Prime Minister Hon. James Marape says the people of Goilala in Central Province are “close to my heart”. He said this when visiting the haus krai (mourning house) of 15 people killed in the recent landslide disaster at Saki Village in Goilala. Nine bodies have been recovered so far. Prime Minister Marape said he was very close to the Goilala people because Goilala MP and Transport Minister Hon. William Samb, and Central Governor Hon. Robert Agarobe, had been very instrumental in making him Prime Minister. He urged the people to consider their safety when mining for gold in such areas like Saki and not cut down trees. Prime Minister Marape presented K50,000 contribution from the Tari-Pori community in Port Moresby to the haus krai. He said the Government would donate 100 bags of rice, 50 cartons of tinned fish, 50 cartons of tinned meat, and 100 cartons of fresh meat and chicken for the haus krai. This is on top of what Minister Samb and Governor Agarobe have donated. “Landslides are not confined to Goilala alone,” he said. “A major landslide occurred at Hides Gas (in Hela Province) some years ago which buried 27 people.” Prime Minister Marape said the bodies of nine people, out of 15 buried by the Goilala landslide, had been found and taken to their home villages for burial. He said no one should be blamed for the landslide as it was a natural disaster. PM James Marape, Central Governor Robert Agarobe and Transport Minister & Goilala MP Willam Samb at the Haus Krai of the Saki Village landslide in Goilala. Pic by PM's Media Unit. On a brighter note, Prime Minister Marape urged school leavers in Goilala to take advantage of “second-chance education” offered by the Government. He said the Government was also working with the Australian Government to give opportunities to school leavers to go to Australia for further training and work experience. Prime Minister Marape urged the people of Goilala involved in small business activities like gold mining not to waste their money on alcohol. “The money you spend on alcohol makes the people who produce alcohol become millionaires, while you will remain the same,” he said. “I don’t want you to remain the same. “I want your children to grow up to the next level.” Prime Minister Marape said the Government’s credit facility for small business was open to everyone in Papua New Guinea, including rural areas like Goilala. He said a classic example of a small business success story was Governor Agarobe, who from humble beginnings, became a very-successful PNG businessman. Prime Minister Marape announced that the Government’s freight subsidy scheme would include Goilala so that their rural produce could be taken to urban markets. He appealed to the Goilala people to improve their lives. “I appeal once again to the people of Goilala, especially you young people, that alcohol is not the answer to your problems,” Prime Minister Marape said. “I do not drink alcohol. “Of course, you can drink once in a while, but drink sensibly and do not engage in binge drinking. “Please save this money that you would otherwise spend on alcohol. “I want to see millionaires coming out of Goilala, whether it be in alluvial gold mining, or other activities.” Prime Minister Marape announced that the Government would be setting up a gold refinery to produce gold bars in the country. He also announced that work was progressing on the road to Goilala from Port Moresby, as well as another from Bulolo, but added that this would take time because of the rugged terrain. Prime Minister Marape said the Government was subsidising coffee prices to put money in the pockets of people in rural areas like Goilala. Prime Minister Marape said his Pangu Pati was pushing for “economic independence”. “Whether you find money in gold, timber, tourism, coffee or at markets, Papua New Guineans must be involved in all businesses,” he said. “This is what we want. “Our slogan is ‘Take Back PNG’ despite what our political opponents are saying. “Take back PNG means that we must be in the driver’s seat of business opportunities.”

Its official: The declaration of a nationwide Public Holiday announced yesterday has been gazetted. Acting Governor General and Speaker of the National Parliament Job Pomat has issued the National Gazette appointing Friday 8th January, 2021 to be a Public Holiday throughout Papua New Guinea, in accordance and with the advice of the National Executive Council. The national gazette officially dispels the confusion whether the public holiday is applicable to everyone or specially for public servants following a circular released by the Department of Personal Management allowing for public servants to take time off to witness the state funeral service of the late Sir Mekere Morauta. The announcement of the Public Holiday came from the Chairman of the Organizing Committee responsible for the State Funeral and Housing Minister Justin Tkatchenko on behalf of the Marape/Basil government. Minister TKatchenko said this has been sanctioned by the PM James Marape and it is being gazetted so that the whole country can mourn and pay their last respect wherever they are for Late Sir Mekere Morauta. This is now setting a precedence and a template for State Funerals going forward into the future.  “This is about setting new protocols for us to go by for future events such as this one,” said Minister Tkatchenko.

PNG Air wishes to advise the travelling public that as per Measure No. 13 of the National Pandemic Act 2020, the Controller, David Manning, has advised of a grace period for flights to and from Hoskins, West New Britain Province to pick up stranded passengers. This period is from the 2nd to the 11th of January 2021. Stranded passengers with confirmed bookings who wish to travel in and out of WNB are advised to rebook your flights for travel only between this period, ending Monday 11th, as flights thereafter will be restricted until the lockdown ends on the 22nd of January. Passengers travelling out of the province will need to take a Rapid COVID 19 test at the designated testing health locations – Bialla, Kimbe and Hoskins before your flight. Check-in will not take place unless a negative RAPID Test result is sighted by the PNG Air Check-In Staff. Passenger boarding passes will only be issued upon presenting of a negative test result. For further information, please contact our call center on 7411 2644. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding. Remember to always wear your face masks, observe all social distancing rules and wash your hands regularly. Together we can manage COVID-19.

The Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika this week announced the appointment of a Leadership Tribunal to enquire into allegations of misconduct in office by the Sir Puka Temu, Member of Parliament for Abau Open. The appointment follows a request made by the Public Solicitor Mr. Pondros Kaluwin, to Chief Justice under Section 27 (2) and 27 (7) (e) of the Organic Law on the Duties and Responsibilities of Leadership. The Tribunal is to be chaired by the Honorable Justice Panuel Mogish. The other members of the Tribunal are Senior Magistrates Ms. Josephine Nidue and Mr. Wialu Sakatao. The Tribunal will commence enquiry on a date and time fixed by the Tribunal.

The Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology has requested for K68million for the Tertiary Education Study Assistance Scheme (TESAS) scholarship for this year. Despite this request, the department has only been allocated K37million. This means only a minimum number of high performing students will be able receive a TESAS scholarship. DHERST Secretary Fr Jan Czuba said the awarding of TESAS scholarships are important as this in turn encourages students to perform to their best.

The Controller of the PNG COVID-19 National Pandemic Response, Mr David Manning, has expressed concern over the failure by citizens in wearing face masks in public places. Controller Manning says there are people in public places still walking around without masks or face covering. Mr Manning called on all citizens not be ignorant of the dangers of the coronavirus disease. He said wearing of masks or face covering is contained in the measures in the New Normal which the citizens must comply with. Meanwhile, no new cases have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours but contact tracing is continuing in provinces where cases have been reported. The country’s COVID-19 cases now stands at 799 with nine deaths. A total of 39,761 people have been tested for Coronavirus. 755 people have recovered whilst 203 samples are pending at the laboratories. Thirty-five active cases are in isolation. Sixteen provinces including the Autonomous Region Of Bougainville (AROB) have reported cases. The distribution of the cases by province is as follows: NCD 361 Western Province 212 West New Britain 140 East New Britain 21 Eastern H/lands 13 New Ireland 13 Western H/lands 10 Central 10 Morobe 6 East Sepik 3 Enga 3 Milne Bay 2 West Sepik 2 Southern H/lands 1 AROB 1 Hela Province 1 TOTAL 799 Globally, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 has reached 83,910,386, including 583,907 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. The death toll is 1,839,660; of which 7,957 were reported in the last 24 hours.

Prime Minister Hon. James Marape, MP, welcomed the new Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister & National Executive Council, Ambassador Ivan Pomaleu. In his welcome remarks yesterday (4/01/21), Prime Minister Marape said the abolishing of the Chief Secretary to Government’s position and replacing it with a Secretary position was to maintain a flatter Government structure without compromising the integrity of the process of policy making and their implementation for Cabinet to deliberate on. “This does not mean this Department has lost its standing as the premium Department of the Government. “Hence, Secretary of this Department still remains the Chairman of the Central Agency and Coordination Committee. “However, other departmental heads may now be able to report directly to their respective Ministers,” Prime Minister Marape said. He further acknowledged the outgoing and last Chief Secretary to Government, Ambassador Isaac Lupari, for his service to the governments over the years and of our country. The outgoing and last Chief Secretary to Government, Ambassador Isaac Lupari “The outgoing and last Chief Secretary to Government did not apply for this Secretary position, for his own reasons, but this Government expresses our greatest gratitude for his services to our country, not only as the Chief Secretary to Government but as Secretary to various departments in his previous capacities,” Prime Minister Marape said. In thanking Prime Minister Marape and the senior public servants of his Department, for the warm welcome, Secretary Pomaleu said he was humbled for being given the opportunity to head this Department and looked forward to working with and learning from everyone during his tenure. “I also look forward to using the Office of the Secretary to empower our agriculture and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sectors throughout our country. “I appreciate the experience all of you bring to the table and I look forward to working with you all throughout my tenure,” Secretary Pomaleu said. In the same sentiment, Secretary Pomaleu also thanked Amb. Lupari as the former Chief Secretary to Government who led this Department and many other departments with high esteem. In conclusion, Prime Minister Marape then thanked the Department staff for their ongoing efforts thus far, since taking Office as the Prime Minister. He encouraged everyone to continue their ongoing efforts in restoring this Department to its place as the premium Department of the Government.

PNG’s former sprinter and former record holder in the 200m event in Athletics, Nelson Stone is using his skill and knowledge to coach, train and mentor the upcoming athletes registered under his club. Under the ‘Nest Athletics Club’ (Nest, short for Nelson), the club was formed back in 2019 and to date there have been a lot of interested individuals showing their interest in joining his club. “I created the club because I wanted to be a trainer and coach at the same time so I could organise my own team for the sprints, middle distance running and a little bit of jumping events”, said Stone. His dream is to build the best and the most competitive Athletic Club in the country. And currently, 21 year old Leeroy Kamau who was a stand out during the National Athletics Championships and currently is the new record holder in the 200m event trained under Nelson’s guidance and mentorship. “During the lock down last year due to the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, it was difficult to conduct training so what I did, I had to take my athletes over to my residence at Tokarara to continue training”, said Stone. He added that he noticed that his athletes have changed in terms of attitude towards their training and they are more disciplined and hard working and their respect and eagerness to learn has shown a lot of improvements in themselves lately and it has shown in the recent championships. During the recent PNG Air National Athletics Championships that was held in December last year, a lot of his athletes have performed very well clocking in good timings and by taking into consideration everything that they have learnt, a lot of them have performed very well in their respective events.

The PNG Civil & Identity Registry has engaged 112 student volunteers to participate in its Student Volunteer Program (SVP) from January to February this year to help with clearing out backlogs and NID Registrations since 2015. The volunteers will undergo a one-day hands on training which will begin tomorrow. According to the Acting Registrar General, Noel Mobiha, PNGCIR will also engage student volunteers from Lae and Kokopo to participate in the SVP program because of the facilities put in place in these two provinces. Mobiha said that the SVP is in line with Prime Minister, Hon. James Marape’s “Take Back PNG” initiative. “Such programme needs to last long enough to allow young participants to develop job-related competences and to prove themselves in the specific work environment. He added on saying that as a result, they’ll get an idea for their future career path and decide what they like (or don’t like) to do. And to build self-confidence and develop a sense of responsibility. He said to be efficient, PNGCIR is targeting specific groups of young people especially those at risk of becoming unemployed in the long term and those that are still in school. “The path to work for young people often involves temporary jobs or internships which are frequently unpaid”, said Mobiha Mobiha said that PNGCIR will not be paying the volunteers as they have volunteered with their hearts to serve the people of Papua New Guinea. However, the management will be providing refreshments and transportation for the volunteers as they will be working day and night shifts respectively. He also said that the work performance of students who graduated in tertiary institutions during the volunteer program will determine whether they will be recruited by the PNGCIR going forward. Furthermore, Mobiha said that the code of conduct is very high in terms of punctuality, prohibition of alcohol, restrictions to in-house boyfriends/girlfriends relationships and most importantly, people who do not have loans or debt ridden in terms of their pocket pay. This program was specifically designed for high school-aged students, continuing students in tertiary institutions, and those that have recently graduated from a tertiary institution hence to help set them up for successful careers. The students will assist in processing the backlog of birth certificates and NID Registration data for the entire country from 2015-2019

This news just in! Friday 8th January 2021 is a nationwide public holiday sanctioned by the PM James Marape and the NEC. This is for the whole country to pay respect to the late Sir Mekere Morauta as he will be laid to rest on that day. Keep listening to the LegendFM News/NauFM News/YumiFM News and follow our news website pnghausbung.com page for more on this story.

New water and sanitation facilities constructed at a primary school in South Bougainville will greatly improve access to clean water for drinking, cooking, sanitation and hygiene. The new facilities at St Chris Sipii Primary School in Bolave, Bana District include two toilets, 17 water catchment systems and 30 water tanks. The K100,000 project was initiated by the Bolave people who successfully applied for an Australian Government grant after raising more than K8,000 in the community. The new facilities will reduce reliance on mountain water sources, which are often depleted during dry season and can be muddy and contaminated in rainy periods. The project reduces the time that families – particularly women and children – spend on water collection by more than an hour each day. This means they will have more time for education, productive activities and participating in community life. St Chris Sipii Primary School board chairman Tony Siona said the new toilets and water tanks have brought the community together and reduced the time wasted on water collection. “Apart from the many health benefits to the community, another advantage has been students having more time to attend to school activities and get to school on time in the morning,” he said. More than 20 local people were also trained on safe hygiene practices. This knowledge can be shared within the community and prevent the spread of diseases and illnesses. Australia has supported 60 community projects that promote peace, security, and community cohesion by encouraging communities to organise and partner with government to respond to local challenges.

This is always a hopeful time, as we celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another. While 2020 was fraught with unprecedented challenges around the world, we can take solace in the knowledge that brighter days are ahead. Although the obstacles towards full economic recovery and health security are great, the courage and determination we discovered in one another during the darkest days of 2020 will ensure we can rise up and overcome them. It is in that spirit that the United States seeks out opportunities every single day to engage our partners, expand our relationships, and execute on our promises. As ever, we seek to build economic prosperity, strengthen the institutions of democracy, safeguard the future, and teach the next generation of our partners throughout the Pacific. In 2021, as we all strive to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Embassy Port Moresby team will work hand-in-hand with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and PNG to build on the promises of the 2018 APEC Conference by taking the next critical steps to deliver on the five-year, $57 million USAID-PNG Electrification Partnership (USAID PEP) and provide electricity to at least 200,000 PNG households. PEP’s aim is to provide reliable access to electricity to drive inclusive growth and advance development in communities throughout Papua New Guinea. In partnership with key government agencies, communities, and the private sector in Papua New Guinea to achieve the country’s electrification goals, consistent with the National Electrification Roll Out Plan (NEROP), 2021 will be a year of action. We will also work closely with the PNG government to conclude three critical agreements: A Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA), a Shiprider agreement, and a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). The DCA will lay the foundation for the United States to engage more deeply with the PNG Defense Force, expand training, education, and exchange opportunities with the United States, and execute on the joint Australian-PNG project at Lobrum Naval Base to support the PNGDF. Shiprider is a unique agreement that allows members of the PNG defense and law enforcement officers to embark on U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy vessels to observe, board and search vessels suspected of violating laws or regulations within their exclusive economic zones, or on the high seas. Shiprider agreements help close global maritime law enforcement gaps, improve cooperation, coordination, and interoperability, and build maritime law enforcement capacity to more effectively combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and other illegal maritime activity. The agreements are meant to complement and reinforce arrangements in place with partners such as Australia, New Zealand and France.  Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFAs) provide strategic frameworks and guiding principles for dialogue on trade and investment opportunities between the United States and the other parties to the TIFA. Around the world, the United States and our TIFA partners consult on a wide range of issues related to trade and investment. The TIFA provides a platform to identify areas for further cooperation.  Topics for consultation under the TIFA include market access labor, the environment, protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, and, in appropriate cases, capacity building. Travel restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic forced many of our education and cultural exchange programs to halt in 2020. Fortunately, we were able to transition our popular International Visitor Leadership Program to a virtual format, holding two popular sessions on Public Health and Global Economic Cooperation with participants from Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. This year, we will expand to 10 regional programs, and will included subjects like the U.S. Justice System, U.S. elections, investigative journalism, entrepreneurship, and combatting trafficking-in-persons. COVID-19 also affected the Young Pacific Leaders (YPL) Initiative a youth leadership development program comprised of participants from Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Islands of French Polynesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, and the American-affiliated Pacific including American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Hawaii. The program strengthens ties and builds a community among the younger generation of government, civic and business leaders to address critical challenges and expand opportunities. Embassy Port Moresby planned to host the 2020 Young Pacific Leaders Conference in Port Moresby but had to cancel the event due to COVID-19. We adapted the program to create a virtual conference series to engage participants who signed up for the conference in early 2020. The events took place September 27 and November 18 and included participants from nearly all participating Pacific nations, including Solomon Islands. A third event is scheduled for early February 2021, and the model has proven so successful that we plan to expand it further throughout the coming year. As Thomas Jefferson said, “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past." The coming year will undoubtedly have its challenges, but if we learned anything from 2020 it’s that we are more resilient and more capable of meeting and overcoming those challenges than we ever thought possible. I look forward to working with the government and people of Papua New Guinea and to deliver on the promise of a better tomorrow over the next year. Here’s to a great 2021!