| Original Message |
A.H
Posted Feb 20, 2012 4:57 PM
It's funny how those multi-national corporations tend to pry on human weakness to apply the divide and rule tactic. Before the UBSA/LBBSA was signed in Kokopo for the LNG, Arthur and Agiru were pressured by Exon Mobil to get things going otherwise, they (Exon) will look elsewhere. Where exactly was not stated. Instead of pulling the strings in our favour to tell them to play by our rules or piss off, we lay ourselves at their mercies. PNG Oil and Gas Act 1998 under section 47 clearly states that social mapping/landowner identification must be done first before the developer enters the leased area. But when big bucks were promised, Arthur took the hook. Others (Agiru, Duma) soon fell in line. The traditional landowners, many of them without higher formal education fell in place. The result is our problems are just beginning. Just because O’Neil says he has K230 million in store to dish out to LOs doesn't mean the problems would be solved or minimized. In fact the opposite might happen. For instance, if we had proper social mapping done and land properly demarcated then the LOs would have formed and registered their respective ILGs. With that mechanism in place, it is easier to channel the money right to the village level. But now we are going to waste time and money in trying to rectify the problem while Exon Mobil will go ahead and extract the natural gas.
One of the ironies that came out of this saga is that Agiru and Arthur who didn't follow the laws of the land are now crying foul over O'Neil/Namah government for not adhering to the constitution? So it seems the old adage appears true again: What goes forth, comes back around.
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