center

Opposition Leader Belden Namah has refused to accept statements from the National Government claiming that PNG laws were not circumvented when the Manus Island Asylum Seekers Processing Center was established.

Mr Namah was also incensed at the Government’s labeling of moves by the Opposition to seek a Supreme Court Interpretation on the Center as a “joke”, labeling the decision to house asylum seekers in PNG on behalf of Australia as having the “hallmarks of a personal decision for personal gain, which has turned into a national problem with little more than a rubber-stamp from the NEC.”

In a press statement released today, Mr Namah responded by saying that the Prime Minister’s decision to “take on Australia’s responsibility to receive and process foreign asylum seekers coming to its shores flies in the face of our national constitution and the integrity of our laws.”

Mr Namah said that although the Prime Minister had assured the country of the Center’s legality under the national Constitution, he had failed to specify the relevant provisions and laws that formed the basis for the decision.

The Opposition is concerned that the detention of persons in the Manus Island facility is a contravention of Section 42 on the National Constitution which guarantees the “Liberty of the Person.”

Mr Namah also refused to accept the National Government’s argument that the country was “bound by international conventions and charters with respect to the Asylum Seekers Detention Scheme.”

“Any international charters or conventions must first be ratified under PNG law through the drafting or amendment of existing legislation – especially those that, as in this case, bear constitutional and legal ramifications,” Mr Namah said.

The Opposition leader further stated that “if the Prime Minister wants PNG to be a regional leader, a goal common to us all, then it is his duty to conduct government business in a manner befitting the chief executive officer of his country. If he fails in this duty, we as the leaders of the alternative government will ensure that he faces the full legal consequences.”

Mr Namah reiterated the importance of preserving “the integrity of our laws and processes and the dignity of our nation. Protecting and enforcing our sovereign rights in a court of law is not a mockery; it is due process and part of our fundamental responsibility as political leaders.”

Mr Namah called on the Prime Minister to act in the best interests of the country.