Sports Minister and Member for Kandep Don Polye, gave a thumbs up for the tremendous effort by the Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA) in the development of women’s soccer in the country. The minister, when speaking at the recent announcement of the PNG men’s side to play in the inaugural MSG PM’s Cup, said this good support from the PNGFA under President John Kapi Natto saw the success of the PNG National Team in the recent OFC Women’s Nations Cup. “I’m very proud to see people like the president showing leadership and encouraging development of soccer in women and women have done very well,” said the minister. Polye said football developing under Kapi natto’s stewardship has seen soccer developing from one stage to another and one of those successes in the development was the success of the women’s national team. It is successes like these that the minister said the government will continue to support the development of all sporting codes in the country, because sports is also a tool of development in any country. “I see sports as an integral human development component of the country’s progress, and I will support with all my heart the best I can to make sure sports becomes a true reality in Papua New Guinea.” Minister Polye later added that under this government, he strongly believes that sports will flourish in the country.

The travelling public along with business houses in both the industrial city of Lae in Morobe province and the mining township of Kiunga in Western province, will continue to be impacted if the tussle over the closing of the Nadzab and Kiunga airports, continue. The matter came about when the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) moved to close these two airports in the country due to safety issues. CASA PNG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director of Civil Aviation Mr. Benedict Igo Oraka said in a statement released on Thursday 01st September that the action taken was due to a combination of outstanding issues with the National Airports Corporation (NAC) in its effective implementation of civil aviation requirements for the operations of these airports. “PNG Civil Aviation Rule Part 139.3 requires the NAC have a valid Aerodrome Operating Certificate (ADOC) for the Nadzab and Kiunga Aerodromes or Airports. The Certificates for Nadzab and Kiunga expired on 31st July 2022. “Audits were conducted on the aerodromes in July. There are 21 Non-compliances or Findings at the Nadzab Aerodrome and 7 Non-compliances or Findings at Kiunga aerodrome. These Findings require closing actions from NAC prior to the aerodrome certificates being re-issued,” the CEO added in that statement. These findings were also mentioned in parliament the next day, Friday 02nd September, by the Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation Walter Schnaubelt when he responded to questions asked by the Morobe Governor Luther Wenge, on the operational status of the Nadzab Airport. Mr. Wenge concerned about this issue, asked the minister as to when his airport in Lae would re-open because the closure has impacted business houses in the province and has affected travel and movement of people in and out of Morobe. In response, the minister said that Nadzab along with Kiunga airport, will remain closed indefinitely because the findings, which included insufficient personnel in fire- rescue, aviation security and maintenance services, and the lack of aircraft movement data reported to CASA, must be sorted out by NAC before re-opening. However, things heated up when it was brought to the attention of the minister that the NAC took out a stay order in court, preventing CASA PNG from keeping the airports closed. Prior to that NAC Managing Director and CEO Mr. Rex Kiponge, said in a statement that the information given by CASA and the minister were misleading and that the NAC submitted the ADOC Renewal to CASA at least 30 days before the expiry date. He further added that the findings for Nadzab and Kiunga do not pose significant safety risk on the travelling public and airline operators. “These are administrative matters that can be addressed while the airports remain operational,” the CEO further stated in that statement. But things took another turn late on Friday evening when CASA PNG sent out a letter at 9:04PM to all airline operators including Air Niugini, instructing them not to resume flights to either Nadzab or Kiunga airports. Nevertheless, if the airports continue to remain closed, a lot of people will be affected, and businesses will stand to lose a lot. Businesses will need the airports to remain open so that aircrafts can transport in goods and the public will need to travel, either for business or pleasure. Although this may be so, the minister once again remined the public that aviation safety is the government’s priority and when safety is breached, it puts lives in danger. “I want to assure the public that I will do everything in my power as minister working together with the prime minister and the deputy prime minister to find a solution to this problem and we can try our best to resolve it as quickly as we can,” said the minister.

Today was supposed to be the grand final day for the Port Moresby Moni Plus 2022 Australian Football League (AFL) women’s competition as per the scheduled date, but unfortunately, that won’t happen because the competition had to be canceled. The Port Moresby AFL Association President Mr. Douglas Lai said the cancellation was due to two clubs breaching the rules covering the eligibility of the players in a team playing in the finals round. Apparently, the Lamana Dockers and Gordons Kokofas women’s teams fielded players that were not qualified to play in the finals. The president said some of the players from these two teams were called in from the Rugby and Rugby League codes to play in the teams as they move into the finals round of matches. This also resulted in some of the girls that have been players right throughout the season in these two teams, being dropped from the sides. “Players will be eligible to play if they play three or more games in a team during the season to be qualified to play in the finals,” explained the president. As such the association cautioned these teams, this then led to the teams protesting by forfeiting the finals matches last weekend, which should have been the matches to determine the two teams from the total four teams, to meet in the grand final match. The association reacted by canceling the competition following a meeting with club executives and management this week. This is unfortunate for the other two women’s teams, but the cancellation serves as a penalty for the two teams that breached the rules and as a warning to all the clubs that such breaches in the future will be seriously dealt with by the association. Nevertheless, the women’s competition should return next year in the 2023 season. Mr. Lai said they plan to start early the women’s competition in the month of April.

The effort to improve and lift the standards of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) will depend not only funding support, but on the efforts of every political leader in parliament. RPNGC has a major short fall in manpower That’s the word from the new Minister for Internal Security Peter Tsiamalili Junior, when responding to questions from the Member for Talasea Freddie Kumai in parliament today on the law-and-order issues in West New Britain. The minister said the RPNGC has a major short fall in manpower where on average it is a ratio of one police officer to 1, 145 citizens, which he said compared to the United Nations (UN) average policing requirement one officer to 450 citizens, is indeed a big gap that needs to be filled. “Under our corporate plan for police, we will need resources to make sure police is fully equipped, fully funded, and have appropriate policing resources. That will need almost K3.9billion to bring the police force up to standards and at the same time increase manpower,” said the minister. He added that the issue of law and order is experienced by every member of parliament and as such, internal security will need a collaborative effort to maintain. “Time and time again, although we say police is the number one institution that needs to be looked at carefully to help us, it still needs resources to do so.” On that note, the minister said at present support is needed in terms of funding for the investigation into the election related violence during the 2022 National General Election. “We need almost K60million now to have a joint operation to address this lawlessness that occurred during the election, so we start to take action and prosecute those responsible.” The minister concluded by saying that one way to address law and order issues is for political leaders to create more employment for their people, especially the youths most of whom are just wondering around and are mostly the cause of these law and order issues in the community. He said by creating more employment at the provincial and district level, it is one-way leaders can work together to address fully the law and order problems faced in the country.

The Southern Highlands Chamber of Commerce and Industry President is concerned about the recent election related violence and the subsequent fear and disruption to normal business activities it has created for business houses in the provincial capital Mendi. The President, Mr. Barry Mini, said business houses in Mendi town have had to close their doors for days now since the fighting and destructions started on Thursday and this has deprived people from accessing service, leaving many without food and other necessary items to survive. Residents in the capital Mendi and the surrounding areas were unable to access basic goods and services because the retail shops and wholesales were closed. He added that the shops and even the guest houses and hotels are making huge amounts of losses due to the violence that has gripped the township. Mini said the election was conducted smoothly right up until three days ago when chaos broke out following coordinated attacks by supporters of candidates against each other in the heart of town. “The Chamber wants the PNG Electoral Commission to make a decision now on the election situation and the government must declare a state of emergency in the province so to bring back normalcy to the province and Mendi,” said the president. Speaking on behalf of the business community in Mendi, he said most of the business houses have bills to pay, employees to pay and loans to repay as well and if this situation is not brought under control soon the big businesses and even locally owned small to medium enterprises, will continue to lose more.

The Papua New Guinea (PNG) Electoral Commissioner Mr. Simon Sinai has confirmed that the 2022 National General Election is nearing its full completion after 93% of electorates completed their counting with just a few seats remaining still going through with their exclusions. Commissioner Sinai said after Friday the 12th of August, he returned 5 more writs to the Governor General, making it now 110 writs in total returned so far. “On Tuesday 9th August the 11th Parliament of Papua New Guinea convened with 104 electoral writs received by the parliament,” said the Commissioner. He said this followed the return of 84 writs to the Governor General Sir Bob Dadae on Friday 5th August and an additional 21 writs on Tuesday 9th August, just before the 11th Parliament set to elect the Speaker of Parliament and the prime minister. He added that the 21 writs received included the writ from the North Bougainville open seat of which the member elect passed away while polling was still in progress. A by- election will be conducted for that seat. “As the winning candidate sadly passed before the completion of polling, the Governor General forwarded 105 writs to the Speaker of the Parliament, 104 writs were received by the Parliament.” These 104 writs received by Parliament excluded the one for North Bougainville of which the member elected passed away. On Friday 12th August, the Commissioner then returned 5 more writs to the Governor General that brought the total up to the current 110. These 5 additional writs included the writs for the Moresby North- East and the Moresby North- West open seats, which were declared on that same day. Meanwhile, Mr. Sinai said this now sees counting completed in 18 out of 22 provinces with 4 more to go, which he added are striving to complete their counting. “The four electorates where counting continues are the provincial seats in Simbu, Southern Highlands, Madang and NCD.” With regards to these electorates, he said he has gotten the approval to further extend the time for their writs to come in. He added that for these ones that were unable to finish in time for him to return their writs to the Governor General, they still have time after he invoked Section 81(3) of the Electoral Law to further extend the date for the return of writs through National Gazette No. G642.

The re-elected Member for Moresby North- West electorate in the nation’s capital, Mr. Lohia Boe Samuel, will be looking at implementing vital programs as per his Pangu Pati goals to ensure his people get the improved service they need and improve their lives along with it. Speaking during his official declaration at the counting venue at the Pacific Institute of Leadership and Governance (PILAG), he announced that he will be taking a bottom-up approach to implementing his programs. He said as per his discussions with the prime minister, he will be implementing programs to address issues in three main areas, which are to modernize the Motu- Koita villages in his ward one area, modernize as well the settlements in his electorate so to ensure basic services like water, electricity and proper roads are provided to the people and lastly, he intends to improve the basic services back to the main suburbs in the electorate, which overtime have declined. “That will be my task for the next five years and I will make sure that these tasks for my people of north- west are carried out,” stressed the member. Mr. Samuel later thanked his people for having confidence in him and returning him to the seat to serve them for a full five-year term after he was elected last year in a by- election. He also thanked the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission (PNGEC) team that made the election possible and for going through the tough times during counting and eventually wrapping up everything on Friday 12th August. Meanwhile, Lohia Boe Samuel shot up past the absolute majority of 21, 149 after the last exclusion 25 to reclaim his seat for Moresby North- West electorate, he received 23, 452 votes after the last exclusion. Coming in second is Joe Tonde with 18, 863 votes after the distribution of 11, 687 ballots from candidate Thaddeus Kanbanei, who was excluded from the race in exclusion 25. Mr. Samuel also congratulated Mr. Tonde for putting up a challenge in this election and came in second. He also thanked the other candidates that ran in the election, but a special thanks to the women who also ran in the 2022 National General Election.

Moresby North East Open seat incumbent MP John Kaupa has gone past the absolute majority of 18, 034 to re- claim his Moresby North East seat after scoring 18, 365 votes in the 74th exclusion. Andapanga Baliawe came in second after getting 17, 580 votes in the final exclusion. The final exclusion saw Diana Unagi's vote distributed between the two top candidates that later resulted in Mr. Kaupa coming home. Meanwhile, the team at the counting venue are getting things prepared and will await the arrival of Member elect John Kaupa to come in for his official declaration and signing of the writ.

After the Pangu Pati was officially invited by the Governor General to form the next government for the 11th Parliament, the party leader James Marape made it clear that he is adamant in making sure their priority of improving the electoral process is one policy that they will work on achieving in their term in office. Mr. Marape, who is also the Member for Tari Pori, said that fixing the system and processes of government is their priority now as he remined everyone of the issues that have popped up during the 2022 National General Election. “Chief amongst our responsibilities, is we will look at the systems of government we have and the processes we have. Over the last forty-six years the processes have been eroded and not being strengthened over time,” said Marape. Marape said Pangu Pati and its coalition partners plan to bring in new policies that are consistent with what they want to do for the country and the people. One of those policies in mind is the proposed review and reform of the electoral process, which Marape said is chief amongst others. “I hear many issues on the electoral process; biometric, common roll update and census will take place in twenty- twenty- three.” He said by next year the Pangu Led government will ensure the census takes place and people all over the country must cooperate by getting themselves enrolled so to avoid what was experienced in this election with issues with names on the common roll. “From that we will overlap with an electronic voter ID system. It will cost us some money, but we’ve heard your cry and we are willing to go down that path so that every citizen in our country has an identification system so that when the next opportunity for you to vote comes, you vote based on your own ID system,” he said. The other matter Marape said is part of this proposed reform is to look at the process of electing a prime minister to office. He said after forming the government they will ask the Constitutional Law Reform Commission to carry out a survey into whether the people would want a change in the process, whereby the prime minister is elected by the people to office instead of through the traditional parliamentary process. “If majority want to elect their prime minister, then we will tie the voting process of one person- one vote to a better ID system. So, we get a tidier voting process for election of leadership and the people can chose their leadership at different layers of the country,” Marape said. Marape is hoping to achieving this before the country’s 50th Independence Anniversary in 2025 and then implement them during the next election, which is the 2027 National General Election.

The PANGU Pati, this morning at the Government House in Port Moresby, was officially invited by the Governor General to form the new government along with its coalition partners. The GG said Pangu Pati with the highest number of members already elected into office after the 2022 National General Elections, has the required number of as per the constitution to form the next government. He signed Section 63 invitation and later handed it over the Pangu Pati General Secretary Mr. Morris Tovebae to sign to make it official. Pangu Pati leader and MP for Tari Pori, James Marape, said he has more than 82 members in his camp at Loloata and they will be present tomorrow at parliament for the first sitting to mark the speaker first and then the election of the PM.

The Returning Officer for Moresby North-West open seat Mr. Vincent Manukayasi is very concerned that the election for the electorate will be a failed one considering the time limit now available before the Return of Writs at 4pm today. Mr. Manukayasi said they were able to complete just one ward last night for the quality check and two more are yet to go before the elimination round starts. “We were able to complete the quality check for ward eight, wards ten and eleven are yet to go and we will do the checks today." “We will try our best to see if we can complete them in time before we eliminate the candidates below.” He added that from the rate the quality checks are going, with interruptions from scrutineers now and then on counting issues, it is likely the whole counting process will not be completed on time and that the election will be a failed election, meaning a by- election would follow. Meanwhile, the deadline for the Return of Writs will be this afternoon at 4:00pm. The Electoral Commissioner Mr. Simon Sinai will be handing over the election writs to the Governor General to mark the end of the 2022 National General Election.

Prime Minister (PM) James Marape has made an urgent appeal to the Papuan New Guinea Electoral Commission (PNGEC) to make sure the counting process is completed in time before the new deadline for the Return of Writs and the formation of a new government. Mr. Marape, in a press conference over the weekend, said with over 50 more seats yet to be declared, time is not on the PNGEC’s side. He said the Commission must not allow for any further delays to counting and declarations, allegedly caused by scrutineers and their candidates in most of the counting centers in the country. “I just want to appeal to the Electoral Commissioner to fix their capacity in that system (counting process). If a Returning Officer is indecisive replace him, get the security around and complete the counting process,” He added that any disputes that come up during the counting process, the avenue for that is in the courts to sort it out, after the election is completed. “Go to the election petition as an avenue to solve those disputes. These are avenues that our laws provide us right now, no one citizen must hold to ransom the process of an election of being completed,” said Marape. Marape said his coalition already has a good number of members elect to join his Pangu Pati to form a new government, but it is unfair that most of the candidates have not yet been declared, of which some of them may want to join his coalition to form the next government. Therefore, he urged the PNGEC to fast-track the counting process in all provinces to be completed by this week before the governor general gives out the invitation to the party with the highest number of candidates to form the new government. “So, by Friday when the section 63 invitation is to be issued, the calculation is based on a super majority of members elected, so there is no dispute or uncertainty in the minds of Papua New Guineans that this party has performed and delivered the number that is highest,” said Marape. Meanwhile, the new extended deadline for the Return of Writs is this Friday 05th of August, and the Electoral Commissioner Mr. Simon Sinai wants most of declarations done by Wednesday and Thursday.