Transparency International Papua New Guinea (TIPNG) conducted a week long civic awareness outreach in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province as part of its Building Elections Integrity through Partnership (BEIP) Project. A key part of the awareness in Goroka was a Civic Awareness Information Workshop that brought together key provincial election stakeholders, namely the Eastern Highlands Electoral Commission Office, Provincial Administration and the Goroka Police to provide updates on their preparations for the 2022 National Elections in Eastern Highlands Province. Participants at the workshop included members of various civil society organizations in Goroka: YWCA Goroka, Evangelical Lutheran Church, Helping Hand Youth Honey Producers, Tribal Foundation (Soundhouse Consulting), Caraitas PNG and the NBC EHP. TIPNG’s other voter awareness meetings with youth, churches and citizens in Eastern Highlands Province heard the audience express serious concerns for a truly free, fair and safe elections come July 2022, while women expressed that feeling insecure at a polling station was their biggest challenge. “TIPNG is calling on all sectors in the Eastern Highlands Province to work in partnership with the Eastern Highlands Electoral Commission Office and the Provincial Election Steering Committee to ensure that the right information goes out to the people of the province and that there is real partnership in implementing peaceful elections in the province, said TIPNG CEO, Ms Arianne Kassman.” As part of TIPNG’s civic awareness on voters’ rights and responsibilities, TIPNG conducted two school visits to the Goroka Grammar, Highlands School of Nursing and Goroka Secondary school and community outreach with the Goroka YWCA, Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Evangelical Bible Mission. The BEIP Project is funded under the PNG-Australia Partnership for Development.

BSP Financial Group Chief Operating Officer, Robin Fleming, has raised concerns over additional EFTPoS fees charged to BSP and other bank Cardholders by BSP EFTPoS Merchants for purchases, cash out and balance checking. Mr Fleming said this when responding to a query raised by a disappointing customer who was charged extra fees when trying to cash out K50 after his purchase using the EFTPoS terminal at Hot Rooster Shop in Buka. “BSP regularly informs customers that they should not pay additional fees to any merchant who tries to apply their own surcharge for use of a BSP EFTPoS terminal,” said Fleming. “Under the terms and conditions accepted by the bank’s merchants, they are not permitted to charge additional fees on customers. If we become aware of a merchant applying a fee for transactions, we will caution them and remind them of the terms and conditions they accepted. If the merchant continues to apply fees, the bank will remove the terminal from the merchant and discontinue the merchant relationship,” Fleming said. BSP Retail General Manager Daniel Faunt also reaffirmed this saying, “The availability of EFTPoS at any business increases the volume of sales as customers find electronic payments safe and convenient to do business with.” “In 2020 BSP removed the minimum fee of K0.50 per transaction for merchants and the fee is now 1% of the purchase amount which for small transactions of say K20 reduces the merchant fee from K0.50 to K0.20. Since May 2021, we have also waived EFTPoS fees for Kundu Standard customers who transact below K26. This means that all transactions below K26 are free whilst transactions above K26 will attract a K0.25 fee to the customer,” said Faunt. “This enables customer’s convenience in paying for goods at stores and withdrawing cash at the checkout using the EFTPoS terminal without BSP charges, rather than withdrawing cash from ATMs. We encourage customers to continue utilising this payment method for cheaper, faster, safer and convenient way to purchase goods and services,” Faunt added. BSP will continue to make banking more accessible, cheaper and safer for its customers through its products, electronic banking channels and extensive network of branches and sub branches across PNG.

BSP Financial Group Chief Operating Officer, Robin Fleming, has raised concerns over additional EFTPoS fees charged to BSP and other bank Cardholders by BSP EFTPoS Merchants for purchases, cash out and balance checking. Mr Fleming said this when responding to a query raised by a disappointing customer who was charged extra fees when trying to cash out K50 after his purchase using the EFTPoS terminal at Hot Rooster Shop in Buka. “BSP regularly informs customers that they should not pay additional fees to any merchant who tries to apply their own surcharge for use of a BSP EFTPoS terminal,” said Fleming. “Under the terms and conditions accepted by the bank’s merchants, they are not permitted to charge additional fees on customers. If we become aware of a merchant applying a fee for transactions, we will caution them and remind them of the terms and conditions they accepted. If the merchant continues to apply fees, the bank will remove the terminal from the merchant and discontinue the merchant relationship,” Fleming said. BSP Retail General Manager Daniel Faunt also reaffirmed this saying, “The availability of EFTPoS at any business increases the volume of sales as customers find electronic payments safe and convenient to do business with.” “In 2020 BSP removed the minimum fee of K0.50 per transaction for merchants and the fee is now 1% of the purchase amount which for small transactions of say K20 reduces the merchant fee from K0.50 to K0.20. Since May 2021, we have also waived EFTPoS fees for Kundu Standard customers who transact below K26. This means that all transactions below K26 are free whilst transactions above K26 will attract a K0.25 fee to the customer,” said Faunt. “This enables customer’s convenience in paying for goods at stores and withdrawing cash at the checkout using the EFTPoS terminal without BSP charges, rather than withdrawing cash from ATMs. We encourage customers to continue utilising this payment method for cheaper, faster, safer and convenient way to purchase goods and services,” Faunt added. BSP will continue to make banking more accessible, cheaper and safer for its customers through its products, electronic banking channels and extensive network of branches and sub branches across PNG.

The Western Pacific University continues our second week of registration and started our orientation program today with our 2nd co-hort of students and our returning pioneers. Our academic theme for the year is ‘Enacting a shared vision of WPU’s digital learning journey in 2022’. Our orientation week program commenced at 8:30am today Monday 21st February and includes presentations from our President, Vice Presidents and other key members of our academic and administration staff. Academic programs offered and policies involving students and their code of ethics and code of conduct will be highlighted. Is it important for students to attend so that that they become conscious students and constructive community members of Western Pacific University. Other activities include movie nights and fun night that will be hosted by the first-ever Student Representative Council (SRC). Registration is between 8:00am and 6:00pm at the Registrar’s Office. Registration closes on Friday the 25th of February 2022. We encourage all students who accepted our offer, to present all original documents during registration. A late registration fee will apply to those students who come to register after the closing date. Our students were accepted through the National Online Selection System (NOSS) as well as our online application portal, accessed via our website. Students, parents, sponsors or guardians who have questions regarding registration, you may contact the Registrar’s office via email registrar@wpu.ac.pg or on phone 70283195.

Two members of the 2022 SP PNG Hunters playing squad – Sherwin Tanabi and Anthony Worot – will spend this week training with the North Queensland Cowboys Young Guns side and will compete in a trial match this weekend against the Mackay Cutters. The match will be the curtain raiser to the North Queensland Cowboys vs Brisbane Broncos NRL trial. Hunters’ assistant coach Stanley Tepend will also spend the early part of the week in the NQ Young Guns camp as part of his ongoing professional development. It is just rewards for Tanabi and Worot who are nearing the end of an impressive pre-season program and now have a chance to impress at an NRL-development level. It is also a wonderful opportunity for Hunters’ players to be looked at by first-grade coaches and for the Hunters’ brand to be represented at that next level. Hunters Head Coach Matt Church is excited by the opportunity: “I am very happy for Sherwin and Anthony to be spending the week with the North Queensland Young Guns squad and I would like to thank the Cowboys for their involvement and support. Both players thoroughly deserve the opportunity and I’m confident they will do the Hunters proud. We have challenged both Sherwin and Anthony to make the most of this week and to share their experiences with the rest of our playing group when they return. I look forward to watching their development continue this season. Additionally this is great opportunity to expose Stanley to best-practice coaching methods and further commit to his development as a coach.” The NQ Young Guns face the Mackay Cutters this Saturday, 5.30pm at BB Print Stadium, Mackay.

On 24 February the Australian High Commission will virtually launch the short film The Bilum Story, celebrating the remarkable PNG women social entrepreneurs who 10 years ago began to shine a spotlight on bilum as a national treasure, whilst driving inclusive economic growth for women weavers. The bilum story is an incredible example of the transformative power of the creative and cultural industry. It shows just what is possible when emerging entrepreneurs have effective access to international markets, support to strengthen their supply chains and are empowered to share their creativity and culture with the world. Australia through the PNG-Australia Partnership has supported entrepreneurs like Florence Jaukae Kamel and her vision for the Goroka Bilum Festival by providing strategic capacity building along the bilum value chain. Pacific Trade Invest Australia helped Florence and key artisans to take bilum to the world stage and find international buyers. The film explores how with a little help, the entrepreneurship and vision of these women can lead to great commercial success and inclusive economic growth. There is now a network of over a thousand weavers across the country, exporting bilum to the world and increasing their income and wellbeing through culture and community. As the film celebrates the achievements to date, it is hoped that this story will inspire more focus and investment into PNG’s rich creative and cultural industry potential. The Bilum Story film will be released with a virtual screening from 24 Feb – 10 March 2022. For more information about the film and virtual screening, visit www.thebilumstory.com

PAPUA New Guinea has now confirmed a total of 39, 909 cases of COVID-19 of which 14 are of the Omicron variant and 733 are of the Delta variant. This is from the last two updates – Thursday, 17th February and Friday, 18th Friday, 2022. On Thursday, a total of 13 new cases of Omicron were reported from the samples that were sent down to Australia, raising the total number of this new variant of COVID-19 to 14 so far. These 13 new cases of Omicron were among 333 new cases of COVID-19 reported on this day. The new Omicron cases were reported from four different provinces namely National Capital District which reported 8; Eastern Highlands (1); Central (3); and New Ireland (2). There were also 25 new cases of Delta Variant reported, raising the number of confirmed cases of Delta to 733. These new Delta cases came from Manus (12) and Gulf (3). Of the 333 new cases of COVID, NCD reported the majority which was 119; followed by Southern Highlands (91); Central (39); Northern (22); Jiwaka (19); Hela (15); Manus (7); Western (5); Morobe (5); West Sepik (5); Western Highlands (2); Eastern Highlands (2); East New Britain (1); and Milne Bay (1). From the 333 cases reported on this day, 2% were reported within the last 24 hours; 36 per cent were reported in the last six days; 28% were reported more than two weeks ago; and 34% were from a month ago. As of 12pm, Friday, 18th February, 2021, there were 329 new cases of COVID-19 reported which has raised the country’s cumulative total confirmed cases to 39, 909. The recoveries stand at 37, 706. There were also 8 new deaths reported which raised the total deaths in the country to 636. The cumulative Delta cases remained at 733 and the cumulative Omicron cases remained at 14. Meanwhile, an internal assessment has now placed Milne Bay Province with NCD as the most high risk provinces. The two provinces have been reporting high number of cases in the past few weeks. East New Britain, which has been in red or high risk for sometime is now in green. New Ireland Province which has been in amber (medium risk) is now in green. Autonomous Region of Bougainville is still in amber. A number of provinces that were in green are now in medium risk, including Western, Central, Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Hela, Enga and West Sepik. Deputy Controller of the National Pandemic Response Dr Daoni Esorom has urged everyone to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols to prevent the number of cases increasing which can lead to over-crowding of health facilities. Dr Daoni said, “Currently, many health facilities in the country are complaining of shortage of medical supplies. Let’s not put more pressure in the health system by adhering to the Niupela Pasin: wear a mask in public; cover you cough or cough into your elbow; sanitize or wash your hands with soap often; avoid crowds and physical distance when in public. “The saying, Prevention is Better than Cure, remains our best bet against COVID-19 and many other infectious diseases.’’

The Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee in its capacity as the PNG Commonwealth Games Association (PNGCGA) is pleased to announce and congratulate Vavine Yore on being selected as one of 25 women from the Commonwealth and as a first successful recipient from Papua New Guinea to be awarded the Commonwealth Women's Leadership Programme Scholarship (CWLPS) in 2022. The CWLP scholarship offers women in sport in the Commonwealth access to cutting-edge opportunities that will empower them to become leaders within their sport and community on their development journeys to being strong role models and agents of change to guide the next generation of women in sport. It aims to support emerging female leaders to access appropriate educational and experiential opportunities which will empower them as leaders for equal rights within their sport and communities. This program will support participants to not only clarify their leadership ambitions and recognise their leadership strengths but more importantly will broaden their understanding of their role in supporting equality within the Commonwealth Sports Movement. Included in the package is mentoring by both local and international mentors to support their journey and ambitions. As part of the course requirement, Yore will be required to complete a 1-year personal development plan. Yore is employed with the PNG Sports Foundation, under its High Performance (HP) Sports, as a Performance Manager (Team Sports), managing an integrated system that provides support to 13 diverse disciplines of teams sports that comprise elite-level National Athletes, Team Coaches, and Team Managers, working in collaboration with the National Federations. In this capacity, she manages and provides oversight to ensure that the 200+ athletes that access the HP Gym 2-3 times week access leading specialist services to reach peak performance. PNGCGA Secretary-General, Auvita Rapilla congratulated Yore on behalf of the organisation & Executive Board. "The PNGCGA is delighted to receive this exciting news this week and duly congratulates Yore on the success of her application and achievement, of being awarded the scholarship and to join the recipients across the Commonwealth as the Cohort of 2022." "We wish her all the best in the program and as a thriving young leader, we have no doubt that she will be successful in her endeavours building her career and leadership in sport.” Yore expressed her profound gratitude for the support from PNGCGA for her successful nomination and looks forward to working with her mentors in guiding her journey to be a strong role model and agent of change promoting equality in communities and sport.

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After a lot of rumours around the participation or not of Papua New Guinea’s sole full professional player in the next FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Oceania Football Center is delighted to announce that HJK’s David Browne will take part in the competition donning the colours of his home country. The news were confirmed by PNG Kapuls head coach Marcos Gusmão when asked if the player was cleared or not to represent Papua New Guinea. The former Auckland City man was not in the previous list released by PNGFA; the football entity revealed the player was not eligible to represent the country since his passport was expired – the player that has a British father and was born in Papua New Guinean soil was playing in Europe under his British passport. The forward that is currently playing in top-tier league of Finland was denied at first a chance to represent once again his national team. Recently, it was reported by local media that PNGFA was close to clear Browne to play again for the national team, since they were able to provide most of the paperwork needed to him. It was also mentioned that the player was waiting the approval of an important document and then so would be cleared to join the squad. The last time Browne played for the national was in 2017 – the player has only three international caps and is set now to continue his international duty with Papua New Guinea. The 26-year-old will be a very important addition to Gusmão’s squad, with a promissing partnership upfront alongside Tommy Semmy being very anticipated by the local fans. Gusmão also stated the player will join the squad in Qatar, where the tournament will be hosted this March, meaning so the player will not train with the rest of the squad in Papua New Guinea. PNG Kapuls will have a very difficult start in their campaign in the qualifiers since their first match will be against New Zealand. They will also need to surpass Fiji and New Caledonia if they want to proceed to the semi-final stage of the competition.

The Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) has clarified today that the disbursement and frontloading of Service Improvement Program (PSIP & DSIP) to sub-national administrations is done by the Department of Finance (DoF). DIRD which is mandated to coordinate, supervise, monitor and manage programs and grants under the SIP ensuring their effective integration and synergy with activities under public investment program (PIP) is no longer responsible for disbursing SIP funds, however only mandated to enforce governance and accountability through monitoring to ensure realization of impact developments. Secretary for Aihi Vaki stressed this following a news article published in the Post Courier last Friday on “Yu Tok” program entitled “Acquittal and technical capacity should be a factor for development funds to be released”. Mr. Vaki highlighted that the government’s policy on service improvement program (SIP or PSIP & DSIP) is seen as a critical rural development initiative making significant impacts since its introduction by the Somare Government in 2007. “Since the introduction of District Development Program (DDP) with K1.0 million funding in 2000-2001 then increased to SIP with K10.0 million per electorate from 2013 to the present with many districts experiencing unprecedented developments taking shape such as rural water and electrification, roads and bridges, communication towers, District Hospitals/Health Centres, Technical schools, modern classrooms, SMEs, district markets among others which must be appreciated,” he said. However, he said that although there is a National Executive Council (NEC) Decision of 2018 exists to park all SIP grants at DIRD as “one-stop-shops” for ease of funds accessing, monitoring of implementation and reporting of developments by 111 subnational administrations (provinces and districts) to government but this role still remains with Department of Finance through an administrative decisions. So Department of Finance now remitting SIP grants using the Integrated Financial Management Systems (IFMS) to subnational through their provincial and district treasury operating accounts. “However, DIRD only manages the Constitutional Grants or Provincial and District Support Grants which the department strictly administers where all Constitutional Grants are remitted based on the submission of the previous year’s fiscal report,” he said. Mr. Vaki further elaborate that while the disbursement is done by the Department of Finance, DIRD is not aware of how much SIP funds has been frontloaded to subnational in 2020 and 2021 to date. “The annual SIP disbursement figures does not reconcile with the acquittal reports from the subnational administrations,” he said. He said the problem is that DIRD has not been supported with SIP monitoring funds though budget submissions detailing yearly work plans have been submitted to the national budget planners every year. The funding for monitoring also covers interagency team to travel to the electorates as required under the Administrative Guidelines and Financial Instructions. “The Department continues to provide technical and policy advice on daily basis and maintains close dialogue with the Administrators, Finance Managers and political leaders so they are fully aware of Administrative Guidelines and Financial Instructions to ensure good governance and accountability in the management of SIP funding,” Vaki said. Aihi said national government is playing its mandated roles and responsibilities to ensure people in rural villages and communities receive minimum services that would transform their lives, however the onus rests entirely on the leadership role played at the sub-national administration in the management of these development grants. The DDAs and provincial administrations in their development planning should critically focus on minimum standards and bridging development gaps. He said some provinces and districts faced challenges in terms of logistics due to geographical isolation and remoteness, however these should not be an excuse. The administration must strategically plan and ensure the implementation process continues to deliver tangible development to remote corners of their respective electorates. “As far as the national government is concerned, SIP program is here to stay, all we desire is stable political and administrative leadership required to deliver basic services based on a realistic five year development plans and good people focused decisions, not contrary,” he said. He also highlighted that violating of the Administrative Guidelines and Financial Instruction by not submitting acquittal reports, development plans and budgets contribute to misapplication of SIP funds. Vaki added that provinces and districts must counter-fund projects through PSIP and DSIP to collectively achieve greater results towards delivery of services. Provinces exists because of districts therefore PSIP must be applied equally. Currently, the department is developing a DIMS/SIP data base system with the assistance from Australian Government through DFAT to enhance the department’s competence to measure the performance of all 111 electorates so that at the end of the day there is an effective reporting system to NEC and Parliament also importantly a source of reliable planning data for all levels of government.

National Superannuation Fund (Nasfund) Brand Ambassador Justin Olam recently met with Fund members in Port Moresby. On Wednesday (February 16th) and Thursday (February 17th), Olam visited selected contributing employers in the food manufacturing, hospitality, airline, financial, and retail industries, to promote the Fund’s products and services. These sessions included discussions on the importance of members updating their details, encouraging voluntary member contribution, highlighting the Nasfund Membership Discount Program (MDP) as well as promoting Eda Supa, the Fund’s voluntary savings scheme. His engagements also included an appearance on Nasfund FM100 Talkback, an interview with EMTV Sports Scene and a brief media conference. Commenting on his engagements, Olam said he was excited at continuing to play his part in promoting financial security through superannuation. “In PNG, there is still a need to develop a savings culture." "As Nasfund Brand Ambassador, and member, I am pleased to do my part in encouraging my fellow members to take superannuation savings seriously." "This is part of my contribution to promoting the development of a savings culture – something that I am passionate about." "I look forward to continue working with the Nasfund Team in promoting the importance of saving through superannuation, for the benefit of our members and potential new members throughout PNG.” Nasfund Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ian Tarutia thanked Olam for using his time and position as Brand Ambassador to assist the Fund promote a savings culture through superannuation. “Currently, 850,000 or 9.4% of Papua New Guineans are contributing towards their retirement. This means over 90% of our people are missing out on this benefit. At Nasfund our focus is to encourage this uncovered segment of our population to save with us. Compliance with the Superannuation Act is one avenue or voluntary means through our Eda Supa facility. As the largest superannuation by membership size, we are aware of the need to keep the public informed – and our engagements are a big part of this. We are privileged to have our Brand Ambassador here in PNG for a few days to speak to our members. We also thank our contributing employers who took time to host our Brand Ambassador at their respective locations – your membership, and support is appreciated, and we look forward to continuing engaging, in promoting the importance of superannuation savings.”