PNG Supreme Court backs Somare's return

PNG Supreme Court backs Somare's return | ABC Radio Australia

Is it in Papua New Guinea’s National Interest to Appoint another Electoral Commissioner just weeks before the National Election?

Firstly, whilst legal scrutiny is encouraged, the motive and timing of scrutiny is in essence of paramount importance, and MUST be seen to be in Papua New Guinea’s National interest. It has been insinuated by certain individuals advising the Government of Peter O’Niell that the current Electoral Commissioner, Mr Trawen’s reappointment was flawed. Whether it is a fact or an assumption that the Electoral Commissioner’s reappointment was flawed, is a matter to be contested in the Courts of Law. However, at this critical moment in time, the country is gearing up for the National Elections, and many ordinary as well as corporate citizens would not be too impressed by another legal challenge which will most certainly transpire as a result of any calculated decision to sideline the current Electoral Commissioner to ‘justify’ the deferral of Elections by another six or more months.

Mr Trawen has been working in the Electoral Commission for many years and he is a very experienced elections officer and Public Servant. He was the Deputy Chief Electoral Commissioner prior to his appointment and reappointment. If his reappointment was flawed, the Appointments Committee can reappointment him and correct whatever needed correcting retrospectively. 

One is amazed at this current regime and Parliament for the number of retrospective legislations it has made since a new Government came into office less than a year ago. If really there were flaws in Mr Trawen’s reappointment, then in PNG’s National interest, why not correct these flaws retrospectively?  It would be stupid and outrageous if a completely new appointment was made at this time. Obviously, that appointee will be seen and perceived as a “rubber stamp” of the current regime and will most likely do more damage to this important Constitutional Office than good!

Secondly, it was further insinuated that it only took 5 minutes for the then Prime Minister, Grand Chief Sir Michael T Somare to reappoint Mr Trawen as Electoral Commissioner. The point is: whether it took 5 minutes to reappoint him or one hour is immaterial as the then Opposition Leader ( who happens to be a member of the current regime) could have been party to the decision and not only the PM at that time.
[ View Government Gazette 3rd February 2010.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OxSVenbiuG8J:www.pngindustrynews.net/web_multimedia/startdownload.asp%3FstrMultimediaFileName%3DTrawen.pdf%26strMultimediaParam1%3D%26strMultimediaParam2%3D+mr+trawen+appointment+PNG+electoral+commisioner&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a ].  Or download the Copy here. (pdf)

It is a normal administrative procedure for the Chairman of any committee to make announcements on behalf of the committee. Apparently, the Prime Minister at that time was Grand Chief Sir Michael T.Somare so, as Chairman of the Appointments Committee, it was proper in his capacity to make the announcement of the Electoral Commissioner’s reappointment.

One can in no doubt argue that these insinuations raises more suspicion about the TIMING of such "revelations" and at this juncture we as citizens can see that there is a clear undercurrent of selfish agenda which has got nothing to do with PNG National Interest.

Here is a quote by a famous American Politician for one to ponder on:

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time”. Abraham Lincoln, (attributed) 16th President of USA (1809 - 1865

New doubt raised over PNG's election date

New doubt raised over PNG's election date | ABC Radio Australia

O'Neill government agrees to repeal Judicial Conduct Act

O'Neill government agrees to repeal Judicial Conduct Act :: Papua New Guinea Issues in Perspective

Changes to UK visa services for Papua New Guinea

Source: PNG Post Courier, February 22, 2012

On March 5 the UK Border Agency will make changes to its visa service in Papua New Guinea. A more streamlined online application process will be introduced and visa decision-making will move to the UK Border Agency Visa Hub in Manila, the Philippines.
From March 5, customers applying in Papua New Guinea for a UK visa will be required to complete their visa application form online. Only applications completed online will be accepted. At the same time, customers will need to make an online appointment to attend the visa application centre, at the British High Commission in Port Moresby, to submit their application and provide biometrics (fingerprints and facial image).
To coincide with the new online process, the UK Border Agency will move the processing of visa applications to its UK Visa Hub in Manila, the Philippines. Customers will pay an additional fee of K32 for their application to be forwarded to Manila for processing. This fee is to meet the cost of sending the application to the UK Visa Hub in Manila and returning the passport to the British High Commission in Port Moresby for collection.
The UK Border Agency aims to process 90% of non-settlement visas in 15 working days and 95% of settlement visas in 12 weeks. This is a global standard and customers in Papua New Guinea can expect that their visa application will continue to be processed within these time frames.
The UK Border Agency’s regional manager for East Asia & Australasia, Ed Mackie, said:
“These changes are part of a wider move by the UK Border Agency to streamline and improve the application and decision-making process for customers in Papua New Guinea, and across Asia Pacific. “The UK Visa Hub in Manila currently processes applications for 10 other countries with the vast majority returned to the applicant within our 15 day customer service standard. We expect to be delivering the same level of service to our Papua New Guinea customers.”

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Additional Source: British High Commission in PNG

Sam Abal is Papua New Guinea's new Deputy Opposition Leader

Abal is deputy opposition leader

Source: The National, Wednesday 22nd Febuary 2012

OPPOSITION leader Dame Carol Kidu has welcomed Wabag MP Sam Abal to the opposition bench as her deputy leader.
Dame Carol said sitting on the opposition front-bench was lonely.
She praised Abal for showing humility in adjusting from the position of acting prime minister to deputy opposition leader.
“Abal comes from a proud family whose father (the late Sir Tei Abal) was the first opposition leader and hopefully we will make a good team,” she said.
Her message to the women in the country was for them not to thank the government for putting her up as opposition leader which was a wrong perception.
“Government and even the speaker cannot put in place an opposition leader,” Dame Carol said.
She said there was a parliamentary process in place and her major task now before the national election was to strengthening the parliamentary process.
Dame Carol also admitted that an opposition leader must be the alternate prime minister going into the election.
Because she was quitting politics at the end of her term, she named Abal as the alternate prime minister going to election.
She said there was so much work to be done between the two to cover all the shadow ministries and hoped that the opposition numbers would increase to keep the government in check.
Abal congratulated Dame Carol for her courage in taking up the challenge to become the opposition leader.

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