PNG Teachers Association

Papua New Guinea’s hard working and dedicated teachers, like our nurses and other health workers, deserve our undivided support and admiration given the conditions in which they have to work and the depravations they suffer. It is especially troubling therefore to have to report on serious allegations emanating from the PNG Teachers Association....

Rejoice! National Housing Estates Limited Is No More

The pages of PNGi are rarely splashed with good news. But on occasions we should rejoice when action is taken against agencies and companies that are failing to measure up against basic standards of good governance and public integrity. For several years, serious concerns* have been raised over the financial governance of National Housing Estates Limited (NHEL). Set up as...

Immigration system corrupt, alleges victim

Foreign nationals can be seen living and working throughout Papua New Guinea, whether in urban centres or even the most remote logging and mining sites. Of course there is nothing necessarily wrong with this. Expatriate workers and their families can bring important new skills and employment opportunities, train local workers and contribute to a vibrant and forward looking society. But...

National Housing Corporation: Still Rotten

Govt stalling on medicine reform as death toll rises

Media reports from around the country have drawn attention to the critical shortages of vital medicines in hospitals, health centres and aid posts. These shortages are causing unnecessary suffering and even death – especially among the most vulnerable; young children, pregnant mothers, the elderly and disabled. All of which could be prevented. PNGi has discovered that the government has to...

National Museum Chaos

Leaked documents obtained by PNGi indicate that the National Museum and Art Gallery – the statutory custodian for priceless cultural artefacts – is in an ongoing state of disarray. It can be revealed that there has been a failure to appoint a permanent Director for over a year. This parlous state of affairs has been facilitated through numerous illegal directives...

Whistleblower helps force KPPA closure

The Papua New Guinea government has made the wise decision to completely abolish the Konebada Petroleum Park Authority. This comes after a series of whistleblower revelations, investigations by the National Research Institute and PNGi, and concerns raised by other academics and civil servants about the corruption, mismanagement and dubious business dealings within the organisation. The government decision was endorsed by...

Arrival of medical kits a wasted opportunity

The arrival of large numbers of expensive medical kits into the country is a wasted opportunity to effectively and efficiently address the health crisis. According to the findings from a recent government audit, the medical kits may not relieve much of the pressure on our underfunded and under-resourced health facilities as their contents are not matched to specific needs and...

Land fraud hits Lae disabled

In today’s Court Report PNGi documents a land fraud masterminded by Mendi businessman Joseph Kobol, which has left disabled residents in Lae high and dry. The RPNGC anti-fraud squad must investigate this cruel act against a vulnerable community. If you have more information on this story, contact us at [email protected] Illegal land deals pepper our cities and rural areas. Executed...

Ministerial PMIZ Concerns Spot On

The Commerce and Industry Minister has raised serious concerns over expenditure on the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone. Criminologist and author of the book Uncovering the Crimes of Urbanisation, Professor Kristian Lasslett, reveals new evidence which should make the Minister shudder. In 2016 the public was taught a valuable lesson on why we ought to carefully scrutnise loans provided to PNG...

Impunity gives green light for new offenders

Corruption has many causes, but one of the factors fuelling its endemic rise in Papua New Guinea could be the apparent impunity enjoyed by many leaders and the encouragement it gives to others to then copy their crimes. Papua New Guinea’s many Commission of Inquiry reports are littered with detailed accounts of the numerous and varied schemes used by prominent...

Yama loses over K22m in one day

September 1, 2017, was an expensive day for Madang Governor, Peter Yama, with more than K22 million slipping through his fingers in a single Supreme Court decision. In March 2016, the National court had awarded the Governor’s company, Yama Security Services Ltd (YSSL) K17,871,510 in damages and interest for breach of a contract between the security company and the National...

Climate hypocrisy?

Papua New Guinea’s Minister for the Environment, Conservation and Climate Change, John Pundari, was in Germany last month for the COP23 Climate Change talks, where he urged countries to uphold their climate change promises under the Paris Agreement. Pundari was leading the PNG delegation in Bonn, a role he has become accustomed to having attended numerous international climate conferences as...

Evidence mounts against Konebada Petrol Park CEO

Donald Valu is the Chief Executive Officer of the Konebada Petroleum Park Authority [KPPA]. The KPPA is a state owned statutory authority formed to promote the downstream processing of petroleum products in Papua New Guinea. The KPPA is already under investigation for an alleged land grab, described as a ‘scam’ by the National Research Institute, and PNGi has previously revealed...

K100 for Prime Waigani Land

Adjacent to the National Parliament in Waigani is portion 1564 – a 12.13 ha plot of land with premiere views of the city. During 1989 a state lease over portion 1564 was awarded to Macata Enterprises, a company headed by the then national MP, Tom Amaiu. Amaiu had been released several years earlier from prison after being convicted for theft....

What does public service really mean in PNG?

A Member of Parliament is elected to serve his constituents, and is paid handsomely to do it; a minimum of K330,000 a year in take home pay, according to Madang MP Bryan Kramer. For this princely sum, surely an electorate should expect their member will spend every working hour striving to support their struggles and advance their interests? After all,...

Inside the Somare bribery scandal

If you don’t pay to the PM, PNG you will not be able to get business from Papua New Guinea – Lim Ai Wah In 2016 eyes turned to Singapore. Close personal friends of Sir Michael Somare were imprisoned, for among other things, defrauding the PNG public. It was claimed American national, Philip Doehrman, and his Singaporean wife, Lim Ai...

Did the Lands Sec grant six leases to himself?

In the National Gazette for 15th August 2016, the then Secretary for the Department of Lands, Luther Sipison, published a notice stating that he was granting, apparently to himself, substitute leases over six parcels of land at Erap in Morobe Province. The leases were each for a term of 99 years with no rent payable and no improvement covenant. The...

Konebada Petroleum Park

The Konebada Petroleum Park is a government initiative designed to provide an industrial precinct for the downstream processing of petroleum products and other energy projects. It has already attracted serious criticism: Its financial mismanagement has been condemned by the Public Accounts Committee; Its arbitrary acquisition of over 23,000 hectares of land has been labelled ‘a State-sanctioned scam’ by the National...

KPPA controversies pile up (short version)

THIS IS AN ABRIDGED VERSION OF THE FULL REPORT – READ THE FULL VERSION HERE The Konebada Petroleum Park is a government initiative to promote the downstream processing of petroleum products and other energy projects. It has attracted serious criticism: Its financial mismanagement has been condemned by the Public Accounts Committee; Its arbitrary acquisition of over 23,000 hectares of land...

Scam alleged in Dept of Lands accounts section

PNGi recently highlighted a case of corruption in the Office of Library and Archives, where the former Director General, his wife and the Corporate Services Manager, were all sentenced to five years jail for misappropriation. The case revolved around payments made by the Library to a company owned by the DG’s wife for grass cutting and other landscape services; services...

Oz govt report blames corruption on grass roots

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in February this year, issued a country report on PNG. One of the issues addressed is corruption. The old saying that the fish rots from the head down, is reversed by DFAT. They suggest that in PNG, the rot begins at the tail, within grass-roots communities, slowly travelling up the spine,...

Petroleum Park Authority spending millions on car hire

The Konebada Petroleum Park Authority [KPPA] has already attracted plenty of public criticism. Its financial mismanagement has been condemned by the Public Accounts Committee; its arbitrary acquisition of over 23,000 hectares of land has been labelled ‘a State-sanctioned scam’ by the National Research Institute; and PNGi has previously revealed a series of other irregular transactions, mysterious corporate links and governance...

USAID slams Health Dept procurement and supply 

Papua New Guinea’s Shadow Health Minister warned this week that the nation faces ‘catastrophic consequences’ from unprecedented levels of mismanagement within its health services, which is causing widespread suffering and preventable deaths. MP Joseph Yopyyopy, has set out a sobering set of statistics to back his assertions, including the shortages of medicines reported across the country, the TB crisis, the...