Prime Minister (PM) James Marape has called on the Opposition to stop misleading the public and inciting anxiety among the people after accusing them of creating dissent regarding the vote-of-no confidence motion. "It is very irresponsible of the Opposition MPs or the so-called Alternate Government to be contesting issues concerning their vote-of-no-confidence motion in the public space, which the Parliament Private Business Committee has deemed to be flawed and does not qualify to be listed on Parliament notice," Marape stated. He made this statement in response to the Opposition's announcement, revealing their decision to forego challenging the actions of the Private Business Committee in court. Marape had earlier welcomed the Opposition’s plan to bring to court their grievances with the Private Business Committee's decisions, but was surprised that they now are saying that they will not go to court but wait for Parliament to resume to mount another challenge. “Their decision to challenge Government is within their constitutional rights but it is becoming apparent that a big part of their political strategies involves the use of social media or mainstream media outlets, to cause public confusion, apprehension and tension,” the PM said. "After Parliament was adjourned to May, the Opposition claimed they would challenge the Private Business Committee's actions in court." "They have every right to do so; however, their recent declaration of abandoning the legal challenge in favor of waiting for the May sitting of Parliament, primarily leveraging social media for dissent, merely breeds confusion," added the PM. The prime minister further highlighted the inconsistency in the Opposition's actions, implying a lack of confidence in their legal stance. Marape noted that during the February Parliament session, the Opposition failed to demonstrate significant support, notably during the vote to declare PNG a Christian country, where they could not muster more than 14 members against the government's overwhelming majority. He is now appealing to the public to recognize the Opposition's tactics as an attempt to incite dissent, potentially leading to unrest, and he criticized certain media outlets for supporting these divisive strategies, and urged the Opposition to engage in constructive political debate and leadership. Nevertheless, PM Marape reassures the nation that the government remains unshaken by the vote of-no-confidence motion. He emphasized adherence to due process and proper procedure as outlined by the Constitution, Standing Orders and Supreme Court rulings, and condemns any further attempts to undermine these processes through improper submissions or without full consent in procuring support for the motion, as any such actions would be scrutinized by the Parliamentary Privileges Committee.   Ends//EM

The country’s consumer watchdog, the Independent Consumer and Competitions Commission (ICCC) has been on the prowl inspecting shops to see if they have been complying with the price measures imposed on certain goods under the Commission's radar. In Port Moresby city, the price inspection exercise this week discovered about twenty- five shops in various suburbs in breach of Price Measure No. 4 and were issued with Infringement Notices (IN) on Tuesday, 27th February 2024. The ICCC staff were deployed throughout the city and parts of Central province as well to inspect shops and verify whether they have been complying with Price Measure No. 4, which was issued under the National Pandemic Act 2020 by the Office of the Controller on 30th March 2023. Measure No.4 states that the price increases of declared goods, which includes rice, sugar and flour, must not be above ten percent or more. Since the commencement of the inspection, more than twenty shops were inspected and twenty- five were caught increasing the prices of the declared goods without seeking prior approval from the ICCC. The ICCC officers on the ground said shop owners or managers were informed last year during the first phase of the price inspection; however, seeing price increases on some of the listed items was sheer negligence and ignorance on their part. It was discovered that some shops had more than ten items with their prices increased above ten percent. ICCC Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Paulus Ain, also said they had conducted mass awareness nationwide to inform shop owners about Measure No. 4 and the penalties for noncompliance. He explained that Measure No. 4 came into effect due to the effects of inflation experienced in the country, and after shops had calculated the selling prices for their goods, they are not to take advantage of the inflation and unnecessarily increase the final selling price for the goods. “We told them that if they lift the prices without our approval, then the penalty is K10, 000 on the spot fine, and if they refuse, we then proceed to the courts.” Meanwhile, the ICCC will continue to carry out the second phase of its nationwide price surveillance after starting just last month. Phase one of the price surveillance and inspection exercise was conducted between August and October of 2023 and the prices collected during phase one will be used as ‘base prices’ by the ICCC to monitor any subsequent price increases of the declared goods.

Footy fans in the city of Port Moresby are expected to see some changes to the lineup of teams that will be participating in this year’s AFL competition, as they prepare to welcome the 2024 season. According to the President of the Port Moresby AFL Association, Mr. Douglas Lai, this is because two clubs could face exclusion from the competition this year; one for its involvement in the on-field violence witnessed during the 2023 finals, while the other for not meeting certain requirements to continue in this year’s competition. The Port Moresby AFL Association members, following their meeting this week, submitted their recommendations regarding the two clubs to the Papua New Guinea (PNG) AFL Commission for deliberation. Mr. Lai said the association is now awaiting further instructions from the PNG AFL Commission on whether to go ahead with the exclusions, or not. He added that if the exclusion does go ahead, this will mean both the men’s and women’s teams of these two particular clubs be removed from the competition. This then would see only eight clubs left to participate this season. Nevertheless, the 2024 AFL season is set to kick off this month says the president. “The pre-season will start on the 16th of March with the proper season to commence on the following week,” President Lai said. The AFL Easter Cup will be on again this year with the event set for April.

A small delegation from Papua New Guinea (PNG) will be visiting New Zealand (NZ) in April to hold high-level talks on trade and investment between the two nations. The Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru said the visit to NZ will be to learn from the experience of New Zealand’s capital market industry and seek New Zealand Government’s support to transform the Securities Commission of PNG and the capital market industry of PNG. Whilst there, the PNG delegation will also visit the chicken and dairy farms and invite the New Zealand investors in these industries to invest in PNG, especially in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs). “We want to look at New Zealand’s chicken industry and invite the New Zealand investors in this industry to come and invest in PNG because we still continue to import an estimate of over K100 million worth of chicken annually and this results in loss of jobs and revenue for our MSMEs, SMEs, and our industry. We want to stop that.” “We also do not want to be exposed to the risk of imported chicken diseases like the Avian Influenza and others. We want to produce enough day-old chicks to supply the entire need of our nation, our farmers, and our industry so we are able to produce enough chicken locally to meet the growing demand for chicken,” said Minister Maru. This visit and meeting planned for April was agreed upon between Minister Maru and the NZ Minister for Agriculture, Hunting and Fishing, Forestry, and Trade, Mr. Todd McClay during their meeting on Sunday at the margins of the World Trade Organization (WTO) 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The National Executive Council (NEC) has issued emergency orders under the Essential Services Act of Papua New Guinea (PNG) to drastically address the fuel crisis currently faced in the country. Prime Minister (PM) James Marape today announced these orders, stating that the aim is to ensure the consistent supply of fuel by Puma Energy at this point in time. Marape said these emergency orders are just short term solution to the fuel crisis in order to give time for the government to work towards are long term solution going forward. The initial order is to have the Minister for Petroleum and Energy to issue direction to Puma Energy to continue with the fuel supply, especially for the aviation, even if it means filling up its tanks at Napanapa with supply from other distributors willing to assist with the supplies. The second is to ask the BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP) to continue to hold Puma accounts while all parties involved continue to work towards an amicable solution, and the third is to have the Bank of PNG (BPNG), within a month, furnish to government the issues they may have with Puma that has seen the Bank unable to grant Puma’s requests. “With respect to commercial banks having the right to hold accounts, but we ask BSP to maintain Puma’s account for one more year for us to work through and especially get the report from Central Bank, and for us as a country look at the alternate solution,” said Marape. For a more longer-term solution to the problem, the PM said the government will be looking to enact some laws to prevent such situations in future. “We will enact laws when we come to parliament in May,” the prime minister affirmed. “We will pass certain laws on the monopoly of fuel supply and we open up the market and also allow for Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited (KPHL), to be our National Energy Company that will work with subsidiaries in our country for the importation of fuel and the distribution of fuel in our country.” The reason for this, Marape explained that it was due to an agreement that was made way back in 1999 by the State and the predecessor of Puma Energy to enable a monopoly in the fuel importation and distribution that has led to this current situation; hence, a change in the laws is required to address this going forward. The NEC approved and endorsed these emergency orders following the recommendations put forth by the National Security Council after their meeting yesterday. Marape concluded by saying that these emergency orders come with very tough penalties with it to be imposed on organizations that do not comply with the orders. They include very heavy fines and even imprisonment.

Air Niugini is expected to have sufficient aviation fuel to keep its services ongoing after the airline company signed a recent contract to purchase a cargo of jet fuel directly from Puma Energy’s international supplier; however, the wait for the jet fuel to arrive might be a bit too long. In a statement released today, the fuel company revealed that subject to Air Niugini fulfilling the new contract, replacement jet fuel is expected to be available in Port Moresby by late this week, but unfortunately, due to the court order forcing Puma Energy to maintain maximum supply of jet fuel to Air Niugini, its existing supply has depleted significantly quicker than Puma had expected. “We believe that despite our efforts to preserve limited stock, Puma Energy will have no further jet fuel available in Port Moresby from as early as today - until such time as the replacement cargo purchased by Air Niugini arrives.” This could likely see some flight disruptions for a period of time, but Air Niugini has been presented with a number of mitigating options by Puma Energy to maintain their flight schedule, including utilizing jet fuel available in airports outside of Port Moresby city. “We continue to protect jet supply to meet demand for emergency services, including medical operators and the police in Port Moresby. Despite the active court order, we believe Air Niugini will allow fuel supply for emergency services to be prioritized in the interest of Papua New Guinea (PNG).” Puma Energy’s decision to reduce the size of its operations and fuel supply proportionate to the capacity of its remaining banking channels, was announced last week and came after extensive engagement with various government stakeholders, including the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) to find a long-term and sustainable banking solution. Puma Energy continues to urge the Government set up a task force to minimize the impact on fuel supply disruptions to communities and the economy. Despite the current challenges, Puma Energy remains committed to staying in PNG in the long term. The company's management remains hopeful that it can increase its banking capacity and grow back the size of its business to historical levels.

The New Porgera Limited (NPL) saw its first gold production yesterday, marking the start of productions under the new Special Mining Lease (SML) 13 agreement that should see better benefits received especially for the local beneficiaries, in the next 20 years of mine- life. Prime Minister (PM) James Marape was there to witness the first doré bar come out of the production room with the name New Porgera Limited sealed on it and numbered NPL 0001. Marape, in a press conference after his visit to the mine in Porgera, said it was a long road to finally get to this point; about three years and ten months, but he said efforts by his government had to be made to ensure a fair deal was struck between the developer and the local beneficiaries, which included the landowners, the Enga Provincial Government, the Porgera District Administration and the State. “Finding the fine balance was a key focus since 2019. Many complained, many thought we will not see Porgera produce gold again, but today (Friday 23rd February) we witnessed the pouring of gold for the first time,” said the prime minister. However, Marape said the mine is under 50% productivity at the moment and by July, it is expected to ramp up productivity to 100%. The PM also said that the continuity of the New Porgera mine will now depend on the full cooperation from all stakeholders under the new SML 13, which he said was negotiated to ensure to get the best return for the local beneficiaries. “The provincial government has given the endorsement to the New Porgera SML 13. SML 13 has features that was never featured in SML 1.” “You have the environment issues built into SML 13, you have the resettlement of the mine precinct villages built in to the SML 13 requirements. There are also greater cognition to the fact of social obligation we owe to mine affected areas, including the host province Enga.” Under SML 13, the mine will operate for 20 years with the Stated having the option to buy it off from Barrick in 10 years’ time, should the government wish to do so. Also, under SML 13, 51% of equity will go to local beneficiaries and 49% to investment partners. This is a massive change compared to the previous SML 1 where 95% went to investment partners and 5% to Papua New Guinea beneficiaries. Marape added that the mine looks promising to even operate beyond 20 years, especially with the amount of gold still left in the valley, which should continue to give better returns on investment to the country and the people. “On an average of possibly 400, 000 to 500, 000 ounces of gold a year in New Porgera, it stands to be a massive gold production that will service our economy,” Marape said. Meanwhile, the PM thanked Barrick Gold, the Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas, and all the stakeholders who have worked so hard for almost four years to reopen the mine and to eventually reach the first gold production.

A number of proposals and recommendations were put forth by Members of Parliament this afternoon in the debate to find better ways to addressing the deteriorating law and order situation in the country. The Provincial Member for East Sepik, Allen Bird said a quick response by the government to send security forces to attend to tribal conflicts and surges in crime should be considered by the government going forward. He said the response to the recent killings in Wapenamanda in Enga should have been done sooner to capture the killers and prevent further clashes and also give humanitarian assistance to the innocent men, women and children affected by the incident. That he said was not been done effectively. The Provincial Member for Enga, Sir Peter Ipatas said the law and order situation in his province especially the tribal conflicts, are common but there has to be better response from security forces to prevent or deter them from happening and more people killed. He appealed to the government to consider his proposal, which he has put forth numerous times in Parliament, to have foreign partners come in and better train the country's police and defence personnel and to also support local security forces on ground address tribal fights and law and order issues. The Minister for Health, Dr. Lino Tom also contributed to the debate, stating that the reason for the breakdown of law and order was due to people not having confidence anymore in government institutions like the police and the judiciary. He said this can be addressed only by better improving the law and justice sector, so to get better turn around time in handling of cases and better convictions. He said it's the lack of confidence that see people taking matters into their hands, which then leads to conflicts and crime. Meanwhile, the Police Minister Peter T'simalili Junior said what is needed in order to improve the law and order situation is to have stability in the government. He said the State is doing it's part to address the matter. "We are addressing it but it takes time, we need stability to achieve that," said the Minister. He said the Marape- Rosso Government made a strong move to address law and order and will continue to do all it can to achieve that going forward.

Voting through formal identification of voters through biometric system before 2027, is the government's target to achieve before the next National General Election. That's from Prime Minister (PM) James Marape when responding to questions from the Member for Talasea on the improvements to the election process going forward. Marape said the first step is to complete the National Census this year, where from it an updated common roll can be established and from there, a proper identification for the people through the National Identification (NID) program, can take place. He said only then a biometric voting system can be established in preparation for 2027. Marape said he is being assisted by the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Constitutional Matters to have this done before the next election. The PM said the issue of improving the voting system and election process is a long inherent issue and assured Parliament that efforts are being made to ensure a better improved voting system is established, one that will be transparent in order to prevent potential corrupt practices during the next election.

The Opposition has made an urgent plea to the Prime Minister to seriously take drastic measures to address the deteriorating law and order situation in the country following the recent murder of a large number of men by their rival tribal group over the weekend in the Enga province. In a press conference held after the parliament sitting, the Opposition Leader Douglas Tomuriesa said that Prime Minister (PM) James Marape must not turn a blind eye to this extremely violent incident and other pressing law and order issues currently experienced in the country. “We today have made a call very clear on the floor of parliament on security issues in the country, and that call is out there that the prime minister cannot continue to sidetrack the issue and say other things,” said the Opposition Leader. Today in parliament the Member for Vanimo Green, Belden Namah, asked nine questions to the PM regarding what the government is doing to address the law-and-order woes, however, Mr. Tomuriesa said Marape did not address the questions and continued to deflect the issue. He said this kind of response from Marape is extremely dangerous because it shows that the PM is not that serious about the men, women and children who continue to suffer from tribal fights and other criminal activities that are continuously being committed in the country. It’s not only that, Mr. Tomuriesa said that the law-and-order situation is bad for investment opportunities and since the PM is focused on selling Papua New Guinea (PNG) as a great investment destination to the rest of the world, he should be adamant in fixing and improving the country’s situation with better security policies. “The prime minister need to put his foot down and address this. He cannot continue to speak as if it’s not important.” Meanwhile, Tomuriesa said that as the alternate government, they plan on handling things way much better than the current government and call on the Members on the other side of the house to see what is happening and switch sides and support them replace the PM and with it, work together to better improve the law-and-order situation. “We would like to make it loud and clear to the people that this alternate government is not going to sit down and watch that continued trend of people being affected around Papua New Guinea.”

Prime Minister (PM) James Marape in Parliament this morning assured the house that his government continues to work towards improving law enforcement to address the law and order and tribal fighting situation in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The prime minister in his response to a series of questions from the Member for Vanimo Green Belden Namah, said one of the actions taken was to ensure consistency in the office of the Police Commissioner. He said in the past 8 years there have been 4 police commissioners, stating that there is no consistency in the office, hence police needs to have a long term Commissioner in office to ensure the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) does a better job. Also, he said the RPNGC has a new Elite Police Unit trained to specifically handle domestic terrorism acts like tribal fights and so on, will be put into duty soon to address such cases. He also said improvements have been made as well to the magisterial services to ensure better handling of cases and convictions. The other efforts taken by his government to improve law and order are the Defence Contract Agreement made with the United States and the Military Security Agreement with Australia, which was signed recently between himself and his Australian counterpart. "We have taken a holistic look into the entire sector to improve and address the law and order matters," said the PM. PM Marape also stated that of previous tribal conflicts, certain people who were responsible for the killings were arrested and convicted and are spending time in prison, while some met unfortunate ends. On that note, he said people who have done killings in tribal conflicts or committed other criminal activities will be dealt with when caught no matter what. However, the PM said to give a full response to the 9 questions of the Member tomorrow, so to give a full scope of the work his government is doing to address law and order issues in the country.

The assurance given by the president of the National Capital District (NCD) PMV (Public Motor Vehicle) Association to work with police to get justice for the bus driver shot by police over the weekend, although appreciated, was met with some resentments from the bus drivers. This is because the PMV drivers claim that their association has not been effective enough in bringing forth their issues and concerns raised over the years to the authorities, like it should have. A PMV drivers’ spokesperson, Mr. Linsten Kera, said matters like the building of newer bus stops to cater for the growing number of PMV buses in the city, security and safety at the main bus stops, and the issue of police harassment of bus drivers, have not been fully addressed by the association. “The PMV Association is not doing its part to represent us and support us. There must be some changes to the association to make it more effective,” said the spokesperson. He went on this say that the informal gathering this morning at the Unagi Oval in Gordons to meet with the NCD police high command, had to be called because the PMV Association did not come out to take the lead to seek justice for bus driver; therefore, they had to organize it themselves. Meanwhile, the President of the NCD PMV Association, Mr. Jack Waso urged the drivers to return to work to provide the transport service to the public in Port Moresby city, saying that the matter is now a police matter and the outcome of the investigation will be made known to them and the family of the victim. He also apologized to the NCD Metropolitan Superintendent for the gathering this morning, stating that the drivers did not go through his office to organize the gathering, which was deemed illegal. Nevertheless, police had to make time to come over to chat with the drivers and hear out their concerns. The Metropolitan Superintendent also gave assurance of a thorough investigation into the shooting incident.