The Waigani Primary School in Port Moresby city held its 26th Graduation yesterday where a total of 354 grade eight students successfully graduated at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) Drill Hall venue. Headmaster of the Waigani Primary School, Mr. Moses Modekawau, in his speech said that this year’s graduation saw the largest number of grade eight students graduate. Mr. Modekawau further went on to thank all supportive parents as well as the hardworking staff for helping the students come this far. “I would also like to make a special mention to our government for its commitment in providing help and support through its funding to the school.” Meanwhile, the school’s Dux prize was sponsored by Office Mart Limited; a company specialized in the marketing of stationaries to schools within Port Moresby. Office Mart also made a special appearance at the graduation to present a full set laptop to the primary school’s top student. Salesman and representative of Office Mart, Mr. John Kalau in his remarks mentioned that Waigani Primary School has been a regular customer to them for two years. “As a way of showing our appreciation to the school, we decided to give something back and with that we presented a laptop to the top student that we know will surely help him in the long run.” Noticing that the primary school has no computer laboratory, Mr. Kalau further said that such support should be given to more schools at the primary level as it will be beneficial to students in the long run.

The Eastern Papuan Cup Soccer tournament is just a few days away from the finals. The tournament which began around mid this year is now wrapping up with finals scheduled to be played this Saturday at the UPNG sports oval. EPC Tournament Director Mr. John Mogi said three divisions are looking forward to playing their grand finals this weekend. These three grand finalist teams are from the Men’s Presidential Cup, Women’s Presidential Cup and the EPC Women’s Major Cup. Mr. Mogi said the tournament had 14 teams in the junior category and 35 adult teams, 26 teams for men and 9 women teams. Due to complaints and controversies from different teams in the tournament, Mr. Mogi clarified that a briefing would be scheduled on Friday to address these complaints as well as decide on the EPC Men’s Cup game. It is also stressed that a committee will be in place to address these issues. The first playoff this Saturday will see the team Simla take on Mayela 1 in the quarter final, which will see the winner of the match progress to meet Utuyagila in the Grand Final. The second play-off match will feature both Milcen and Kemagu in a fight to qualify for the final dance this Saturday. Mr. Mogi further stated that the grand final match will be after mid-day whilst the fixture games will be played in the morning. Preparations are ongoing as the grand stand for the upcoming event has already erected at the arena. Mr. Mogi commended the teams for their participation in the EPC Cup Tournament and added he is impressed by their high standard football skills despite hiccups during this season. Disclosure of the prize money will be on Friday during the briefing with the organizing committees prior to the match.

The National Volunteer Service Department commemorated the International Volunteer Day at the Goldie Barracks Training Depot on Monday with the theme “Solidarity through Volunteering”. The event is held annually to acknowledge volunteers, both local and international, who have played key roles in reaching out to the less fortunate citizens in remote parts of the country. These volunteers act as agents of change by conducting awareness on different aspects of livelihood such as agriculture, health and education. The event took place with the presence of the Executive Director for the National Volunteer Service Ms. Molly Willie and Manager for Community and Liaison Development Program Mr. Rodney Uvovo. Mr. Uvovo said the event was organized by the NVS agency and a cleanup campaign within the barracks summed up the event.

Gulf Provincial Police Commander Jeffery Lemb has confirmed that there operations for this festive season has begun and will be tight within the province. According to the police boss, the festive season operations have two phases which police on the ground will be working in. The first phase which is the awareness campaign is based on promoting peace and harmony within rural communities and the consequences of their actions. The second phase will see dispatched police personnel conducting operations during the peak festive period to ensure public safety. Highway patrol during this festive season in the province will be rolled out by police to ensure any suspicious activities are monitored and looked into, given recent drug trafficking within the borders of the province. PPC Lemb is calling out to all communities to come forward and report any illegal activities or nuisance that is unacceptable during this festive season. He further added a caution to the people using the main waterways as their mode of transport to take extra precaution and stay in tune for weather forecasts before travelling. The current state of the province is contained with no major problems and the police within the province aim to keep it that way.

Velma’s Music School is currently conducting holiday Piano lessons for interested children, 10 years and above. There will be three rounds of lessons. The first lesson is currently on and will end on the 9th of December with the third and final round of lessons ending on the 23rd of December 2022. The founder of the school, Ms. Velma Ninjipa said the purpose of this holiday lesson is for the students who wished to learn more about music. She added that during the school semester, students did not have enough time to cover all their music lessons and this music lessons were good for those who wanted to catch up on their music studies. Due to the limited number of keyboards and teachers, there will only be 10 students per lesson and a fee of K50/lesson. Ms. Ninjipa said through the lessons, they aim to teach children about music, as well as discipline, to be better people and citizens of the country. Velma’s Music School has been operating for two years now and is looking forward to many more years ahead.

Mount Hagen city in Western Highlands Province was in chaos on Sunday following the death of a young man who was allegedly willfully murdered in the early hours of Saturday morning. Provincial Police Commander, Superintendent John Sagom, confirmed this stating that at the moment police are treating the murder as a suspicious death while investigations into the murder continues. The deceased, from Moge Anducklimb Tribe in Hagen Central District of WHP is the son of Former Premier of Mount Hagen, Chief Lucas Roika, was found murdered in cold blood in front of their family home early hours of Saturday morning. This in turn caused retaliation by the tribe of the deceased, who took to the streets of Hagen City in search of the suspects. The clash was quelled by the police, who took charge of the situation, forcing the combatants out of the city with the help of Joint Task Force (JTF). According to PPC Sagom, 7 known suspects have been arrested in relation to the suspicious killing. He added that the CID in the city have taken over investigations while the body of the deceased has been transported to Mt Hagen General Hospital Morgue while waiting on a post mortem. Meanwhile, he added that both tribes have been approached and peace talks are underway. The investigation is ongoing and the police are monitoring the situation. Thus far, there have been no deaths as a direct result of the fight but a few have been injured.

Modilon General Hospital in the recent weeks has been constantly receiving patients being brought to the hospital with recorded case of trauma. Due to the ongoing fights between communities in Madang Province especially in the Transgogol local level government, there have been a huge number of people admitted to the hospital with knife wounds. Director for Madang Public Health Dr. Martin Daimen specified that trauma has been an ongoing case at  Modilon General hospital for three years, thus many in the district of Madang are greatly affected. Dr. Daimen went on to add that with the invention of sling shot, many youths residing in communities are using this weapon against their rivalries and contributing to more cases of trauma. Meanwhile, subject to the recent change in weather patterns has caused a lot of people of Madang Province to be diagnosed to the hospital with malaria. Dr. Daimen added that many people have recorded symptoms of common flu. This irked the Madang Provincial Health Authority and the Madang Hospital to promptly set up a static team at the hospital to help the people of Madang get dose and stay immunized. Dr. Daimen further stated that Malaria is a burden to their Health Authorities at this time and they really have to pay close attention to their patients. Additional challenges faced include several issues with power fluctuation, water supply and Anti-malaria drugs. Dr. Daimen added all supply of Anti-malaria drugs are running out and all other town facilities are facing this issue.

Preparation towards the festive police operations in Milne Bay Province has begun and is in order, as per advice from Milne Bay Provincial Police Commander, Superintendent Peter Barkie. The operation, Code-named Starlight will cover all four districts in the Province. The PPC stated that an operation order will be released this Friday, giving the green light for the operation to commence. Barkie added that Police in Milne Bay have a reservist system in place and should they need further men for the festive period operations, they have men at the ready to be deployed. Superintendent Barkie thanked the Provincial and District government for assisting in funding the police force. He further thanked the people of Milne Bay for taking responsibility and helping to keep law and order during festive seasons.

In the final panel session focusing on security of the elections that concluded the Transparency International Election Seminar 2022, many ideas were presented as to how they could be properly addressed before the next election in 2027. Panelists from agencies centered on the National General Election (NGE) and captivating discussions and questions were exchanged during the seminar, purposely on how the Electoral Commission (EC) along with relative authorities could strategize to promote a fair and transparent election. Deputy Head of Delegation to the EU Dr. Silviu Jora highlighted that a significant number of Papua New Guineans are more active and interested in politics compared to other modern democratic nations. Dr. Jora laid out recommendations compiled by the EU for the Electoral Commission to consider. Recommendations were based on strategies and implementations on how to promote transparency, during the polling and election process. Dr. Jora stressed that the main concern that EC needs to address would be the update of the common roll, which need much improvement. "Something has to be done to the electoral roll in order to restore public confidence. The Electoral roll is not reformed, not improved and not renewed. National Census should be conducted not only for future relation but for the progress of this country", said Dr. Jora. Meanwhile, security during the election is a vital role and the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) is planning their operations as early as possible for the next NGE, according to the Deputy Correctional Services Commissioner, Michael Mosiri. Correctional Service in collaboration with the PNG Defense Force operates on a call out by the EC and the RPNGC and will still continue during the next NGE. The Deputy Commissioner elaborated that effective communication between the EC and RPNGC is a pathway to ensure the safety prior and during the election period. “This communication network needs to be established early so we can communicate our roles and participation in delivering good outcomes for the next National General Election," said Mosiri.

34 Joint Force Cadet Officers completed 12 days exercise yesterday outside Lae City. The exercise called Win Breaker is part of the joint force cadet officers training at PNG Joint Force Academy to train patrol commanders on how to conduct offensive activities, seek out and close with enemies and kill and capture enemies. Exercise coordinator Lt Aldridge Bulungol said this batch of cadet officers comprised of 28 PNG Defence Force and six Correctional Service Officers. He said with the completion of the exercise, the cadets are now equipped with the intensive knowledge on conducting patrol commanders roles effectively during challenging conditions. There were four females among the 30 male cadet officers participated in the exercise. The exercise concluded with seven kilometres walk which started at Wawin National School of Excellence area and ended at Okuk National Highway

Correctional Services was allocated K27 million from the 2023 national budget that was handed down by the Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey yesterday afternoon. But that amount in total is not sufficient to cater for CS programs and aims, according to Commissioner Stephen Pokanis. K27 million allocated to CS will cater for infrastructure and rehabilitation of the CS buildings and also to carry out prison programs. But the commissioner stated the he is hopeful and understands that this amount is to benefit and to build the CS. “For the CS department alone, this is not enough. While we would like to have more, I understand that there are other key bodies such as the different departments and state owned enterprises that would need more,” Pokanis said. The commissioner added that it is a budget of management and creativity, stating that yes there are many services that they would like to carry out, but for now it’s a test to see how best they can be able to work within the parameters of the projected amount. “We would like to look into the expansion of new dormitories for our staff, also try to look at housing for our officers as well,” he added. He stated they will now start planning for their programs which includes building their own capacity on correctional practices while building leadership as these are critical areas. Besides that they would also look at how best they can manage the rehabilitation of prisoners such as TVET and life skills training to give prisoners a chance at a smooth reintegration into society.

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