Supporters of the incumbent and former governor for Western Highlands Province, Paias Wingti have retaliated and burnt down houses in the village of Togoba after the declaration of WHP Governor-elect Wai Rapa on Friday. Provincial Police Commander, Superintendent John Sagom has advised that they have attended to the situation and addressed the community members and leaders and asked for normalcy to prevail in the village. He advised that after a clash between supporters of the incumbent and former governor with other villagers, the fight was taken to the village towards the early hours of yesterday morning and it was determined that 1 semi-permanent building and 1 house had been burnt down. Fortunately, no one was injured. “There was an old man, around the age of 70, sleeping in the house when it was lit on fire. Luckily he made it out in time before the house burnt down,” Supt. Sagom said. The Superintendent condemned the act made by the arsonists and assured that a proper investigation will be conducted into the incident and justice will be served. “Where is the respect for the law? You [the combatants] are affecting the livelihood of a person. In itself the act is inhumane and I condone such acts,” Supt. Sagom said. He advised that after he had a talked with the community leaders, they have reached and understanding with them while the Joint Task Force investigators will be taking over to conduct investigations. PPC Sagom urged both parties to not take up arms and asked for their full cooperation at this time.

The Lae Chamber of Commerce has expressed gratitude over the work commencement along the Bulolo highway. Bulolo highway, one of the most important highway that serves Morobe and Papua New Guinea to generate income from gold and forestry activities has been neglected for years. Already road works has commenced at Nine Mile junction to Markham bridge. Classic Engineering and Construction are in charged of the road works. The Department of Works has approved the work and payments for this important highway are in process. The road works will continue from Markham bridge to Mumeng and to Bungulum bridge. So far road clearing, grubbing, road widening and patrol grading has been completed. First stage of paving (sealing) is taking place from nine mile junction to Markham bridge. LCOC thanks Australia - PNG partnership for contributing in one of this important road which was funded by DFAT.

Police urged hotel and Lodge management in Lae to be aware of individuals making false pretence on booking accommodation and other services. Crime Investigator Constable Solomon Susame said hotels and Lodge management in Lae have to be aware of individuals going around under the act of false pretence by using accommodation and other services without settling. He raised this alert after conducting an investigation into a complain laid by Crossroad Hotel where a suspect was apprehended for using services without settling. Police alleged that the suspect namely Kingsley Baisa also known as Philip Arura from Siai village, Sohe district in Northern have booked in at Crossroad Hotel on two separate occasions and have used the facilities but have failed to comply with Hotel policies to settle his outstanding bills. The bills have accrued an outstanding of K5, 163. 00 particularly on accommodation, meals, beverages and incidental bills. The suspect used his name as Philip Arura from Asco company and made reservations with payment receipts to Hotel account where booking was allowed for him to check in. The suspect stayed there for two days but did not settle his bills. However he continued on to order food and beverages. The suspects continuation of ignorance to settle bills has prompted the Hotel management to forward the receipts to bank for confirmation. The bank then confirmed there were no transactions reflecting the receipts. Details of the similar situation were identified by the bank which linked up to the same suspect alleged to have involved in tricking other hotels in Lae.

Over a hundred supporters of incumbent Eastern Highlands Governor, Peter Numu and the Governor himself have been arrested and put into police custody. 133 supporters are now being detained at the Goroka Police Station. Provincial Police Commander, Superintendent Michael Welly advised that the 100+ supporters were arrested after lunch yesterday afternoon, after attempting to stop counting for the regional seat and demanded that the incumbent Governor be declared. “Just after lunch my security personnel had to move in and arrest the supporters,” he said. The Supt. further stated that this was a culmination of emotions over the past week or so, due to the current Governors favorable stance on tally for the regional seat. Truckloads of supporters congregated at the counting centre, demanding the declaration of Numu, even as the personnel advised them that the move to declare him without the completion of the counting process was not a legal and that counting would continue. “In the midst of the crowd, slingshots were fired at the security personnel. That frustrated our men, who have been working day and night, trying to make sure that we have a peaceful counting process and delivering our leaders,” Supt. Welly stated. That incited the incident and eventually followed the supporters to the Governor’s residence, resulting in their arrest, along with the governor and his close protection officer. They were all taken to the Goroka Police Station but due to the limited capacity, 33 were transported to another detaining facility, whilst they prepare a court file for their court appearances. The governor is also detained at the police station and is waiting on their court file to appear in court and will be given a chance to apply for bail. PC: Romcii Froster

Provincial Police Commander for the province of Milne Bay, Superintendent Peter Barkie, has commended the people of Milne Bay for their civility and understanding in this year’s National General Elections. Three seats have already been declared, the Kiriwina-Good Enough Open, Samarai-Murua Open and the Esa’ala Open seats, with only the Alotau Open and the Milne Bay Provincial seat yet to be declared. He anticipates that by early as today, they might see counting concluded and declarations done. Apart from that the people of Milne Bay Province have something to smile about after a rough 2 months of the challenging 2022 National General Elections. Superintendent Barkie has commended the people of Milne Bay and praised them for their down-right commitment to making the elections a free, fair and safe one. “I would like to take this time to congratulate the people of Milne Bay Province. This this indicates the perception that the Milne Bay people are bad is not true. They have shown good citizenship and they have proven that they are educated and civilized,” the superintendent proudly stated. Superintendent Barkie stated that prior to the elections, the province had been colour coded Red, as a high risk or dangerous province. “Of course we had some minor set-backs in terms of logistics, but not only in Milne bay, across the country as well,” he said. Superintendent Barkie added that they had to work extra hard due to funding issues for both the electoral commission and security forces but they worked things out with the service providers, whom were very understanding. “With our good public relations we were able to move forward with our operations,” the Superintendent said happily. He advised that they had anticipated and planned for the worst, but in the end, the election operations there have been without any major disruptions.

The casket of late chief Jacob Luke arrived at Sir Ignatuis Kilage outdoor stadium in Lae at 11.30am. The stadium was pack with guests, families, colleague and Business partners to receive the casket. Buimo Correctional Service officers led in the procession of casket to commence the funeral service. According to the program Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea's Head Bishop Reverend Jack Urame will lead the funeral service. Late chief Jacob's younger brother Mr. Leslie Luke read late chief Jacob's eulogy and after that families are to pay tributes . Miss Stephanie Luke his daughter will make response on behalf of family members. Wreaths will then be laid, the body to overnight at the Funeral Home and departs to his home Enga the next day.

Counting in Chimbu Province commenced on Saturday but not without its share of dilemma. Chimbu Provincial Returning Officer, Mr. Tom Sine expressed great concern over the time period they have left for counting. “We have less than a few days to go before the return of writs, but we are hopeful that we can meet the deadline,” Mr. Sine said. He stated that since counting started on the 23rd, they have received two petitions by the contesting candidates. Mr. Sine has stated that two petitions were put forward to him since counting started and is adamant that it will not influence the counting process. Mr. Sine stated that the petitions by the candidates were for him to not have the night shift counting. “The candidates have petitioned for me suspend counting during the night, but I have to get them to understand my position that we are approaching the deadline for the return of writs this Friday and hopefully we can get the declarations in by Thursday,” he said. Simbu Province is one of the Provinces that commenced polling late but with the pace at which they are going, they would probably finish well before Friday. The election manager has given his stance on his position on whether counting would stop after disruptions and delays were caused by disgruntled candidates of the various seats in the provinces. He said that he is in no position to bring the counting process to a halt just from a petition. “As the returning officer in all my powers cannot stop the counting from a petition. Should the candidates find something wrong in the process, they can send in a petition with a court order, only then will I stop. Otherwise, counting will proceed as usual,” Mr. Sine advised. Right now counting is going on, but not without slight delays and a few disruptions

NCD Candidates today marched to the regional counting centre here in the Nation’s Capital demanding an explanation from the NCD Election Manager as to why miscellaneous ballot papers were found under one of the tents located at the Rita Flynn Counting Centre. An undisclosed number of boxes and ballot papers were allegedly discovered, leading to the candidates questioning the integrity of the counting process and demanding an explanation. According to the NCD regional candidates, their scrutineers had witnessed the ballot papers under the tent and informed their respective candidates. The candidates also claimed that the security personnel were unaware of the papers in the vicinity of counting centre. A regional candidate and former NCD Metropolitan Superintendent, Mr. Andy Bawa, expressed great distaste toward the discovery of these boxes and papers. “Well it seems like a never ending scenario, it’s not even 24 hours, and just yesterday we had a situation as we had to take some of the Election officials to have them interview and processed for election fraud.” Stacks of papers were found, some initialed and some not, to which the candidates presumed were live papers. The word from the Election Manager, Mr. Kila Ralai, to candidates is that these are dead papers. This then led to the candidates demanding that counting should not commence until the papers are dealt with. “So all the candidates have resolved that the papers need to be taken into a container and locked up and counting commence, we don’t know whether to believe him as we’ve had delayed polling, delayed counting and now this.” With the return of writs only eight days away, all the candidates are anxious to have counting continue and for a leader to be elected. Micheal Kandiu, another regional candidate stated that these sort of actions are creating suspicions for the people and the candidates and called for transparency by the electoral commission. “You know we don’t want to delay counting any longer, so the Election Manager has assured that he will get a container and have these papers locked and hopefully counting will commence,” he said.

We must accept negative reports of violence reported in our country, says Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCPNG) of Papua New Guinea's head bishop. Reverend Jack Urame said we must accept negative reports as reported by the media and see how best we can improve. He said the negative reports shouldn't discourage citizens of this country and hiding from further contributing in shifting. Urame said every individual citizens, churches and stakeholders have a duty to work together as team to improve and prove to that negative reports. He stated that the bad reports should be stepping stone for everyone to step on and focus in a new direction. Urame made this statement in referring to recent reports of hit violence cases reported by main stream media during the campaign, polling and counting throughout the country.

Counting Officials for Nabak and Labuta LLGs have raised concerns over none payments of their allowances this morning at Boana Station where the counting is going on. More than 20 counting officials had a meeting with Returning officer Bamun Bange and raised this concern. The officials claimed their allowances were not being sorted for two weeks now. Nabak LLG has three more boxes to count while Labuta and Wain Erap LLGs completed their counts. Wain Erap did quality checks yesterday while Labuta has resolved to arrange counters from different counting centres for quality checks. The only LLG still going on with counting is Nawaeb Urban with nine more boxes to count. RO Bamun addressed the counting officials and said to respond to the officials' concerns after a talk with Morobe Election manager Simon Soheke. Counting officials are still waiting for the response.

With Papua New Guinea the highest-ranked nation in the tournament and Vanuatu the lowest this was expected to be a one-sided affair but that did not prove to be the case. Vanuatu threatened to cause PNG problems with a high-pressing tactic, the industrious Jane Alatoa keeping PNG head coach Nicola Demaine’s defence constantly on their toes. Meanwhile, PNG remained dominant in possession and their slick passing paid dividends shortly after the half-hour mark. Vanuatu failed to clear their lines following a sweeping move, allowing PNG captain Meagen Gunemba the chance to play in Marie Kaipu to smash home the opening goal. Gunemba continually caused problems for the Vanuatu defence, seeing a powerful half-volley saved and a long-range strike go wide in the first-half before coming close to stretching PNG’s lead early in the second. But Vanuatu continued to bely their low world ranking and PNG goalkeeper Faith Kasiray had to produce heroics to maintain her team’s lead. Again it was Alatoa causing problems for PNG, her precision through ball unleashing Brenda Anis one-on-on whose powerful effort was stopped in stunning fashion by the PNG goalie. Kasiray came to the rescue again to deny Vanuatu moments later, rushing out bravely to deny Alatoa and suffering the consequences with a facial injury, having to be replaced by back-up goalie Betty Sam. Sensing vulnerability Vanuatu continued to go on the attack and their high-pressing tactic soon paid off. Replacement keeper Sam’s errand goal-kick landed at the feet of a grateful Vanessa Keletia who duly slotted home an equaliser that sent the Vanuatu bench into rapture. Unfortunately for Jean Robert Yalou’s side that joy was short-lived. A mistimed clearance from Florida Willy allowed PNG through and Ramona Padio outmuscled her marker before hammering home for 2-1 just five minutes later. PNG head coach Nicola Demaine then turned to her strength in depth on the bench, with substitute Charlie Yanding’s brilliant solo effort giving them an unassailable 3-1 lead and all three points from what proved to be a tough opening fixture. Vanuatu will take heart from the manner of their defeat and hope for better when they take on Tahiti in their second Group B fixture on Wednesday, July 20 while PNG will look to cement their place in the quarter-finals when they take on Tahiti on Sunday, July 17.   Source: OceaniaFootball.com

Caption: The photo of the parishioners of the three-in-one parish attending Sunday service in Dirima. Mr Paul Maima in white shirt and tie is standing right in the photo attached. The three-in-one Catholic parishes of Dirima, Yuri and Nondri in Gumine of Simbu province congratulate the bishop-elect of Kundiawa Diocese Fr Paul Sundu. The three-in-one parish administered by Fr Peter Kim (SVD) is the largest in Kundiawa Diocese located in the southern deanery that has 19 outstations with Fr Kim as the only spiritual director. When receiving the news of Pope Francis announcing in Vatican of the elect of Fr Paul Sundu as Bishop the parish priest of Dirima Fr Kim conveyed the message his parishioners on Easter vigil. The message was well received by the Catholic people in Dirima, Yuri and Nondri parishes. Chairman of Dirima parish council Peter Maima on behalf of the Catholic people in the three-in-one parishes congratulated Fr Paul Sundu on his appointment as Bishop-elect of Kundiawa Diocese and looking forward to his stewardship. Mr Peter Maima said that was good news for Kundiawa Diocese, which did not have a bishop since the former Rev. Anton Bal was elevated to Madang Archdiocese as Archbishop while Kundiawa was administered by Fr Richard. Wajab. Mr Maima said the Catholic people in Dirima, Nondri, and Yuri will continue to pray for Fr Sundu till his ordination as bishop on the set date sometime. Fr Sundu who was ordained as Diocesan priest in 2008 was former rector of Good Shepherd College, a priesthood formation school, in Jiwaka and serving priest of St Michael’s parish – Koge until his elevation as bishop-elect two weeks ago. By ENNIO KUBLE of WRight Media in Simbu