The national flag carrier Air Niugini is taking steps to improve its services to the people with plans to bring in new fleet of aircrafts and also to recruit new pilots and aircraft engineers. The Minister for State Enterprises, William Duma, said that a lot of pilots and engineers have moved on to greener pastures overseas, living gaps to be filled. To compensate for this, the minister said the airline is embarking on a recruitment drive with the introduction of a training scheme for national pilots to be recruited and trained. “This was a scheme that was in place couple…
Author: Emmanuel MAIPE
A taxi driver escaped death this morning in the city of Port Moresby after a terrifying road accident at the traffic light intersection at Waigani. According to eye witnesses at the scene, the PMV bus number 7 smashed into the side of the small taxi sedan, squeezing both the front and back doors in and pushing the taxi onto the traffic island. The driver, Mr. Justin Aris was lucky to walk away with just minor scratches to his head, arm and leg. “I was driving towards Sports Inn when I was hit on the right side by this PMV bus,”…
The Governor General Sir Bob Dadae by way of official gazette has revoked he appointment of Monday June 12th as public holiday to commemorate the birthday of late Queen Elizabeth II. Friday the 16th of June has now been appointed new public holiday to observe the official birthday of His majesty King Charles III in lieu of Saturday 17th June. Earlier, the Chief Secretary to Government, Ivan Pomaleu, announced late Thursday evening that the National Executive Council (NEC) had revoked the declared public holiday for Monday 12th June 2023 and endorsed Friday 16th June 2023 as the day to observe…
A transition back to the old structure of the court system and the increase in the number of judges has been proposed by the Judiciary arm as a means to improve on the delivery of the justice services to the people. The Minister for Justice and Attorney General Pila Niningi, said the issues now with the current system is that it’s not enough to cater for the number of cases going through each day, week and month. He said there is a backlog of 25, 000 cases to be presided over by a judge. And to make matters worse, there…
The prime minister has put through to parliament proposed amendments to the constitution that would see the term of suspension for a political leader in office extended, and to bring in public enterprises under the radar of the Ombudsman Commission (OC). Prime Minister (PM) James Marape when presenting the proposed amendments to parliament, said the reason for this is to improve the functions of the OC and as a deterrence to any malpractices from people in office. PM Marape said the penalty regime of the OC legislation has been outdated and not reviewed for a long time. and…
There will be no Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday next week Monday as traditionally observed each year. The Chief Secretary to Government, Ivan Pomaleu, announced late Thursday evening that the National Executive Council (NEC) has revoked the declared public holiday for Monday 12th June 2023 and endorsed Friday 16th June 2023 as the day to observe the official King’s Birthday. “Earlier this evening, the NEC made the decision to correct the confusion surrounding the date. This announcement concludes a long and protracted wait on Buckingham Palace to confirm the official birthday for King Charles III.” The Palace confirmed two days ago…
Morobe Governor Luther Wenge has finally presented a petition from the student body of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology, to the Prime Minister in Parliament this morning before question time. Governor Wenge said Prime Minister James Marape was made known of the petition when he was in Lae last month on his visit to the province. “I, as a mandated leader, present this petition on behalf of students regarding the defence agreement signed between Papua New Guinea and United States.” In the petition, the student body requested for a review of the Defence Cooperation Agreement by parliament before…
The Minister for Finance and Planning has assured the East Sepik Governor that he will check to find out why there is still a delay in rehabilitation of the portion of the Sepik Highway from Maprik to Nuku in West Sepik province despite funds already made available. Minister Rainbo Paita said that things were sorted with funding three years ago. However, he did say he has not seen the full report, but has assured that he will make it his business to check again. “I don’t know why the delay. I have not seen the details of the of the…
The cost factor for the repair work at the Aropa Airport in Kieta in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) continues to delay the maintenance and improvement work at the airport. This has deprived the people of Central Bougainville to airline services, especially by Air Niugini to the region. The Minister for Civil Aviation Walter Schnaubelt, when responding to the Member for Central Bougainville Simon Dumarinu during question time in parliament, said that the Aropa Airport has cracks on the runway which needed fixing. These cracks were caused tremors and places a safety risk for airplanes and their passengers to…
The Member for Moresby South Justin Tkatchenko will address the Parliament today where he is expected make an apology about his derogatory remarks and explain why he had done it. Prime Minister James Marape, when responding to questions from the Morobe Governor during question time in parliament on Tuesday afternoon, said the member is highly remorseful about the whole matter. “The member apologized to the government caucus and would ask leave of Parliament today to make his address,” said the prime minister. When asked about what he will do as prime minister to deal with the member, Marape simply said…