Shameless exercise in self-preservation!

PARLIAMENT was subjected to a brutal show of strength by the reigning Government yesterday when it rammed through a four-month holiday for the Members.
It was a shameless exercise in self-preservation.
If the Government truly had the numbers, they would have let the Opposition motion of no-confidence be accepted and put to the ultimate test.
There is no visible excuse for the episode that enraged the Opposition members and many of the people in the public gallery.
It remains to be seen how the rest of Papua New Guinea takes the enforced holiday.
We would not be surprised if there is a major groundswell of resentment and disgust at what went on in the Haus Tambaran of the Waigani swamps.
The Government knew what was coming and did all it could to prevent it getting to the starting post, let alone letting the race be run.
People on both sides of politics are questioning the role of the office of the Speaker in this shambles of democratic practice.
The King of Morata is quoted accurately in yesterdays report by our reporter, at first denying the motion of no-confidence had been accepted by his office, then conceding it had been.
There was considerable talk in the power circles of Waigani yesterday about the to and fro of key brokers to negotiate the acceptance of the motion. Some of that talk was rather negative and cast a dim light on the democratic process.
Now we are faced with the prospect of a further four months without the opportunity for our 109 elected members of having some say in the running of the country.
Academic Dr Ray Anere believes the whole exercise in adjourning Parliament and refusing to take heed of the motion is a flaunting of the Constitution.
There is a little matter of the Constitution insisting on a minimum of 63 sitting days in a year. This matter has previously been the subject of court interpretation.
Opinion is that Parliament has only sat for 41 days and will find it hard to squeeze in another 22 days before the end of the 12 months to satisfy the lawyers.
In the meantime, the Government of Waigani will continue to rule by virtue of the kitchen cabinet of a handful of powerful ministers and have their way with important affairs of state, like the ExxonMobil liquefied gas project.
Shame on them and pity the people of PNG!

Post Courier editorial, Thursday 30th July 09

As always, lots of whinging but not a single movement by any Papua New Guineans to start mobilising a massive reaction against this corruption. Not even you, Nane, seems to have the ability to lead the people against corruption, you're posting instead in what is a fairly seldom visited corner of the internet.

Another Bougainville crisis waiting to explode
Source:
The National

THE mining and petroleum extravaganza is a time bomb that is waiting to explode, if no action is taken by all stakeholders in the country.
It might be another Bougainville crisis for the provinces involved.
The Government and developing partners at the infant stage of this surging boom should put necessary measures to curtail the growing uneasiness of resource owners.
Firstly, it seems that there has not been any form of meaningful awareness done by the Government or the developing partners before the actual BSA agreement that took place or when gathering required information in forming how development grants, royalties and funds to be divided among the resource rich land owners.
Therefore, it is necessary for the Government, with its partners, to be more vigilant in conducting further awareness and research into the resource rich provinces.
Secondly, a surveillance and monitoring unit needs to be formed to monitor how funds is dispersed within Government bodies and to monitor the procedures performed by the relevant authorities in dispersing the funds.
These Government bodies do not have good track records when it comes to following standard policies and procedures.
Landowners do not trust in the current system in which funds are dispersed nor have confidence in the Government.
For transparencys sake and for the future of this project, such a bold move will create the necessary environment for a prosperous relationship with the landowners.
How many times have we seen landowners after landowners claiming to be rightful owner of resources and disrupting time and resources?
The truth is the Government has lost the plot in the infant stages of developing the multi-billion kina project by not doing the necessary ground work to prevent such issues from happening.
Landowner leaders must also be transparent in the way they gain their funds and divide them among their people and be accountable in how they spend the funds.

King Kong of Gerehu
Port Moresby

Thu, 03/09/2009