Another upset this weekend saw the Kramer Ausenco Brothers outplay the top of the table Crusaders, coming out 30-10 Victors in Round 4 of the Pepsi Cup Capital Rugby Union Competition in Port Moresby. An early mistake from the kick off by the competition leaders gifted valuable field possession to the Brothers in the first half. This would prove costly to the men in green as the Brothers worked to test out their defense early on. Brother Fly-Half, Jonah Kautu Jnr proved to be a handful for the Crusaders defense, with his running game. Discipline proving to be the difference between the sides with a handful of penalties in favor of the Brothers led to their first try, 5 minutes into the game. Fast forward to the 11th minute, due to a dangerous tackle on Brothers Second rower, Eugene Tokovai, Crusaders Tony Napu was given 10 minutes in the Sin Bin. During that time, Brothers took to extending their lead to 10 points with a penalty conversion by Tokovai. That would soon turn into 15 points later on after coming up with strong maul of a line out 5m from the Crusaders try line. The Crusaders would score points just before the Half-time siren and trail 15 points to 5. Although the Frank Gabi led Crusaders put up a good fight in the match, in the end it was the seasoned Brothers who came out on top.

Moresby South Candidate in the 2022 National General Elections, Michelle Hau’ofa has voiced major concern on the need a review on laws to ensure inclusivity, following the National Court decision handed down on Friday 28th April to dismiss the case against incumbent Moresby South Member, Justin Tkatchenko. The dismissal was based on a technicality under section 208(a) and (d) of the Organic Law on National & Local Level Government Election 1997, as amended. “The National Court found that the facts were sufficient in my Petition to support the allegations of Bribery. I had withdrawn all other allegations against Justin Tkatchenko except for the bribery Allegations. The National Court also found that the person who witnessed my Petition did not state his Occupation and so for this technicality alone dismissed my Petition.” On the 6th of September last year, Hau’ofa filed a petition disputing the validity of the return of Tkatchenko as the duly elected member for the Moresby South Electorate. Her dispute was based on allegations of bribery and undue influence, and for errors and omissions on the part of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Electoral Commission. In response, Justin Tkatchenko and the Electoral Commission filed objection to competency against her election petition, claiming that her petition did not contain sufficient facts to sustain allegations of bribery and undue influence and secondly, the person who witnessed her petition failed to state his occupation on the petition. This is because according to Section 208(a) and (d), which states the Requisites of Petition, a petition shall set out facts relied on to invalidate the election and be attested by two witnesses whose occupations and addresses are stated. Hau’ofa stated that although the court found sufficient facts in her petition to support her allegations, based on a single technicality in which her witness failed to state his occupation on the petition itself, was sufficient enough to dismiss the petition. “I hold the Judiciary in the highest regard; however, I believe some of our laws prevent equal participation of our citizens and are remnants of a colonial administration that are impractical for today’s purposes and to a degree, unfair. It is for this reason I intend to file a Supreme Court Review of the decision of the National Court to dismiss my Petition.” She has now made a decision to pursue justice on Section 217 of the Organic Law on the National and Local Level Government Elections 1997, as amended.

Police in Port Moresby have once again quelled another ethnic clash in the heart of one of the city’s biggest suburb, 9mile. Police were called in to quell an ethnic clash last night between Morobe residents and Sepik residents at the Morobe Block. NCD Metropolitan Superintendent, Silva Sika stated that an altercation between a few youths from both sides turned violent leading to the clash, which led to the death of a young man from Morobe and the torching of a home belonging to a reserve police officer. “So, the families got upset and went looking for the Sepiks in the block and happened to stumble across the home of Sepik man who happened to be a police reservist, and burnt down his home.” This morning, Superintendent Sika attended to the situation in person, speaking to the Morobe residents. He warned them not to try to take the law into their own hands but to let the Police deal with those responsible for the incident. According to the Mr. Sika, Police are monitoring the situation closely just to ensure that no further altercations occur. Meanwhile, Superintendent Sika is calling on all people in the capital to respect the rule of law and to act in a manner becoming of law abiding citizen. The recent events that transpired has irked the Met. Supt. to warn all living within the confines of the city to avoid resorting to violence to solve problems.

A Senior Criminal Investigations Division officer in Port Moresby is under investigation by police following an accident yesterday along the Koura Freeway that left a 12 year old boy dead. NCD Metropolitan Superintendent, Silva Sika stated that the officer was in a rush whilst heading along the freeway when he hit the boy at high speed. “He was in a rush to get to the National Court House when unfortunately hit the child on the road. It was confirmed that he was hit by a police vehicle.” According to the Met. Supt. the vehicle that was driven by the senior officer belonged to the Southern Command and not NCD Police. The child was rushed to the Port Moresby General Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. Superintendent Sika stated that it was a very unfortunate situation, and has tasked the Officer in Charge (OIC) of Traffics to look into the matter as soon as possible. “The matter is being investigated to establish the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident and we will take appropriate action.” In the meantime, members of the deceased boy under frustration took to the freeway to block it off from use by the general public, but police who attended the situation deterred this by calming the aggrieved relatives without violent confrontation.

Niusky Pacific Ltd Managing Director/ CEO Captain Ted Pakii, has this week been sidelined following a notice of suspension from the Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation Mr Walter Schnaubelt. This suspension via the Minister responsible came about after Captain Pakii was arrested at the Boroko Police Station earlier this week. Pakii was arrested on grounds of misappropriation and abuse of office on Wednesday by the Criminal Investigations division and was released on bail for K7000. This was confirmed by NCD police on the day of the arrest. Meanwhile, Minister Schnaubelt, under section 143F of the Civil Aviation Act issued has now appointed Mr Jordan Imal as Acting Managing Director on what is understood as a probationary term for the next three months.

Canberra Raiders NRL Women’s Coach, Darrin Borthwick has spoken highly of PNG Orchids utility Ua Ravu, after her signing with the club, stating that she has a very special talent and has high hopes that she will be a great team player in the Raiders arsenal in their inaugural season. Borthwick stated that when he first arrived in Canberra, he was out in the regional areas such as Griffith and Wagga to run some clinics, there was talk within and around the club of a Papua New Guinean girl in the ranks who returned from the WC. He added that he was really surprised to see Ua at the clinic. “I was really surprised to see Ua and she came across and introduced herself and she really didn’t need to say much after that, I watched her in the clinic in the way she moved and some of the stuff that she did, you know part of my criteria when I select players, is what they’re like of the field and Ua’s a very delightful girl and happens to be a very good footballer.” Borthwick told PNG HAUSBUNG that the club is very privileged to have her at the club, adding that she is a very good talent after a stunning performance in last year’s Women’s Rugby League World Cup. “She’s a very special talent and she did some great things over at the world cup for PNG and I got no doubt that she’ll do the same thing for us at the Raiders.” Borthwick stated that he had an association with Kato Ottio when he spent some time at the Mounties and PNG holds a very soft spot in his heart. Right now, the club is slowly putting the team together with the girls still making their way to the Australian capital. Coach Borthwick is confident they will field a strong team come July.

Police in West New Britain (WNB) province have given the green light for normal business to commence today after a Security Meeting with Police and Senior Provincial Government officials was convened yesterday to discuss ways forward in tackling the law and order issues in the Province. Provincial Police Commander, Superintendent Peter Barkie gave assurance to the people of WNB that everything should be back to normal today. He mentioned that two main focus areas that the police will looking into is the protection of state assets and the people. “The Major concern is our ability to protect the town particularly the vital assets and the general population in town. We told Provincial Officials that yes we can, but at this stage, we are outnumbered and we need assistance.” After a huge police effort to maintain normalcy in the Kimbe town in the early hours of yesterday morning following the looting of a BNBM shop, Barkie has now bolstered his forces with reinforcements from East New Britain and Port Moresby, who arrived in the province yesterday afternoon. Apart from that, measures have been taken to ensure the safety of the general public after hours, with a curfew set in place from 8pm to 5am in the morning. This will go on for the next two months. “This is to control people’s movements after hours because we see that our youths, young people particularly criminal elements, tend to operate after hours.” Meanwhile, the search for the Lakiemata Correctional Facility escapees is still ongoing, but police have anticipated their movements and will be on the lookout moving forward.

Police manpower in Kimbe town in West New Britain (WNB) province has been boosted in order to provide security following incidents over the weekend and a chaotic Tuesday morning where two civilians were killed and two others in critical condition, following confrontations between police and criminals. Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Superintendent Peter Barkie said that the day before the Tuesday morning incident, the relatives of the deceased fronted the provincial government office, demanding justification of the deaths of the 16 prisoners that had attempted to escape from the high security facility over the weekend. “They tried coming to the provincial government office yesterday, police prevented them from doing that and they were told that this gathering was illegal. If you want to protest, you have to follow the law and that is you request and the PPC will have to approve your request.” This however, did not go down well with the relatives of the deceased who at nightfall took to the streets of Kimbe Town and started harassing traffic heading west of the town. Police was then dispatched to quell the situation, which led to an altercation with the aggrieved relatives. “Police went down to stop them from doing that and they decided to take out their frustration on the police.” This led to the looting of the BNBM Shop in town on Tuesday morning, with further confrontations with police personnel resulting in the deaths of two more civilians. Due to the lack of numbers in the security personnel to sufficiently contain this issue, the WNB police requested for reinforcements from outside the province. Meanwhile, the first group of police personnel have touched down at Hoskins on Tuesday after, with another full squad expected to reach Kimbe in the evening from East New Britain.

Police in Kimbe town in West New Britain province have urged the general public to refrain from movement outside of their homes following a confrontation with armed assailants this morning at the BNBM Hardware store. Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Superintendent Peter Barkie, has sent out a message urging the people of Kimbe to stay indoors as police anticipate a retaliation from the armed assailants. Our PNG HAUSBUNG correspondent on the ground has confirmed that the movement in and out of town has been slowed down and police are monitoring the situation closely. The PPC and senior officials of the Provincial Administration have convened a briefing on how they wish to go about in addressing this issue. The high alert in Kimbe came about this morning after police successfully thwarted robbery attempts on a few business houses by unknown armed assailants. Meanwhile, Correctional Services (CS) officers have been stationed at the Kimbe General Hospital Morgue layout with a name list of the deceased prisoners shot over the weekend after trying to escape from the Lakiemata CS facility. The CS has called on family members of the deceased to come forward and identify them.

The President of the Morobe Disable Agency (MDA), Mr. Benedict Hippom said he is happy with the outcome of the National Markets Convention held last week, saying that it was an eye opener for all that had attended. Mr. Hippom said the forum brought together people from all over the country to discuss matters pertaining to market safety and inclusivity in the informal market space. Hippom, who is also a Person with Disability (PWD), said that the government should seriously look into the informal sector. “A lot of times people think that the informal sector consists of only people sitting at table markets and those that break the law, but they don’t understand that there is an untapped potential in the informal markets.” As per the conversations held during the convention, it was mentioned that most of the time the money that is circulated through the informal exchanges are unbanked, and should the government look into this to assist markets, Hippom believes that it will be a win for everyone. Although Hippom mentioned that he did not take part in the conversations, he did however say that he was there to observe how other markets were operating and take ideas back to Morobe province to present to the stakeholders on how they can make sure the market spaces are conducive and inclusive for people living with disabilities. “When it was the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, we had faced huge challenges. When this ended, the government came out to look at how they could bring back people into the sector and I believe we should also try to assist PLWD’s.” However, Mr. Hippom is happy that the government is looking to make markets more accessible for women and girls to access and trade, but he to see the government do more PWD’s.  

No escapees have been caught yet as the search for the seven escaped inmates from the Lakiemata Correctional Services (CS) Facility in West New Britain province over the weekend, continues at this time. Correctional Services Commissioner, Mr. Steven Pokanis advised that around 2pm Sunday 23rd April, the prisoners broke free from the High Security Facility and tried to make a run when they were intercepted by CS personnel where 16 escaped inmates were shot dead. “24 prisoners cut the inner fence at the back of the High Security facility on Sunday around 2pm,” said the CS Commissioner. One Prisoner is currently admitted at the Kimbe General Hospital while 7 are still on the run. Meanwhile, situation on the ground is quite tense said the Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Chief Superintendent Peter Barkie. The PPC mentioned that relatives of the deceased and other citizens raised concerns as to how the unfortunate turn of events came about. “We had a few excited people on the ground. We also had relatives of the deceased come up to find out what was going on, but we’ve asked them to let the law take its course,” the Chief Superintendent said. At the moment police are on foot searching for the remaining prisoners along with members of the CS. PPC Barkie also stated that an official inquiry will be conducted to look into the matter, as soon as the Officers from the CS complete their own investigation.

Northern Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Chief Inspector Ewai Segi has announced that police will start school visitations as part of the command’s Community Policing and Partnership Engagement strategy, to speak to students about the effects of breaking the Law and the consumption of illicit substances. PPC Segi stated that the school visitation program is part of a wider array of community policing programs in plan for this year. “At the completion of the first 3 month operations, we have programs lined up to engage established organizations, particularly schools to disseminate information with regards to law and order, mainly focused on drugs and home brew consumption.” With the recent introduction of synthetic drugs into the country, Segi said that they would like to educate young ones on the current laws that prohibits the use of these dangerous recreational substances so to deter young people from consuming them. He added that due to the introduction of synthetic drugs into the country, the government has enacted and repealed specific provisions of the law, prompting the need for the police to disseminate this information to the people. “The citizens have to be aware that the Laws have become tougher nowadays as a result of issues that have caused huge distress to the country.” Segi added that Northern Province is not exempted from law and order issues, but thanks to their Post-Election operations in the past 3 months, they have been able to stabilize the law and order issue in the province. Meanwhile, the school visitations will commence at the end of the first quarter of this year.