In light of a looming Vote of No Confidence (VONC), the prime minister has indicated that he is confident that the number of Members of Parliament in his coalition government will withstand it, should it go through. Prime Minister (PM) James Marape, after arriving in Port Moresby today from his trip to Australia, said in a press conference that the government number of members is still above the absolute majority level. “My Pangu Pati has a caucus number of 53 and growing and my senior coalition partners maintain full support,” said the PM. Marape also went on to say that…
Author: Emmanuel MAIPE
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is prone to natural disasters and sometimes getting the word out to get help can be difficult if one does not have proper means communication, but that could change with new developments in communication technology recently introduced to the country. Kacific, a next-generation broadband satellite operator in PNG, is the company responsible for the launching of its Kacific CommsBox Ultra – an elevated version of its turnkey solution, designed to be a cutting-edge disaster-resilient communication solution. The system seamlessly and automatically connects to a satellite, offering internet connectivity across islands, mountainous regions and remote areas. Kacific…
There are two major events coming up for the sport of Australian Football League (AFL) in 2024 both in the country and on the international stage as well, which should see the local athletes do a lot of preparations in anticipation of these events. The first event should be the National Championships, which should make way for the selections for the National Teams in preparation for the upcoming international event, the International Cup 2024 (IC24) in Australia. According to the AFL PNG Senior Football Manager Mr. Rex Leka, the National Championships is scheduled for April in Port Moresby city, but…
All workers in the country should be glad to know that a review of the current Minimum Wage Rate and a possible increase, is one of the priority items on the to do list of the National Government that it will be undertaking this year. Minister for Labour and Employment, Kessy Sawang said that there have been a lot of calls from workers in the country to increase the minimum wage which is currently at K3.50 per hour, which was set in 2014 when the last minimum wage review was undertaken. As you’ve heard, our Prime Minister James Marape had…
Fuel consumers in the country will have to dig little deeper into their pockets this month after the Independent Consumer and Competitions Commission (ICCC) announced that price for all petroleum products will increase on average right across the country, starting on Thursday 08th February. According to the ICCC, these retail price increases are mainly attributed to the average increase in international crude oil prices in the month of January 2024. The average crude oil price increase was mainly attributed to increased demand from China and the United States, and disrupted supply of global crude oil from the Middle East. The…
Residents and business houses in a large part of Port Moresby city and parts of Central province woke up this morning to water shortage or no water supply at all because vandals decided to destroy the air valve on a water trunk main at Waigani. According to Water PNG Limited, the incident occurred over the weekend along Pitpit Street where the act of vandalism by the community led Water PNG having to shutdown water supply to a large area with these areas continuing to face water disruptions since yesterday, Monday 05th February. The areas affected are Gerehu stages 1 to…
The city of Port Moresby faced another issue with the supply of fuel today when vehicle owners discovered that most of the service stations were low on supply, but the reality is that this fuel crisis situation could prolong. This is because of the current situation faced by Puma Energy PNG with the closure of its accounts with the BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP), limiting further the fuel distributor’s ability to purchase fuel from overseas. The Chairman and Managing Director of Puma Energy PNG Group of Companies, Mr. Hulala Tokome initially indicated that this would happen after it was clear…
About 576 security personnel have been paid out their State of Emergency (SOE) operation allowances already with the remaining 400 officers from the National Capital District (NCD) to be paid theirs this week. That was the confirmation from the Police Commissioner David Manning in a statement which he released this afternoon. Manning said the remaining payments are being processed by the Finance Department and BSP. He explained that the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) Human Resource Division stressed the need to process the allowances in two tranches because of administrative delays by the Zone Commanders in submitting relevant paperwork…
The National Capital District (NCD) Governor Powes Parkop, has welcomed the opening of the new Hilton Hotel Residential Apartment by Star Mountain Plaza, saying that this shows that there is still very much confidence in doing business in the city of Port Moresby, despite recent events. While delivering his speech at the official opening ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Port Moresby last week Thursday 01st February, the governor stressed that this is a time to rebuild and recover when refereeing to the Black Wednesday riots last month that saw the destructions of major supermarkets and warehouses by looters. He…
About 272 public servants nationwide who are retiring will be finally paid out their entitlements under batch one of 2024 after the Deeds of Release (DOR) for these public servant retirees were approved and sent to Treasury for the release of funding, with a date to be set for them to be paid. Department of Personnel Management (DPM) Secretary, Ms. Taies Sansan, said that this is the second batch of retirees for year 2023; however, due to circumstances beyond our control, they will receive their retirement payments this year as the first batch of 2024. The 272 retirees from 21…