Time to Review our Oil & Gas and MIning Act

By CHARLES KERUA
PNGBLOGS: Saturday, February 14, 2015

Background

I am prompted to write this after reading an article on the Australia’s Financial Review on a court battle between Oil Search Ltd & Inter Oil Ltd over the development rights (or pre-emptive rights) of the Elk-Antelope oil fields in the Gulf Province; a ruling which is expected to be handed down this March 2015 in London, UK. Many intelligent people will agree that our State & its people have “thrown away” so much of our natural resources so cheaply in the name of foreign investment and foreign capital injection. (Let us keep our discussion within the mineral & petroleum sector, and leave for a while other equally important sectors like forestry and fisheries). 

Proponents of foreign direct investments (FDIs) in our extractive industry have meticulously “seasoned” the spin offs, or so called “economic benefits”, of FDIs such as job creation, substantial foreign reserve base/cover, and tax revenue as a rosy cover to lure the State & its people into committing so much of our natural resources. However, looking at the other side of the coin, the picture is different. The State, on behalf of the people of PNG, may have unwittingly given up so much in exchange for an exceedingly lesser returns on our natural resources. We have become losers in most of these resource development deals since the 1980s
beginning with the Bougainville Copper mine (BCM). Have we been exploited by foreign investors? We wonder. And the answer is “Yes” - we have been exploited to the core and our natural resources been “raped” with much consequences to our society and the environment. (As it is not the focus of

PNG's government adamant on Death Penalty implementation

Source: Radio NZ, 6th Feb 2015

The secretary of Papua New Guinea's justice department says the 13 people on death row in the country will be executed this year.

The execution facilities will be built at Bomana prison.

This comes after cabinet endorsed guidelines for the implementation of the death penalty.

Lawrence Kalinoe says the government is adamant on starting executions this year, and the 13 people had exhausted all their appeal and constitutional review processes.

The newspaper, The National, says cabinet has approved guidelines for three modes of execution - hanging, lethal injection and firing squad - which will carried out at a facility to be built at Port Moresby's Bomana Prison.

PNG's government reactivated the death penalty in 2013 in reaction to a spate of violent crimes, drawing the ire of international human rights groups.

But Mr Kalinoe says critics are hiding behind human rights to criticise the government, and says the death penalty is implemented in sophisticated countries, such as the the United States.\

Original post from PNG NEWS 

A call on the O’Neil-Deon government to reopen abattoir at 12 Mile

By Johnson T. WETEPIA
Sales & Marketing Manager, Radho Piggery 

Its five weeks now after only state-owned abattoir in the Southern region was closed down due to financial constrains. This has severely affected the only three cattle and piggery farmers in the region that use the abattoir. 

 The 3 affected livestock companies are the only companies in the Southern Region that supply fresh meat to the shop outlets in the National Capital District and Central Provinces.

Radho Piggery Managing Director, Robert Rasaka said his company sells about 100 to 200 pigs in a week to different supermarkets in the city and Central Province alone. He said, however, the closure of the abattoir has resulted in the loss of business as hundreds of thousands of kina are spent on feeds, labor, electricity, and other running costs of the business.

Similar sentiments were made by Koitaki Limited, a company specializes in cattle farming and Boroma Piggery Limited located along Sogeri Road, Central Province.

They collectively call on the national government under responsible authorities to reopen the abattoir so they could not have further damages to their businesses. 

They also called on the government for a public private partnership deal over the state-owned abattoir located at 12 Mile, Sogeri Road, to avoid similar funding issues/constrains in the near future. They said if the government is critical about promoting Small to Medium Enterprises in the country, then such issues should not be overlooked as it severely affects the local businesses.

Negligence and failure to act promptly by the responsible government authorities may result in the loss of business in these SMEs.

If PNG has to move forward reducing high unemployment and poverty rates, funding and supporting SMEs by the national government is the paramount importance. This will in turn help improve the economy of the country in many years to come.

Schram was the man we all fought for but do we have any other ways of accepting the good VC into PNG Unitech?

By Joe WASIA

Just by looking at the photos posted on the internet sites including the social media, it was so annoying the way the good CV Dr Albert Schram was accepted into the university campus. 

Dr. Schram, 50, from the Netherlands took office as the new Vice Chancellor of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology on the 7th February 2012 from Misty Baloloi who was a VC for 17 consecutive years. 

On the 8th February 2013, Dr Schram was deported from the country on allegations that he has no proper academic qualifications to take the university's top post.

 As reported on PNG Attitude blog last year (2013), Dr Schram was in Singapore for a brief medical visit and, upon returning in Port Moresby, he was refused to enter the country and put on a plane to Brisbane.

The academia was restricted to enter the country on allegations that he has no proper qualifications to take the University's top post. However, Investigation into the saga led by retired judge Justice Mark Sevua found that there was no questions about the qualification as he holds PhD and several masters, as reported on PNG Blogs.

Dr Albert Schram is back as the Vice Chancellor of the Papua New Guinea University of technology

Papua New Guinea must own resources, says Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neil

PNC People's National Congress
Facebook/Monday 01, April, 2014 8:56am

Prime Minister Peter O'Neil

Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said Papua New Guineans must not only be spectators and tax collectors but resource owners to reap maximum benefits from their non renewable resources. Prime Minister Hon. 

Peter O’Neill said this last Friday on FM 100 talkback show hosted by Roger Hau’ofa, which was also attended by Public Enterprise Minister Ben Micah and NCD Governor Powes Parkop. 

The Prime Minister, who went on air to explain the K3 billion UBS loan, said there has been a lot of misinformation that was going around on the loan arrangements.

He said the UBS loan is not a new loan but the one that replaces the IPIC loan from the Arabs who have since refused to sell back the Oil Search shares mortgage for Papua New Guinea’s 19.4 percent equity participation in the LNG project. Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said Papua New Guineans have not held any interest in major resource projects such as Lihir, Misima and Porgera mines but have been mere tax and royalty collectors for the last 40 years.

“Papua New Guineans all throughout the country are crying for ownership of their own resources and rightfully so because we have had the experience over the past forty years about resource development in the country. “Many of our citizens feel that we have been deprived of the benefits from these resources that should truly be given back to Papua New Guineans.” Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said since this government took office, it heard that cry for resource ownership and was trying its best to find a way to increase the benefits that are going to come to Papua New Guinea.

Oil Search loan deal will affect Papua New Guinea’s Sovereign Wealth Fund

By Paul Barker/April 1, 2014
DEVPOLICY BLOG PNG

Papua New Guinea’s proposed Sovereign Wealth Fund was intended to stabilise the kina and secure assets for the future. 

But, as Paul Barker from the Institute of National Affairs argues, the government’s borrowing plan for Oil Search shares may jeopardise the fund’s effectiveness.

The proposed Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is somewhat jokingly referred to by some as the Sovereign Wealth Vacuum, as we await the government to release its revised legislation setting up the fund.

The original idea was to put income from resource projects into the fund (held largely in safe offshore securities) and use those investments to stabilise the currency and provide some core development expenditure, whilst providing confidence for investors etc in PNG’s economic management.

The UBS loan and IPIC deal by the Governemnt of Papua New Guinea

Vincent Moses/Commentary on PNG NEWS Page

Facebook/30th March, 2014 12:04 PM

There was only one loan and that is UBS, and IPIC deal was not a loan. Papua New Guinea Government has sold our Oil Search shares to IPIC to raise $1.7b to fund our equity (19.6%) in the PNG LNG Project. 

At the time Oil Search shares were only worth $5 and not worth the $1.7b we needed. So we sold them under a special share sale agreement on its future value being $8.55. What believed the share price will be worth upon completion of the LNG Project in Mar 2014.

To get IPIC to agree to this deal certain securities (collateral) were put in place IPBC SOE's to underwrite the difference between what the shares were worth at the time $5 and future prices of $8.55. The difference we still owed on the sale. This difference was executed under an exchangeable bond arrangement or asset swap that IPIC held on and PNG Govt would be required to pay interest on until the sale agreement expired in March 2014.

Pomio MP Paul Tiensten Convicted for 9 years Imprisonment with hard Labor

By Sam KOIM

Facebook/Friday, 28th March, 2014 5:40 PM

MP for Pomio, Paul Tiensten

Mr Paul Tiensten, Member for Pomio and Former Minister for National Planning was today sentenced to nine (9) years imprisonment with hard labour. Four years of those will be deducted upon him repaying to the State the K10million that was paid to Travel Air under his direction. If he fails, he will serve the full 9 years. 

The sentence is 1 year short of the maximum penalty of 10 years for misappropriation cases under Section 383A of the Criminal Code Act. Has was taken to Bomana Correctional Facility immediately after the sentencing.

Important features to note from this decision are that Mr Tiensten is going to jail for making a footnote on a project proposal that compelled the officers of National Planning to bypass the lawful processes and procedures in making that payment. 

Also, Mr Teinsten did not personally benefit from the proceeds directly but directed the funds to be paid for the use of Travel Air. The Court placed consideration of the breach of the trust placed on him and the prevalence of the offence in the society. 

Note further that though Parliament has recently amended the sentencing range for fraud of K10m plus to be up to 50 years, this case was instituted prior to the amended law hence does not have retrospective effect.

This is the first investigation that Task-Force Sweep conducted when it was established in August 2011. Though it took time before the final verdict on sentencing, justice has been finally served and we are satisfied. We respect the independence of the judiciary in disposing cases at its own pace and in this instance, we applaud the decision.

The 'Sevua Report' on the long standing PNG University of Technology issue

PNGBlogs Exclusive "THE SEVUA REPORT" - Dr Albert Schram’s Innocence Is Confirmed
By NATIONAL WHISTLE-BLOWER

“We therefore find that in all circumstances Dr Schram was wrongfully terminated from employment as Vice Chancellor of the University of Technology”. The statement above represents the final conclusion of the Sevua report’s investigation of the former Unitech Council’s allegations against Dr Albert Schram. 

The 2012-2013 campaign against Dr Schram is repulsive to any academic community and would not be tolerated in any civil society. The government’s tendency to fabricate charges to deport unwanted non-citizens extends well beyond Dr Schram (also used with SDP media writer Mark Davies, the story reported earlier in PNGBlogs.com). 

The PNG government’s current expulsion without a convincing reason of non-citizens who it views as being a threat violates the basic human rights guaranteed in the PNG constitution (which extends to non-citizens as well as citizens), is unbecoming of any nation that claims to be civilised, and casts a shadow of shame upon the country.

The Sevua investigation Terms of Reference were originally constructed with the input of former Uni-tech Pro Chancellor Ralph Saulep (principal foe of Dr Schram and implicated in the attempt to terminate him without cause). Five of the 6 TORs focus only on Dr Schram. This was a purposeful attempt by Ralph Saulep, approved by Peter O’Neill and then-HERST Minister David Arore, to create a one-sided investigation that would destroy the Vice Chancellor. Only through Saulep’s sloppy wording of TOR item #6 did retired Judge Mark Sevua find the open door to examine all sides of the issue, allowing him to produce a remarkably objective report.