PNG Haus Bung

Seasonal Christian greetings to you Papua New Guineans. The year 2020 has been a difficult year of many challenges, including the worst global pandemic in a century of COVID-19, which affected PNG and the global economy. And, of course, many other challenges including politics have had negative tolls on our country but by God’s Grace we continue to survive. The change of Government in May 2019 arose from a collective desire to “Take Back PNG” from the hands of the greedy few who proliferated capitalistic greed and uncontrollable corruption.  The change also was a generational shift from old generation of national leaders who were not willing to fight for people’s rights and resources. With the underlying theme of my Government to “Make PNG the Richest Black Christian Nation Where No Child is Left Behind”, we took a hard reformist journey that was not going to be easy for the faint-hearted and pessimists. I am taking our country on the policy path I laid out in my maiden National Parliament address on 30th of May 2019. Despite all challenges including continual political instabilities, we have delivered the following and more and will progress them in 2021 and beyond. ECONOMIC SECTOR: • Cleaning up government accounts and being honest and transparent on our real national debts, winning the confidence of credible lenders in Australian EFA, World Bank, ADB, IMF, Chinese Exim, Indian Exim, Japanese Government to name a few; • We picked up interest-free or very low interest loans (under 3 per cent) from this pool of credible lenders to help our Budgets, such as the IMF RCF loan of over K1 billion with zero per cent interest and a grace period of 5 years; • We successfully used our two Budgets to date (2019’s K17.8 billion and 2020’s K18 billion  expenditures) to balance the needs of supporting the economy and jobs while also starting the process of fiscal consolidation, which is vital for getting our budget deficits down and starting to lower our debt to GDP ratio; • We are fiscally responsible, while also not slashing the Budget, as Government expenditures are vital for supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout our country. This includes the 60,000 jobs for teachers and all the work that flows from our SIP programmes in funding local contractors, that in turn employ hundreds of workers all over our country; • Setting out a clear, multi-year programme of Budget repair which will also see much more of our Budget supporting development expenditure rather than public sector wages. Oro Governor Gary Juffa will set out ways to cut public service waste shortly; • Settling over K1 billion of previous Government’s bad debts and outstanding arrears to service providers like road contractors, 2015 Pacific Games and APEC 2018 bills; paying out  expensive O’Neill loans such as nearly K2 billion Credit Suisse debt and having to continually re-finance the O’Neill debt such as over K11.1 billion in amortisation payments in 2019 alone;  • Seeking to engage over 80 per cent of our presently unengaged people by putting low-cost loan facilities in commercial banks for MSMEs, freight subsidies for market access for rural produce and the price stabilisation funding we putting in place; KEY ECONOMIC SECTOR REFORMS: • Amended Mining and Petroleum Acts and further reforms being progressed in consultation with all stakeholders including industry partners; • Proper transparent project negotiations including involving Provincial Governments and Land owners for Porgera, Wafi-Golpu, Papua, Pasca and P’Nyang so that when inks dry up on project agreements, we would be laughing to the banks to support our country’s development agendas unlike past projects where Prime Ministers of past were giving huge tax concessions and selling off our birthright (this is a major point of difference between my Loloata Team and Peter O’Neill’s Crown Team); • Reforms in the Forestry (such as increased export levies) and Fisheries Sectors to encourage downstream processing here and for Landowners and Provincial Governments to be in these businesses (another major Loloata and Crown difference where Crown teammates wanted to protect the industry status quo); • Creating Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to attract genuine foreign investments and local industries. Cabinet has already approved zones for each province with investments of over US$20 million to gain concessions and investment incentives; • Bringing cheaper electricity into our power grid, especially from gas and hydro. For instance, we have already commissioned the five PNG LNG Provincial Governments’ and Landowners’ Dirio Power that will supply cheaper and cleaner electricity to Port Moresby and Central Province while we working on Highlands, Lae, Madang and Sepik power needs; • We are working with development partners including the APEC 2018 commitment to roll out power and communications infrastructure throughout our country; • Rapidly expanding labour mobility programmes to allow communities to bring back remittances from overseas and support local investment and businesses, as well as building skills; • We also have policy approved for Provincial Governments and Landowners to own a stake in power and water businesses. For instance, in Eda Ranu, the Koiari Landowners will own 20 per cent while Central and NCD will own 10 per cent each and PNG Water will hold 60 per cent equity in the business; • Stated-Own Enterprise (SOE) reforms in partnership with IMF and ADB to ensure productivity is increased. We are making merit-based appointments including Professor David Kavanamur as Chairman of Kumul Consolidated Holdings Ltd (KCHL) and Mr Isikeli Taureka as Managing Director of KCHL;  • We also have more women appointed on our SOE boards in the last 19 months. ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE: • Our Connect PNG policies-based Budget allocations saw funding of over 100 national , regional, provincial and district roads, airports, wharves, jetties, powerlines and ICT; • Roads we are starting includes Tabubil -Telefomin; Lae-Finschafen-Kabwum-Sialum-Rai Coast;  Kundiawa-Karamui; Goilala Highway; Gulf-Southern Highlands; Bulolo-Menyama-Kerema (Trans Island Highway); Mt Hagen-Ramu-Madang; East-West New Britain Highway; Manus Highway; Mendi-Kutubu; Komo-Koroba; Kainantu-Okapa; major island ring roads like Buka, Kiriwina, Esa’ala, Siassi, Karkar and New Hanover; North Bougainville to South Bougainville Highway;  Hawain Bridge and East-West Sepik Highway; Madang-North Coast-Bogia;  Kerema-Ihu road; Kiunga-Nomad; Magi and Hiritano Highway upgrades and extensions; Kokoda Highway; Namatanai Southern road;  major city and town roads including places like Lae, Kokopo, Madang, Goroka, Wewak, Lorengau and Daru, among other projects we have started all over our country. • We are also putting in rural jetty and major wharf programmes for Vanimo, Lorengau, Kikori, Kimbe and Oro Bay; • We are also continuing the ADB CADIP programme for our other airports and small airstrips; • We also launched the new JICA loan-funded Lae -Nadzab International Airport construction; • We are also stepping up higher voltage 132kva lines from Mt Hagen to Lae to complement the Mt Hagen to Hides that is presently running. On that backbone we will run fibre optic cables; • These infrastructure and more that we will develop all over our country into the future should carry our rural economies and SEZ emphasis for our country; We want to grow our economy so we can finance adequate quality service in our social sector. Below are some work we have started and we will continue into 2021. SOCIAL SERVICE SECTOR: • In the education sector, we are honouring our country’s need for education for all through an affordable education policy by paying majority school fees (63 per cent) for primary and secondary schools. We are directing more national education expenditure to assist tertiary students with continuation of student scholarships as well as our Marape Government’s flagship student loan (HELP) programme; • We also allocated funding for school infrastructure directly through our universities (including new mess for Unitech) and colleges as well as through Districts and Provincial SIP funds; • We are continually supporting the O’Neill Government-initiated Western Pacific University; • We are mass rolling out Flexible Open Distance Education (FODE) plus Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) with Small Medium Enterprises (SME) courses for those who left schools at grades 8 to 12; • We will be working on private universities to enter or set up in our country; • In the health sector, we are starting a specific provincial hospital programme that will see five of the 16 provincial hospitals yet to be developed attended to; •We are also looking at a major referral hospital for Bougainville; • Port Moresby and Lae hospitals are now being developed to be specialist hospitals for heart, kidney, liver and cancer patients; • We are working to fix and strengthen our medical schools and nursing colleges; • In our community development, we have publicly recognized PNG as a Christian nation. a National Unity Pillar will be constructed on the hill facing Parliament along Waigani Drive; • We also started an anti-gender violence lobby group let by MPs like Hon. Allan Bird, Hon. Gary Juffa, Hon. Powes Parkop and others. Our efforts to stop violence against women will grow; • We have started the path of empowering our Provincial Governments, including my version of economic empowerment. These will be better defined in 2021, especially for the three pilot provinces of New Ireland, East New Britain and Enga; • Our strong progress made on Bougainville will continue. We acknowledge Bougainville as a Special Region and not as a Provincial Government. Neither are the autonomy discussions with Provincial Governments similar to Bougainville; •Bougainville held a referendum under my watch. We now intend on work with the Bougainville Government to fully empower them in between our efforts to find a full political settlement as guided by the 2001 BPA and subsequent JSBs; • We will continue the efforts of law-and-justice including modernising police, deliver a modern electronic Judiciary, and complete the K300 million Waigani Court Complex; • We will institutionalize Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), we will implement Whistle Blowers’ Act, Proceeds of Crimes Act and undisclosed wealth laws; • We will reform the Ombudsman Commission to strengthen its functions; • We will use the Correctional Services as a place of training inmates using second chance education and SME training; • Next year, we will update our Census, fix our Common Roll and prepare the nation for 2022 National Election. We are thinking of introducing biometric voting too for one-person one-vote for a cleaner and better voting process; • Defence Force will coordinate a National Volunteer Scheme in partnership with districts for unengaged youths, including dispatching those disciplined ones for Australian labour and work, as well as in-country work , further education or MSME link-ups. •       Making land available to Papua New Guineans for first-time home-ownership applicants, including converting settlements to suburbs. The above is the journey we have started and the path we will travel on in 2021 in our efforts to make our country rich and where we don’t leave any one behind. We are a reformist Government trying to do better for all our people, irrespective of age, tribe, church or political affiliations, so I ask all to rally together in supporting one another and your country. Have hope and faith in yourself and your country, help contribute to the development of your country wherever God has placed you in PNG. God Bless Papua New Guinea in 2021.

Commissioner David Manning, Controller, by virtue of the powers conferred by Section 9 of the National Pandemic Act 2020 and all other enabling powers, hereby issued the following measures for immediate implementation: The measures set out herein apply only to the West New Britain Province.A 14-day restriction period will be imposed during which no aircraft, vehicle or vessel is allowed to enter into or out of the province with new passengers except for aircrafts, vehicles or vessels bringing in cargo or goods and personnel engaged in the COVID-19 response.A curfew shall be imposed in the province between the hours of 10pm and 5am daily.Between the hours of 10pm and 5am, no person shall be allowed outsideof their dwelling places, unless:a. to seek urgent medical assistance;b. to seek assistance from police;c. in case of an emergency (including but not limited to a fire); andd. an exempted person listed in Schedule 1.All persons are to adhere to social distancing requirements and safe andhygiene practices.All forms of public gatherings are prohibited, except for the main listedprovincial market/s, supermarkets, fuel stations, sea ports, airports, hotels, banks, pharmacies, restaurants, heath care providers and shops licensed to trade which may remain open.Restaurants may remain open but shall only serve takeaway food andnon-alcoholic beverages for walk-in customers, except for in-house guests where the restaurant is a part of the hotel or lodge, which in this instance food can be served with alcohol.All sporting and or cultural activities shall not occur.Normal religious activities may continue but must adhere to the following:a. social distancing of at least 1.5 meters between each person;b. all persons on entry into a place of worship must wash their hands with soap or use hand sanitizer; andc. all persons at places of worship must follow all other hygienestandards recommended by the Controller.The following religious gatherings shall not occur:a. Provincial church gathering;b. National church gatherings;c. Crusades;d. Conventions; ande. Provincial or national outreach programs.Venues and parts of venues within the province must immediately restrict trading hours and strictly observe COVID-19 protocols such as wearing of face masks and hand sanitizing for the duration of the curfew, if they:a. Provide gambling activities and services; andb. Provide night club and pub activities and services.All public transport vehicles including vessels operating within the province may continue to operate during the lockdown period only if:a. All passengers and crew wear masks at all times; andb. All passengers including crew strictly adhere to hand washing or sanitizing and other hygiene and COVID-19 health protocols.All previous measures continue to apply unless provided for specifically in this new measure.Non-compliance of this measure shall be reported to an authorized officer or the provincial police commander.These measures come into effect at 12 am of January 1, 2021 and will remain in force until 12 am of January 22, 2021, or as varied or revoked by the Controller.

National Pandemic Controller David Manning has issued a 14 day lock down for the West New Britain province. All transportation except for essentials have been restricted for this period and a provincial curfew imposed between 10pm-5am daily. These measures come into effect at midnight on the 1st of January 2021. Keep to your COVID19 safety practises, listen in to the news on this station or follow our website pnghausbung.com for more on this story.

Central Provincial Police Commander Chief Inspector Tapp Opai extended his thanks to the people of Central Province for taking heed of his appeal to celebrate the festive season in a peaceful manner and for respecting the law while welcoming the New Year. The provincial police boss added said that the province reported a peaceful New Year’s celebrations with no major incidents reported so far. “All police operations throughout the province were very quiet. Unlike previous years, this festive season was very quiet with everybody celebrating peacefully in their own communities.” “Nobody brought any wrecks, drums or tires on to the main road and burning them and causing an inconvenience to commuters.” Minor road blocks set up along Sogeri Road by locals still celebrating the New Year by rubbing mud on those passing through the area were dispersed by the police this morning. “We’re used to having problems in Bereina and Mekeo but as for last night, there was nothing.” “For this festive season overall, nothing major was reported apart from the Christmas Day murder at Brown River, where domestic violence turned out to be fatal and the suspect has been arrested.” “Other than that the whole province was very quiet.” PPC Central confirmed that he has asked for operations to be scaled down. However, police personnel will remain in the province until Sunday, January 3.

The police festive operations in Port Moresby ran smoothly in the lead up to the welcoming of the New Year with officers manning roadblock checkpoints around the city in their respective zones . This was done along with the help of reinforcements from the MS units, K9 Unit, Traffic Police and the CID among others at the disposal of the respective zone commanders to respond to reports from the operations center. Zone 1 Commander Fred Tundu told this newsroom that since the set up of the roadblocks, the situation has been pretty good with only a few drivers under the influence of alcohol having to be pulled over and their cars grounded until they sober up and are able to head home. “Basically, we are not locking up anyone but just keeping drunkards off the streets.” “If they are drinking on the road, we will confiscate the alcohol and send them off.” However, the situation in the settlements of Port Moresby is another story and a hassle to keep up with the continued reports of alcohol related violence being received by the police. All in all, the police presence in the lead up to the New Year in itself has had a big impact on deterring offenders from disturbing the peace and ensuring that the change of the year is celebrated in a peaceful manner by the majority of city residents.

A crowd has gathered this afternoon at the Jacksons International Airport in Port Moresby today to witness the arrival of the late former Prime Minister and Member for Moresby North West, late Sir Mekere Morauta. At this time, the plane has touched down and the funeral procession and family of late Sir Mekere are being received at the VIP carpark by the Prime Minister James Marape and his Parliamentary Members.

Seventeen of BSP employees from the Retail Bank Strategic Business Unit who clocked a combined total of 573 colourful years of service will call-it-a day at the end of today (Thursday 31st December, 2020). In the presence of BSP Group CEO Robin Fleming, Retail Bank Management and colleagues, the retirees were treated to a Heros’ farewell ceremony on Tuesday 29th December, 2020, in Port Moresby.  The group comprised of Janitors, Customer Service Officers and Managers with years of service with the bank ranging between 30 and 40 years. Amongst them was Madang Branch Customer Service Officer, Steven Wapikwari, who reflected on his term of service as “Loyalty to one’s employer. Serving the bank and the people of PNG was what I enjoyed the most in my almost 42 years of service with Bank South Pacific.” “I came from a not-so-well-off family and commenced my employment with BSP in 1979 at Lae’s Top Town Branch. Through BSP, I was able to look after my family and in return served the bank with commitment and loyalty.  I am proud of my achievement and will continue to serve after leaving formal employment with BSP in terms of providing banking services as a BSP Agent.,” Steven added. Steven is among two staff who has had over 41 years of service with BSP. Lucy Darius from BSP Kavineg Branch is the other. Kanawi Chapiu, BSP’s Field Mentoring & Coaching Manager is no stranger with BSP Home Loans customers. He also leaves the bank after 37 years of service. “BSP is all about people! Today 16 of us leave, having clocked a total of 573 massive years of service in BSP. This has been a milestone. On average that is 36 years of service for us – BSP is one of the preferred employer in the chosen market operating,” Kanawi said. “We take pride in ourselves for transforming BSP to where it is now. From the traditional banking to the digital era now, that’s the change we have witnessed and we should be proud of ourselves for coming this far. We set the growth of the expansion to the Pacific and now Asia market for BSP.  Who would have thought that BSP would come this far? I started with BSP as a subsidiary of National Australian Bank. “We have enjoyed our life with BSP and we have no regrets leaving. Thank you to BSP, we leave behind fine memories and we challenge the young generations to take this bank to the next level,” Kanawi added. BSP Group CEO Robin Fleming in commending the staff for their years of service said BSP is the biggest financial institution in the Pacific and the preferred employer. “Your whole life has been around serving customers, carrying out your duties to the best of your efforts day in, day out. The people you work with every day, you spend more time with the staff than you do with your families. Five days a week, 50 odd hours a week, over 40 years with your colleagues for some of you. As you move onto retirement, take the time to spend with your families. We do thank you very much for your contribution to BSP.”

Two brothers from Southern Highlands are confirmed dead after being shot with a high-powered gun by their own brother on Tuesday morning. The incident happened at Koali Lombo village in Kagua LLG. Silas Frank Nimi and Daniel Frank Nimi were allegedly shot by their brother Timothy Kopi Frank following arguments over the benefits of their deceased public servant father. Police are calling on the suspect to surrender with the M16 rifle he fled with. Kagua Police officer, Constable Jonah Kosen confirms that one died instantly at the village while the other passed away on the way to Ialibu Hospital. The brothers are all sons of former Kagua Erave electorate district administrator, late Frank Nimi. Meantime Constable Jonah Kosen from Kagua Police station told this newsroom that the Kagua Police station also needs a Station Commander. He says there has not been a person in Command for more than a year despite calls on the Provincial Command. Meanwhile the suspect is at large and considered armed and dangerous.

Sir Kostas Constantinou, Chairman of the Board of BSP, announced the appointment of Frank Bouraga as a Director of Bank of South Pacific Limited. Frank Bouraga is a CPA-PNG qualified Professional Accountant with over 25 years in accounting practice presently being Partner Assurance and Business Advisory with SBC Solutions. Prior to SBC Solutions, Frank was the Country Managing Partner for Ernst & Young PNG for 5 years as an audit and business advisory services partner. He also worked with PWC for over 7 years and he has worked with Star Business Consultants between 2004 and 2011. Frank Bouraga has been an Independent Committee Member of BSP’s Board Audit Committee since October 2018. Sir Kostas welcomed Frank to the board of BSP and he also acknowledged that the Board of BSP is committed to appointing qualified Papua New Guineans on merit who meet the Fit & Proper assessment of Bank of Papua New Guinea and who have the necessary skills and experience to oversee and guide BSP’s future strategy.

The death toll of people killed in the Monday landslide disaster at Saki in the Goilala District of Central Province stands at thirteen after two bodies were recovered - This is the official confirmation of the exact number of people in the area buried by the landslide. So far, two bodies have been retrieved. Recovery work has been slow as well due to the enormity of the disaster. The work on clearing the debris from the landslide to as part of the search and rescue operations to recover bodies continues currently with people using whatever tools they have available to dig the earth. Meanwhile the Member for Goilala, William Samb, travelled in yesterday to establish details on what had occurred, assess the damages, and find out how many lives have been affected by this disaster. Mr. Samb through his office including the Central Provincial Government, have organized for basic tools like spades, axes and bush knives, and several chainsaws among other things to be flown in to clear the aftermath of the landslip to recover the bodies of those buried beneath.  So far most of the tools have been delivered by a charter with more tools and rations of food expected to arrive in the days ahead. Goilala District Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Jerry Tamatae and Central Province Disaster Officer Joe Gaida have also arrived at the disaster site. Central Province Governor, Robert Agarobe, is expected to join Mr. Samb tomorrow to further assess the damage and work towards recovering the rest of the bodies and finding a way forward to repatriate bodies back to their home villages across Goilala.

Christmas is a time for giving and Trukai Industries Limited shared this Christmas spirit right around the country by donating about two tons of rice. Trukai Industries Ltd Marketing Manager, Maryanne Tom said their sales team took time off their normal busy schedules to share the Christmas cheer to various hospitals and prisons. “Our Sales team donated our Roots and Trukai 10kg rice products to a number of provincial hospitals and correctional institutions around the country." “This used to be an annual program for us and we are pleased to recommence this worthy community support again." “This Christmas donation is part of our corporate social responsibility (CSR) program under the TruCare banner which drive the message of healthy living and healthy eating." Last week we donated rice to hospitals and correctional service institutions in Mt Hagen, Goroka, Wabag, Mendi, Alotau, Kavieng, Kokopo, Manus, Vanimo, Wewak and Lae. For Port Moresby, we chose the Bomana Correctional Institute which caters for over 700 inmates. “We delivered 100 kilograms of rice to the prison’s kitchen to help with their daily ration." Acting Commanding Officer for Bomana Correctional Institute, Mr Yelly Oiufa, expressed gratitude towards Trukai Industries for the timely donation. He said rice was a staple diet for the inmates and such assistance was highly appreciated. Ms Tom added that Trukai expects to complete donations for Kimbe, Madang and Popondetta in the coming days.

Despite the challenges of COVID19 this year, it's the season of giving and sharing and Air Niugini staff were at it again, this time sharing with people living with disabilities at the Cheshire disAbility Services at Hohola in Port Moresby. “Our staff from Passenger Handling and Customer Service, International terminal presented food hampers, toiletries, clothing, fresh vegetables, cake and other gift bags.” Customer Service Manager - International terminal, Freda Taralulu said its a perfect time to be sharing with the less fortunate and her team is pleased to be able to share with those at the Cheshire home. "It's a staff initiative, a tradition that we started some years back where we would visit a nonprofit, community-based organization during the festive to share gifts and bring smile to their face. " "Most of these gifts were purchased by the staff, while others contributed financially towards the purchase of these items. Each year, we choose a different organization." Cheshire disAbility Services PNG's Program Support Officer, Operations Sam Sarwom in receiving the items said that these gifts will surely put a smile on someone's face this festive season and thanked Air Niugini staff for a wonderful gesture. Apart from Cheshire disAbility Services, Air Niugini staff also visited sick children at the Port Moresby General Hospital on Christmas Day where they presented similar gifts.