What can Marape-Steven govt do to support resource owners from foreign exploitation?

PAPUA New Guinea has come a long way to be a free and sovereign State and democracy has been the guiding principal that holds this unique country together.

More or less the PNG constitution was built upon the principal of democracy which continues to provide for us the very laws that holds us together.

Over the past 40 years the resource laws governing our vast natural resources have favoured multi- international corporations who profited from our oil, gas, gold, silver, copper, nickel, forest, fisheries etc… upon the ignorance of the government.

The call by our Prime Minister James Marape to ‘Take Back PNG’ and make it one of the ‘richest black nations’ in the world will only come true if the resource laws are reviewed to favour all parties concerned.

Prime Minister Marape in his first official address to Parliament after being sworn in called for a review to the resource laws that are of colonial in nature. A long overdue call that the country has been praying for and it’s about time Papua New Guineans or resources owners are accorded their right to participate on an even playing field in the mining and hydrocarbon sector.

For far too long, foreign investors particularly the resource developers of the gas and mining projects continue to play their deceptive conduct and lie to cover up on unfulfilled agreements in the mining and petroleum sector in the country.

A truthful regime must now be adopted, where the landowners and the government, as owners of the assets, must retain the majority interest in all of the country’s natural resource projects.

The mining or petroleum companies which invest in the exploration and discovery of a particular mineral or petroleum asset, should only receive an interest that is proportionate to its total investment in the exploration and discovery of the mineral or petroleum asset.

The United Nations Assembly in its declaration of the rights of the indigenous peoples of the world in 2007 requires the Papua New Guinea government to adopt the declaration. Article 26, requires the State to return land and resource ownership rights stolen in the process of colonisation to its indigenous owners. Almost all members of the UN Member countries have adopted the Declaration, including the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand who initially voted against the bill.

What is the PNG government waiting for? Most Papua New Guineans are indigenous who have owned the same mineral rights which were stolen by the State, the new entity formed by our colonisers upon their arrival on this island.

Natural resources in many States of the USA are owned by private landowners who enter into production or profit sharing agreements with private developers. The State collects its revenues by charging its taxes, duties and royalties. Many of the companies exploiting our resources come from capitalist economies where private individuals are major shareholders. Why allow them to take our resources if we are afraid that only a few will be rich then? Is the Chamber of Mines and Petroleum really saying that it’s okay for their few shareholders to be capitalists but not for PNG citizens?

Papua New Guinea is indeed the land of the unexpected; where things that do not happen elsewhere in the world, happen here ordinarily, to the amazement of visitors from around the world.

One such example is the conversion of mineral and petroleum assets discovered by mining and petroleum companies in Papua New Guinea, to liabilities, called “free carried interests” for project landowners and the government of Papua New Guinea.

Free carried interest, is a liability to a project partner such as a landowner group or the government, when their share of a project’s development cost is paid for or carried by the other project partners.

The carried interest then becomes a loan or in other words, a liability which is repayable over time from the project’s profits, due to the landowners or the government, whoever is being carried.

In such an arrangement, the free carried partners would usually end up with a very small interest in the project, because of their inability to raise significant monetary capital to pay for their share of equity or interest in the project.

The questions which then correctly linger in the minds of the ordinary citizens of this country are; what has become of the capital in the value of the physical asset of the mineral or petroleum being extracted?  Why has the value of the capital asset contribution by the owners of the minerals or petroleum to the project become zero, resulting in the owners of the asset, suddenly becoming liable to the other project partners?  At what point did the owners transfer the ownership of the wealth from the landowners and the government to the mining or Petroleum Company? Or did they transfer their ownership of the wealth to the mining or Petroleum Company at all?  The answers to all these questions is simply no, the owners did not at any time transfer their wealth to the developer. It was simply wrestled off them. The owners were naive, incompetent, weak, inexperienced, uneducated or whatever; which allowed the other partners ending up with the ownership of the asset. The owners then had to buy back some of it through the so called “free carry” concept.

It is evident that many of the foreign investors have ripped off our national wealth without any benefit to the people of this country. One classic example is the Porgera Gold Mine which has been in operation for the past 30 years without any benefit to the landowners, the provincial government and the national government.

What will happen if the government renews the SML for the next 20 years? Will the people of Porgera continue to suffer while only few minority benefit from the gold that is mined in their land? Who will step up to protect those innocent people who have been victims of rape, violence, environment damage and all that? Will the government of PM James Marape step in to assess the situation and assist the resource owners?

The PNG LNG project still had some outstanding issues regarding the Kokopo Landowners Benefiting Sharing Agreement (LBSA) and the Umbrella Benefit Sharing Agreement (UBSA) MOU signing. Some of the development agreement is still left incomplete, never done or still in negotiation and some have never even happen. One of them is the landowner’s equity and royalty payment which is still outstanding to this date.

The question now is; what will the Marape-Steven government do to really support the resource owners and fight for what is rightfully theirs?

Winning votes for Kevin Rudd

IT is election year in Australia and Kevin Rudd has to do what Kevin Rudd has to do – bring back the Labor government. And in PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill he has found an unlikely but willing ally to help him achieve his goal. He has unashamedly dragged our PM into Australian domestic politics under the guise of correcting a regional problem which in the long run will affect us all.

It is obvious from the two leaders’ announcement in Brisbane on Friday that Canberra’s best way to deal with its asylum-seeker dilemma is to export the problem to its nearest northern neighbour.

For our cooperation in the deal, we will receive generous aid. In return, Mr Rudd wants to be seen as the iron-fisted leader who can protect “scourge” of people smugglers and their sad cargo. And Mr O’Neill wants to be part of that Pacific final solution. 

In a race for Labor’s right conservative votes, the Rudd-initiated Regional Settlement Agreement must be seen as a hardline move designed to match, and even surpass, the conservative Tony Abbot opposition’s promise to tow asylum-seeker boats back to Indonesia, where most, if not all, set sail from.

Critics say Mr Rudd does not have the courage or the moral authority to do the right thing by refugees. For them, this is a day of shame in which PNG is a willing partner.

The new measures may not stop the steady flow of unauthorised arrivals travelling by sea. There are simply too many desperate people fleeing death and persecution, and that Canberra and Waigani’s attempts to stop them simply will not work.

Mr Rudd ousted Julia Gillard as Labor Party leader amid dismal polling figures last month but insists the new arrangements will allow Australia to help more people who are genuinely in need and help prevent people smugglers from abusing the system.

Last year, the Australian government reintroduced a controversial policy under which people arriving by boat in Australia are sent to camps in PNG and Nauru for processing. But the policy has so far failed to deter boat people, who are arriving in increasing numbers. It has also been strongly criticised, most recently by the UNHCR – for the conditions which asylum-seekers face at the camps.

Asylum has become a key election issue in Australia and polls must be called before the end of November.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott – whose party looked on course to trounce Labor at the polls before the leadership change – has said he will turn boats back to Indonesia when safe to do so.

Australia, more than PNG, has international obligations to protect people who come to its shores, not exposing them to further risks elsewhere like Manus or Nauru.

The fact remains that Australia hosts a very small fraction of refugees worldwide compared with PNG and West Papua refugees and yet what we see here is a policy designed not only to deter asylum seekers from going and seeking refuge in Australia, but one that also proposes to shift Australia’s responsibilities on to PNG.

Rights group Amnesty International sums up the situation nicely: the move by Mr Rudd and Mr O’Neill will be marked as the day Australia decided to turn its back on the world’s most vulnerable people, closed the door and threw away the key.

By the same token, Mr O’Neill has to convince a Parliament what benefits there are for PNG. Like the Australian opposition, we want to know the full text of the arrangement and the financial benefits for PNG which one Australian politician described at the weekend as the most impoverished nation in the region.

The bigger question begs answers: Where is PNG going to resettle those identified as genuine refugees? 

Blowing hard earned money on trucks

PAPUA NEW GUINEA's second largest super fund Nambawan Super, a hugely different superannuation fund from that of some years back, when board members and management were given to a bit of extravagance, made another milestone this past financial year.

It was overheard at the gathering to announce the profit and crediting of a 10 per cent interest to members, that one past year the superfund board travelled abroad to hold a meeting in time for a major sporting event there.  And they travelled with spouses too!

All that has now gone and with the reforms it adopted, the super fund is now open to non-public servant contributors as well.

A happy board chairman Sir Nagora Bogan in the company of some of his members and management, announced on Wednesday that the fund again posted a profit for the 2009 financial year.  The fund could have increased individual members' interest to something higher than the 10 per cent announced but prudence ruled that some of the windfall be held in reserves for that rainy day.

Over 100,000 Papua New Guineans who are contributing members of the fund will have received the news with jubilation.  Most of these members, we might add, are low to medium level income earners who might not have the ability or the resolve to save.

Nambawan Super therefore is their brightest hope for any saving for retirement or future enterprise when their formal employment ceases.

But a sad fact is that lately some members upon retirement have taken their money saved up for them during their years of toil only to blow it up in failed investments or on lifestyles unknown to them in their working years.

For instance, in one particular part of the country a number of loyal teachers who ended their careers claimed their superannuation funds and for some strange reason all decided to purchase PMV trucks.

Names like Las Potnait and Chalk Dust, emblazoned on the front of these trucks make no secret about who the owners are and how they were acquired.

But all have a common sorry ending.  In two to three years maximum, the trucks show signs of wear and tear and are grounded sooner than the owners would have expected.  The reason:  these former teachers, who have dedicated all their time and skills to mentor youngsters have acquired no business management skills along the way.

To them the pride and prestige of owning and operating a brand new truck for close to K100,000 in hard cash is an achievement in itself.  With no know-how or drive to attain profitability and sustainability, the ex-teacher-cum entrepreneur ends up with the same old sad situation like those before him.  Trucks break down and there is little money left for maintenance or to acquire replacements. Large amounts are owed to workshops and other service providers and the PMV operator is stuck in a tight corner, lamenting why he had chosen the line of business in the first place.

Nambawan Super provides another service called retirement savings which is a portion of members' savings which can be withdrawn as a periodic pension payment.

While the super fund counsels its members to use this product, it could also explore avenues to provide business and investment advice as well for those who might need it.

In makes no sense if one who had been a loyal worker turns out to be the proverbial prodigal son. If he cares to listen, spare him the ignorance and misery!

Take heed of Polye's outburst

DON POMB Polye, is a young energetic workaholic who wants to get things done with typical engineering precision and efficiency.
The Prime Minister chose well to offload the vital ministry of Works and Transport back on Polye when he retook his Kandep seat in a by-election.

Prior to his being disqualified by the court of disputed returns, the minister was in a hurry to get the ailing transport infrastructure maintained and operational to optimum standard.

The hassles of a court ordered by-election and electioneering have slowed him down in his plans to secure funding for road maintenance and upgrading - his top most priority and biggest assisgnment was to secure foreign aid for the costly exercise of lifting the standard of the Highlands Highway to some respectability and usability. 

Currently he his faced with the unenviable task of stretching the K30 million allocated his ministry for the long winding road from Lae through the Highlands interior and other roads as well.  This is an impossibility.  And while he is scrambling for more money to fix this much talked about national asset, other important road networks elsewhere in the country are falling apart too.  He needs to find a lot of money and pretty quick.
No wonder he is irritated by the obese bureaucracy at National Planning Department. 

He said everyone thinks his departments are at fault when in fact, the department responsible for making budget allocations and releasing funds is sitting on the requested and budgeted funds.

Mr Polye also said that the department of National Planning should know the importance of road maintenance and appropriate enough funding for it.

The Kandep MP said if he was responsible for budgeting, he would appropriate K400 million for transport maintenance, K250m for roads and K150m for jetties and wharves.

Bureaucratic processes and procedures are an accepted norm but unfortunately, the elements contributing to PNG's disastrous road conditions have no regard for bureaucracy.  And that is a reality Waigani seems not to understand and appreciate.

Minister Polye's suggestion to have the Planning functions taken over by the Prime Minister's Department sounds a logical thing to do.  National Planning and Monitoring, though relatively new, may have become another large government department which has assumed immense self-importance but lacks the cutting edge mentality to speedily facilitate vital national development initiative.

If a State Minister has difficulty with the Department there what hope has anyone else?
A day after Minister Polye expressed disappointment with the National Planning Department, his colleague Paul Tiensten has reportedly returned the score.

While it would be nice to know who or what is responsible for the slow implementation of vital road maintenance work, what the country needs least is a media debate and attempts to apportion blame.
The roads are going fast, gentlemen.  Stop arguing and get on with the job of fixing them.

Side tracked by the Condom

The condom is stretched to snapping point

THERE is a reality known as a personal encounter with God. 

Millions around the world have had such instances in their lives and there are countless volumes of literature on the subject.  Forget what the atheists might say - to them this is nonsensical, pure imagination or an escape mechanism from the troubles of this world.

The thread that runs through all these experiences is that from such a defining point, one's whole view of life takes a complete new turn for the better.

This is the truth Paul talks about in his epistle: "Behold, the old is gone; the new is come." The shackles of the old self are shaken off and man experiences new found peace. 

In this Christian country, one who has found God personally has found potent ammunition and trustworthy defence in the battle against HIV/AIDS.  Again forget about those who may brand this as religious gibberish.

One might ask, what happens if one contracts the virus before they find God?  Well, they would have found strength to help them live normally with the virus and would not dare pass it on. Simplistic maybe, but true if that person remains faithful to his conviction.

The debate on the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS rages on.  The poor object has been figuratively stretched from both ends by those for and against.   It has reached its breaking point and will snap any moment, so to speak.

Our war on the virus and the related debate have largely been 'condomised' and about the use of millions of kina in donor funding.  The latex has been promoted as not the safest but the best available protection against the spread of the virus if one discounts abstinence and faithfulness.  Churches and some common people are vehemently against its use because it promotes promiscuity, they contend.
Stop for a moment to consider a world without the condom. 

Remove the condom from the face of the earth and the Catholic and all those churches preaching a nominal, half-hearted message from the comfort and supposed sanctity of their pulpits will be faced with a world in which they have to work twice as hard to save lives.

Doubtless the church, both Catholic and non-Catholic, has been successful with all the social services it has provided around the world.  It seems, however, that same church has shied away from the more difficult task (which is its original, if it can be said that way).  And that is leading the human soul to an intimate life-time relationship with God - the God of purity and holiness.

The church's care-giving and counseling efforts for AIDS sufferers are commendable but are akin to an injured animal licking its wounds.  We would rather see a head to head confrontation between the church and the devil.  Let the war begin from the church and spill out onto the streets!

The cultured, 'refined' and well-educated may rely on his or her upbringing and social circles to make well-informed decisions and arguably avoid the risks of HIV infection.

The less sophisticated, run-of-the-mill citizen needs God.  In the absence of the stringent cultural taboos of old and a strong attachment to God, the average human being is left at the mercy of the devil and the lure of the world.

Talk to an addict, a drug user or any other 'moral weakling' and they will tell you they have the backbone of a jellyfish to stand up to the lusts of this world. 

They therefore need God.  Rather, they need someone to introduce to them to God.

Kapris story nears the climax

THE STORY gets better by the day!
Our source states that William Kapris had actually named two State Ministers who helped with K25,000 to arrange his escape from Bomana prison.

You can't get any harder story than that to show the world there is an underworld of PNG politics and its links to big time crime.

But for heaven's sake, this has got to be the figment of Kapris' imagination. He ought to have even been hallucinating after being given a rude awakening by policemen barging in and disrupting his blissful slumber in the lodge he was nabbed in.

Politicians, big businesses and even the common citizens go to great lengths to project a positive image to the rest of the world. And as responsible citizens, just as much concerned about the country's name and reputation, this newspaper too is mindful of the pitfalls of sensationalism in its reporting. But this is a story that was waiting to be told; in fact it was being played out as in a stage play with one scene closing for the entry of another.

And this has got to be the climax. It may in fact be the anticlimax as what follows from here is either a confirmation or denial of these allegations and prosecutions or referral to a leadership tribunal if there is some truth found.

Once it gets to that stage, it would be one man's word against another's.

The revelation in today's story further confirms rumours that have been circulating ever since the bank robberies a few years back.

We have paused to ponder whether to publish and be damned or not to publish (and be damned all the same).

We chose to publish because indications have been there all along - from a purported correspondence from behind bars to a justice of the National and Supreme Courts to the man's threat to spill the beans in a police interview.

Police Commissioner Gari Baki revealed on Friday that there was a near clash between policemen who arrested Kapris and a unit from Mc Gregor Barracks late night on the Saturday Kapris was arrested.

The policemen who arrested Kapris seemed to have forgotten all process and protocol by not taking Kapris to Boroko police station and locking him up.

He was told of the arrest couple of hours later and by three different sources.

He said when he learnt that Kapris was not at Boroko police cells, he directed Mr Huafolo and the Director for the Mobile units, David Manning to look for the unit which was driving Kapris around and have Kapris taken to Bomana.

When Mr Manning's unit approached the vehicle with Kapris, guns were pointed at Mr Manning, resulting in a near shootout.

That is yet another scene of this play starring Kapris touted as the country's most wanted man - a celebrity of sorts.

An epilogue to the Kapris story would detail why the two ministers would want the prisoner out, for whom he was carrying that side arm plus where the loot from the robberies was deposited.

Only then would PNG know whether Kapris was the true mastermind or simply a pawn to someone higher up.

But his revelation already of names of those higher up must have got somebody twitchy and will cause him or them to lose a good night's sleep - if there is any truth in them.

It is tempting to pity those involved with or through Kapris to rob and terrorise or help in his escape from lawful custody - all for the love of money!

Education woes persist and worsen with time

IT MUST have been a chaotic week one of term one of school year 2010.  The normal activity and mad rush and long lines at the start of the school year are nothing new.

But judging by reports so far this school year is commencing with another lot of problems apart from the usual hassles expected.

Problems encountered at the start of the 2010 academic year are varied but these are among the worrying ones that need special remedial action: There have been two different student selection lists for tertiary education institutions; elementary education is still to be paid for despite the government's free basic education initiative announced toward the end of last year; and schools have simply run out of space to cater for transferring students. 

The anxious moments may run into a second, possibly third week while school administration scramble to find solutions before students are settled into classrooms and dormitories.

More drama is expected when university classes commence in a couple of week's time and especially at the University of PNG which has raised its tuition fees. The move has irked students as well as parents and guardians.

The line of communication between the Measurement Services Unit of the Department of Education, the Commission of Higher Education and a number of secondary level institutions who graduated students from grade 12 in 2009, has not been kept clear of distortion. 

Two different lists of schools examination marks and information emanating from secondary schools to the MSU has resulted in a number of eligible students being denied places in tertiary institutions and government scholarships through the tertiary education assistance scheme (TESAS).  When final marks on higher school certificates were compared against the listings of universities and colleges, much did not make sense to the many students who were expecting to be on the lists.

The Director of the Office of Higher Education (OHE) Dr William Tagis explained at a press conference this week that OHE was not involved in selecting and admitting students into academic and training programs but facilitates the national selections.

He said however, that those deserving students will be catered provided for under some arrangement with higher learning institutions concerned.

In the NCD, a directive from the district education office has stopped secondary school administrations especially from enrolling any students transferring from other schools either within the district or from elsewhere in the country.

This drastic measure is a direct result of a lack of classroom space at schools that has been left to worsen over the years.

District education officials partly blame the schools for failing to maintain existing classroom facilities or build new ones for the increasing student population in the city.

The shortage of space in schools is not something peculiar to the NCD but school administrations and planners in this expanding city have been slow in realizing that they have to regularly adapt to and cater for the growing population.

With the hype about the mega resource developments and the expected influx of other Papua New Guineans into the city in the next few years and decades, time is surely against our education planners and institutions.
The instruction from the NCDC education office to halt enrolments of transferring students is one based on the reality of the situation at hand but it may also be indicative of a lack of creativity and innovation.

Yes, we have a space problem but can we not work around it?  This may be the time to implement that shift teaching concept proposed at the 2009 national education conference in Alotau. Rather than stopping schools from getting in students, let each school administration use some creativity and deal with the demand in the best way available to it.