PNG Haus Bung

https://pnghausbung.com/png-records-82-new-covid-19-cases-this-week-total-cases-at-10997/

Published on April 30, 2021

PNG RECORDS 82 NEW COVID-19 CASES THIS WEEK – TOTAL CASES AT 10,997

Papua New Guinea has recorded 82 new COVID-19 cases this week, increasing the total number of cases to 10,997. The cases were reported from 14 districts in nine provinces. The National Capital District reported 21 cases, Eastern Highlands 22, Western Highlands 10, West New Britain eight, Madang four, Southern Highlands two, Hela six, Manus eight and Central reported a single case. Of the 82 cases, 48 were males, 32 females and two not stated. Their ages range between 20 to 80 years. At the time of testing, 66 cases were showing symptoms of COVID-19 whilst 16 were asymptomatic. The country’s COVID-19 cases now stand at 10,997 with 107 known deaths. All 22 provinces including the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) have reported cases. To date 93,283 tests have been carried out in which 10,997 positive COVID-19 cases were recorded including 107 deaths. Of this number 8,943 people have recovered from COVID-19 whilst 1,947 are active within the last 14-day period. Globally, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 is 148,472,169 including 672,014 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. The death toll is at 3,133,353 including 10,767 new deaths this week.

Published on April 30, 2021

https://pnghausbung.com/pm-marape-government-committed-to-better-voting-process-in-2022/

Published on April 30, 2021

PM MARAPE: GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO BETTER VOTING PROCESS IN 2022

Prime Minister Hon. James Marape says his Government is committed to creating a better voting process for the 2022 General Election amidst COVID-19, including biometric voter registration. He announced this at a press conference today after a meeting with Governors, Ministers, MPs, Acting Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai, National Pandemic Response Controller Mike Manning and other stakeholders. “Next year’s election will be conducted in the presence of COVID in the community,” PM Marape said. “Something that we might use to clean up the voting process is biometrics, and an Electoral Roll that registers electronically, with photographs attached for all our voting population.” “This process will be looked into by the Electoral Commission. “They have trialed an electronic-based voter update at a council ward in Kupiano (Central Province) and it worked very well. “We will try to expand this in a big way.” PM Marape was hopeful that this technology would be used next year so that block voting, a normal practice in general elections in Papua New Guinea, would be stopped. “This is something that my Pangu-led Government wants to give to the country: A better voting process for 2022,” he said. “We will work with the Electoral Commission to ensure that a COVID-safe voting process is developed.” PM Marape said voter registration and identification would commence in the second half of 2021, following the 2021 Census. He encouraged all eligible voters to participate in this exercise as biometric voting would be the way of the future. “We’ll start with an electronic voter identification process at the very earliest,” PM Marape said. He also announced that election planning would be bipartisan and involve the Opposition “so that everyone knows what is coming and we have a fair place to compete for public office in 2022”

Published on April 30, 2021

https://pnghausbung.com/bsp-supports-sir-theo-foundation-with-k50000/

Published on April 29, 2021

BSP SUPPORTS SIR THEO FOUNDATION WITH K50,000

BSP Financial Group Limited has upheld its support of a two-year donation deal to Sir Theo Foundation for the second year as a diamond sponsor to the programme. The bank donated K50, 000 to the Sir Theo Foundation today as the second portion of the K100,000 deal in supporting the foundation’s charitable programmes, which is aimed at assisting in the provision of health services to people in PNG who rely on our local public health system. Finance Director of the foundation Bruce Mead when receiving the cheque said, “The focus of the Sir Theo Foundation through 2020 and into 2021 has remained the provision of financial support to Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH). “The Sir Theo Foundation is delighted to receive the continued support of BSP. The support was particularly appreciated this year with COVID-19 continuing to put significant pressure on both businesses and critical support services in PNG,” said Mr Mead. In gratefully accepting 2021 sponsorship moneys from BSP, the Foundation’s management noted the value saying, the foundation has raised over K7 million since its inception in 2014 and has supported PMGH in a number of ways including a children’s library for the hospital. A facility that supports the primary and ancillary needs of children and other vulnerable members of society who look to POMGen for health care. BSP Corporate Sponsorship Manager Amelia Minnopu acknowledged the work of the foundation saying, with the Covid 19 pandemic, Health sector is becoming a serious societal challenge and affecting people of all ages, origins and backgrounds. BSP as a proud and longstanding financial institution in the Pacific, we are committed to providing support where we can to assist our community. “We want to do our part to ensure our communities get the much needed support through our Health sector and by supporting charities such as the Sir Theo Foundation we are able to make that happen. We hope that our support will go a long way in benefiting the communities that we operate in,” added Ms Minnopu. BSP is also involved in supporting the health sector in the country annually through its community projects, sponsorship and donations to the PNG Cancer Foundation, Operation Open Heart and PNG Kidney Foundation.

Published on April 29, 2021

https://pnghausbung.com/telikom-md-detained-by-police/

Published on April 29, 2021

TELIKOM MD DETAINED BY POLICE

The Acting Managing Director of Telikom Mr Jessie Wangua was taken into police custody last night for his own safety and also to ease tensions sparked by the death of his wife at a Private Hospital. The relatives of the late Mrs Wagua have alleged that she passed away, after sustaining injuries from a domestic-violence incident involving her husband. The irrate relatives went to the hospital and threatened to attack Mr Wagua, accusing him of being the perpetrator. Police intervened and detained Mr Wagua. He was hesitant at first but later cooperated when made aware of the sensitivity of the situation and why he had to be taken to the Boroko Police Station. The Hohola Police and Fox Unit were initially called to attend to a commotion outside the private hospital when they learnt of why this was happening. The units then took Mr Wagua to Boroko Police Station where he is being kept in custody. Metropolitan Superintendent Gideon Ikumu said Mr Wagua is being detained for his own safety and also to ease tensions while Police CID Investigators carry out investigations to establish facts. After initial enquiries today, CID Boroko have arranged for a post mortum to be carried out on the body tomorrow to establish cause of death. Mr Wagua will remain in custody while this is being done, as the tension is still high. His being in custody also allows Police to carryout a transparent investigation. Mr Ikumu appealed to the aggrieved relatives to remain calm and allow police to investigate this matter. Picture and story sourced: Police - NCD/Central Command

Published on April 29, 2021

https://pnghausbung.com/coalition-of-mps-to-end-gbv-supports-govts-move-to-reserve-5-seats-for-women-in-2022-parliament/

Published on April 29, 2021

COALITION OF MP's TO END GBV SUPPORT GOVT's MOVE TO RESERVE 5 SEATS FOR WOMEN IN 2022 PARLIAMENT

The Coalition of Parliamentarians to End Gender-Based Violence met earlier this week to discuss their plans for the coming year, including their efforts to support reserved seats for women in the National Parliament ahead of the June 2022 national elections. The meeting brought together nine of the Coalition’s twenty members in-person, namely Co-Chairs Governors Powes Parkop and Allan Bird, Parliamentary Committee on GBV Chair Charles Abel, Minister Jelta Wong, Minister Timothy Masiu, Governor Garry Juffa, Tony Wouwou, John Kaupa and Richard Masere. The Coalition Members were given a presentation on the Government’s efforts to promote women in parliament by the Attorney General, Dr Eric Kwa. Dr Kwa advised that the NEC had only very recently signed off, in principle, on a proposal to reserve five elected regional seats for women. One regional women’s seat will be created for five regions. In order to have five elected regional seats, there will be need to be a change to the current regional configuration of provinces. The regions for the five seats will be New Guinea Islands, Momase regions, Highlands, East Papua and West Papua regions. There will be a change to divide the Highlands and Papua regions in to three regional seats for women: Highlands (Jiwaka, WHP, Enga, EHP, Simbu), the West Papua region (SHP, Hela, Gulf, Western) and the East Papua region (NCD, Milne Bay, Oro). The new elected women’s seats would be open to women candidates only. Once elected, the women MPs would have all the powers and privileges of ordinary MPs. The details of the reforms now still need to be drafted in detail, in anticipation of tabling legislation in the next August session of parliament. Because s.101 of the Constitution will need to be amended to allow for these 5 reserved seats for women, the amendment Bill will need to be considered at three successive parliamentary sessions, ideally to be completed in March 2022 in advance of the June 2022 elections. Coalition Co-Chair Hon. Powes Parkop, MP and Governor for National Capital District strongly supports women’s reserved seats as a way of ensuring the National Parliament can benefit from 'a diversity of voices and experiences. “We expect these women MPs can use their position as elected leaders to continue to work to break down the barriers that hold women back across the country from political leadership and can strive to promote equality. These need to be seen as TEMPORARY measures. They are not to be in place forever.” Governor of East Sepik Province, Allan Bird, also a Co-Chair of the Coalition, said that in the lead up to the 2022 elections, the Coalition will work with “our brother MPs to balance our next Parliament with the equal inclusion of women’s voices. Reserved seats are not the only answer to addressing the challenges our women face when they run for elections, but it is a quick, short-term measure that could ensure that never again do we have a Parliament with no women’s voices whatsoever. That can never be allowed to happen again.” Hon. Charles Abel, Member for Alotau and Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Gender Based Violence agreed. “As a first step, we need reserved seats for women immediately”, he said. “Prime Minister Marape’s consideration of law reforms to reserve seats for women encourages us, as does the work of the Integrity for Political Parties and Candidates Commission to push for political parties to nominate more women candidates in the upcoming elections.” Reserved seats for women are not a new concept globally nor in PNG. In Bougainville, there are three seats reserved for women, and three seats reserved for ex-combatants. In NCD, there are two reserved women’s seats in the Motu Koitabu Assembly. Samoa also has a minimum quota of 5 women in every Parliament, and the French Territories of French Polynesia, Tahiti and Wallis & Fortuna also apply a quota for women. At the conclusion of the meeting of the Coalition on Monday 26 April, all members reiterated their support for reserved seats for women in advance of the 2022 national elections. Already, a number of MPs have produced public service announcements calling for more women in parliament, which can be viewed on their website at https://www.unitedforequalitypng.com/videos. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is providing technical support to the Special Parliamentary Committee on GBV as part of its gender programming and the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative and the Women Make the Change Project. This support aims to address Gender-Based Violence and support longer-term efforts to promote women’s participation and leadership in the Parliament.

Published on April 29, 2021

https://pnghausbung.com/stranded-papua-new-guineans-return-delayed-by-fiji-covid-19-situation/

Published on April 29, 2021

https://pnghausbung.com/stranded-papua-new-guineans-return-delayed-by-fijis-covid-19-situation/

Published on April 29, 2021