The PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum has partnered with the world’s largest volunteer service club association, Rotary, on a humanitarian project to ship a total of 3.3 million medical-grade respiratory face masks, to medical workers in Papua New Guinea. The Chamber, which represents major stakeholders in the mining and petroleum sector, received a donation of 3.3 million KN95/P2 respiratory masks from Rotary Australia, to distribute to medical workers in the country, through the National Department of Health, and the National COVID-19 Control Centre in Port Moresby. The Chamber received funding donations from its members, to ensure the shipment of six 40ft freight containers, containing the masks, valued at around K5.5m. [caption id="attachment_17666" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Rotary, NCC and Chamber representatives, standing in front of the first shipment of pallets of KN95 masks.[/caption] The Rotary Clubs involved in this massive logistical project, are the Rotary Club of Greater Springfield in Brisbane, and the Rotary Club of Boroko in Port Moresby, along with Rotary Australia World Community Services (RAWCS). Chamber Member, Ok Tedi Mining Limited were first to commit to the Mask Project, agreeing to facilitate the shipping costs of the masks to PNG. Upon the landing and delivery of the first of the six containers of masks in Port Moresby, OTML Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Musje Werror, said, “OTML is pleased to work with the PNG Chamber of Mines & Petroleum and its members to deliver essential personal protective equipment to PNG during these unprecedented times, and we will continue to provide support where appropriate to combat COVID-19.” At the official handover of the first shipment to the National Control Centre (NCC) for distribution this week, Executive Director of the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, Albert Mellam, acknowledged the support of all the Chamber member companies who donated to the project. “We have worked with Rotary Australia and Rotary PNG on this important project, and we acknowledge the support from our members who have given generously to this project which we hope will go a long way in helping to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our country. Without the support of our members, the Chamber would not have been able to be involved in this project,” Dr. Mellam said. Rotary PNG Representative, Suresh Shetty, who was present at the handover of masks to NCC, said the masks donation was one of several other initiatives the Rotary community in Australia and PNG, had committed to in the fight against COVID-19. “On behalf of Rotary Australia, and Rotary Club of Boroko, we would like to say thank you to the Chamber and its members for helping us move these masks to PNG. Thank you also to Chamber Councillor and Rotarian, Mark McMonagle who helped us a lot in coordinating this project.” Rotary Governor for PNG, Togaro Adiba, who was also at the handover event, was equally appreciative. “We thank the Chamber of Mines and Petroleum and their members for this partnership, and we look forward to working closely with the Chamber in any future projects that we have, which will help contribute to the health of our people,” Mr. Adiba said. NCC representative who received the masks, Megan Gaure, explained where the masks would be distributed to. “These masks will be distributed to provincial health authorities, through our provincial control centres, to send out to all health facilities for the health workers on the frontline, who are treating COVID-19 patients,” Ms. Gaure said. [caption id="attachment_17667" align="aligncenter" width="644"] The first of six 40ft containers of KN95 masks being unpacked for storage in the NCC storage facility in Port Moresby. This storage facility houses all donated COVID-19 medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for distribution to all medical health facilities around the country.[/caption] Sun Engineering Chief Executive Officer, Chamber Council Member, and passionate Rotarian, Mark McMonagle who was instrumental in coordinating this project, acknowledged the support from Chamber members. “We would like to give special thanks to Rotary for the masks and to Musje Werror and OTML for committing to the shipping of the masks from Australia to PNG. We would also like to thank the below listed companies for their generous donations which covered port costs, road transport and logistics,” Mr. McMonagle said. While the Chamber’s members play significant philanthropic roles in their own resource areas, they also give generously to assist in national aid and humanitarian programs, as members of the country’s mining and petroleum sector.

Sister in Charge for the Gordons Clinic Sr Delma Hombunaka has called upon the National Department of Health (NDOH) to reconsider their decision and allow the Nurse Stations to remain open. She made this call following a circular released by the NDOH giving the Nurse Stations 14 days to close down. Sr Delma said the drug shortage issue in hospitals and clinics is an ongoing issue with limited staff over the past few years and these burdens are somewhat eased when there are Nurse Stations to share the load. “We have run out of antibiotics drugs and other essential drugs in our NCD clinics and we don’t have enough manpower to cater for the population in the city so why are we closing the Nurse stations when they are helping so many patients we cannot help with our allocated resources.” Sr Delma said the timing also is not right for NDOH to make such drastic decisions when it is the peak period where accidents and illnesses are at the highest. She said most clinics are expected to scale down during the festive period as most of the staffs usually go on leave with a handful of them staying behind to attend to emergency cases only. “This is the festive period when we will have a lot of sick people filling up our clinics and if the Nurse Stations do close down, how are we supposed to serve the huge population in the city.” Sr Delma said the Health Department should sort out the drug shortage issue and start recruiting more health workers if they do decide to go ahead with their decision to close down the Nurse Stations.  

More than 250,000 people that have accessed the City Pharmacy (CPL) Nurse stations since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic will be greatly affected with the recent directive from the National Department of Health (NDOH) to close up all Nurse Stations throughout the country. Founder of CPL Group Sir Mahesh Patel revealed this when questioning the Health Department’s motive in closing the Nurse Stations. Sir Mahesh said there was no proper dialogue between the NDOH and the CPL Group before coming to this decision which leaves the question as to what the reasons are behind closing down a service that has helped a lot of sick people at a time when they cannot access efficient and effective health care. “When you talk to our customers and patients, you will find that they are very grateful that we provide this service because firstly it’s unaffordable for grassroots to seek treatment at private clinics because of how expensive it is and secondly, if you have minor illnesses and such, you’ll get to wait 3 hours or so to be served at public clinics or hospitals.”  Sir Mahesh said they have written to the NDOH since late last year requesting for their license to be renewed, however they never got a response until 7 months later in July stating their refusal to renew their (CPL) operating licence for the nursing stations. He said they were shocked to receive a letter on the 9th of December advising them to close down the Nurse Stations followed by the recent circular published in the media. Sir Mahesh and the CPL Board have written another letter to the Health Secretary Dr Osborne Liko last Friday and have copied the Health Minister and the Prime Minister on the matter. The letter was sent to request for a meeting between the parties concerned and find a way forward for the Nurse Stations to remain open and for NDOH to clarify if the nurse stations have breached certain protocols. “This has come to a point where we really need to sit down and say, what’s the real intention here? What’s the motive?  Who is going to win by closing the nurse stations down? And that’s the simple humanitarian question that needs to be answered,” Sir Mahesh said. The CPL Group has also handed the matter over to their lawyers to take legal proceedings should there be a need to. City Pharmacy Limited has operated in the country for over 35 years and they have over 20 Nurse Stations throughout the country that have been able to serve 250,000 people from all over the country. The pharmacies have been given 14-days’ notice to close down the nurse stations.

Twelve homes in Mambuan village along the Bogia coastline were destroyed last Tuesday due to the tidal flooding caused by king tide. Community leader, Edward Kasailo, says most of their properties were also swept into the sea. The villagers are urging the local disaster office to assist them to build sea walls to protect them against similar events in the future. It was daytime when the high tide hit Mambuan village in ward 11 of Yawar LLG of Bogia District, Madang. The shoreline was occupied with debris, fallen coconut trees, and plants, even stones and sand. They were thrown onto the coastline after the tide. This is what remains of the 12 houses destroyed by the flooding. Even kitchen utensils were swept back into the sea living most of the families without basic cooking utensils. Most families are now taking refuge with the community leader. In the neighboring village, Samusamu, the villagers had also lost their properties while a number of their houses were destroyed.  Community Leader, Edward Kasailo, says the disaster office and the local DDA should look into the concern of building a sea wall. He adds for now families who lost their properties and have no house are taking shelter at his house. He says their village is right in the middle of a road construction project that would take 10 kilometers of their inland leaving them with limited land. Hence it is important that the disaster office including the DDA help to start building seawalls.

Women and communities in the most remote and biologically diverse regions of the country will receive financial literacy training after a Cooperation Agreement between the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) and the US Government through the United States Agency for International Assistance (USAID). These trainings are part of the Lukautim Graun Program, a USAID funded environmental conservation program operating in the most diverse and vulnerable parts of Papua New Guinea. In signing the formal agreement to launch the trainings, Chief of Party for USAID PNG Lukautim Graun Program, Mr. Maurice Knight said the financial literacy trainings will improve economic conditions for women and communities while at the same time promoting conservation of the country’s exceptional biodiversity. “Empowering emerging female entrepreneurs with both business and environmental skills will increase income for rural families and reduce hunting and illegal wildlife trade,” Mr Knight said. “Unless women and girls are empowered to fully participate in the economy, PNG will not be able to meet its development targets.” Executive Director for CEFI Mr. Saliya Ranasinghe said that financial inclusion is identified as an important priority in the implementation of CEFI’s third financial inclusion strategy which women and youth are important under the digital financial services and financial literacy and financial education. USAID Development Specialist Julie Hulama said this cooperation agreement between USAID Lukautim Graun Program and CEFI aligns with USAID’s 2020 Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy that affirms USAID's vision of a prosperous and peaceful world in which women, girls, men, and boys enjoy equal economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights and are equally empowered to secure better lives for themselves, their families, their communities, and their countries. Lukautim Graun Program implements its project at the national level and along the Bismarck Forest Corridor that covers Eastern Highlands Province, Jiwaka Province, Madang Province, Simbu Province, YUS Conservation Area in Morobe Province, and Milne Bay Province for the marine program.

Coastal communities around the country have been put on alert for “higher than normal” tides over the next few months. The National Weather Service warned that the high tides may trigger coastal flooding this season, due to a combination of factors. It stated that one of these factors is the current La Nina state, declared earlier this season. The other contributing factor is a seasonal phenomenon often referred to as 'westerly wind burst' which is contributing to the current coastal flooding situation on the northern coast of PNG. The NWS also stated that many parts of PNG are expecting the highest tides of the year this month with the 2021 Tide Calendar for Lombrum in Manus province showing four of the highest tides of the year expected in the month of December. As La Nina is anticipated to influence higher sea levels until April 2022, the chances of coastal flooding during extreme high tides will persist over the next few months.

74 pioneer grade 10 students of Dr. John Davis High School in Dusin, Middle Ramu district, graduated in a small but significant ceremony attended by community members, school staff and a few invited guests. Dr. John Davis Highschool is located in Minyak village in the Kovon LLG of rural Middle Ramu district; A small hamlet located just behind the mountains of Jimi District of Jiwaka Province where much of basic government services such as road is hardly seen. This little school is the pride of their community, a much-needed service which was established as a community school in the 1980’s by a missionary from Southern Highlands, James Yakip and was recently accredited a high school status by Madang Education Division. School staff and villagers celebrated the day with much enthusiasm because after 34 years, their children would not have to travel to other neighbouring provinces to receive higher education. This small ceremony was made even special when the country’s opposition leader and member for Vanimo Green, Beldan Namah, attended the graduation upon invitation from former Madang Governor, Jim Kas. Mr Namah on the occasion paid his respects to the late Middle Ramu MP, Johhny Annanias Alonk who passed away recently. He conveyed his sincere condolences to his people and described the late MP as very humble leader. Mr Namah committed a total of K200,000 to the Dusin Community school and Dr. John Davis Highschool. Namah encouraged the graduates to look at other ways of furthering their education instead of focusing on the formal education system process. Principle Legal Officer at Department of Justice and Attorney General, John Laule, and a former student of Dusin Community School stressed to the students to not consume Marijuana and homebrew and gave them an insight of the consequences under the recent law passed. During the ceremony, a moment of silence was given to the late member Upon leaving the ceremony, Mr Namah gave a K10,000 cash to the Minyak community to celebrate their Christmas and new year. Although the school faces a lot of challenges, with no proper teaching materials, no funding and little facility built mostly from bush materials, there are three faithful teachers who teach seven subjects interchangeably. The community’s hope is to be connected by road someday so that changes can be brought in to the area.

Commander Border, Acting Assistant Commissioner Peter Philips said the recent visit by Prime Minister James Marape to West Sepik was very successful. Mr Philips, whose command includes East and West Sepik and Western Province, said the Prime Minister was in the provincial capital of Vanimo to open the new West Sepik Provincial Administration Building and launch several impact projects for the province. Mr Philips said his recent visit to the province with the Prime Minister and his delegations was to ensure the security of the Prime Minister given concerns of spill-over effects of the on-going conflict across the border in Indonesia’s West Papua province. Mr Philips said his Provincial Police Commander and the members of the constabulary made sure that there was no disruption and that people were not allowed to take advantage of his visit to raise issues about what was happening in West Papua. Mr Philips said whilst the issue in West Papua was important, the Prime Minister was on a tight schedule and in the province specifically to open the new provincial government building and launch major impact projects for the province. Mr Philips commended his PPC and the members of the constabulary for delivering a trouble-free event. He said the public turned up in numbers and they behaved well.

I, Honourable Rainbo Paita, MP, Minister for National Planning and Monitoring wish to announce to the general public that I am stepping aside from my ministerial portfolio forthwith. This comes after a video was circulated on social media as well as the mainstream media of me discharging a rifle. After learning from Post Courier’s front-page report on the 13th of December 2021 of the incident, I wrote to the Prime Minister advising him of my intention to step aside and allow a thorough investigation without fear or favour by the concerned authorities in the spirit of good leadership. I also wish to inform the public that my official vehicle was shot upon by criminal elements at Waigani in September 2021, which was reported to the Police hierarchy. This incident has prompted me to take necessary precautionary measures to protect myself.  As such, I was advised by my Close Protection Officer (CPO), who is also a certified trainer, of the need for me to acquire basic rifle handling skills. This is so that in the event that we were attacked and my CPO is critically wounded, I would be able to use my CPO’s rifle in self-defence. I want to put on record that I have a firearm licence. I also want to put on record that the video footage was of a private training session between me and my close protection officer (CPO) on a private property outside of Port Moresby. I did not discharge the firearm into a crowed place to cause public disorder nor jeopardise public safety. However, due to the many concerns raised since the video has surfaced in the public domain, as a Senior State Minister in the PANGU led Government, I welcome the police investigation into any unlawful conduct. I take responsibility of my actions and do not wish to bring disrepute to the Government and the Ministry of National Planning and Monitoring. Therefore, to preserve the integrity of the office that I occupy, I am stepping aside from my Ministerial Portfolio as the Minister for National Planning and Monitoring forthwith, until the investigation is completed. I sincerely apologise to the people of Papua New Guinea, our Development Partners, Investors and my beloved people of Finschhafen for any embarrassment that I may have unintentionally caused. I thank Prime Minister for he's wisdom in respecting my decision. Against most advices, I wish to step aside in the public interest of allowing police to investigate any intention or motivate of criminality. I apologize to my people of Finschaffen, Morobe and the people of Papua New Guinea. God bless our efforts to serve our People. Hon. Rainbo PAITA, MP Member for Finschhafen

The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) is ready to deliver a safer and secure 2022 National General Elections despite manpower and resource issues. This was the general conclusion made by the various divisional and Provincial Police Commanders when they presented the overview of their supplementary orders to the Police Commissioner’s General Orders at the national election security planning conference. The conference was held at the Gateway Hotel in Port Moresby from November 29 to December 3. The NCD/Central Commander Assistant Commissioner Anthony Wagambie Jr said during his presentation that the constabulary is prepared and ready to deliver the 2022 national general election. He said they have very experienced senior officers who had taken part in previous elections so they are confident that they will deliver in 2022. He said the officers have also been running elections including major operations and so are confident of delivering a safe and secure 2022 National General Election for the people of PNG. Mr Wagambie said that despite the preparations the constabulary would still face problems with logistics, manpower, and funding. He said these resources are very important for major operations such as the national elections. Mr Wagambie however reassured the senior police officers as well as the nation that they would still deliver despite the challenges. Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Highlands Eastern Command Joseph Tondop raised similar concerns and said they needed a massive awareness campaign to be carried out to ensure they establish community trust and confidence as well as establishing contacts with the people at the community level. He said awareness is really important especially in the highland’s provinces. Mr Tondop was confident that the security agencies will deliver a free, safe and corruption free 2022 national general election if they could get the pre-election operations done on time. Mr Tondop said we are four months away from the issue of writs and urgently require funding to be made available on time to start to prepare and deliver their pre-election campaigns. He however said that with or without resources they would still conduct the awareness campaign and run the election security operations.

There's new royalty in the Miss Universe world! On Sunday, Miss India Harnaaz Sandhu was officially named Miss Universe 2021. Sandhu, 21, beat out 79 other contestants from various countries and territories — including runner-up Miss Paraguay Nadia Ferreira and second runner-up Miss South Africa Lalela Mswane — to claim the prestigious title. Sandhu was presented the crown by her successor, Miss Universe 2020 Andrea Meza, before taking her first walk as the new Miss Universe on the stage in Eilat, Israel. A strong advocate for women's empowerment, Sandhu is actor who draws inspiration from Priyanka Chopra. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, dancing, cooking, horse riding and playing chess. Prior to the winning moment, the 70th annual Miss Universe competition, which was hosted by Steve Harvey, featured a swimsuit and evening gown segment, as well as an interview portion for each of the contestants. Israeli singer and international pop star Noa Kirel also delivered a performance at the pageant, which had a focus on the climate crisis as part of a green agenda that corresponds with the values ​​of Israel. The competition was a historic one, as it marked the first time that a delegate from the United Arab Emirates has ever competed and the first time in over four decades that Miss Universe Morocco has returned to the pageant. Miss Universe 2021 was held seven months after Meza, 27, earned the 2020 crown this past May. Her win came about five months later than usual because the annual pageant went on a hiatus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement prior to Sunday's competition, Israeli Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov said he was thrilled to welcome Miss Universe to his country, even with the ongoing COVID concerns. "Despite the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic placed in our path, we knew how to maintain the balance between health and the economy, to bring tourism back to Israel," Razvozov said. "We needed to create tourism anchors that will promote and present Israel to the world as a vaccination nation that invites tourists to visit. The Miss Universe pageant is, without [a] doubt, an important and significant anchor of this plan." Sunday's show also marked the first time that Harvey, 64, returned to the Miss Universe competition since 2019. SOURCE: PEOPLE.COM IMAGE CREDIT: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP VIA GETTY

Canterbury premiership winner Braith Anasta believes the Bulldogs have pulled off their best recruitment drive in 20 years. But now it’s time to fit the squad under the salary cap and Anasta has detailed some moves the club could make to help ease the financial pressure it faces. The Dogs won the wooden spoon this year but they’re expected to contest finals next season and potentially push for a drought-breaking title in 2023 on the back of a boom recruiting drive. Coach Trent Barrett arrived at the end of 2020, after helping guide Penrith to the grand final as an assistant, and he’s been on a spending spree ever since. Barrett has signed playmaker and 2021 Dally M team of the year representative Matt Burton, star forward Tevita Pangai Jr and Brent Naden - all from the Panthers. It didn’t stop there, with Storm superstar Josh Addo-Carr also joining plus Dragons duo Paul Vaughan and Matt Dufty also joining this off-season. Things will get even better for the Bulldogs in 2023, with Eels star hooker Reed Mahoney and Panthers forward Viliame Kikau joining the club. “They’re building incredibly,” Anasta told foxsports.com.au. “It’s been hard to watch the Dogs for a long time now and I talk to a lot of the other ex players, we’re all good mates, it’s been very hard to watch. “They’ve bought in all the right areas, you can be full of cash and have all the money in the world but if you don’t spend it wisely, it’s just a waste and I think clubs have been guilty of that over time and the Dogs maybe themselves have been guilty of that over time.” Rugby league mastermind Phil Gould returned to Canterbury, where he played and coached in the 1980s, earlier this year as the club’s general manager. Anasta echoed the praise Gould has been receiving for his immediate impact on the struggling club. “Gus has had a big influence,” Anasta said. “The key areas they’re buying in, in terms of damaging forwards in Kikau and Vaughan, big powerful guys who have got fast feet and can offload, that’s really what you need with the speed of the game these days, rush speed is everything. “Then when you’ve got rush speed what do you do with it? They’ve needed a quality No. 9 and they’ve got Mahoney, they needed halves and they’ve got Burton. SOURCE: FOX SPORTS