Minister for International Trade & Investments, Richard Maru has proudly announced that the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Special Economic Zone (SEZ) master plan formulation will be kicked off tomorrow, with members from the Japan Development Institute alongside local experts to travel out to various parts of the country. Minister Maru expressed great excitement stating that the team, spearheaded by Dr. Shoichi Kobayashi and experts from the country will be travelling to Rabaul, Manus, parts of the highlands region and the southern region to inspect proposed sites. “Then they will be heading back to Japan just before Christmas, straight after Christmas they will come back. By that time they will appreciate our country and the various locations that they need to visit.” Minister Maru is hoping that by March next year, after a SEZ plan has been drafted and sent through, the first Papua New Guinea Special Economic Zone Summit will be held here in the country in April. He stated that by the end of April, he hopes to bring experts from all over the world, where they have already implemented SEZ to give accounts on their experience in the sector. “They will also provide a critique to our draft plan, which will be presented for the first time in the summit. All provincial heads, MP’s and others leaders within each provinces all across the country, including the private sector will be invited to the Inaugural Summit to share their experience."

Criminal Investigations Division (CID) in Central Province and Homicide from the National Capital District (NCD) are looking into two suspicious drownings of a 16 year old girl and a man from Enga, believed to be aged between 20-25 years. Central Province Police Headquarters Commander, Senior Inspector Patterson Berigi stated that both victims were found last weekend, one on Saturday and the other on Sunday. According to preliminary reports, both persons went missing on the Friday. “The girl went missing in the afternoon on Friday, while it was reported that the man had gone out in the morning and never returned that evening.” Berigi said they are treating both cases as isolated and suspicious deaths and due to the nature of both drownings. CID Central will looking into the case of the girl while NCD Homicide have been engaged to investigate the death of the Engan man. He further explained that they had engaged NCD Homicide to conduct investigations into the death of the Engan man, stating that it would have been conflict of interest because the deceased was known to a few officers. Both cases of drowning discovered over the weekend show many similarities but Berigi believes it’s too early to speculate. At the moment, police in central and NCD are working together to ascertain facts surrounding the mysterious drownings that occurred last weekend. Berigi stated that they have received preliminary reports of cases, but are now awaiting on a coronary report to confirm the cause of deaths for both victims.

The police in the capital of Morobe are gearing up for the festive period as they are now set to start Christmas operations. Lae City Police Boss, Chief Superintendent Chris Kunyanban said Lae police are ready to take on any situation that may arise in the city. Due to the seasonal change in weather, which has seen a large amount of precipitation hit the country’s second largest city, Kunyanban added this type of weather makes it conducive for breaking and entering of homes and he along with his men will be focusing on minimizing these crimes. “It’s been raining for a couple of days now and with the rain we’ve seen a slight rise in breaking and entering of homes. But we’re up for the challenge and we will be patrolling the streets to make sure this does not happen.” As part of the operations, Lae police have been conducting roadblocks and searches from the main highways into the city and will be monitoring suspicious movement at hotspot areas this includes organizing stakeouts to keep watch over the city at night time. Kunyanban added that they have been a few pressing issues that they are facing but is determined to ensure the safety of the people while they continue on into their celebrations. “It may be a bit tough, but it is what we signed up for and we are hoping to get the job done this Christmas.” Police have already started pre-ops awareness in many of the suburbs of the city, working together with key stakeholders to foster good relationships with the people while at the same time urging people to not look to crime as an avenue for a quick buck, but through honest hard work.

Police in Bougainville are getting geared up for the festive operations, which are due to commence this Friday. Deputy Commander of Police in Bougainville, Naua Vanuawaru has confirmed that over 230 police personnel, Regulars, Reservists and Auxiliaries are hoping to be utilized when funding for the operations come from Police Headquarters. “We are planning our operations for this festive period and hope to start by the end of this week but right now we are waiting for funding from Port Moresby to come through before we can execute said plan,” Going into the festive period, Police in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville will be looking to utilize any and all resources to ensure safety of the people is kept. Logistics-wise, Vanuawaru expressed that even though they have a minimum amount of resources at their disposal, they will try their best to make sure they are ready for anything that may surface during this period. As per their inventory, they have about a couple of Banana boats and a few other vehicles they will looking to use. While waiting on funding to commence festive period ops, Vanuawaru also mentioned strongly that police will be on the lookout for Alcohol and Drug related offences within the duration of the operation period. He made mention of this after he expressed that Bougainville was not a very dangerous place. “Bougainville is a peaceful place, there really is nothing much going on apart from an incident that pops up every now and then but otherwise, there’s not a lot of crime here in the region,”

Hela PPC, Joseph Tondop has advised that all is calm in the surrounding areas of Hides after villagers entered the site to collect their dead. Two persons were killed in the attack on the site after an alleged drunken brawl incited violence. He added that for now, they are in a period of mourning as both bodies of the deceased were taken by their tribesman and returned to their home villages. Early Monday morning, villagers entered the site to retrieve the dead and soon after returned home. “They have taken their bodies back to their respective villages, and are doing their own enquiries as to who’s responsible and all this but all in all situation on the ground is clear and now the villagers are in a time of mourning." To avoid more violence, Tondop is urging villages surrounding the site to not take up arms and let the law takes its course.

East Sepik Governor and Special Parliamentary Committee Chair, Allan Bird in his remarks on the first day of the Elections Seminar pointed out that the findings put out in the Observation Report tabled by Transparency International, showed a tremendous deterioration of public trust in government agencies. Bird expressed that all reports that were received all indicate that there is a lack of trust in the electoral process and a lack of trust in all government institutions. “This decline of trust has actually occurred over a number of years and it’s not recent,” Bird stated. He added that in many places around the country, there is a trend in which there is a lack of trust in many places, particularly the Electoral Commission, the Police, the Judicial System but most of all politicians. The people who ought to depend on these structures don’t trust these structures. According to the Governor, when people don’t trust these structures, many see a constant breakdown in society to which he himself acknowledged. He further stated that he believes there are many parliamentarians that are keen to see an improvement in the country’s electoral processes. “If we can figure out how to gain the trust of our people, that’s the main goal here,” Bird added. Bird acknowledged that the continual decline of trust goes back several decades and is unacceptable, but he is confident that there is no better time to address the issue than now.

New Provincial Police Commander to Hela Province, Chief Inspector Joseph Tondop is set to meet with tribal elders today concerning the recent violence at the Hides LNG plant a week ago leading to two confirmed deaths and an undisclosed number of injuries. Tondop stated that at the moment, situation surrounding the area is quite tense but he has men on the ground to contain an outbreak of violence. Earlier on today, villagers from the surrounding area took the initiative to look into the incident alongside the police, but Tondop has assured that he will personally visit the villages to speak with the elders and find out the root cause of the violence and arrest those responsible. “I have directed CID in Tari to put the case together. The villagers are doing their own enquiries into how the incident came about. I am also in the process of talking to the parties so this does not escalate into something big,” he said. He advised that all is calm in the surrounding areas of Hides after villagers entered the site to collect their dead. Two people were killed in the attack on the site after an alleged drunken brawl incited the violence. He added that for now, they are in a period of mourning as both bodies of the deceased were taken by their tribesman and returned to their home villages. “They have taken the bodies back home and put them through the normal customary rites and they are talking to each other,” Tondop side. To avoid more violence, Tondop is urging villages surrounding the site to not take up arms and let the law takes its course. “We’ve lost two lives already as a result of this incident and we don’t want to lose more lives and cause more inconvenience to operations in Hides and the livelihood of the people in the province,” Tondop said.

As part of the first day of the 2022 Elections Seminar hosted by Transparency International, Australian National University Representative, Dr. Nicole Haley also took the stage to present their observation of the electoral processes during the 2022 National General Elections. The ANU was another accredited international observer, apart from the Commonwealth Group, who presented their findings this week. According to their findings, which centered mostly around the Central and Western parts of the Highlands region, there were distinctive deterioration in the election environment. “We can say with a fair degree of certainty and confidence that the 2022 Elections witnessed fairly, deterioration in the over-arching environment, including the preparation and execution of the election,” Dr. Haley presented. The two ANU observer teams dispatched into the highlands region identified certain irregularities pertaining to the conduct of officials at various venues. Dr. Haley added that this year’s elections were qualitatively different, adding that the quality, credibility and integrity of the elections have fairly deteriorated. She highlighted that one of these main areas included the electoral roll, which is a concern that remains highly problematic and disenfranchises citizens across and has given rise to many of the other irregularities in the context of this election.

After over four decades of servicing the country as a firefighter in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Fire Service, Bernard Temu from Central province has called time after 45 years of commitment and dedication to the people. Growing up in the developing city of Port Moresby in the early 1960’s and 70’s, Bernard’s love for firefighting developed when he was a young boy. He witnessed the old engines from the Boroko Fire station put out a fire at a home next to where he resided at Sogeri. “I was still a young lad playing with my little brother when I first set my eyes on a fire engine and was inspired by the strength those men had to risk their lives. There and then I told my little brother that I was going to be a firefighter,” Temu said. After finishing form-1 at De La Selle High School at Bomana, Temu said he stayed home for almost two years before he eventually got enlisted and became a fireman in 1977. “To be a firefighter was my childhood dream, and to finally be one was the proudest moment of my life. The feeling was unreal,” Temu said. He was first posted at Port Moresby in 1977 where he spent 5 years at the Boroko Fire Station before moving over to Popondetta in the Northern Province. Temu said it was quite challenging at some point, leaving the capital to go over to a new place, but his commitment and fondness of the job compelled him to go wherever he was needed. “I came to Popondetta in 83, then served 1 year in Madang [1990], returned to POM in 1991, stayed 6 months and returned to Popondetta till my retirement this year,” Temu added. He further added that he is proud of what he has achieved over the years and is proud that his legacy in the Fire Department lives on through his son, who is also a fireman. “It is not all the time you see a father and son battle the flames together, I am so proud that my own flesh and blood will carry on the Temu legacy as a fire fighter and to serve the Government with honour to save lives.”

After a very controversial 2022 National General Elections, accredited domestic observer Transparency International PNG have released their observations on the highly criticized election. The Report was a compilation of observations done throughout the country by 340 observers across 20 provinces in the country with a summary paper released in September soon after. TIPNG Deputy Director-Partnerships and Policy, Yuambari Haihuie, yesterday presented the much anticipated findings to Electoral Commissioner, Simon Sinai and Chairman of the Special Parliamentary Committee, East Sepik Governor, Allan Bird. While presenting the findings, Haihuie gave a brief overview of how TIPNG came about the formulation of the report. “In terms of data collection method, there were two survey instruments that were used. The primary one was the Polling Place Questionnaire,” Haihuie stated. The observations were mostly focused specifically during the polling period. He explained that the other survey tool used was the Voter Survey, which had a set of questions looking at issues that occurred impacting voter’s ability to cast their preferences. “TIPNG has done this since 2007 and this is our 4th consecutive domestic observation and we’ve done this with partnership from the PNG EC,” he said. According to the report, many areas of concern were flagged, the first being political leadership. This is further elaborated in the report particularly remarks made by political leaders prior to the elections about its importance. In response to this, the Electoral Commissioner then presented their own report, based largely on the EC’s perspective on how they felt the elections had been conducted. After both presentations, Governor Bird thanked both agencies for their analysis on the 2022 NGE and urged that moving forward, they will be planning public consultations for next year, when he tables the reports on the floor of parliament. PC: TIPNG

The Rita Flynn Sporting complex in the city of Port Moresby was bustling with families and friends, excited fans and athletes this morning as the 2nd round of the Private Companies Netball competition kicked off with great displays of athleticism. President of the Private Companies Netball Association, Julie Mai stated that she is happy with the turnout of participants that had shown and believes that it is a good avenue for people from all over the private sector to network with each other and to create friendships. “It’s good to see that there is a great turnout today. This is an annual event and for the past 2 years, due to the covid-19 restrictions, we put the competition on hold. So, a lot of people have been waiting eagerly for the comp,” the president expressed proudly. Only 103 teams are actively taking part in the Private Companies Netball Competition, but according to Mai, many other companies have shown interest in taking part as well. Mai stated that it was good to see genuine interest in the competition but apart from that there are rules and regulations that must be followed. She mentioned that 3 teams were disqualified from the competition for not adhering to the regulations earlier on in round 1 and hopes that this won’t be the case in the future. Competition aside, Mai added that this is a platform which was created for women to relax and enjoy themselves. “The comp is just to have them come together, relax and have a good time and to keep ourselves fit. Most of the time we are working and we tend to not exercise, this can be an avenue in which we can be able to keep fit,” Mai stated.

In a short but significant event this morning Digicel Foundation in partnership with the City Pharmacy Group of Companies Limited, launched a new line of Men of Honour (MOH) merchandise to signal the long-standing partnership between both entities. The Men of Honour is an initiative of the Digicel Foundation aimed at creating a network of men around the country who can collectively advocate on ending violence and shine the light on positive behaviour in their communities. Present to witness the launch was Digicel Group Senior Vice President Lorna McPherson, alongside other members of the Digicel Foundation and Retail Operations Manager for Jacks of PNG, Ashish Kumar. McPherson stated that she was happy to launch the MOH awards with CPL as they have been a long-time supporter of the Digicel Foundation in many facets of promoting good morals and values towards community work. “CPL has always been a good partner in supporting the Digicel Foundation with the Men of Honour awards and we’re privileged to have them on board with us,” she said. Meanwhile, she reflected on the aim of the awards, which was to identify positive aspects of masculine behaviour in men to act as positive role models for men and to appreciate all the good things they have done for communities as whole. She maintained that many a times, men have been portrayed in a negative way towards the public and in doing so, many tend to forget the good that men also do in the communities, and the MOH awards are to recognize those that put their hands up in service of the people. The new merchandises will be sold at all Jacks of PNG outlets all over the capital.