O'Neil in Charge as Supreme Court Backs down

LATEST NEWS ON 'WHO'S IN CHARGE OF THE COUNTRY'

By: Lisa Pagelio/Toa Sime - Port Moresby



The Supreme Court has amended its orders of Monday, amidst much confusion as who's in charge of the country.The judges had advised the court registrar to amend the original declarations and orders today.In the amended order, the one that's been struck out relates to Governor General Sir Michael Ogio recogniz...ing Grand Chief Sir Michael as the legitimate Prime Minister in line with last December's ruling, then later retracting and recognizing the re-appointment of Peter O'Neill as Prime Minister. The court had ruled that this was unconstitutional and invalid in the original order. The other that's been changed is that of the decisions and actions by the defacto government of Peter O'Neill as Prime Minister and any ministers appointed by him between 2nd August 2011 and 20th May 2012, are NOT open to challenge. This means that all appointments will remain. Grand Chief Sir Michael, will continue to benefit from the perks and privileges of a prime minister, but will not exercise his powers.



Source: NBC NEWS PNG

Papua New Guineans say "Namah MUST GO"

Papua New Guineans are speaking online against the recent actions of Belden Namah against the Chief Justice:

Iva Toguri D'Aquino: Ensure we put a spot light on this emerging dictator, who was once a charged with treason; a TRAITOR whom we have empowered and made a hero.

Sally Tadabe: This is no longer about Sir Solamoa Injia. This is now about whether PNG allows it to become "OK" for any Member, if he/she is unhappy about a court ruling to storm into the highest court in the land -... while it is in session - and scream at the head of the Judiciary. This is a precedent that we must ensure is never repreated.

Ganjiki:


A senior lawyer for the ONamah gang emailed me on Wed attempting to intimidate me into silence re my comments on fb, twitter and my blog. I've responded to that lawyer giving as good as I got and maybe one better...that lawyer has not responded any of my followup emails which have been ccd to my Secretary. Perhaps caught up in trying to counsel Namah....


You're dealing with a man who loves this c...ountry more than his job...and is not afraid to lose something for what he believes in and for his loyalty to the Constitution. I'm not loyal to a clientele like you. I'm loyal to my people. I don't intend to stand aside and let my people believe a well-funded propaganda exercise by rogue politicians and their mercenary lawyers and spin doctors.

It hurts me to see an ill-informed public form ill-informed opinions regarding the rule of law in this country. So I make my comments to give people a side to consider: the side of the Constitution.

Social media and the Internet is all we got. We can't pay for full-page ads nor call a press conference because that spineless press will not come because people like me are so ordinary. Those who can draw the press are either spreading their propaganda or are too spineless to speak the truth.

I hope to God that your consciences will burn as you support a messed-up politician drunk with power and self-righteousness.

I love my country too much to be silent.

God Bless PNG...


Ganjiki

Meetings and interviews dominate Sydney trip

I didn't know about the Kokoda Track Foundation till I met the lovely staff [pictured above with me] who work at the Foundation's Office hia long SYDNEY. I must say I'm impressed with the work they're doing and wish them well.

In Sydney I have also had the privlege of meeting some ex kiaps, teachers, broadcasters and military men who have seen PNG from its formation years to its transformation into a Melanesian State. I got a sense of how things were around independence, and learnt of the "D-cell Battery" INDEX for inflation in PNG, which is now at the Grand Sum of 500%.

I had two interviews yesterday. One on SBS World News regarding the political dogfight in PNG between the Judges and Politicians. The other with Philip Adams on ABC RADIO NATIONAL. [click links to view/listen]. Am I enjoying myself? HELL YEAH!

I've also learnt something about Australia's knowledge of PNG and the Pacific: like the USA, Aussies know very little. This lack of knowledge is graphically illustrated by the type of priority ABC gives to it's Pacific Beat program. Forget the website images, visit the PACBEAT office in Sydney and you will realise where Australia's priorities are -NOT THE SOUTH PACIFIC.

Seeing the Darkness of Neon Lights in Sydney

My view of Sydney when I woke up this morning: My tour of Australia begins today in Sydney

What happened to the trees, the creeks, the rivers, the animals, the plants, the masalai ples... a big city is like a cancer, eating up what makes us human. I can now understand what the Constitutional Fathers might have been referring to when they wrote about THE DARKNESS OF NEON LIGHTS.

Indeed as the aircraft descended into Sydney last night I was shocked at seeing the vast stretches of "lights". I know if I say I wouldn't want to see this happening in PNG, I'd be accused of trying to stop progress. But the price Papua New Guineans will have to bay for such cancerous growth is too much.

Perhaps we need to talk to those Papua New Guineans who've "lost" their land to urbanization and ask them what progress feels like. To every Papua New Guineans, LAND IS LIFE. And whatever you do to your land, you as a Papua New Guinean alter your lifestream for generations to come.

#PNG ELECTION 2012: tis the season to be silly

Campaigning is currently underway in Papua New Guinea with the big guns flaunting their assets today.

There was a spectacular helicopter fly past over the capital ciy of Port Moresby, annoucing the candidacy of Robert Agarobe for the NCD Regional Seat.

Airlines PNG Plane crashes in Western Province #PNG

BY KEVIN DAYONGA

Airlines PNG crash landed one of its twin otter planes in Sasaremi airstrip, several kilometres away from the main district town of Balimo.

The plane carrying 11 passengers, two of which were experts, representing UN and World Vision while another is the brother of former Milne Bay Governor Tim Neville, a seven month pregnant lady and three kids including the officers from the National Cultural Commission and the two airline crew.

The event unfolded on Tuesday when they were on their way to Daru and Balimo. Eyes witnesses say the the plane was landing to refuel but slipped of the bumpy runway and was about to plunged itself into a lake when it burst its tyres and iron frames holding the tyres dugged their way into the wet clay soil that prevented the passengers going into the lake with the plane.

The airstrip is privately owned by a logging company Vanimo Jaya, but the strip has never been maintained for quite awhile. Small planes go into refuel at this airstrip before heading to other remote destination because there is no fuel in Daru..

Public Accounts Committee HAD slammed Paga Hill Deal

Via ACTNOW

While police are continuing to facilitate the forcible eviction of people living on Paga Hill in Port Moresby despite the protests of their local MP*, we should remember the Public Accounts Committee has already found the land acquisition by the developer was completely corrupt and fraudulent.

These are excerpts from the PAC findings as recorded in their 2009 Report to Parliament on the inquiry into the Department of Lands:

Portion 1597 Milinch Granville, FourMil, Moresby At Paga Hill – Grant to Paga Hill Development Company Ltd.

• P.60: “On the 18^th December 1997 Paga Hill Land Holding Company (PNG) Pty. Ltd. Was granted an Urban Development Lease (UDL) over Portion 1597 Granville Port Moresby. This land comprises 13.7 hectares of Paga Hill in Port Moresby – virtually all the hill ... A large number of onerous conditions attached to the UDL – none of which, the Committee concluded, have been complied with by the Lessee”.

• P.60: “The land was a Gazetted National Park and could not be granted away to private hands. The Committee finds that this land was of great National importance and a prime piece of recreational land for residents of Port Moresby. How the land came to be given to private speculators is a good illustration of the failings and corrupt conduct of the Department of Lands and Physical Planning. The continuing refusal of the Department to recover the land for the State well illustrates the continued acquiescence of the Department in corrupt dealings and clearly shows the extent to which private interests control the Department at the expense of the state and the citizens of Papua New Guinea. The Inquiry was seriously impeded by the Departmental failure to produce any records or documents at all concerning the issue of the original UDL or a subsequent Lease – despite a Notice and Summons to do so”.

• P.61 “The following analysis of how this National Park came to be in private hands is therefore made with no assistance at all from the Department or its officers”.

• P.61: “Portion 1597 Milinch Granville, Fourmil Moresby comprising two parts containing a total area of 13,1198 hectares was reserved from Lease by a Declaration in the National Gazette G59 dated the 10^th September 1987 for the purposes of “Open Spaces” to be managed by the National Parks Board. In other words the land was preserved for future generations as a National Park. There were good reasons for this to occur. The Land is of considerable historical importance to the nation, containing as it does, Wartime Bunkers, Gun Emplacements, tunnels and, apparently, significant pre-historical sites. Further, the situation of the land in the centre of a growing city offers superior recreational facilities to the occupants of Port Moresby. It is now and will increasingly be a vital recreational area for central Port Moresby ... There is no apparent Gazettal of Revocation of the Reservation of Lease or the Certificate Authorising Occupancy of Land until the National Capital District Physical Planning Board by Meeting 2a/2000 rezoned the land from Open Space to Commercial, Part Residential, Part Public Institutional and Part Utilities by Gazette Notice dated 22^nd May 2000. Precisely, how, why and at whose request this was done remains totally unclear in the absence of documents or records from the Department ... In or about 1995, the National Parks Board ceased to exist. There was no management of the Park and it is fair to assume that speculators saw the land as ripe for acquisition. The State, in general, and the Department of Lands and Physical Planning in particular allowed and cooperated in the taking of this National Park [62] from the citizens of Papua New Guinea by profiteers who, subsequent events showed, had no capacity to develop the land at all ... Four applications for grant of this Land were referred to Papua New Guinea Land Board No. 1991 (Item 2) each seeking a grant of a Business (Commercial) Lease over the land – one of which was Paga Hill Land Holding (PNG) (sic). The Land was still a National Park. The Committee can establish that Land Board No.1991 purported to convene on Friday 22^nd August 1997 ... It seems that the Land Board No 1991 recommended that “Paga Hill Land Holdings PNG” (sic) be granted a Lease over Portion 1597 Milinch Granville Fourmil Moresby .... [63] An Improvement Covenant is clearly set out in that UDL. It requires improvements to a value of K 300 million to be undertaken in the first five years of occupation ... As of March 2006, there is no development on the land at all. How the Land Board concluded that the Grantee could meet the Improvement Covenant is unknown in the absence of any documentation”.

• P.65 “The failure to comply with the UDL covenants, particularly the Improvements Covenant, should have resulted in the Department forfeiting the Lease – or at the least, not issuing a Business Lease. More properly, the Department of Lands should have channelled the Lease years ago on the basis that it was unlawfully issued”.

• P.65 “In 2000, a company called Paga Hill Development Co. (PNG) Ltd was formed”.

• P.66 “On the 01/09/2000, a Business Lease over Portion 1597 Granville was granted to Paga Hill Development (PNG) Ltd. This Lease was registered as State Volume No. 24 Folio 159. How and why this new Company, rather than the original Grantee, was able to obtain this Lease is unknown. The Lease should have been issued to the same company that held the Urban Development Lease.

• P.66. “The Department itself states that the UDL has not been surrendered – so two Leases appear to exist over the same land. In a memo to the Secretary for Lands, dated the 18^th March 2003, the issue of the Business Lease is described as ‘dubious’”. Notes that the issuing of the lease was illegal.

• P.67, the rent for the land should have been K250,000 p.a., in a “handwritten notation” it was reduced to K50,000. No one knows who was the offer who reduced the rent.

• P.68: “This means that with the active collusion of the Department, the state has lost a minimum of approximately K 900,000 from 2000 until 2005 ... “The Committee was advised that the Lessee could not pay even this reduced amount. A Departmental Officer then agreed to allow the Lessee to pay the Land Rent over a period. This Officer had no power to do so.”

• P.69 – It appears Rommily Kila Pat the Department Secretary was responsible for the rent reduction and extension.

• P.69 “As if these illegalities were not enough, on the 21^st October 2002, the then Minister for Lands agreed to a request from the principal of Paga Jill Development Company limited, to waive all past and future rentals until January 2006. The reason for the request by the Lessee was that the Land Rental could be better used in resourcing international investors to develop the land – a contention with which the Minister agreed” But the Department refused to accept the waiver.

* Read more about the forced evictions:

http://namorong.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/dame-carol-protests-destruction

Dame Carol highlights corruption in Paga Hill Deal