Western Highlands Province

Mount Hagen City, like any other modern city, has it's own problems

2012-01-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

Do not link Hagen to garbage. Mount Hagen city has a garbage disposal problem. And, if it has a garbage problem, in time its image will also be linked to garbage. That is the way it is. Garbage collects at Pope John Paul oval, at the Stand Bom and Main Markets, outside Tarangau Primary School and is dumped indiscriminately near Holy Trinity College, at Kim on the way to Kagamuga, at Kagamuga market and at the end of the terminal.

The Mt Hagen City Authority merely shrugs away this gross violation of its duties and responsibilities with the usual: “We lack the funding.” The buck, also as always, is passed on perhaps with some justification in this case: “The business houses, especially the locally-owned ones, are not paying their license, land tax, and sanitation and garbage fees.” The authority is owed, at last count, K400,000.
It needs K3 million annually to run municipal services. It collects some K800,000 and the national government gives it a K600,000 grant annually. So, even if it did collect the outstanding K400,000, it will be short by a sizable K1.2 million. Lack of funding has also forced it to cut back staffing so that now it has 55 employees, mainly inspectors and administration staff.

As if this were not enough, two people – Titus Doa and Jacob Michael – are currently claiming the post of lord mayor of the city, facing it off in the courts. One sees a parallel between Rome’s Nero fiddling while that ancient city was engulfed in flames and Mt Hagen’s two lord mayors fidgeting while the city gets buried in rubbish.
What do we do?

When faced with a problem, solutions often come from unexpected quarters. Mt Hagen has found its saviors in the hearts and minds of its own landowners, the churches and from its elites. A long list of volunteer cleaners has emerged over the past few months that have diligently attacked the garbage problem.

Groups have come from the Moge Kombkui community, from the Western Highlands elite group calling itself the Western Highlands Development Forum, from the Jicka Kenta community, from the Jicka Melakamb community, from the SDA church and from women and other church groups.

Slowly the unsightly garbage piles and the gross smell are being reduced. But, as quickly as they are cleaned away, new rubbish gather. But there is a slow awakening. People’s attitudes seem to be changing. They are loath to discard garbage indiscriminately as they once used to – more out of fear of discovery and punishment than a sense of cleanliness which one wishes would be imbued in their psyche from birth. Still, it is a good start.
Now to the next step – where to dispose of the garbage. The official city garbage disposal pit is at Hagen Technical College, some five minutes drive from the city. Yet, despite its relative ease of access, people are depositing rubbish indiscriminately in other places such as at the end of the airport, at Kim on the way to the airport and near the Holy Trinity College. These points are now becoming an eye-sore.

Problems also provide opportunities. It would be a good idea for landowners on the edge of the city to consider allocating, for a fee of course, waste land such as gullies or swamp land for garbage disposal. In time, the garbage becomes landfill that would, in future, turn waste land into nice useable land. It is opportune also for the city council to consider sourcing out its garbage collection and disposal responsibilities to those who can do the job.
A starting point would be the groups who have volunteered to do the job. The next issue, of course, is the safe disposal of industrial and chemical waste and of toxic waste. Used oil is being dumped at the approach to the Kagamuga Airport and some say into the Waghi River. This is an environment hazard and requires strict monitoring.

For that matter, we need to hear it from the Department of Environment and Conservation what plans there are for disposal of toxic and dangerous waste in the towns and cities of PNG, particularly those in the highlands which control the headwaters of many of our river systems.

Toxic waste in the river system will be hazardous and with the growth of industries and resources developments in the highlands, this will increasingly become an issue. Again, we raise the issue of a national waste management and disposal plan and policy.

Source: The National News

WHP passes K125.3m budget

2011-02-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

After successfully defending a 2007 election petition before the Court of Disputed Returns for three years, Governor Tom Olga has reaffirmed his position by presenting a “historic record” budget of K125.3 million for the 600,000 people of Western Highlands.

And 14 of the 26 members of the provincial assembly present have pledged their support for Mr Olga in the remaining two years until the 2012 election by unanimously endorsing and passing the 2011 “people’s budget” at a special three-and-a -half hours sitting at Kimininga Hotel at 3.40pm on Wednesday.

He said the 2011 budget marked a new chapter of implementation, reconstruction and service delivery that promised to change Western Highlands province in the next two years. Mr Olga said the province’s 2011 budget was the third largest allocation from the national budget after Morobe and Southern Highlands provinces.

The 2011 appropriation of K125,254,800 is an increase of K37, 770,000, or 42 per cent, from the 2010 budget of K87,484,800. The K125.3 million is made up of K108,954,800 and K16,300,000 in national government grants and WHPG internal revenue respectively.

On the expenditure side personnel emoluments gets the biggest slice of K59,358,600 or 47.8 per cent of the budget, followed by the development budget of K48, 875,200 (33.3 per cent) and recurrent budget of K16, 021,000 (12.9 per cent). “I am confident that we can make more progress in 2011. We will steer our course in line with our Provincial Integrated Plan.” Mr Olga said.

Hagen elites get help from bank

2011-02-04T15:18:00.000-08:00

Our bank, Bank South Pacific’s Mt Hagen branch has given 1000 T-shirts to Western Highlands elites this week to help clean up the city. Mt Hagen Bank South Pacific branch manager Alex Kuna made the presentation to the interim chairman of Western Highlands Forum, Samson Kombati.
Western Highlands Development Forum recieved 1,000 BSP "Go Green" uniform T-shirts last weekend in Mt. Hagen which were presented by Alex Kuna, BSP Bank Manager, to Interim Chairman and members (Pinjiki Wak and Pearson Kolo) and witnessed by BSP Bank staff and security guards. These uniforms will be used for the Easter 2011 Hagen City Cleanathon by elites of WHP.

Mr Kuna said BSP is not a bank that is only concerned about making profit but also help contribute to the development of this country by participating in community-based activities. Mr Kuna said it is the responsibility of all citizens and business houses in the country to ensure that “we live and work in a more friendly and health environment”.

This is not the first time, he said, BSP has assisted the province. The bank has helped Mt Hagen City Authority replace old rubbish drums at central business district and bus stops.

Gov. Olga to rebuild Mt Hagen city

2011-02-04T15:11:00.000-08:00

By Neville Togarewa

Infrastructure redevelopment one of the six-pillar program for Western Highlands Provincial Government – K22 million set aside this year

The Olga-Rapa government has made Mt Hagen city infrastructure re-development one of its six “pillar programs” and allocated K22,019,200 for the project this year. The other five pillars are education (K11.5m), agriculture (K8.5m), infrastructure (K4.7m), rural health services (K3.9m) and law and order (K2.3m). Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare officially launched the K1.4 billion city re-development project last October.

“The Mt Hagen city re-development project has been incorporated in the Provincial Integrated Development Plan. We have engaged an overseas consultant to plan for the city’s development,” Governor Olga (left) said. “We have spent more than K4 million on this project and I am happy that it is now in the design stage.

“The National Government and our donor partners are very impressed with our efforts in making Mt Hagen a modern city established in the heart of PNG.” Mr Olga said the development of Mt Hagen was an integral part of the province’s rural transport infrastructure program and a focus of the 2011 budget.

“We are continuing our progress on improving road and transport infrastructure with a K4.8 million investment to maintain and upgrade 1500 kilometers of roads and 10 bridges,” he said. The governor said the program would be boosted this year with the purchase of a grader, back hoe and a dump truck.

“Our focus is to provide our people with rural infrastructure so that they can take control of their lives. Economic development depends on access by the rural population to markets, services and business opportunities,” Mr Olga said. “Solid infrastructure is the foundation for economic development and my government is laying that foundation to transform the lives of our people and the economy of our province.”

Villagers want Govt to patch up potholes

2011-02-04T15:09:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

Leaders of Walpi clan in South Wahgi district of Jiwaka Province have slammed the National Government for continuous neglecting to patch up potholes along sections of the Highlands Highway.

The leaders Peter Wandil, Singa Yesim, Koip Noah, John Tumbo, Councilor Peter Mani and Jack Kaa said the government neglected to patch up potholes and this resulted in the death of some people, which was a big concern to them. The leaders said there were big potholes about a meter wide and six centimeters deep at Kiam village.

That deteriorated road portion had been neglected for years which had caused fatal accidents when the drivers tried to avoid them. The leaders called on the National Government to do something about the potholes after a PMV bus killed an old woman instantly after it tried to avoid a pothole.

WHP first to implement health plan

2011-02-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

By Pius Mon

Western Highlands Province will be the first to implement the Provincial Health Authority Act, a policy to have all district health facilities have specialist doctors visiting and attending to medical care.

This was revealed by Provincial Administrator Malcolm Culligan (left) this week during a formal luncheon hosted by the Governor Tom Olga in appreciation of performance by public servants in the past years.

Mr Culligan said since the province has signed the single health authority act early last year, work has been progressing very well and the province was now prepared to implement this policy.

He further added that the Provincial Health Authority board will be officially sworn in beginning next month, paving way for work to began. The administrator said most times specialist doctors were only based at the provincial headquarter, especially at Mt Hagen General Hospital but this will now be a thing of past starting this year and onwards.

He added that doctors will make time available to visit all health facilities in the districts and attend to the sick. Mr Culligan told the people that health services would now be decentralized to the door steps of the rural population in the province. The Western Highlands Provincial Government has assisted in this drive and completed a duplex residential for specialist doctors and funding has been made available in this year’s budget to continue support the project.

Mr Culligan also took the opportunity to thanked Governor Olga who took the initiative to put his hand up to take on board the concept for the province which was now being realized. He said this will really boost the operations of health programs in the province while at the same time help contribute to reduce the number of deaths in the districts and the province.

No more escape from Mt Hagen cells

2011-02-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

Detainees at Mt Hagen police station cell block will find it more difficult to break out and escape like in the past. This is because Police Department has provided funds to maintain the cell block and install security safeguards to a detention center that has been erected in the 1960s.

Jiwaka Building Supplies Construction Company has carried out the long overdue maintenance work and welded steel bars into the concrete wall. This makes it virtually impossible for even a hardcore criminal and escape artist to break out and make a dash for freedom.

Provincial police commander Supt Kaiglo Ambane said yesterday that they had several cases of hardcore criminals breaking out from cell block and escaping. Supt Ambane said the Police Department had allocated the funds to carry out the maintenance work because of three major break-outs last year.

He revealed that the building structure was old and detainees took advantage of that to break through the bricks and escape. “Last year there were three separate major break outs and police found it difficult to recapture the escapees. As a result, we are doing something concrete that will keep the criminals from escaping,” Supt Ambane said.

He said they had welded steel bars in all corners of the cell block to secure the detainees in an “iron cage”. Supt Ambane said they were taking other steps to minimize some problems they had encountered but there was a lot of work to be done at the cell block. He said they would take additional step to further improve the cell block once funds were available, adding sewerage problems was one of their priorities.

Supt Ambane said it cost them K300,000 to do this work and thanked Jiwaka Building Construction for completing the work in less than four weeks because the company had all the equipment and workforce in place. Mt Hagen cell block was the biggest in region because police in Porgera, in Enga Province and Mendi in the Southern Highlands transport their detainees to Mt Hagen for detention. It provides enough space to for more than 30-40 detainees.

Rejoice in the Lord

2011-02-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

By Brad Wells*

The old apostle paused for a moment in his dictation. “Tell me, Epaphroditus, once more. Exactly what is the trouble in the church at Philippi?” The young messenger sent to Apostle Paul in prison at Rome shifted on the rough-hewn chair. The prison warden had been kind enough to find the crude piece of furniture. His recent illness had left him weak and the back support greatly helped him as he penned the instructions Apostle Paul gave.

“Well, Brother Paul, it’s mostly because of the Jews who want to bring us back under the Law. Since you left, many of them, though claiming to believe in Jesus, demand that we become circumcised. They demand we keep the Jewish Sabbaths and feast days. It’s just brought a lot of confusion. Some are even beginning to doubt your apostleship—I know that’s hard to believe after all God has done through you, but . . . ”

“No,” Paul cut in quickly, “it’s not hard to believe, Epaphroditus. It’s happened many times in churches I have started. If they could only understand what we have in Jesus Christ!” “Brother Paul, I remember when you first preached that righteousness came through Jesus. It all made sense. It was so simple and gave me such joy and peace. But when the Jews arrived they seemed to know so much. They have been studying the Law for years. How could I compete with that?”

The apostle held up his hand. “Ah, my son, have you forgotten so quickly? Jesus Christ IS righteousness! He is wisdom! He is sanctification! He is everything, my son. Don’t ever forget that He is everything!” Epaphroditus looked intently at the man of God. He was not much to look at physically. His body was worn and battered from years of suffering and persecution, his eyesight failing, his voice rasping irritatingly.

Yet there was a sparkle in his eye; fervour in his every word. Here was a man with peace, joy, and purpose in life — even in a prison cell. “Write, Epaphroditus, write this . . .” Epaphroditus quickly dipped the pen in the inkwell and began in his neat script. “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord . . .” Thus began Chapter Three of the Book of Philippians.

In Chapter One, Apostle Paul gives the first key to real joy: “A Single Mind”. That is, a mind focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And for Paul, it was all about the Gospel. Nothing else mattered. Chapter Two reveals another secret: there can be no lasting joy without “A Submitted Mind”. Submission to God and submission to one another. Humility. It’s the basis for unity.

But, here in Chapter Three, Paul gives another vital key for the kind of joy that endures: A Spiritual mind. After Paul commands them to rejoice in the Lord, he immediately began to warn the believers of “joy-robbers”. “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.”

Those are very strong words! The Jews used the term “dog” to describe anyone outside of their religion. Now Paul was referring to the Jews themselves as dogs! The Jews boasted of their good works — they kept the Law. Paul called their work “evil”. He also uses the word “concision” to describe them. “Concision” is mutilation of the body. The Jews were very proud of their rite of circumcision. Paul said that they were nothing more than mutilated!

Why did Paul come on so strong? Because a real Christian is to rejoice in the Lord! A real Christian is not to look at outward, physical things. He is to think with the mind of Christ — the spiritual mind. Paul said, “We are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and (check out this next phrase . . .) have no confidence in the flesh.”

No confidence in the flesh. What kind of things are you talking about, Paul? In verses five and six, Paul says in effect, “I was circumcised on the eighth day like every good Jewish boy. I am an Israelite. I’m of the tribe of Benjamin. I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I am of the sect of Pharisees. I had more zeal than any other Jews — I even persecuted the church! And talk about the Law? I kept it — I was blameless!”

At the end of this list, Paul says, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ . . . (I) count them but dung (waste) that I may win Christ.” (verse eight) No confidence in the flesh! How can we relate to what Paul said? I was two days old when my parents brought me to church. My Dad was a deacon, my Mom a Sunday School teacher.

I’m an American — from Idaho no less. I am a good citizen and pay my own way. And, by the way, I’m a Baptist! And if that doesn’t beat all, I am a missionary — went halfway around the world for the cause of Christ! And, well, I haven’t kept the Law, but I’m a decent guy.

What about you? Maybe you were baptised as a baby. Perhaps you are from the strongest tribe — the Jikker Kamp. Or maybe you’re pure nambis and “don’t speak no Pidgin”. Or maybe you speak all 825 languages of this great land. Your education is unmatched. Your church is the largest in PNG — and you built it yourself. Besides all that, you have a wonderful reputation. But Paul says, “Count is as loss!”
Your status, nationality, accomplishments, religion, or whatever else you put confidence in are not assets — they are liabilities.

Look at what kind of liability Paul likens them to in verse eight. We dig pits for that kind of loss. And why? To keep sickness and disease away from our homes. Well, my friend, that’s exactly Apostle Paul’s point. If you hold on to your own righteousness, you will never have the joy of Jesus in your life.

You will experience spiritual sickness and disease. You will be robbed of REAL JOY. There’s a higher life, a deeper knowledge, a better way. Paul called it the high calling. It’s the call of God, the call from heaven. “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus . . . For our conversation (life) is in heaven . . .” (verse 14, 20)

Why do we strive to be confident within ourselves — within this world’s system? Our calling is from above, our life and confidence is in the heavenly system. For this reason, rejoice in the Lord. The dear, old apostle fell silent and Epaphroditus wiped the ink off his pen and set it down quietly. He slipped to the dirt floor, fell to his knees, and wept in his hands.

“Oh, Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior! I see Your way. “I hear Your calling. I never want to put confidence in myself again. You are my all and my everything. My life is with you in heaven.” And the Apostle whispered, “Amen.”

*If you desire further counseling, send your concerns to: Brad Wells P.O. Box 617, Mt. Hagen, WHP. bwellspng@gmail.com

Brief history of the Catholic Church in WHP

2011-02-02T17:41:00.000-08:00

In 2009 the Catholic Archdiocese of Mt Hagen celebrated 75 years of missionary work in Western Highlands. On February 15, 1934, Fr Ross and Fr Tropper and Bro Eugene Frank, assisted by 72 native carriers, left Alexishafen near Madang on the first missionary patrol to the Highlands. This was also the first patrol to enter the as-yet un-tamed Highlands region from the north.

Thirty-eight days later, along with Fr Schaefer and Fr Aufenanger from Bundi, inland of Madang, the patrol arrived at Wilya, near the present-day Catholic headquarters of Rebiamul in Western Highlands. They returned from Rebiamul to establish a base at Mingende in Simbu. But Fr Ross came back to Mt Hagen a month later in advance of a Lutheran missionary patrol. Later that year, two missionaries, Fr Morscheuser and Bro Eugene, were killed by Simbu warriors near present-day Denglagu and Golgime in Simbu province.

As a result, the colonial administration imposed restrictions on missionary activity, confining the missionaries to within five miles of their station. Fr Ross had time on his hands and he spent it on studying the local Melpa language and translating Bible stories and catechism, as well as building and strengthening the school.

At Christmas 1938, the first christening ceremony took place with the baptism of 25 young men. Most of the converts became catechists and opened stations in every corner of the district. Seven decades later, at Christmas 2008, four survivors of the first baptism were awarded papal medals. They had remained faithful to the church for 70 years.

At the 1972 Waigani Seminar, Fr Ross explained the growth of the Catholic Church in Western Highlands. He gave three reasons for the growth:

* The church put down deep roots through a lengthy and comprehensive catechesis so that those proceeding to baptism knew what they were getting into.

* The people saw the high level of commitment of the missionaries who, unlike many others, came to put something in rather than take something out.

* The church paid a high price in the death of the two missionaries, especially Bro Eugene, who was a co-founder with Fr Ross of the mission in Western Highlands.

On May 13, 1952, Mt Hagen mission became part of the Vicariate Apostolic of Alexishafen. It became its own Vicariate Apostolic with its own head, Bishop George Bernading, SVD, on June 18. It was established as a diocese on November 15, 1966 and an archdiocese on 18 March 1982, when Enga province became a separate diocese. On March 30, 1987, Bishop Michael Meier, SVD, became the second Archbishop of Mt Hagen.

He was succeeded by Bishop Douglas Young, SVD, on September 1, 2006. The life and future of the archdiocese today is seen most clearly in its local clergy. There are 15 local priests. In addition there are 100 religious men and women working in the diocese.

Every parish has a board and there is a high level of participation in the life of the church. The archdiocese has a policy to promote gender equality and participation. More than half of the headquarters staff members are women, including four holding senior positions.

The church continues its missionary outreach, both geographically and into areas where gospel values are weak. Three priests from the diocese are working as missionaries in other countries, and two are doing studies overseas with a view to returning to teach in local seminaries. Bishop Young and his team are also looking to new ventures, especially in communications, in their continuing task of preaching the Word and deepening people’s values

Jet Pora still a Guria at heart

2011-02-02T17:39:00.000-08:00

Agmark Gurias will miss the services of captain and workaholic prop Rodney Pora who is now with Newtown Jets in Sydney, Australia. Pora and Kumul teammate Benjamin John flew out this week to begin the new season with the Jets.

Pora after arriving in Sydney yesterday contacted former coach Michael Marum to thank him and the Agmark Group including his teammates for the support he had while with Gurias for the past three years. “Words cannot express but I thank you all for the years I have been with them.

“I feel I have left part of me there (Gurias) but it has been a dream to play overseas and I will give my best shot while I am there,” Pora said. “If I happen to come back, I’ll still play for Gurias because my heart is with them and I wish them well for this season,” he said.

Marum, who said he was happy for the big Western Highlander, admitted that his departure had left a “huge gap” in the front-row department but it would also create an opportunity for upcoming players.

Meanwhile, the PNG National Rugby League board has been urged to quickly name the intercity cup’s major sponsor as franchises prepare to call in their players for training camp. Marum said this yesterday when talking about the Gurias’ preparations. With the NGIP Agmark 9s cup into its third week, Marum hoped that his players on holiday returned in time to take part in the 9s competition as well as getting ready for Gurais’ games.

“Players have been calling me to come in but we can’t call them in because we still don’t know if the inter-city cup has a major sponsor or not. “We will have to wait and find out before we can bring in our players,” the former champion coach said.

Fox confirmed earlier in the week that a major sponsor was in place but needed time to make its official announcement. The season is scheduled to begin on May 8 with all club franchises to settled all requirements before the Feb 18 deadline.

K20,000 allocated to build Jimi road

2011-02-01T16:30:00.000-08:00

Jimi MP Wake Goi (left) has allocated K20,000 for the construction of the 10km road from Emme River to Kupeng in the Lower Jimi. Media officer Francis Nguna said funding for the road project would be released next month to start the construction.

The project is expected to relief the people in the area on the struggle to bring in supplies on foot to improve their living. He said locals would build the road using gardening tools available and at the same time they would be paid for the work.

Goi also told his people to stay back in the district and cultivate their land. He told them that unless they had a formal employment with the public or private sectors then, they should not waste their time in the towns or cities.

He told them that as their MP, he would try his best to bring much needed goods and service to them to improve their quality of living. He also gave K5,000 each to the Kompiai and Kupeng clans in appreciation to the people who gave him food while staying in his electorate and cultivating his land.

Teachers raise concerns over leave fares

2011-02-01T16:23:00.000-08:00

By James Apa Gumuno

More than 30 teachers from coastal provinces teaching in Western Highlands are still stranded in the province. The affected teachers raised concerns last Friday on why the leave fare committee and provincial education board had prevented them from visiting their families back in their home provinces.

The teachers’ leave fares were cut by more than 60% and that was not enough for the teachers and their families to travel home and return. President of the PNGTA branch in the province Aita Senangeke claimed that nepotism came into play when the committee sat for the teachers’ leave fare meetings last year.

Senangeke said that it was not fair when a local teacher was getting K1,000 in leave fare from Mt Hagen to Dei district when it was supposed to be about K40 for the return travel for a teacher and his family.

He said many teachers who were suppose to travel by air stayed back because their travel fares were cut by 60%, adding that about K720,000 in airfares given to Haren Travel Agent but was not enough to cater for all the teachers who were supposed to travel.

Sanangeke also claimed that to make it worse, the travel agent allegedly deducted 10% fee on every teacher who got their refund in cash because of the insufficient funds to cater for their travel.

He said a teacher who was suppose to travel to Bougainville asked for K17,000 but was only given K5,000; another teacher who requested K5,000 to travel to Port Moresby and return with his family members was only given K1,500. It was the same story for other teachers from Wewak, Vanimo, Kavieng, Daru, Madang and many other centres.

He said the concerned teachers would seek their outstanding money from the provincial education board when the school year starts next week. Sanageke said whatever amount the teachers requested was rightfully theirs and must be given to them. He said if the provincial education board continued to treat the teachers from other provinces like this, many of them would be reluctant to teach in the province.

Gr 10s in Jimi await certificates

2011-02-01T16:21:00.000-08:00

By Elias Lari

Grade 10 students attending Jimi High School in Western Highlands are still waiting for their certificates to be delivered to their school before continuing their education. Parents of 90 students are pestering the school and the administration to immediately deliver the certificates to the school before school year commences.

Since last year, several attempts have been made by the school to the education division regarding the certificates, but there was no response. Head teacher John Kamb said in Mt Hagen last Friday that the prolonged delay was building frustration among the students and their parents.

He said students needed their certificates to know their marks and their placing, adding that they could not go to a school without a certificate. Kamb said the measurement service unit (MSU) was delaying the whole process and forcing the students and parents to suffer and also ignoring the rights of receiving education. He said the school would commence next week and it would not be good if these students were left out when MSU was not performing.

He said the Education Department needed to do a proper network system so that it would provide appropriate information in the future to all schools. Kamb urged MSU to organize because such delays were forcing schools to face more problems. He said this was an important issue that needed to be addressed by the department because PNG was the only country around the world that had a poor and weak education system.

Kamb also said parents were still confused and did not have any idea which school their children would attend. He said the problem had been affecting other schools in the Highlands as well. He said Jimi was a remote electorate in the province and education was given a first priority and it was not good when MSU was making a prolong delay.

One Intercity team for WHP

2011-01-31T21:05:00.000-08:00

Confusion still reigns in Western Highlands on who is the legitimate rugby league team in this year’s PNGNRL inter-city cup. Both Wantok Gaming System Mt Hagen Kuris and Wamp Nga Mt Hagen Eagles have claimed to be the the official team from the province.

Kuris, who have secured a three-year sponsorship from WGS maintain they should continue to represent the WHP while the Eagles under chairman Peter Bebi countered that they were ousted from the competition by default and therefore had a legitimate case for re-entry.

Bebi, who registered the Eagles with Investment Promotion Authority, claimed that his board are the sole owners of the Eagles name any moves to take on the name without their consent were illegal. In a letter to PNGNRL chairman Don Fox on Jan 21, Wamp Nga Holdings Limited chairman Wai Rapa confirmed his sponsorship for Mt Hagen Eagles for the next three years starting this year.

Rapa said the naming rights fee of K90,000 would be deposited in inter-city cup trust account, and the company would provide additional funding to meet the operation costs of the club. Bebi welcomed the news, saying Wamp Nga’s sponsorship should put the naming right issue to rest.

Fox has urged both camps to resolve their differences and for the province to have only one team. Fox was adamant there could not be two teams from WHP. Bebi insisted that Fox honors a consent order (2010) on terms that the Eagles would participate this season by securing a major sponsor.

Mount Hagen city without mayor

2011-01-31T21:03:00.000-08:00

By Neville Togarewa

Mount Hagen does not have a lord mayor and political infighting and lack of funds are affecting the provision of essential municipal services to the ratepayers and 150,000 city residents, according to former city manager Pious Pim.

“Mt Hagen, the hub of the Highlands region and PNG’s third largest city, is in crisis. It does not have a political head and its administration is under-funded and not functioning effectively,” Mr Pim said over the weekend.

“The city fathers and management team are not doing their jobs, denying ratepayers and residents basic services and allowing the city to go to the dogs,” he said. “At this time of development, especially with the multi-billion kina LNG project, there should be serious planning, reconstruction and development spear headed by a visionary leader, in this case a lord mayor,” Mr Pim said.

“The Minister for Inter-Government Relations (Job Pomat) should step in and resolve the issue instead of allowing it to stagger on for months, crippling basic services to rate payers,” he said. Mr Pim said at present Western Highlands Governor Tom Olga’s ambitious K1.4 billion Mt Hagen Kona Kai project “seems to be over-riding the powers of Mt Hagen Urban LLG, which is the third level government in the city”.

“Someone in the Mt Hagen ULLG should take charge of the political leadership in the city and draw the line to show to ratepayers and residents where the buck stops,” he said. “Can the Minister for Inter-Government Relations use his powers in the Organic Law on Provincial Governments and Local Level Governments and clean up the mess once and for all,” Mr Pim said.

Looters steal from container

2011-01-30T19:06:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

Song Trading Limited lost goods worth more than K190,000 after a container was looted near Aviamp Tea Estate in South Wahgi district of Jiwaka Province last week. The company said last week that the looting was a big loose and it was hard to recover.

According to Song Trading, the goods were valued at K193,347.60 and it would take them a long time to recover these amount. Song Trading said the goods, mainly for school children were brought in from China. They said they already paid the shipment and customs duty but not the transport cost because the goods were not delivered to them safely.

The looting was a big concern, not only for Song Trading but many other business houses and trucking firms that use the Highlands Highway. The company said this was their first time to be hit by looting since they begun operations seven years ago. Police are continuing with their investigation and are confident that the suspects will be arrested soon.

The semi-trailer owned by Mapai Transport was looted near Aviamp Tea Estate between 7 and 8pm when the driver stopped the truck at the side of the road and went to a trade-store to buy a soft drink. Some youths quickly cut the main hose that supplies power to the trailer, disabling the driving mechanism.

The lone driver watched helplessly as the youths opened the door of the container and started looting the goods. Police arrived later, only to find an empty truck and they burnt down several houses at the roadside. PNG Road Transport Association (PNG RTA) has described the looting as criminal and condemned such robberies and called on people living along the highway to change their attitude.

Association chairman Jacob Luke said the National Parliament passed a bill last November to protect road infrastructure and transportation of goods along the highway. Mr Luke said police now have the power to enforce the law and they must not waste time but act immediately to implement it. He said the looting of transport trucks and the deteriorating Highlands Highway were major concerns to all the trucking firms operating along the Highway.

Tribes to end 26-year feud

2011-01-30T17:10:00.000-08:00

By Agnes Fifi Uki

After more than 20 years, two warring tribes in the Mul Buyer district in Western Highlands have come together to reconcile. Last Thursday, council president of Muklamp local level government and the provincial chairman of education information and technology William Noki proposed the idea of an elementary school to the Kumdi Kopies and the Wunuies in the Murik area of Mul Buyer as a token of reconciliation.

Noki, from the Kopi tribe, said the tribes had been enemies for 26 years and the government services never reached their area because of the tribal differences. He said more than 8,000 people there had been living in isolation, without basic services like schools, health and proper road infrastructure.

He appealed to the community to donate their land to build proper roads and an elementary school to benefit more than five clans living there. Noki said the road would be built from Papuna to Murik linking Mul Buyer with Dei district. Councillors and young community leaders agreed to give in their land without payments for construction of the new elementary school and road.

Former councillor of the Wunuie tribe, Wani Ropka, thanked the provincial government and Noki for taking the initiative to deliver such services. He said this was the first of its kind for the two enemy tribes to come together to reach an agreement to receive government services in their community.

Ropka appealed to the community to attend church and change their attitudes and live in peace and harmony to tap into the changes that were taking place. Noki said under the leadership of Governor Tom Olga and the provincial government policy, they would focus on schools, law and order and road infrastructure. He said the provincial government would also try to subsidise some of the school fees for students this year and fund more elementary schools.

Teachers should be given priority

2011-01-27T20:43:00.000-08:00

One cannot deny the fact that the teaching service is an engine room and is a backbone of this developing nation. Teachers play a major role in the development of human resourses of this sovereign state.

Most importantly, they tirelessly manage to stand for almost the whole day in classroom just to teach in order to shape students to be intellectuals and elites of this country. Any yet they (teachers) have been underpaid, ignored and seen as less important in this country.

If they are not that important, why should there be urgent calls and concerns in the media over teachers going to LNG and other avenues for greener pastures. Parliamentarians can always hire highly-paid expatriates or tell their advisors and administrators to take over teaching post in this country.

Or else, I am afraid the future of this country is at stake if this trend (teacher’s shift) continuues as this is just the beginning. I call on the Government to take action this year to consider teachers’ needs (pay rise) as number one priority before it gets worse.

Ricky Olga,

Maip Wurup-Kaip

Incentives for specialist doctors for WHP

2011-01-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

By Neville Togarewa

Western Highlands provincial government will offer competitive employment and incentive packages to attract more specialist doctors to provide quality medical care and health services to the people according to Governor Tom Olga.

“Western Highlands is one of the first provinces to implement the Health Authority Act whose objective is to amalgamate our rural health services and Mt Hagen general hospital to improve efficiency in the delivery of health services to our people.” Mr Olga said he signed an MOA with Health Minister Sasa Zibe last year for the establishment of Western Highlands Health Authority which would be launched soon.

The provincial government was implementing a K10 million infrastructure development program at the hospital in line with its priority health initiative. “We have completed a duplex for occupation by specialist doctors and will be building more houses for them. The provincial government will provide incentives like school fees, water and utilities through the annual budget to attract specialists to Mt Hagen and Western Highlands.”

Fred Wak: ‘Leaders need our support’

2011-01-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

Seventy-year-old Wai Rummints from Kogmul village is a respected leader of the huge Jiga clan in the Hagen Central district. And as a man of good standing in the Jiga Opromp tribe, he should not allow himself to be used by intending candidates for the 2012 national elections.

“He is a highly respected leader. We all respect him and he should remain neutral, and never take sides if he wants to continue to enjoy the respect and trust of his people,” so says another Jiga man and a younger leader Fred Wak.

When responding to the statement by Mr Rummints that he was yet to see services delivered to his electorate by the incumbent MP, William Duma, Mr Wak said respected leaders like Rummints and others in the community must play an impartial role in elections and refrain from taking sides with candidates as this can damage their standing in the community in the long run.

“We all know that one of old Rummint’s son is contesting the election but is Mr Duma, not one of his Jiga sons? Duma needs as much support from community leaders like Rummints to carry out his duties in the electorate as well as the country. “Community leaders have a duty to work with the current members of Parliament, by providing advice and being the link between the office of the MP and their communities,” Mr Wak said. He said the elections are about 18 months away and Mr Duma must be allowed to serve his people freely and continue to deliver the projects that he had started in 2002.

“Everyone in Hagen Central knows that William Duma has done more for the electorate than any other MP before. The state of the road network, aid posts, schools and the standard of life among the Hagen Central people now, compared to the past, is evidence of what Mr Duma has been doing,” Mr Wak said. Mr Wak, an executive of the United Resource Party headed by Mr Duma said, intending candidates for Hagen Central or any other electorates in PNG should not use respected community leaders to do their dirty work.

“Intending candidates should not use the resources belonging to their employers to shore up their popularity and hope to build up their support base as we head into the 2012 national elections. “The government needs to watch public servants and heads of statutory bodies that are going to contest the coming elections and make sure that they do not use public funds and resources to campaign,” Mr Wak said. He said those found to be misusing the resources and funds under their responsibility should be dealt with accordingly.

Not enough trainers to help

2011-01-26T18:59:00.000-08:00

By Neville Togarewa

The government does not have the infrastructure and qualified trainers to train young men and women to take up important technical positions in the labor force in a fast-developing Papua New Guinea, according to an educationist.

John Melson, senior teacher and head of the mechanical department of Ogelbeng TVET center in Western Highlands, also said the Education Department lacks an effective monitoring and evaluation system to help teachers impart quality technical training to students in the country.

He raised these issues in response to the department’s new policy on technical training in the country. He said infrastructure and qualified tradesman and women are two key areas the government needs to develop to help PNG move forward.

Two clans sign peace accord

2011-01-26T18:39:00.000-08:00

By Paul Minda

The two clans will exchange formal compensation later this year for the death of the two men, according to North Wahgi peace mediators...

Two clans from villages near Banz in Jiwaka Province have made peace following the killing of two men over a land dispute that has disrupted normal activities in their communities for about one month. The conflict between the Pelu Dalamb and Kalangeamb clans began in mid-December that resulted in the deaths of two men, Simbil Kunump, 28, from the former clan and Timothy Bosip, 22, from the Kalangeamb clan.

Properties from both sides worth thousands of kina were destroyed during the hostilities. This included houses, coffee trees, food gardens and poultry. About 4000 people turned up for a “bel kol” or peace ceremony held at Bunum Woo village near Banz during the previous weekend.

The two clans will exchange formal compensation payments later this year for the deaths of the two men, according to peace mediator of the North Waghi rural local level government representative Zakery Kombuk. Police personnel from the nearby Banz police station as well as other government representatives and community leaders were present to witness the peace ceremony.

Banz police OIC Ivan Bepwick said the bel kol ceremony signified an end to hostilities, evidenced by representatives of both clans signing declarations of peace. Paul Nend, a member of the Kulaka tribe of the two warring clans of Pelu Dalamb and Kalangeamb said Mr Kulump was shot dead soon after the hostilities started over a land dispute. He said Mr Bospi was the victim of a payback killing that happened about a week later.

Wai Rumints: 'I’m looking for services'

2011-01-26T18:23:00.000-08:00

By Peter Korugl

Seventy year old Wai Rummints (left) is from Kogmul village, outside Mt Hagen city in Western Highlands. He is a leader of the Jiga Opromp tribe and recently he appeared on the front page of the Post-Courier because he was trying to send a message to his MP, William Duma that the Hagen Central electorate needs a lot more service than what was been delivered at the moment.

But how he tried to send his message did not go down well with the Police force in the city because he had dragged a couple of logs onto the road into his village to stop Mr Duma from travelling to a gathering he was to officiate. “I am a leader of my people, I have the right to talk to him and tell him what I feel about the way he was carrying on in the electorate but I did not get the chance,” Rummints lamented.

Today he is in Port Moresby and in his own words, he had to get on the plane from Kagamuga to fly down to the city to “look for the services for the Hagen Central district” and for a week, he is still hunting for some answers. Frustrated with the running around, he decided that he should go to the Post-Courier, the paper that put him on the front page and made public his concern.

Mr Rummints said as a leader in his province, he had travelled his electorate, the province and the Highlands over the years and he saw to his dismay, that there were very little changes that had occurred in the last four years. He said all electorates in the Highlands, including Hagen Central were allocated K10 million under the District Service Improvement Program every year for the last three years and to date, over K30 million had gone into the district treasury offices in all the electorates.

“Pikinini, K30 million em bikpela moni tru na wok we? (Son, K30 million is a lot of money. Where are the projects?),” Rummints said. He said people in rural communities, like those that live in the Hagen Central electorate, are in desperate need of good roads, better classrooms, transportation, water supplies, and other essential services and the DSIP funds should have gone into these projects.

He is critical that MPs like his own have spread the money thinly on projects here and there around the electorate that the impact was not felt by the people, in whose name the money was appropriated by the National Government. “I think it is time the Government changed the way it audits funds given out to MPs. The Office of Rural Development and the Department of Provincial Affairs should do away with the paper audits and sent officers into the electorates to carry out physical inspections and carry out project audits.

“These officers need to talk to leaders like me in the villages to get first hand information about the kind of services delivered by the MPs from the DSIP and other grants. And these reports must be published publicly for all in the electorates to see and comment,” Mr Rummints said.

He said the city of Mt Hagen was falling to pieces, like many other towns and government stations in the Highlands, road infrastructure were also going, making it hard for farmers to move their crops to markets, cash crops were going to bush because the cost of maintenance was too high and people were falling sick and dying because of poor diet, lack of medical treatment and money to pay hospital fees. “The issue here is about transparency, accountability and good governance. MPs have failed their people badly,” Mr Rummints said.

Landlocked Mt Hagen misses LNG boat: Kup

2011-01-25T14:02:00.000-08:00

By Neville Togarewa

Western Highlands Provincial Government should free-up land in Mt Hagen and vigorously promote the city and the province to attract more investment in order to reap the benefits from the multi-billion kina LNG project.

The call was made by former Mt Hagen LLG manager and local businessman Akkai Kup. “As the major commercial center of the Highlands region, Mt Hagen is missing out on the LNG spin-off business opportunities,” he said. “There is no political will or vision to encourage both local and foreign investors to establish new businesses in the city.

“Port Moresby, Lae, Madang and Goroka are benefiting in a big way from the LNG project. New businesses, buildings and colleges are popping up everywhere in these centers, as well as infrastructure like improved roads, street lighting, water, sanitation and sewerage systems.”

He said Governor Tom Olga’s Mt Hagen City Redevelopment and Kona Kai project “is a good dream but it will not materialize unless the authorities get behind it”. “Western Highlands Provincial Government should free up Queen Elizabeth Park and Pope John Oval to make much-needed land available for new developments to take place,” Mr Kup said.

“Four reputable international companies want to establish their offices in Mt Hagen but there is no land available for them and the local authorities do not seem to be doing anything about it.” He said the Western Highlands Chamber of Commerce and Industry had repeatedly called on the provincial government to do something but the leaders appeared not to be interested.

According to CCI President Andrew Riddell, Mt Hagen and WHP will miss out because the leaders have failed to play their role in helping to solve law and order problems, improving municipal services and basic road and communication infrastructure.

“The leaders do not really understand the needs of Mt Hagen and Western Highlands Province. From the perspective of Western Highlands, we have missed the boat,” he told a chamber meeting late last year.

Bride price too demanding

2011-01-25T13:59:00.000-08:00

By Ramcy Wama

Higher prices in Western Highlands Province are seen as one factor that discourage young males from getting married and as a result involve in criminal activities like rape.

This issue was reveal by leaders in the province and urged the Provincial Executive Council (PEC) to set a maximum amount for bride price so that every family in the province could afford to pay for the sons. Businessman and Yamka Pepka leader Nelson Tengi called on the Provincial Administrator Malcolm Culligan and the local MP and Minister for Petroleum and Energy William Duma during a pride price ceremony held at Tega Village outside Mount Hagen last weekend.

The bride price ceremony was between the Yamka Pepka who paid K54,000, 72 pigs, 10 cassowaries’ two pythons, and one cow to Mr Duma’s Jika Melikamb tribe. Mr Tengi said bride price is seen as a “competition” among the rich and poor families in the province.

“Families with riches and wealth are paying more than poor families and as a result it had forced young boys whose parents could not afford the high bride price to involve in rape and other criminal activities,” Mr Tengi said. Mr Tengi raised his concern to Mr Culligan and Mr. Duma who was present at the bride price ceremony to take the matter to the PEC to come up with a law and set a maximum price.

“I am saying this because families with resources pay the highest and this had challenged other families to pay more that’s why I am asking the PEC to put a flat rate that every family can afford,” Mr Tengi said.

Mr Culligan agreed with Mr Tengi and would take it up to the PEC for them to discuss. Mr Culligan said high bride price had become a great concern for many poor families in the province and would try his best for the PEC to come up with a law.

SBDC steps in to help small businesswoman

2011-01-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

Small businesswomen in Western Highlands Province will benefit from K150,000 given to them by the Small Business Development Corporation to the Provincial Council of Women this year.

The K150,000 is part of K1 million given by the Department of Commerce and Industry to help women in the province start up their small businesses to help improve their family incomes and livelihood. SBDC business development service manager Nathan Timo and Women In Business officer Maria Kalap announced the K150, 000 commitment at Paula Mek guest house in Warakum, Mt Hagen, last Friday (Dec 14).

The money will be made available under a micro finance scheme for women for skills training under the Start and Improve Your Business program (SIYB). The President of Western Highlands Provincial Council of Women Paula Mek, Jiwaka women’s representative Elizabeth Palme and others from the seven districts were present to witness the occasion.

Women who want to benefit from this opportunity are required to pay a fee of K100 each to attend three week courses in business management skills by internationally accredited trainers from the International Labor Organization. Mr Timo said WH Provincial Council of Women was the second group to benefit from this program.

Kingal laid aside his degree for God

2011-01-25T13:48:00.000-08:00

By Daniel Gerson

Evangelist late Joseph Kingal was born on November 21, 1969. He attended Mun Community School from 1977 to 1982 and Fatima Boys School from 1983 1986 then Kerevat National High School from 1987 to 19898.

After graduating from Keravat, he did Accounting and Business studies at the University of Technology in Lae from 1989 to 1993 and graduate with a degree in Accounting. He was the top student in all the schools he attended. On November 1989 he received Jesus as his personal Savior and was baptized in Bumbu River in Lae the same year.

When he confirmed in 1993 that God has called him to be an evangelist, he laid aside his bachelor degree and started his full time ministry without any financial support but trusting in God alone to provide for him and his ministry.
Kingal married his wife Susan in 1996.

Ps Kingal endeavored to work through the body of Christ in PNG. He managed to cast his net wide in PNG, catching hundreds, perhaps thousands of men and women lost in sin and handed them over to bible-believing revival ministries and churches. Since 1993 JKM ministry with the help of partners in both PNG and abroad hosted more than 40 crusades at a cost of more than K80, 000.

In 2008 he launched his 89 Electorate Plan to reach more than six million living in the 89 open electorates of PNG. He launched the South Pacific Evangelism Crusade plan in 2010 during the 20th Anniversary celebration of JKM just before he died from injuries he received from a motor traffic accident.

It is believed that he touched the lives of about 900,000 souls over a 20-year period, becoming PNG’s first television evangelist when he launched his JKM television ministry in January 2006. The monthly television ministry cost was K22,000 until September 2010 when it went up to K33,000 per month.

He had dreams of owning a satellite and Christian TV station, trucks, helicopters, and planes saying they were tools for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom. And he also had a vision to build a multi –million kina state of the art auditorium and invite world evangelists to spread the Word of God and save lives in PNG.

These dreams were cut short by the tragic car accident on Zumin Bridge in the Markham Valley of Morobe province. The late Kingal is survived by his wife Susan and children Shekinah, Jordan, Joshua, and

Good Samaritan deed will live on

2011-01-24T16:54:00.000-08:00

Your story “New bridge over Munga River” on the donation from John Pung of Sedtech Construction Ltd is an act of a “Good Samaritan” (The National, Jan 20). The Las Kama people in the Mul-Baiyer electorate of the Western Highlands were greatly disadvantaged when the old bridge was washed away by flash floods two years ago, their lifeline was cut off from the rest of the province.

Neither the governor nor the local MP heard the people’s cries, or if they heard it they were too preoccupied with big national issues, to worry about an isolated village that lies north of Mt Hagen. Life was so hard that some of our old folks and mothers and children had never seen Mt Hagen in two years because it was too dangerous to cross the river on a daily basis.

In time of such desperate need, the timely donation from John Pung was a real blessing that touched the hearts of everyone in the community. To provide such a communal capital infrastructure worth K100,000 takes someone with a big heart to do that. Such gesture speaks volume of someone who knows no bounds, no limitation and no hesitation to meet the need of a community that was at dire straits no matter what the costs was.

Never in WHP you would hear such a generous donation from an individual that benefited not just a group but an entire community. This is for sure the first of its kind.. Mr. Pung you have for such won the hearts of us as this vital infrastructure will benefit not only this generation but the generations to come.

There is a saying: “Don’t ever seek to be the greatest. Seek instead to do great things. If you aspire for greatness, your greatness will die with you. But if you aspire to do great things, your legacy will live on”. As such the John Pun Bridge is a great thing for the people of Las Kama that will live on.

PS Mamp

Engiki

Demand driven concept better option for Jiwaka

2011-01-24T16:52:00.000-08:00

The attainment of provincial separation is a feat and while the Jiwakas are tremendously proud of this achievement the greater task of developing the mechanism to execute the dreams and aspirations of all of them is at hand and due. There are currently options available to the Jiwaka transitional authority (JTA) to consider.

The provincial bureaucracy model that is currently grossly under-performing when it comes to serving the needs of citizens and the autonomy route which sounds great but with our dependency culture, adds to the strain already faced by Waigani.

These are off-the-shelf, ready-made compositions with working flaws and non-dynamic structures. I propose that the JTA looks at another alternative – the demand driven structure (DDS). The primary thrust of this structure is its fluidity and robustness incorporating simplicity with in-built efficiency.

This structure essentially emphasizes the need to identify the opportunities and constraints facing the Jiwaka in today’s modern era, establishing impact-based solutions framework and then creating the performance-orientated vehicle to either capitalize on the opportunities available or combat root causes of constraints.

This does not mean that the traditional provincial departments like health, education and agriculture and livestock will be done away with. The DDS will act as a tool for molding the internal structure of these departments, that is, services to the community, at the highest levels of efficiency and at the most cost effective routes. But this structure does more.

It also enables an informed feedback system from the community who are so often forgotten. In addition, it acts as a built in M&E, ensuring that responsibility for the delivery of milestones, tasks and activities are clearly defined in the structure and are position liable.

Furthermore, it develops each employee’s key result areas (KRAs) and forms the platform for performance appraisals, ensuring the employees of Jiwaka provincial government are performing and rewards given to high achievers. Externally, its greatest financial appeal to the government and donors will lie in its cascading logic. Built from activity level up, its structure will be in line with all major government and donor developmental plans.

Its appeal is further enhanced by the fact that its structure has been formulated from the needs of the Jiwaka and the mold has been carved to materialize and remedy these needs. Moreover, its M&E is explicitly clear. To some DDS may seem too daunting. But let’s ask ourselves this: Would you buy a product off the shelf that has known flaws?

I certainly would not and the people of Jiwaka demand better. DDS is evolutionary in nature and requires forward thinkers, the Jiwaka are all that. DDS is just that and the Jiwaka have the opportunity to show PNG and the world that we can be dynamic, efficient and progressive in a static system. So what are we waiting for?

Books earmarked for 30 schools in WHP

2011-01-24T16:31:00.000-08:00

Millions of kina worth of text books will now be delivered to more than 30 schools in Western Highlands, thanks to the Mandan Coffee and Tea plantation. The text books includes encyclopedias, dictionaries, basic readers and national geographic magazines.

The books would be distributed to all schools near the plantation like Kindeng, Mandan and Avi. The books were brought in from the US and would be delivered to schools which lacked access to books.

The Mandan Tea and Coffee plantation trading as Highlands Arabicas Ltd, through their contacts in US, have helped with the books that could have cost the Education departments more. Highlands Arabica Ltd shareholder Aarlie Hull said the idea for the book drive was to provide good education for students.

She said she and her husband Larry had managed to bring in a 40-foot container of books into the country which were donated by people from overseas through the US. She said more than 75,000 books had been brought in and they had also managed to meet the transport cost of more than K30,000.

Papua New Guinea powerbrokers snap up property

2011-01-20T16:28:00.000-08:00

By Paul Cleary of The Australian

When Papua New Guinea's petroleum minister bought a Cairns McMansion in 2001, the deal was so ``quick and easy'' that the agent selling the property thought he was dealing with the wealthy owner of a coffee plantation. Despite buying in the depths of the global financial crisis, William Duma (left) didn't aggressively negotiate for a better price.

He paid $585,000 for the 330sq m, five-bedroom, two-bathroom home with water views after securing the services of a Cairns agent to do the deal. ``I was thinking, where did he get the money from? It was all too quick and easy,'' says real estate agent Shane Trimby, who sold the property.

Duma was involved in a much more lucrative business than coffee. As petroleum minister in the government led by PNG's 74-year-old founding father Michael Somare, Duma is the country's oil supremo. At the time of the purchase he was negotiating with ExxonMobil's consortium to build a mammoth $US15 billion liquefied natural gas project.

As PNG looms as an oil-rich country verging on state failure, some of its political elite have been quietly building up assets offshore, coinciding with huge development of the country's gold, petroleum and copper riches.

In the past five years, key political figures have invested $6 million in Cairns and Brisbane property. Some have their wives and children based in Australia and shuttle regularly between Port Moresby and Cairns. Some of these politicians may have exploited an exemption in Australia's foreign investment regime that allows non-residents to buy new properties. In 2008, foreigners used this exemption to buy $15 billion worth of residential real estate.

PNG is emerging as an extreme case of the two-speed economy, with boom conditions in Port Moresby driven by liquefied natural gas and other resource projects, while the rest of the country sinks deeper into poverty and state dysfunction. While proving ineffective at running the country, Sir Michael and his family have shown themselves adept at buying real estate and hanging on to power.

After a no-confidence motion back in July, Sir Michael suspended parliament for the rest of the year, and then agreed to stand down in December pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct. But PNG's ``grand chief'' still remains very powerful, with his son Arthur and other party lieutenants in control.

The push to remove Somare reflects growing concern among PNG's elder statesmen over Somare's handling of important developments. The LNG project is one, but more controversial is China's Metallurgical Construction Corp nickel mine in the Ramu Valley, which has been given special concessions to dump toxic tailings into the sea.

An investigation on behalf of a major oil company found it cost about $500,000 in payments to landholders and other interests to get an oil permit approved. The company that commissioned the research decided not to invest in the country. Another emerging concern is that vast tracts of rainforest are being leased to foreign logging companies in opaque arrangements involving corporate fronts controlled by foreign interests. As much as 10 per cent of the country has been handed over through these arrangements.

The Somare family made its first real estate purchase in Cairns in 2007, when Michael Somare bought an apartment in Parramatta Park north of the city for $349,000. The following year, his Australian-educated son, Arthur, minister for public enterprises, bought a home at Trinity Beach north of Cairns for $685,000. Somare's daughter, Dulciana Somare-Brash, then bought a $425,000 Trinity Beach home, also in 2008.

The purchases by Somare's children followed his return to power in August 2007. Arthur Somare's home is listed under his name in the phone book and he returns there regularly. A Somare spokesman declined to respond to questions about how these properties were purchased.

But Duma tells The Australian he was ``quite well off'' before entering parliament, having been a partner in the Port Moresby office of the law firm Blake Dawson Waldron. ``I purchased a property in Cairns using my personal savings in Port Moresby. I obtained foreign exchange approval from the PNG Central Bank to remit funds to my Australian solicitor's trust account,'' Duma says.

``My Australia solicitors also obtained Foreign Investment Review Board approval before I could purchase the property. There is a clear paper trail showing the origin of the funds which I used to purchase the property.'' Duma says he declared the property to the Ombudsman Commission, which serves as ``the watchdog for leaders in PNG''. But the commission does not publicly release this information.

Duma acknowledges ``there may be a perception that because I am the Minister for Petroleum and Energy, I may have received some form of benefit from ExxonMobil''.
``All that I can say is that I was a wealthy person before I became a politician. The funds I used were from my savings account.'' Duma denies he was ``on the take'' and says ExxonMobil was very rigorous in its running of the project.

``They want to do it the ExxonMobil way -- very bureaucratic, very thorough.''
Businessman Peter Aitsi, who heads the PNG branch of Transparency International, a global anti-corruption watchdog, says MPs are not required to tell the public about these purchases.

``Given we have a general idea of the salary levels of MPs, this raises questions of how they have financed these purchases'' Aitsi says. ``For the man in the street, this should raise serious questions. So let's make this information public.' 'Some of Somare's opponents, however, are also among the biggest property owners in Australia. Key opposition figure Mekere Morauta has built up even more assets than Somare from the profits of his fishing business.

Land title records show that Morauta's Australian wife, Roslyn, bought a $3.6m riverside mansion in the Brisbane suburb of New Farm in 2008. This followed a $910,000 purchase of another New Farm property in 1999. Former minister Allan Marat bought a Brisbane apartment in 1996 for $400,000 and then in 2005 bought a $240,000 apartment in Surfers Paradise.

Marat resigned in May last year after making comments critical of the nickel mine and the benefits for PNG from the LNG project. A spokesman for Marat -- his son Immanuel -- says the properties were acquired with proceeds from Marat's Port Moresby law firm. Immanuel Marat says the purchases have been fully disclosed. Australia's anti-money laundering body, Austrac, declines to comment on any evidence it may have obtained on real estate purchases by foreign politicians from neighbouring countries.

A spokesman says secrecy provisions prevent it from making any comment. While some of PNG's political elite are accumulating wealth, life expectancy is falling and infant mortality is rising as the government becomes increasingly dysfunctional, unable to deliver basic services to its poor. The LNG project is also fanning conflict as landholder groups squabble over the spoils. Earlier this year there was as shoot-out at Port Moresby airport between rival factions of landowners.

AusAID says about 40 per cent of PNG's population lives in poverty, below the international benchmark of less than $US1 a day. HIV-AIDS is rising inexorably. The latest estimate is almost 100,000 sufferers -- 2.56 per cent of the population. There is no evidence that Duma, the Somare family or Marat acquired their properties inappropriately, but the federal government has been pushing PNG to consider adopting an anti-corruption regime known as the ``extractive industries transparency initiative''.

This program is designed to produce a set of double accounts showing what the government receives from oil companies and what the companies pay. The initiative has in-principle support from 32 resource-rich nations, with PNG remaining a notable exception. East Timor, which only became independent eight years ago, has become the third country to fully comply with the demanding regime.

But Australia's Oil Search, one of PNG's main oil developers for the past 20 years, is not a member of the initiative because the PNG government does not support it. Oil Search operates the Kutubu oilfield in the southern highlands and is a minority shareholder in the LNG project. A spokesman for ExxonMobil says the company has never given any special benefits to Duma or Arthur Somare. He says there is no connection between their real estate purchases and negotiations on the LNG project.

Paul Cleary
Senior Writer
The Australian

2 HOLT STREET, SURRY HILLS NSW 2010 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 9288 3045 Fax: +61 2 9288 7576 Mob: +61 431 055 584
Email: clearypaul@theaustralian.com.au

Mount Hagen Cultural Festival, Papua New Guinea

2011-01-20T15:20:00.000-08:00

Mondo Merchants donates K10,000 to Mount Hagen General Hospital (MHGH)

2011-01-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

By James Apa Gumuno

Mondo Merchants, a locally owned company operating in Mt Hagen, yesterday donated K10,000 to the Mt Hagen General Hospital’s out-patient ward. Company owner, Alois Ulkyupanga and his wife Cathy presented the money to the chief executive officer Dr James Kintwa at the hospital and witnessed by out-patient ward sister in-charge Sr Jennifer McKup, Dr Micheal Dokup and other staff.

Ulkyupanga said it was part of his company community initiative to give something back to the community by helping the hospital to buy new medical equipment and serving the influx of people seeking medications every day at the hospital. He said the money would buy medical equipment needed at the out-patient ward.

He told Kintwa and his staff that the hospital was going through some changes and if there was any possibility of his company assisting the hospital, he would consider that in the near future.

Kintwa said the out-patient ward was serving more than 400 patients every day and needed many basic types of equipment to serve the growing population. He thanked Ulkyupanga and his wife for the timely donation. Kintwa added that the surrounding communities must take ownership of the hospital by looking after its staff, it would boost the staff moral to do more to serve the people.

Businesses told to keep yards clean

2011-01-19T14:55:00.000-08:00

By James Apa Gumuno

Business houses operating in Mt Hagen have been urged to keep their back and front yards clean at all times. City manager Victor Megao said Mt Hagen was the third biggest city and business houses must take initiative to beautify it and make the environment they were operating more attractive to the customers.

Megao said this yesterday after two business houses, Kange Freezers and Best Buy Trading, cleaned their front and back yards, installed rubbish bins, re-painted their shops and built foot paths in front of their shops.

He said if all the business houses, including the landlords of the building, took such initiative to fix their properties or the workstations, they would make a big impact and change the image of the city. He said that some shops in the city were built during the 1970s and despite the termites eating away the timbers and plywoods, no attempts had been made by the landlords to renovate these building.

Megao said that such buildings were giving bad image to the people coming from other provinces every day. He said the landlords were collecting plenty of money in rental fees every month and must invest some back into their property by maintaining it and making it more conducive for other people to operate it.

He said that on many occasion, the landlords usually took cover behind their tenants. Megao said if Best Buy Trading and Kange Freezers could take up the challenge, then, others could too. He said he was not pushing them to do it but if they could do something from their hearts it would complement the work the city authority were doing.

Baiyer-Ruti area gets K120,000

2011-01-19T14:53:00.000-08:00

By Pius Mon

A total of K120,000 was paid out to various projects in the Baiyer-Ruti area of Mul, Baiyer, Lumusa and Jimi districts earlier this month by the Western Highlands government. The PNG Defence Force’s engineering unit received K50,000 for logistics and other associated costs for the construction of the new highway from Baiyer via Jimi connecting Madang and Morobe with the rest of the Highlands region.

Another cheque of K50,000 was paid to revive the now run-down Baiyer River cattle project while a part payment of K20,000 from the K50,000 was committed to the Mara Wek Ruti Kokowa road as logistic support.

When presenting the three cheques, the governor’s executive officer Joe Het said it was the current provincial government’s vision, under Governor Tom Olga, to ensure that rural areas were given equal preferences as urban centres.

He said the majority of the people were based in the rural areas and as such, government services and other developments should be fairly distributed. Het added that development funds were parked under various projects for people to access and run their own projects.

Our laws and resources

2011-01-18T19:43:00.000-08:00

By Lucas Kiap

This is a story of an old man who once owned a mystery cup that produces drinking water. The old man had no idea where the cup came from and how the water gets in there at the first place and continues to fill itself whenever he drinks. He only knows how to drink. Every time he becomes thirsty he would go to his cup and there he would find water to drink.

When he drinks he would not finish but there would still be some left in the cup. After he drinks, the cup would always fill itself up. One day he became curious and wanted to discover the mystery behind the cup. He decided to drink all the water in the cup and pour out the remaining so that he could witness the whole process of the cup refilling itself.What he did not know was that once the cup was empty and turned upside down, it would not refill itself.

The cup was subjected to natural laws, laws that the poor old man has no control over and laws that must not be abused, manipulated, twisted, misunderstood or under any circumstances misinterpreted. If we continue to promote economic growth through the exploitation of our natural resources without any significant, tangible, and sustainable long-term gains, will it continue to sustain our ever-increasing demand without consequences?

We have to have in mind that the natural laws will eventually come into play halting our ongoing ability to extract more of these natural and precious nonrenewable resources. Pretending otherwise is unsustainable. The amount of damages that we are causing to the balancing of the environment and its ecosystem is unforgiving by the future generations. Working hard to make up for lost time is a slap on the faces of the suffering of others. Over to you so-called MPs!

Jiwaka leader cautioned

2011-01-18T19:35:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

The Jiwaka Transitional Authority (JTA)has been urged to run the affairs of the province to serve the interest of the people and not to isolate them. Former Anglimp South Wahgi MP William Ekip Wii said this following a donation to women's group that appears to have breached directions from sidelined Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare. Mr Wii was referring to a report last week that stated that JTA chairman Philip Kapal had given K250,000 meant for Jiwaka Ecumenical Women's Federation (JEWF) to another group.

Mr Kapal's one man decision to give the K250,000 for Jiwaka Ecumenical Federation to other women's group clai-med as Jiwaka Provincial Council of Women was not done in the interest of JEWF executives, Mr Wii said. He said sidelined Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare had written to Mr Kapal to release the funds to JEWF executives but Mr Kapal did not follow Sir Michael's advice and this shows that the appointed political head of Jiwaka had no respect for Sir Michael.

Mr Wii said it seems that Mr Kapal had breached directives from the National Government and this was not good. I am referring to an article reported in the Post-Courier last week (that indicated that) Mr Kapal was running JTA as a one man show without consultation with other members of the authority, he said.

There should be a proper channel of consultation between Mr Kapal with his members because they are serving the political office for the people of Jiwaka. Speaking from Port Moresby last Friday, Mr Wii said JTA was only an interim government and it should work closely with the elites of Jiwaka and get collective ideas to contribute positively for the betterment of the province.

He said the Jiwaka people were watching the JTA office and Mr Kapal must conduct the affairs of Jiwaka accordingly to serve the interest of the people. If Mr Kapal meant to take control of these funds then it is illegal. He was only appointed to take care of the interim political office for the people of Jiwaka and he should understand and play his role impartially, Mr Wii said.

Jiwaka Transitional Authority women's representative Elizabeth Palme said the Jiwaka Provincial Council of Women was not establish by law and various women groups in Jiwaka still come under Western Highlands Provincial Council of Women. Mrs Palme said there were existing structures that provide for Jiwaka women's groups to work together with Western Highlands PCW until the Jiwaka PCW was established after the National Council of Women convention, scheduled to be held in March this year.

The group that is claiming to be Jiwaka Provincial Council of Women is not a recognised body and their executives must give the K250,000 cheque back to the executives of JEWF, Mrs Palme said. She said as a women representative in JTA she should hold the cheque but this had not been the case.

Teenager fights for life after storm

2011-01-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

A teenager is fighting for his life at the Mt Hagen General Hospital while three other women sustained severe wounds around their bodies when a tree fell on them during a hailstorm. The unexpected hailstorm occurred at Banz last Thursday afternoon and damaged houses, food gardens, trade stores and sent people scurrying in all directions looking for shelter. The four people were sitting in a house when a tree fell on the house and trapped them.

A branch of the tree pierced the teenager, identified as John Moli, through his abdomen and trapped him under the house with the three women. The four people called for help and villagers rushed to the scene to rescue them and learnt that Moli was badly injured.

His relatives rushed him to Kudjip Nazarene Hospital but the hospital was closed and he was brought to the Mt Hagen General Hospital. Moli is at Mt Hagen General Hospital intensive care unit and will undergo operations this week.

The disaster, which was described as first of its kind, occurred between 5 and 6pm and hit Sipil village outside Banz. Spokesman and Moli's relative John Kaunga said they did not expect such a disaster and were busy with their daily activities when the disaster struck. Mr Kaunga said the hailstorm occurred with strong winds and a heavy downpour.

The other three women were treated at Kimel Sub Health Centre and sent home. Mr Kaunga said they would engage district disaster officers to assess the situation and finalise a report to the Disaster Office to seek assistance. They were also appealing to North Wahgi Benjamin Mul to help.

Mum, 5-yr-old daughter drown in Kagul River

2011-01-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

By Deborah Pranis & Mal Taime

A woman and her five-year-old daughter were drowned last week in the fast flowing Kagul River in Tambul, Western Highlands Province. The woman, identified as Walpink Waniga, and her five year-old daughter Ambishina of Yame village in Tambul District, were returning home from the garden when they drowned in the fast flowing river.

According to the woman's brother Peter Mos, they searched for the woman with her daughter along the banks of the river when the pair did not turn up that afternoon. Mr Mos said the woman's relatives found the body of the little girl on Friday evening, while her mother's body was found downstream on Sunday afternoon.

This is not a first time for people losing their life in the fast flowing river, we have experienced this accident for quite some years and I want to urge the people to take extra precautions when crossing the fast flowing river, Mr Mos said. The body of the mother and daughter are now at the Mt Hagen General Hospital morgue for post-mortem.

Meanwhile, an old woman was killed in a fatal car accident at Kiam village in South Wahgi District early yesterday morning. The woman, identified as Yere Er of Walpi clan, was on the way to her garden when the incident occurred. According to close relatives, a PMV bus from the neighbouring Kawi village hit the woman, killing her instantly. Witnesses said the driver was trying to avoid a pothole when he hit the woman.

When the driver learned that he had killed the woman, he drove off while the crew opened the door and escaped but the woman's relatives gave chase and apprehended him. They did not want to take the law into their own hands by retaliating and handed the bus crew back to his relatives to allow justice to take its course, they said.

Police went to the scene to investigate the accident and warned people to take extra precautions when standing on the side of the road. Police said most of the vehicles had mechanical problems and may cause unexpected accident anytime. They thanked the relatives of the woman for not taking the law into their own hands and allow police investigation to take place.

Police said most of the people do not show respect for the law and take the law into their own hands and praised the relatives of the old woman for not doing that. The owner of the bus also commended the relatives of the old woman for not retaliating and gave K1000 to bring the body of the woman to Mt Hagen General Hospital for post-mortem and pledged that he would co-operate with them to solve the issue.

Kumuls John and Pora jetting off to Newtown

2011-01-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

By Kevin Teme

Kumuls Benjamin John and Rodney Pora are set for a stint with Newtown Jets, a feeder club to Sydney City Roosters, this year. John and Kumul vice-captain Pora will leave immediately after getting their two-year sporting visas this week. John decided not to take up a one year contract with Ipswich Jets in the Queensland cup this season.

The pair will undergo intensive training with Sydney City Roosters for two weeks before linking up with Newtown. Several trial matches leading into the proper season are also on the cards. A relieved John told The National about his and Pora’s move last Friday.

Originally, John including other two Kumuls, Nixon Kolo and Charlie Wabo who were scouted by the Ipswich Jets during the Four Nation’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand are unlikely to travel however, the Kumul utility was given another chance along Pora by the Sydney-based club.

John said he had opted out of playing for Ipswich Jets because he did not want to play on a quarterly basis but accepted a two-year deal with the Newtown Jets instead. John and Pora are set to benefit from a two-week pre-season training with Roosters head coach Brian Smith before joining Newtown Jets and playing in a trial against a Canterbury Bulldogs feeder club.

John confirmed that there would be several trials before they join the Jets. John said he had quit his contract with Ipswich because of visa issues which most PNG rugby league players face while admitting that Newtown had offered him and Pora a longer contract through the two-year visa.

The deal was made possible through John who did not want to reveal this until last Friday. “Yes, I had made it possible for Pora to join me at Newtown and we’re glad because it will help us to go another step further in our game,” John said. For Pora, it has always been a dream of his to play overseas.

He had a chance in 2008 but visa problems stopped him from playing in Australia. An excited Pora, who is eyeing the 2013 World Cup, said he was looking forward to the trip.

Hospital attack condemned

2011-01-18T08:34:00.000-08:00

By James Apa Gumuno

The people in the Jiwaka region, Western Highlands, have condemned the attack on a nurse working at the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital. The people are carrying out their own investigation to arrest a suspect involved.

Two weeks ago, a man went into the hospital and chopped the nurse’s arm with a bush knife, after she refused to leave with him. The attack resulted in the closure of the hospital and in-patients all sent to other hospitals in the highlands region. Village chief of Kumai tribe John Kos, who was taking the lead with the Nazarene church in the establishment of the hospital, said some suspects were identified but they needed to be certain before handing them to the police.

Kos said finding the attacker would bring some comfort to the victim and the community who were unhappy over the incident which resulted in the closure of the hospital. He said if they find the offender the community would contribute to help the victim who is from Vanimo, West Sepik.

Kos said the hospital was well known for providing quality health care in the region and could not be allowed to be closed for too long. The hospital management said the hospital would remain closed until the suspect was identified and handed over to police.

You can have real Joy

2011-01-18T08:22:00.000-08:00

By Brad Wells

A rat scurried across the rotten, flea-infested grass, stopping to inspect a few crumbs intermingled in the dirt before disappearing into one of the many crevices in the wall. Water dripped from the beams in the ceiling of the tiny room. In the corner, seated on a foul-smelling mat, a man sat with a parchment resting on his lap. He dipped his ink pen into the well and paused a moment before writing his next sentence.

He shifted positions, adjusting the heavy chain that clasped about his ankles. It had taken several days to obtain the parchment and ink. Had it already been a week since the gift from the church at Philippi had arrived? Ah, the church at Philippi—just the thought of the dear believers in Christ brought a smile to the worn face.

He closed his eyes and lost himself in the memory. God wanted a church started in Philippi. The salvation of the Lydia, a merchant in purple, made that very clear. Her entire household turned to Christ and followed Him in baptism. But then the local witch started attending our outreach meetings. For several days she came, each time proclaiming more loudly that we preached the way of salvation.

Her proclamations did nothing to help our meetings. Instead, they began to disrupt and distract from the true message. I finally turned to her and, with the authority of Jesus Christ, commanded the devil that possessed her to come out of her. That started the uproar. Her master, realising that she could no longer be used to tell fortunes and cast spells—which of course brought him a lot of money—stirred up the entire city.

Before we knew what was happening, we were drug to the city centre. Silas and I were beaten mercilessly and cast into the darkest cell of the prison. Bleeding, bruised, hungry, thirsty, and tied in the most uncomfortable positions, Silas and I did what we always did—prayed and sang praises to our God.

At midnight, God said, “Amen!” Well, at least that’s what it sounded like. A great earthquake hit the prison with unbelievable force. Immediately our chains fell off and the doors of the prison were thrown open. What a great victory was won that night! The warden and his entire household ended up becoming believers. And the church was started.

A flea bite brought the old man back to the present. He knew exactly what it was he wanted to write to the church at Philippi. He picked up his pen and continued the letter... “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” How could the Apostle Paul say such a thing? Beaten five times Jewish-style, three times by Gentiles, once stoned nearly to death, three times shipwrecked, a day and a half in the ocean—just to mention a few of his trials.

The answer flows through the book of Philippians—the letter he wrote that day while imprisoned at Rome. In verse 17 of the first chapter, Paul says something amazing: “I am set for the defense of the gospel.” Paul had made up his mind. He had a single focus; he pursued a single destiny. It was the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ. He believed it. He practiced it. He preached it. He suffered for it. And he eventually died for it.

Through it all he had real joy. And that joy brought strength. Strength brought endurance. So, where did he find this joy? In verse five of chapter one, he begins the letter by rejoicing in the “fellowship in the gospel”. Apostle Paul found joy in fellowship with other believers. Fellowship is different than mere friendship. Fellowship is spiritual.

Jesus was a friend to sinners. He reached out to them and loved them. But He did not draw strength from them. He was strengthened by the fellowship He had with the Father and His disciples. Apostle Paul found joy, and thus strength, from the same sources: fellowship with Jesus and other believers.

Christian friend, you will never have real joy if you try to “fellowship” with worldly friends. Instead, they will rob you of your joy and zap you of your strength. Another reason Paul had joy was because he was single-minded about the “furtherance of the gospel.” Look at verse 12 of chapter one.

In essence he said, “Don’t worry about all these hardships I’m enduring. I’m happy because my trials are helping the gospel of Jesus Christ to grow and expand throughout the entire Roman Empire—even into Nero’s palace!” The only thing that mattered to Paul was that the gospel was being preached. He didn’t care what it took to get the word out. He said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Yet he was willing to keep on living—even in prison—if he could be an encouragement to those who were preaching the gospel in the free world.

It was all about the gospel. What is your focus? Have you ever experienced the amazing joy that comes from spreading the good news? There’s nothing more fulfilling on this earth! Lastly, Apostle Paul found joy in the “faith of the gospel” in verse 27.

Paul could not be with the Philippian believers at that moment. He was in prison at Rome. Yet he did not falter in his belief that God was going to grow and mature the new Christians there. He was confident, sure, and unshakable. God had started a marvelous work in Philippi and He would make sure it got done. Paul found joy in this fact: God finishes what He starts. (Check out verse six.) We may not see the results we desire today, but we know who we are trusting in: the finisher of our faith.

Has God started a work in you, dear reader? I may not know you or the trials you face. But, I know my God. He will complete the work in you and prepare you for heaven. And that fact brings me great joy. Are you looking for real joy? Get completely focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ—its fellowship, its furtherance, and its faith.

If you desire further counseling, send your concerns to: Brad Wells P.O. Box 617, Mt. Hagen, WHP. bwellspng@gmail.com

Jiwaka behind progress

2011-01-16T20:45:00.000-08:00

Many people are now wondering why nothing is happening with the authority and now feel that the transitional authority should tell the public of Jiwaka if things are progressing as they ought to. The people of Jiwaka have the right to be informed on the progress if any and if not the why of it.

There is rumor that all funds allocated so far by the government for initial establishment work has been grossly abused and expenditure to date reflects nil compliance with the established public financial management practice. I challenge the chairman of the Authority and his Director to go public to defend their administration against the rumors.

We are being told that some members of the authority were bought top of range Toyota land cruiser four-wheel drive vehicles. We will also be glad to know the criteria used to determine those that qualified and if that enabling provision was built into the governance book laid down by the national government for the Jiwaka Transitional Authority. All Jiwakans must be thankful that we were granted our provincial status. We must also realize that it was not given to us on a golden plate.

Peter Bebi claims the 'Eagles' name

2011-01-16T20:41:00.000-08:00

The media war over the use of the Mt Hagen Eagles name for the upcoming 2011 Inter-City Cup season is likely to go to court. The Mt Hagen Eagles board under Peter Bebi claims that PNGNRL chairman Don Fox ignored an interim court order by making media statements about a likely merger of Mt Hagen Eagles and Mt Hagen Kuris this year.

Bebi, who claims to be the rightful owner of Mt Hagen Eagles name after registering it with Investment Promotion Authority (IPA), said the Mt Hagen Eagles rugby league club is a private entity. Bebi said in a statement that Fox was creating confusion among Eagles fans.

“Fox’s statement is not consistent with the agreement reached between his board and and the Mt Hagen Eagles board to withdraw their court proceeding and asked us to prepare for 2011 season. “We (Eagles board) considered the agreement in the best interest of rugby league and withdrew the case for the bemobile Cup to be played last year.

The agreement still remains until Mt Hagen Eagles enter this year’s competition,” he said. Bebi also cried foul over his K90,000 naming right fees. He claimed the PNGNRL had yet to repay the Eagles board their 2010 afiliation fee. In support of Bebi’s claim, the Western Highlands provincial administrator Malcolm Culligan in a letter dated Jan 6, to James K Peri of Warner Shand Lawyers and copied to Fox, asking PNGNRL board or bemobile Cup to release the K50,000.

The money was allocated to Bintangor Mt Hagen Eagles as part of the WHP government’s contribution to assist the provincial team. The letter reads: “It is the board of directors of Mt Hagen Eagles to decide where they think is appropriate for the good for the club.” The money was paid to bemobile Cup but the Eagles were excluded from the competition.

Culligan said in the letter that now that the Mt Hagen Eagles were in a position to return to competition, they needed the money to prepare themselves. The Eagles board through its lawyer Eddie Wamp will return to court in Mt Hagen next month to re-visit the agreement and also clarify who is legitimate owner of Mt Hagen Eagles RFC. Attempts to contact Fox were unsuccessful.

Passing of a colourful and unique leader

2011-01-13T20:45:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

The more than 10, 000 people of Bambilnge tribe of North Wahgi district in Jiwaka province will long remember their two prominent leaders who passed away last year without saying good bye. John Poro, prominent leader and principal of Port Morersby-based Poro Lawyers died mid last year (2010) and the people lost another prominent leader and businessman Thomas Alu in December (2010). As a result, most of the people did not participate in the Christmas and New Year celebrations. Out of respect for these two leaders, while the people of PNG were celebrating, they were mourning the passing of late Alu.

As is normally the case for many people throughout the country, the Bambilnge tribesmen and women could not accept Alu’s death. They rubbed mud on their faces and bodies, cvried and wailed, asking themselves “why did you leave us without saying a word...” Alu died at Modilon General Hospital in Madang after a heart attack.

After the death of Poro, they looked upon Alu as their only leader and flag-carrier who had represented them both at the grassroots and national level. They are still wondering who among their tribesmen will fill the big vacuum Alu had left behind. Both late Poro and Alu left behind long and colorful stories. They had come up the hard-way but they overcame many obstacles along the way to become what they were; making a name for them and their tribesmen. They left behind a legacy that will benefit the people, in one way or another, for some time to come.

In his eulogy, a community and tribal leader described Alu as a “colorful and unique leader who had done a lot for the people. We will miss him...” Alu was born at Olkamul village in Kuiona in 1956. Just two months after his birth, his lovely mother passed away. No woman in the community had given birth recently who could share her breast milk with baby Alu. His father fed him sugar cane juice and fruit during his infancy.

He grew up in his village and attended St Anslem Community School. In 1967 he was sent to Fatima Community School to continue with his standard 5 and completed his standard 6 the following year. Alu scored good grades and the Catholic Mission selected him to go to St. Fidelis College in Madang in 1972. He completed his college education in 1973 and enrolled at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1974.

During his holidays Alu mobilsed some Jiwaka students to fight for a separate province of Jiwaka (from Western Highlands Province). He organized a protest march but police inteverne and arrested him. As the ring leader, he was detained at Baisu jail for two months. After independence in 1975, Alu served an advisor and first secretary to two former Members for (late) Sir Kaibel Diria (North Waghi) and (late) Sir Thomas Kavali (Jimi).

Late Sir Kaibel was the Minister for Post and Telegraph and Sir Thomas Kavali was Minister for Lands and Physical Planning. Alu left the political scene and joined Western Highlands Provincial Government. He held the important post of Provincial Planner until he resigned to enter private life.

He started his family business in general merchandising, real estate, coffee growing and became a successful businessman in Jiwaka. Because of his success as a business, the government appointed him as chairman of Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) for six years under former Prime Minister Paias Wingti’s regime.

Alu also served as chairman of the National Housing Corporation when the late Bill Skate was Prime Minister. He contested the North Wahgi Open seat in the 1992 general elections but was unsuccessful. He went to Madang 1994 and contested the Madang town seat. He won and did not complete his term after the Provincial Government system was abolished.

At his funeral service held in Banz, the town came to a standstill as people flocked in to attend his funeral service and say good bye for the last time. They started arriving very early in the morning and waited for his body to arrive by plane from Madang . They came to attend the funeral service with his immediate families and clansmen and pay their last respects to him before he was laid to rest. Most of the business houses closed for the occasion.

Alu was described as one of the colorful and unique leaders and he would be missed because of what he had done to his people in contributing to grassroots developments. It was a very sad occasion for his people because they were expecting him to come home as he used to and they did not expect him to arrive home in a casket from Madang. His body was brought to Kilip Village on his vehicle where he will be laid to rest.

North Wahgi MP Benjamin Mul took the initiative to hire vehicles to transport Alu’s body from Kagamuga airport to Banz. Mul said since he was elected he had taking lead in compensation payment to solve people’s problem and buy coffin boxes for his people. “When I was elected Member for North Wahgi I transported the body of late Ms Regina Kati, late John Poro and this is the third time for me to transport the body for late Mr Alu. They were important people that the people of North Wahgi have lost and we will miss for a long time to come,” Mul said.

He described Alu as a man who had valued his life and also did a lot of things for the people who donated K10, 000 in cash towards the funeral expenses. Mul urged Alu’s families to get together and raise someone in the family to continue the important role that their father and husband had left behind.

Alu was a leader who preferred to keep a low profile but his leadership was evident in everything that he did, for himself, for his family and, just as importantly, for his tribesman and people. He contributed generously, in both cash and kind, to churches and other groups. The churches will no doubt miss his generosity. Alu had left behind a big vacuum that will take some time to fill.

Highest compensation ever paid in the Highlands

2011-01-13T20:41:00.000-08:00

By Ramcy Wama

Two clans from Imbongu District in Southern Highlands paid a clan from Tambul District in Western Highlands K433,604 in cash and 160 pigs, believed to be the biggest compensation payment in the Highlands region and possibly PNG.

Highlanders are known for paying compensation to solve any problems arising from tribal fights to land disputes, regardless of the number of deaths and destruction to properties worth thousands of kinas. This is the accepted practice because it solves many problems.

The compensation payment of murdered businessman Thomas Tivili of Tambul is said to be the highest compensation payment in the history of Highlands and in Papua New Guinea. The late Tivili was a businessman based in Goroka. He was alleged to have been killed by members of the Makai and Warana clan of Imbongu district of Southern Highlands Province last year January.

The tribesmen of Mr Tivili demanded K3 million and 500 pigs as compensation payment for the murder. The two clans paid the compensation, valued at K433,604 last Saturday at Walum village in Imbongu district. Peace and Good Order Committee Chairman Mr Koim and his counterpart from Sothern Highlands claimed that the compensation was “the highest in the region”.

The Chief Sergeant Philip Kumo and the members of the Highway Patrol 17 who monitored the ceremony commended both parties for making and paying the compensation. Mr Kumo said police had arrested five suspects who were waiting to appear before the National Court to answer murder charges. Mr Koim commended the members of Highway Patrol 17 for doing a fine job in monitoring what was a very sensitive situation and helping to restore peace and harmony in the community.

Meanwhile, the Members of Highway Patrol 17 are investigating a fatal road accident that occurred along Konapul Road Mendi-Hagen Highway last Saturday. Mr Kumo said a Toyota 25 seater Coaster bus loaded with passengers going towards Mendi collided with a Toyota Land cruiser. As a result, 18 people received minor injuries and four people are in critical condition at Mt Hagen general hospital.

Fetus dumped

2011-01-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

By Daniel Gerson & Deborah Pranis

A Fetus, believed to be that of a five months old boy was found in a drain at Y-Waves compound near Warakum in Mt Hagen yesterday morning. The identity of the baby is not known but it weighed less than 1kg. It was discovered together with the placenta clinging to rocks in a stream.

According to Haioen Lati, an Engan woman living beside the stream, her 13-year-old son Ezekiel woke up at about 6am and went to the stream and discovered the baby. “This is a very inhuman act by the women responsible. Young women should consider the lives of their babies, no matter how they get pregnant in the first place,” Mrs Lati said.

Another person said the mother aborted the baby and disposed the baby in the stream in the early hours of the morning and little is known about the identity and whereabouts of the mother. WHP PPC Chief Supt Kaiglo Ambane said no one had reported the incident but he was very surprised to learn about “such an inhuman act”. He said the police would investigate if they receive a complaint from any member of the public.

Jiwaka Transitional Authority (JTA) withholds women’s fund

2011-01-13T20:06:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

The executives of Jiwaka Ecumenical Women’s Federation (JEWF) are upset with Jiwaka Transitional Authority’s (JTA) continuous refusal to handover their K250,000. The executives asked JTA for the money but Chairman Philip Kapal gave it another women’s group claiming themselves as Jiwaka Provincial Council of Women.

JEWF petitioned Mr Kapal last Tuesday and gave him one week to act but he has refused to entertained them and the one week deadline lapsed on Tuesday. The executives personally handed the petition during a peaceful protest march to Mr Kapal at Maria Kwin Training Senta said he will respond to them in writing. On Tuesday this week, JEWF executives confronted him at his office and demanded an answer but he refused and urged them to liaise with the other women group to get their money back.

Sidelined Prime Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael wrote a letter to Mr Kapal on December 2, 2010, advising him to release the money to JEWF but he refused. A prominent leader who requested anonymity said Mr Kapal deliberately refused Sir Michael’s request and committed serious offense and called for an immediate investigation into the whole issue.

He said the women’s group formed by Mr Kapal’s wife that goes around claiming to be Jiwaka Provincial Council of Women was “an illegal entity that was not recognized”. The senior public servant said Mr Kapal was running JTA as a “one man show” as there was no consultation with other JTA members.

‘Get tested, know your status’ - Goi

2011-01-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

By James Apa Gumuno

Jimi Open MP Wake Goi has urged his people to go for voluntarily HIV/AIDS testing and know their status. Goi said this at Makin village in the Middle Jimi late last month while officially spending a new HIV/AIDS care center built by the Catholic church.

He told the people that if they were not careful and had multiple sex partners, they were likely to catch HIV and urged married couples to remain faithful to one another. He also told the young people not to experiment with sex outside of marriage and stressed that the virus was already claiming many lives in the district, province and country.

Goi said three full-time employees would be based at the center to look after people living with HIV. He presented K20,000 to the new center to meet its operational cost. Also during his visit, he opened the Gulka water supply in Middle Jimi which he funded at the cost of K90,000 last year.

He presented K20,000 to those who provided assistance to a local contractor who built the water supply. The new water supply project would cater for more than 1,000 people from the Nembga tribe. Goi told the people to look after the water supply, adding that it was a service he was providing to make their life more comfortable.

Jiwaka elites call on authority to be transparent

2011-01-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

The elites of Jiwaka Province have called on the Jiwaka Transitional Authority (JTA) to be honest, transparent and accountable when dealing with public funds. The elites claim that funds allocated by the National Government to fund preparatory works like the Minj urbanization program were not being used properly.

They were referring to K150,000 belonging to Jiwaka Ecumenical Women Federation that was given to another women’s group, claiming itself to be the Jiwaka Provincial Council of Women. Speaking on behalf of the elites, a senior public servant attached to South Wahgi district administration who refused to be identified said JTA had a task to carry out more awareness and it needed the support of the elites and the community at large. The public servant questioned how the money earmarked for JEWF could have been given to another group.

He said most of the elites working and attending various institutions in other parts of the country had returned home for holiday and were expecting JTA to call a meeting to get collective ideas from them but this did not eventuate. The public servant called on JTA members not only to preach but to be proactive to get things done instead of wasting public funds and people’s time.

He said there was no open forum organized for Jiwaka elites to attend and this was a big failure, claiming that budget submissions were done without following the normal process to put the province on a firm footing for 2011. “This is the beginning of the New Year and the elites want to know what is going on in Jiwaka. There is not much time left to do anything worth while before the issue of writs for the 2012 general elections some 14 months away,” he said.

The public servant said JTA should outline its plan for the province and not to preach a lot about where to establish the provincial headquarter. He also urged JTA members to forget talking about things they could not deliver to the people. Another leader Paul Andaku said the people of Jiwaka wanted to know where the funds allocated by the National Government were spent. Mr Andaku said members of JTA were using manual cheques which was not good and urged them to change it so that funds could be controlled by the treasury office.

“It is not good for them to write manual cheques because no vouchers are raised and this makes it difficult for acquittals of funds. For instance, Provincial Administrator Malcolm Culligan is the chief accountable officer of the province and makes the final decision to sign the cheque,” Mr Andaku said.

Illegal guns taking over the Highlands

2011-01-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

By Ramcy Wama

THE possession of illegal high powered guns in most parts of the country is a serious problem for law enforcers, resulting in many deaths in tribal fights mainly in the highlands region. About two weeks ago, the killing of one man caused more than 1000 people of Ngnampamp clan of Dalamb tribe in Bunumwo area of Jiwaka Province to flee for their lives as properties, houses and food gardens worth thousands of kina were destroyed by Krangamp tribe, who had combined with part of Dalamb tribe and armed themselves with illegal high powered guns.

The fight broke out between the Ngnampamp clan of Dalamb tribe and the Krangamp tribe over a land dispute. Fr Robert Nolie who is from the Ngnampamp clan claimed properties worth thousands of kina and lives would not have been destroyed if there weren’t any illegal firearms. Fr Nolie condemned the police in Banz for not responding quickly to the incident and the situation deteriorated because the police were not present to control the tribesmen.

“I called for the police in Banz and even alerted the station commander but the only response from the station commander was that there were not enough men and they did not have the necessary weapons or logistics to intervene,” Fr Nolie said. He said he reported the incident to Mount Hagen police station but the police refused to help.

“I reported the incident to the police but they refused as they asked me to provide them with money for fuel, buy betelnut and smoke, and even asked for allowances,” he said. Fr Nolie said he was unable to meet their needs and the only option was to flee for his life. He urged the appropriate authorities to look into such practices of some policemen because they were paid to maintain law and order wherever they were in the country.

Jiwaka Fish farmers get help

2011-01-11T18:14:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

Local leader Paul Andaku has donated K500 to more than 20,000 tribesmen and women of three tribes in the South Wahgi district of Jiwaka Province to maintain their Ksiborder fish farming project. The fish farm was started four years ago and is one of the impact community projects owned and operated by the people of Ngenika, Konoumpka and Kondika. It has 17 ponds at Kisborder and more at Minj Mu.

Coffee is the main cash crop and backbone of the people’s livelihood but it is a seasonal crop and they do not have alternative income earning opportunities. They therefore decided to try their hands at fish faming. Since the fish farm was established four years ago, the people received K10,000 from the Western Highlands Provincial Government under then Governor Paias Wingti.

Anglimp South Wahgi MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham had also given K8000 from his District Serices Improvement Program funds to help keep the project running. However, Kisborder Fish Farm is facing problems and need additional funding to maintain the ponds and facilities.

Mr Andaku has also given money to his own Konoumpka tribesmen for taking part in a community clean-a-thon, youth groups and other sports teams. He realised the importance of fish farming, both as a source of much-needed income and a means of cheap protein, and donated K500. Kisborder fish farm members were not expecting any help from their local leaders and appreciate Mr Andaku’s assistance.

They pledged to put the money to good use but said a lot of work remained to to be done and urged Mr Maxtone-Graham and the Western Highlands Provincial Government to intervene and inject more funds to keep the project going.

The members submitted a project proposal totaling K95,000 to Mr Maxtone-Graham and are awaiting a response. Mr Andaku told his people that that Kisborder fish farm was an important project they had initiated and urged the authorities, including South Wahgi rural development officer Pinge Palme, to assess it to finalize their submission so they could seek assistance.

He commended them for taking the initiative to dig the fish ponds, saying that their hard would not be wasted. Mr Andaku said apart from the obvious benefits, the fish project would also promote tourism, which he predicted would take off on the back of the Jiwaka’s urbanization program now in progress in Minj.

Kagul Koroka eyes G-G post

2011-01-11T18:10:00.001-08:00

By Peter Korugl

Senior Western Highlands businessman and leader Kagul Koroka CBE, CSM wants to be the next Governor-General of Papua New Guinea. A self made man, he believes he has the credentials to occupy the State House at Konedobu, the official residence of the Queen’s representative in PNG.

The 71-year-old man is educated up to Grade 10 only but his involvement in business and politics has provided him with the opportunities to mix with the best in both worlds that today, he reckons he understands the world and PNG, for that matter, a lot better than many in this country.

Born at Tomba in Western Highlands, Koroka started school at Paglum in 1960 and completed grade 10 at Kabiufa in 1965. While he was in school, he was made the school captain. After school, he joined the PNG Electricity Commission in Port Moresby but a bout with Malaria forced him to flee Port Moresby for Mt Hagen. There he joined the Department of Works as a clerk.

A year later he joined the Bush Boake Allen Australia Limited pyrethrum research project at Mendi in Southern Highlands. Koroka returned home to start his own farming business after the project closed down in 1971. He grew potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli and strawberries and sold them to hotels and motels in Mt Hagen. He then ventured into coffee, starting as a buyer on the roadside. Between 1973 and 1974, he bought two second-hand trucks and leased them to the Works Department.

In 1975, when PNG was preparing for Independence, he formed his own company, Kiluwa Trading and went into the trucking businesses. He headed Western Highlands Transport Investment Corporation. In 1976, he was in the forefront of PNG Highlands Freighters Pty Ltd, which then bought out PNG Freighters P/L which he headed as Chairman. Soon WHTIC bought out Pagini Brambles, another trucking firm, which eventually bought out ANGCO Coffee group, which controlled approximately 60 per cent of the coffee and cocoa exports.

In 1993 Kiluwa trading changed its name to Pangali Construction Ltd, which is now a renowned supplier of equipment, sand and gravel for road constructions in PNG. While he was running his business empire, he was slowly developing a keen interest in politics. In 1972, he contested the Tambul/Nebilyer Open seat, in 1977, he contested for the Western Highlands Regional seat, in 1982 and he contested the Tambul Nebilyer Open seat again. He lost the contests.

In 1984, he contested the Upper Nebilyer Constituency, and won. He went on to become Premier of Western Highlands but after 18 months, he lost the seat in a vote of no-confidence. He blamed his defeat on his strict control on expenditure of public funds.

In 1994 he defended his seat and won, but remained Opposition leader until the reform to the provincial government system came about. In 1977. Her Majesty the Queen awarded as a Commander of the British empire and then he was made a Companion of the Star of Melanesian. The awards were for his service to business, community and politics.

Jika Oprumb Villagers want overdue services

2011-01-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

The 2012 general election is already heating up in Mt Hagen and the nearby villages, some 14 months before the writs are issued. Hagen MP and Minister for Petroleum and Energy William Duma was invited by a small group of people as the official guest of honor at Kogmun village outside Mt Hagen City on Wednesday.

However, disgruntled Jika Oprumb tribesmen cut down trees using chain saws and blocked the Kogmun access road, preventing Mr Duma and his party from attending the ceremony. The people claim that the gathering was organised by his political supporters in preparation for the 2012 election, and this did not go down well with the majority of the people.
Road blocked for MP Duma: Chief leader Wai Rumints standing on the Kogmun road which his people blocked, preventing Hagen Open MP and Minister for Petroleum and Energy William Duma from attending a ceremony as guest of honor.

The Post-Courier made several attempts yesterday to contact Mr Duma for comments but his mobile phone went unanswered. Tribal Chief Wai Rumints explained that his people were frustrated because they had not benefited from any social services for many years. According to Mr Rumints, Mr Duma was invited to attend the ceremony to present a K1 million cheque to the people and another K800,000 to eight women dressed in traditional regalia to welcome him.

Mr Rumints said he did not know anything about the reported K1,800,000 but claimed that the occasion was only a “political gathering organized by Mr Duma’s supporters”. “If Mr Duma wants to hand out such huge amounts of money to his political supporters that is his business, but he must be fair and do the same to all the other tribes in Mt Hagen.” He said the people needed basic government services and were still waiting for Mr Duma to deliver.

“We desperately want Mr Duma to deliver essential goods and services to us and not in a way organized by his political supporters, because the money will benefit only a minority group of people.” Mr Rumints said in his two terms in office, Mr Duma had not delivered any services to the people of Hagen electorate and the deteriorating roads, schools, bridges and other government infrastructure urgently needed maintenance.

Give watchdogs more power: Kulno

2011-01-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

By Neville Togarewa

Graft and corruption will continue to plague PNG unless the National Parliament gives wide-ranging powers to the Ombudsman Commission (OC) and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Parliament should also enact laws to provide the two watchdog organizations unfettered independence and freedom from undue government interference and influence. The call was made yesterday by Wilfred Kulno, executive secretary of Jiwaka Waai Association Inc whose mandate is to fight graft and corruption at all levels of the public and private sectors.

Mr Kulno said the NA-led government especially Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, ministers, politicians and senior technocrats who had any sense of morality, justice and peace, should seriously ask themselves why PNG was listed 154 out of 178 countries in Transparency International’s 2010 corruption perceptions index.

He said it appeared that the OC and ICAC had the same or similar mandates and it would be proper and cost effective if they were amalgamated and given the powers and the resources to fight and help reduce corruption from its current pandemic levels that were bleeding the country of its development and growth potential.

Mr Kulno said the OC and ICAC might have the legislative and administrative frameworks to investigate and prevent corruption and conduct public awareness, but what they needed were more powers, independence and the resources to do their jobs more effectively.

“The National Government must give serious consideration to fighting corruption more effectively. It can do so by either enacting laws to give more powers to ICAC or make sweeping (amendments) to the Ombudsman Commission Act to give it more wider powers, not weaken it by removing its teeth as Parliament is now attempting to do,” Mr Kulno said.

Squatters welcome development

2011-01-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

By Neville Togarewa

Mount Hagen squatters have welcomed their MP and Petroleum and Energy Minister William Duma’s announcement that he has committed K1 million for power, water, sanitation and sewerage services.

But they want the contracts to be given to the right people and reputable companies from their settlements to carry out the infrastructure developments. Jacob Walega, 48, married with four grown-up children is from Southern Highlands but he has lived in a settlement in ward six with more than 5000 squatters on the fringes of Mt Hagen city for the last 20 years.

“We have voted for many MPs for Mt Hagen Open (electorate) but we still do not have basic services. Past MPs spent nothing to help us and the evidence is there for all to see in the settlements. “This is the first time for Minister Duma to promise us K1 million and we are very grateful to him.

“But he must get his JDP and BPC to give the contracts to settlement building construction and electrical companies to do the job. “Mr Duma is a very busy leader but he must visit the settlements and personally deliver the funds from the K1 million so that work can start as soon as possible. The writs for the 2012 election will be issued in about 14 months time but we cannot wait that long. The K1 million must be given now to the right people, the right companies, to deliver now and not after the election,” Mr Walega said.

He also urged contractors from the settlements to submit their quotations to the JDP & BPC now if they wanted to help improve the standard of living and quality of life of the squatters. There are 20-25,000 squatters from the Highlands region and coastal provinces living in 33 settlements in and around Mt Hagen city which has an estimated population of more than 150,000.

Papua New Guinea Music: Highlands Compilation Video Clips

2011-01-06T23:35:00.000-08:00

Hagen North Students' association gets K10,000

2011-01-06T20:21:00.000-08:00

By Elias Lari

The University of Papua New Guinea Hagen North Students Association has received a cheque of K10,000 yesterday to carry out their awareness, thanks to Western Highlands Governor Tom Olga (left).

The cheque was presented by Olga’s protocol officer Peter Kiap at the Mt Hagen UPNG open campus. The money will be used to support the students to carry out their awareness on HIV /AIDS, tribal fights issues, climate change and health issues. Association president Nathan Onom thanked Olga for his support.

He said the association was formed in 2006 but lacked financial support, to not carry out any awareness in past two years. He said the association would be playing major role in educating the people on the changes in the remote parts of the province about health and other major issues that were affecting the nation.

Onom said they would try to reach some areas in Dei council, Mul Baiyer and Lumusa to educate the people. He said the association would ensure that information and awareness reached the bulk of the population in remote areas. Onom said many people were told of these issues, but they did not know the effect and what cause them. Meanwhile, Kiap had urged the students not to give up their plans to carry out the awareness.

He said the province would need everyone to make a change and commended the students for coming up with ideas to help create awareness on HIV/Aids, health issues, climate change and tribal fight.

He said these were some of the major issues that needed people to create awareness. Kiap said information must reach the people so that they could be aware of what was happening. He added that people must not wait for a change but they had to do something to make a change and thanked the students for their support.

Mt Hagen to begin awareness on tax obligations

2011-01-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

By Neville Togarewa

Mount Hagen Urban Local Level Government is losing up to K500,000 a year in land tax collections because rate payers are not paying their dues, according to a city authority spokesman. Mr Robert Romba said on Tuesday the ULLG, which is also the City Authority, would begin a public awareness campaign in two weeks time to educate ratepayers and the general public about their tax obligations.

“By law, the City Authority should be collecting 3.5 and 3 percent of the unimproved value of commercial and residential properties respectively every year. “Annual land tax collections is estimated to bring in about K800,000 a year in internal revenue but we are collecting about half (K400,000) and sometimes even less.

“State leases are granted with conditions and payment of land tax is mandatory. “However, many ratepayers have not been paying their taxes and we intend to do something about it in the new year,” Mr Romba said. “City residents, including people living in settlements, and business houses through the Western Highlands Chamber of Commerce and Industry are calling out for improved services but we do not have the funds to provide basic services,” he said.

“(Many people) have not been paying land rates to Mt Hagen ULLG since July 2007 and this is making it very difficult for us. We are therefore appealing to everyone to help make Mt Hagen a safer, healthier and conducive place to live, work and do business in,” Mr Romba said.

He said the public awareness campaign on land tax was part of Governor Olga’s Hagen Kona Kai concept. He urged everyone to play their part to help improve Mt Hagen city.

Keep politics out of Western Highlands Province

2011-01-06T20:06:00.000-08:00

Western Highlanders have been warned not to mix politics with good initiatives by people to bring about change in the community. Samson Komati(left), leader of the newly formed Western Highlands elite group said there were elite Western Highlanders who were coming up with ways to change their province and these initiatives must be supported by everyone.

Mr Komati was referring to criticisms leveled at his group last week over its efforts to carry out a cleanathon in the city of Mt Hagen. “Contrary to what some leaders are saying, Western Highlands elites were there on that weekend to carry out the cleanathon.

“I do not know where these leaders were on that day but if they had gone around the city, they would have seen us working. “Even the media was informed about this but they chose to ignore our invitations and reported the comments from out critics,” Mr Komati said.

He said Western Highlands Governor Tom Olga was there, Provincial Administrator Malcolm Calligan was there too. “We cleaned up the city,” Mr Komati said. He said the critics were most probably looking out for all Western Highands elites to take part in that cleanathon but that was unrealistic.

“We never said every elite will take part. “Many of these people have commitments. Only a few attended,” he said. Those that attended contributed K5000 at the end of the day which they used to host a party for the province’s leaders.

Scholarships offered for North Waghi

2011-01-05T18:09:00.000-08:00

By Ancilla Wrakuale

Four students from the Nodgul Community School in North Waghi district, Western Highlands, will be awarded a one-year scholarship to study in New South Wales, Australia. The scholarship will be based on academic performance by the students for those who performed well in the first top 5%.

The scholarship comes under the student exchange programme, a community initiative of Jiwaka Rotary International. According to Jiwaka Rotary International president Frank Goi, the students will leave in April after the selection when the school resumes for the new academic year.
Based on their internal marks, the students will sit for an examination and from those results, four students – two male and two female – will be selected. The students will do their Year 7 at East Maitland Primary School in Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia.

The programme, which is said to continue for the next five years, is fully funded by Rotary Australia International and will cover travel, accommodation and tuition and school fees.

“This is the first of its kind in Jiwaka to send students to Australia to study. “It is good for the students as they are going to learn new cultures and lifestyles and a relief for the parents from paying school fees,” Goi said. The student exchange programme is one of Jiwaka Rotary International many community-based projects.

New recruits join Western Highlands public service

2011-01-05T18:01:00.000-08:00

By Pius Mon

The Western Highlands provincial administration has recruited more than 100 new public servants to boost its operations this year. A total of 128 new recruits, including 10 transfers, were welcomed in an informal gathering outside the Kokobango Building by the provincial administrator, Malcolm Culligan (left).

Culligan said most of the new recruits had taken up positions that were either left vacant by officers who had died, transferred or resign. Others were newly created positions. He attributed the increase to no restructure for the administration over the last 10 years.

He said most of the casuals, who had been acting against public servants’ positions, had been confirmed. While urging the new officers to perform to expectations, Culligan warned them that he would not hesitate to dismiss those who cannot perform. He reminded them that there were public service acts and general orders that guide all public servants and these acts and orders must be observed and followed. The new recruits would be on probation for the next 12 months.

They bring the total number of public servants, including casuals in the province and the seven districts, to 576. The new officers would be inducted into the system after completing a two-week induction training on public service acts and general orders and other requirements.

Dei Hunter’s get New Year gift

2011-01-05T17:48:00.000-08:00

By Daniel Gerson

Goodman Fielders International has shown its interest in promoting sports in Western Highlands Province by coming to the aid of Dei Hunters Rugby League club. Dei Hunters is one of the 14 clubs participating in the WHP Governor’s Cup competition. GFI Highlands regional manager Steven Koi presented 30 Flame Flour promotion caps, 30 round-neck T-shirts and four rugby balls to the club last Friday.

Koi said GFI was supporting national sports like swimming and tennis but this was the first time for the company to help a rugby club. Dei Hunters team manager Nelson Sent thanked GFI for the for their donation. He said rugby league was a national sport with wide community participation and the company’s support was timely.
Dei Hunters as a representative club from Dei district was fortunate to receive such assistance and they would do their best to help promote the company. The Dei Hunters are currently sitting on 5 points. Last Sunday’s round 5 games were postponed because of Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Chairman of the WHP Governors Cup Nikints Tiptip said the competition was picking up well and with big turnouts on Wednesdays. Tiptip urged all club officials to lookout for the games draws tomorrow for the mid- week games to be played at Kagamuga shown grounds.

According to competition coordinator Joe Mconnor, the point leader is Gomis Eagles on 8 points, Kagamuga Warriors 7, Kondo East 6, Dei Hunters 5, Mul Norths 4, Kindeng Settlers 4, Kui Raiders 4, City Rangers 4, Hagen Doa 4, Boarder West 2, Nebliyer Brothers 2,Minz West 2 and Fatima Falcons and Banz are yet to win a game. The draw for round 5 games the Wednesday mid-week games is: Kui Raiders vs Dei Hunters, Nebliyer Brothers vs Kindeng Settlers, Gomis Eagles vs Mul Norths, Minz West vs Hagen Doa , City Rangers vs Kagamuga Warriors , Fatima Falcon vs Boarders West and Banz vs Kondo West.

He said the Governor’s Cup was being played subject to the PNGRFL sports calendar and the mid-week games are played so that the competition does not clash with other national commitments.

Youths aim for positive change in the New Year

2011-01-05T17:39:00.000-08:00

By Pius Mon

New Year is a time when individuals, including communities, decide to quit their old habits and make firm resolutions not to go back to their old ways of life, but to make a fresh beginning with a change in their attitudes and behaviors. For a small, but hardworking community in a remote part of Western Highlands province, this is what they are looking forward to, a positive change in their community at the start of 2011.

‘New Year, New Beginning in Oper community with unity...say no to Aids, drugs and steam’ was the message on a big banner in front of the grandstand in this little community at Wurup/Kaip area of Anglimp South Waghi district, outside of Mt. Hagen. As the whole nation went into festive celebrations to welcome the New Year, this particular community wake up as early as six o’clock in the morning, making sure the whole community was neat and tidy for the occasion.
Youths along with community leaders in front of the banner, pledging to live a good life in the new year and beyond.

Just after eight o’clock the whole place was clean and decorated with flower and leaves of trees, a clear indication that people were prepared to began the New Year with a change in this little part of the world. Guests arrived after one o’clock and the celebration for the Oper community began with dramas by the youths followed by speeches from community leaders, appreciating what this small community was doing, a shining example to their neighbors and others in the same area.

Wama Tepa, Project Coordinator thanked all, including guests and locals, for attending the small but significant program that will now change the community for a better tomorrow. The project or awareness, he said, in drugs, Aids and steam, and working to achieve positive changes in the community by the local people themselves was a UNDP project that falls under the Community Capacity Enhancement (CCE) program. He said under the CCE program people are encouraged to do things that will bring positive changes into their families and the whole community that they live in.

Mr Tepa said the 500 plus population of Oper community have, over the past years, taken the initiative to bring in fresh water supply using the local free labor and own contributions. He said the same community have contributed to have power connected to their small community and this time, the awareness to have people’s altitudes change so that there is peace and harmony enjoyed by all citizens.

Markus Pogal, another active member in the drive to see positive changes in the community said the program was in line with the eight (8) United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and its campaign to end poverty by the year 2015. He said all the MDGs are captured and practiced in this small community except to the goal number eight, International Relations and Trade, adding that thought trading is not done at international level, the local people do contribute to assist those in needy such as the hospitals and the prisoners during special times like Christmas and Easter.

Mr. Pogal said it was better to began something in a smaller way and expand the concept to the neighboring communities and eventually at a much bigger level that will have much impact. He stressed that people have one life to live and we will all die one day, adding that it is better to enjoy life and the only way to do that is by living in a society that is peaceful equipped with life’s basic necessities such as water and power.

Mul aids Koiwai villagers

2011-01-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

By Paul Minga

North Waghi MP Benjamin Mul (left)has donated K45,000 to the people of Koiwai village near Banz. A total K20,000 of the K45,000 will be shared by about 200 Koiwai villagers for cleaning and maintaining an access road and building a wooden bridge in their area.

Mr Mul gave K25,000 as a Christmas present to Jiwaka’s popular local musician Tony Banga and his Dop Doit band members to buy a new set of musical instruments. In a small ceremony at Koiwai village last Monday, Mr Mul encouraged the people, espcially youths, to take ownership of community initiatives, public facilities, programs and projects and contribute to the development of their villages, communities and Jiwaka province.

“I will be available to assist men and women who are prepared to help themselves, and especially our youths with special skills and talents so that they can fulfill their dreams,” Mr Mul said.

“As a leader, I will play my part in whatever way I can but you must also play your part and together we can make a bigger impact in our villages, communities and our province,” Mr Mul said. Dop Doi band leader Tony Banga thanked the North Waghi MP for the K25,000 and told his fans to look forward to his “new and exciting volume two recording” which will be released later this year.

Mount Hagen to approve K1 million for basic services

2011-01-05T17:13:00.000-08:00

By Neville Togarewa

Mount Hagen JDP&BPC is ready to approve K1 million at its first meeting of 2011 to fund much-needed basic services like clean water supply, sanitation, sewerage and electricity to more than 20,000 settlers in the city. Mt Hagen MP and Minister for Petroleum and Energy, William Duma (left), announced this on Christmas Day when he addressed a large group of settlers, assuring them that they were “entitled” to the K1 million.

Seventy-year old Engan settler James Titope pleaded to Mr Duma and reminded him that the settlers were in desperate need of basic services, especially water and sanitation, adding there was a high risk of disease outbreak. Former Newtown ward manager of Mt Hagen ULLG, Akkai Kup, said yesterday (Tue Dec 4) that he had carried out a feasibility study on the settlement’s needs in 2009 and a local company, Takil Ltd, was ready to begin work to provide basic services as soon as the JDP&BPC released the funds.

Mr Kup said he had spoken to Mr Duma who assured him that the committee would release the funds after its meeting. “We have identified 20-25,000 settlers living in more than 33 settlements in the city’s eight urban council wards,” Mr Kup said. “The aim of the project is to improve standard of living and health in the urban settlements and help prevent cholera, typhoid and other communicable diseases,” he said.

Mr Kup said the project would take 8-10 months to complete and urged settlement dwellers to take ownership of the project and maintain and look after the facilities when they were built. “Basic services will reach the settlers of Mt Hagen. Mr James Titope is rest assured that his ward 8 and the other wards will see some improvements this year in terms of water, sanitation and electricity,” Mr Kup said.

“None of Mt Hagen MPs, town (or urban) councils and provincial governments have recognized this major problem for the last 30 years and Mr Duma is the first MP to do so,” he said. “Urban settlements are here to stay and Mr Duma recognizes the need for basic social services. He has committed the funds and many settlers will see improved services this year,” Mr Kup said.

The Western Highlands Provincial Government (WHPG) has a new website

2011-01-04T19:52:00.000-08:00

History of Western Highlands Province

Kuk Swamp, in the Wahgi Valley, has evidence of 20, 000 years of human habitation. Gardening began 9000 years ago, which makes Papua New Guineans among the world’s first farmers. In 1933 the Leahy brothers, Mick and Dan,stumbled upon the huge, fertile and heavily populated Wahgi Valley. After aerial reconnaissance, they walked in with a large, well-supplied patrol. Missionaries followed the Leahy brothers, and government stations were built near present-day Mt Hagen. The first patrol built an airstrip at Mt Hagen.

Not until the 1950s were changes felt, and even then many areas remained largely unaffected until the 1960s and 70s. The construction of the Highlands Highway had a huge impact on the Highlanders lives, as did the introduction of cash crops, particularly coffee. The Western Highlanders had long been traders and skillful gardeners, and adapted to the cash economy with remarkable speed.

Geography

The province is centrally located in the Highlands of the country and shares common borders with Enga, Southern Highlands, Simbu and Madang provinces. Mount Hagen is the capital city of the province and is located in Hagen Central District Topographically, the province is diverse with mountains towering above 2,800 meters such as Mt. Giluwe and also areas of low altitude such as Tsendiap in the lower Jimi which is about 600 meters above sea level.

The province is characterized by five (5) main interlocking valley system including the main Waghi Valley, Kaugel and Nebliyer, Mul/Baiyer and Jimi. It has an extraordinary range of ecosystems which contain the rare bird of paradise in the low lying rain forest areas. The mountain ranges (Kumbor, Sepik/Waghi Divide and Bismarch) are covered with rain forest while the mountain ranges towards the West are covered by savannah grass.

Climate and Altitude

Western Highlands have two seasonal climates, dry and wet. Dry season begins in May and ends in October, while wet season begins in early November and ends in April. Temperature rises to 27 degree Celsius during dry season and down to 16 degree Celsius in wet seasons. The average rainfall varies between 2200 and 4000 millimeters, expecting heavy rainfall in months of December, January and February.

Attitude of the province ranges from 600m in the lower lands to 4,000m in the upper lands. Most people live within an attitudinal range of 1,400 - 2,200 meters. Much of the land is covered with grass and rain forest where Hoop and Klinki Pine trees are common especially in the Tambul and Jimi areas. Though much of the land is potential for farming it has varied landscapes and high mountains ranging from as high as 3,800 meters to 4,300 meters above sea level.

Land Use

About 91% of the land area is customary owned while 9% of the land area in WHP is occupied for institution establishments, cash cropping, religious activities and others.

Land potential for farming is very high in most parts of the Province. Though some areas are high hilled and slopes still have the potential for growing vegetables and sweet potatoes. Crop production is maintained through the use of peanut rotations, composting, and drainage and mounding. Subsistence farming is common in most parts of the province, growing especially fruits and vegetables for home consumption and surplus for sale in local markets. Coffee and tea make up bigger portions of land basically on commercial ventures. There is continuous depletion of rain forest and grasslands in rural areas as a consequence of population growth and economic activities.

Major Land Features

Western Highlands is surrounded by mountain ranges and the central plateau is the Nebliyer Valley spreading towards Hagen Central for north and of the fertile Waghi Valley.
The highest mountain in the province is Mt. Giluwe with 4,300 meters above sea level and Mt. Hagen with 3,800 meters. Mt Kubor range 4,117 meters. Much of the mountains are covered with tropical rain forest.

People and Culture

The people of the province still live in tribal groups. These tribal groups form alliances with neighboring tribes and in the olden days, those groups will assist to defend enemy tribes.

The cultural groups are more distinct, the people of Hagen Central, Mul, Dei and Tambul/Nebliyer have similar traditions and customs. Their pattern of traditional dressing, marriage, feasts and other social occasions are somewhat different to the people of Baiyer or the Jiwaka area.

Languages

Along with the different tribal groupings,the languages of the people in the province also differ from area to area. The main dialects are the Melpa speaking people around Hagen Central, Tembuga- in Tambul (Kaugel) area, Baiyer - Enga, Mid Waghi and Jimi. There are also variations within the main dialects such as the Kumas who speak a slightly different version of the Mid Waghi language. In the Jimi area alone, there are five other dialects spoken in different parts of the district. And so communication is more difficult with the older age groups. However, pidgin and English are now widely spoken.

Diet or Staple Food(s)

The staple food for the people of Western Highlands is sweet potato. Other staple foods are: English potatoes, taro and banana. Rice is another imported staple food.

Economy

1. Cash Crops

Coffee is the main cash crop followed by tea and other minor crops such as cardamon. WHP is PNG's largest coffee producer accounting for between 42 - 46% of the country's annual production.

2. Tourism

WHP is an entry point into the Highlands for international tourists as it is well serviced by air services, and is a transit point for neighboring provinces. There are a number of international standard hotels and guesthouses. Attraction like annual Mt. Hagen Cultural Show and Jiwaka Cultural Show usually brings in a large number of domestic and international tourists.

Tourism is decentralized where tourists are taken to the villages for village study, cultural exposure and other adventurous activities.

Mt Hagen City

Mt Hagen city, the capital of the province, is expanding rapidly as a busy commercial center. The city boast the first high rise building in the Highlands Region. Commercial farming is becoming important as well for generating cash income to the province. There is high dependency on farming for the sustainability of the province's economy.

Mt Hagen Market

The newly built Mt. Hagen Market is promoting local produce, basically garden crops. It is the biggest market in the country. It is the hub of rural subsistence farmers who sell their produce to urban Kai-bars and dwellers, traveling public and act as wholesalers for other markets in the province and outside the province. Fresh food marketing is another agriculture commodity contributing to the local economy.

Employment

Subsistence farming is predominately rural that accounts for 52% males and 62% females of the total employment population respectively. In the urban areas, Mt Hagen city and Banz, coffee and tea plantations and government institutions, wages job are most common.

Infrastructure

WHP currently has some basic physical infrastructure in place to facilitate accessibility to other government services and promote economic development.

Roads and Bridges

The province has a total road network of 1,500 kilometers of which only 205 kilometers are sealed. The Highlands Highway runs through the province from the border of Simbu to Enga and Southern Highlands Provinces. All districts are accessible by weather roads except for geographically difficult areas such as Kambia, parts of Lumusa, parts of Lower Kaguel and Jimi. Light aircraft, choppers or walking are the only means of transportation by the people in these localities.
1. Airstrips

The Kagamuga airport is currently taking day services and nearly all the Third level Airlines and Air Niugini frequent this port. Passenger traffic has been increasing over the years from this airport making Kagamuga the most important airport in the region.

2. Electricity

The province receives power supply from Ramu Hydro and Paunda. Power lines runs through all the districts accept Jimi, Baiyer and Dei. Alternative lighting system for health facilities, schools, churches and government outstations is by use of Solar lighting or generators. Otherwise majority depends on firewood and hurricane lamps as source of light.

Political Head

The provincial member declared elected in 2007 was Mr. Tom Olga (above) of the National Alliance Party. The sitting member between 2002 and 2007 was one-time Prime Minister, Mr. Paias Wingti.

More information on districts, schools, electorates, politics, health, sports, etc... and the latest developments in Western Highlands Province can be obtained by logging onto http://www.whpg.gov.pg

'Mount Hagen Eagles' name retained

2011-01-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

By Henry Morabang

The national government through the National Gaming Control Board (NGCB) has allocated K400,000 to sportsmen and women of Western Highlands. The funding comes in two components – K350,000 to carry out renovation work on Rebiamul Oval and K50,000 to Mt Hagen Urban Off-season sports played throughout the Christmas – New Year period.

NGCB chief executive officer Simon Sanagke yesterday said the funding was sourced through community funds under the gaming board to support sports throughout the country. Sanagke said the work on fences around Rebiamul Oval had already started while the proper seating for spectators would be up this month in preparation for the inter-city competition.
“The preparation has started to have a new Mt Hagen Eagles franchise return to its nest, Rebiamul Oval, in the coming season,” the NGCB chief said. Mt Hagen rugby league will stage all its games at Rebiamul unlike previous years where matches were played at other venues.

Sanagke also used his business contacts to secure K200,000 from gaming service provider, Wantok Gaming System, to support Mt Hagen Eagles this year. He said Kuris name would be dropped because Mt Hagen Eagles rightfully belonged to the Mt Hagen RFL and the name would be retained.

Sanagke urged former Mt Hagen Eagles official Peter Bebi to accept the change, adding that Eagles players should come out of this competition only. He challenged the business community in Mt Hagen and local politicians to help put more focus into supporting sporting activities that would impact and bring changes to the community.

Faces of Jiwaka: Papua New Guinea's new province on the block

2011-01-03T21:04:00.000-08:00

Mount Hagen elites fail to turn up

2011-01-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

By Neville Togarewa

The planned cleanathon for Mt Hagen city on Boxing Day spearheaded by the 10,000 elites of Western Highlands province was a complete flop because the elites did not turn up. And the City Authority has called on Samson Komati (left) and the organizers to apologize to the Western Highlands Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), city residents and the general public for failing to do what they had promised to do.

The organizers distributed copies of Western Highlands Development Forum newsletter several days earlier promoting the city-wide cleanathon. The Hagen city cleanathon is an annual event spearheaded by all elites of WHP. It will start at 8am at Pope John Paul oval and cover the four corners of the city (and will take) whole day, Mr Komati said.

We are simply fed up with lawlessness in the province and demand a change in the behavior and attitude of all WHP people so that our city and province may become a safe, peaceful and happy place for all forms of social, economic, spiritual and cultural activities to flourish commencing 2011, he said.

Mr Komati said the cleanathon would complement Governor Tom Olga and the provincial government's Mt Hagen Kona Kai concept supported by the CCI, Law and Justice Sector of PNG and other stakeholders. Robert Romba, chairman responsible for the City Authority's beautification program, said the authority was disappointed that the cleanathon did not take place, adding the organizers did not consult them.

The Lord Mayor and the city management team want the 2010 city cleanathon organizers and the 10,000 educated elites of WHP to apologize. They were supposed to turn up but failed to do so, he said. They have created false expectations from the general public, the City Council and its employees and the CCI. They must apologize to everyone, he said. Mr Romba also thanked the Kom Kui community for organizing their own clean-up of the city.

We are thankful to the Kom Kui university student leaders for organizing their youth, elders, women and children and doing an excellent job of cleaning the whole city area, he said. They demonstrated their real concern for their city and are examples for other concerned Western Highlanders like the elites to follow their lead, Mr Romba said.

Teacher: Schools cheated in exams

2011-01-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

By Yvonne Haip

A total of eight secondary schools in the country have been accused of cheating in the Grade 12 examinations this year. Some schools were believed to be from Enga and National Capital District.

Even though education authorities at the Measurement Services Unit (MSU) were aware of this, no action had been taken. It is understood that the penalty of such an offence could result in the non-certification of students; however, this has not been the case.
A senior Grade 12 teacher in Western Highlands told The National that even though MSU said it would “deal with them”, this had never been done and students had been allowed to graduate with As and Bs. The teacher, who requested anonymity, said the more than 800 teachers, who had taken part in marking the examination papers, had been told to sign a secrecy form pledging not to reveal anything that happened in the marking arena.

However, this teacher said it was disheartening to find that some schools could cheat to get good grades while those who had earned through merit were suffering. The teacher added that this was frustrating because genuine teachers would not see the fruits of their teaching because of the cheating.

The teacher said the instance of schools identified of cheating in some subjects was of great concern because the same incident had happened last year, where three schools had allegedly cheated and gotten away with it, while this year, the figures had increased.

The teacher said if this was not addressed, the trend would continue and the education system in the country would deteriorate. The teacher said the examination papers were believed to have been leaked and someone had allegedly sold the examination papers to the schools accused of cheating.

The teacher claimed that the schools were identified of cheating in certain subjects after some of the answers given were the same and written word for word to that of the exam setters. This is not normal because while the idea and answer may be the same, they will not written word for word.

In another example, the teacher claimed some of the schools who allegedly cheated, scored 19 out 20 for the multiple choice questions, and that one mistake was the same mistake made by all the students and they all wrote the same wrong answer.

The teacher called for an immediate investigation into this as it was unfair to hard working students. Attempts to confirm the allegations with the MSU director Greg Kapanombo were unsuccessful.

Children burnt to death in Mt Hagen

2011-01-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

By James Apa Gumuno

Two children were burnt to death on Wednesday night at Last Warakum within Mt Hagen city while six others escaped the inferno at a home. It was reported that the incident happened in the night when their parents, the owners of the house, were out leaving their four children to sleep with another couple and their four children. It was alleged that the fire started from a candle lit inside the bedroom of the couples.

The other couple sleeping with their four children inside another bedroom woke up because of the heat and left the house with their children after realizing that the house was on fire. However, the four children whose parents were out, were still in the house when they left.

Later, two older children of the four escaped leaving the two younger ones.
An eye witness, Joachim Tembo, said that he was on his way home after a prayer meeting with others at Warakum when the incident happened. He said the fire started around 9pm and quickly spread completely burning the house down adding that it was hard for him and others at the scene to go inside and save the two small boys because the whole building was in flames.

He said they tried to put out the fire by cutting banana trees and throwing them on top of the roof but this did not help. Tembo said there was no water supply nearby to put out the fire and they watched helplessly while the fire burnt the bush material house down.

He said the remains of the two children were taken to the Mt Hagen Hospital morgue later that night. He said the deceased were from Enga. A staff at the Mt Hagen General Hospital confirmed the incident yesterday.

Sir Michael praised for stepping aside

2011-01-02T19:04:00.000-08:00

By Yvone Haip

Sidelined Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare (left) has been praised for stepping aside after public prosecutor referred him to the chief judge to appoint a leadership tribunal. Western Highlands’ human rights advocacy group, Jiwaka Waal Dam Association (JWDA) described the move by Sir Michael as “the most honourable thing by a reputable leader”.

JWDA’s executive secretary, Wilfred Kulno, said Sir Michael, as founding father of the country, had made the right decision to step aside and had done the country good. He also commended Sir Michael for appointing Wabag MP, Sam Abal as deputy and acting Prime Minister.

He said the appointment of Abal was the right choice, as Abal was a God-fearing man with wisdom. He also said Abal had already been well groomed as a senior politician, as well as the son of a former parliamentarian (late Sir Tei Abal) and could be trusted with such positions.

He further thanked Sir Michael for allowing the Jiwaka region with its more than 200,000 people to be a separate province, and allocating K20 million for the rehabilitation of the Waghi Mek plantations. Kulno is calling on Abal to fast track outstanding issues so that Jiwaka becomes a fully pledged province before 2012, as well as release the approved K20 million so that Waghi Mek could be revived in time to help generate income for the new province.

He also urged to Jiwaka transitional authority to cooperate and work closely with the government to ensure that necessary services were delivered. JWDA has a long association with Sir Michael since December 2001 when Sir Michael and Natioanl Alliance party president, Simon Kaiwi, toured Minj to endorse candidates for the 2002 general election.

It was at that time, the association delivered the funding submission for Waghi Mek Plantations through its patron and former Jimi MP and lands minister, the late Sir Thomas Kavali.

Mount Hagen settler wants changes

2011-01-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

By David Muri

Settler James Titope lives at a crowded shack at the Works Compound with his extended family in Mt Hagen. The 60-year-old Engan has been living at this settlement since migrating from his native Maramuni 45 years ago.

Mr Titope has voted for the Hagen Open seat in almost all general elections. One of his choices was current MP and Minister for Petroleum and Energy William Duma (left). His settlement lacks many basic services like a decent water supply, sanitation, sewerage, electricity and other necessities. On Christmas Day, Mr Titope fired a broadside at Mr Duma, publicly asking the minister to seriously focus on improving the settlements rather than allocating most of his electoral development funding to rural areas.

“Enough of villages please, now we want to see basic services reach the settlements. We need electricity and water supply,” Mr Titope pleaded with Mr Duma at Gapina village, where the MP was officiating at a road opening ceremony. Mr Duma quickly replied, telling Mr Titope and the crowd that settlements were entitled to benefit from a K1 million allocation for electricity and water-supply projects. He also announced K6 million for rural electrification alone.

Meanwhile, Mr Duma assured his supporters there was enough time left for services to be delivered between now and the next general elections in 2012. “Eighteen months is a long time in politics. I can deliver the goods and services up to the opening of the writs,” he said.

The Minister for Petroleum and Energy said national issues took precedence over electoral matters as he was handling the LNG deal as minister responsible. “Reviving the gas industry and initiating a new LNG industry was a daunting task,” Mr Duma said. But he said the multi-billion kina LNG project was underway, adding he would focus on bringing tangible services to the Hagen people.

Western Highlands deputy governor Wai Rapa praised Mr Duma for achieving a milestone for PNG’s economy through the LNG deal. Mr Rapa said the Hagen people had missed their MP but added now he was back and would begin to deliver the projects. Mr Rapa appealed to individuals not to submit extravagant claims, saying all funds would be put into projects to benefit the majority.

Rambi helps border school, aid post

2011-01-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

By David Muri

Around 30 children out of about 600 students attending Koge Namba Primary School in Mt Hagen hail from villages in the neighboring Mul Baiyer electorate. And about 20 patients from these villages also seek medical attention at the Koge aid post every week. That is enough reason for MP Sani Rambi (left) to constantly fund the school and aid post situated in Hagen District using funds belonging to his Mul Baiyer electorate.

Mr Rambi justified last week that some of his people on the border villages with Hagen send children to school and seek treatment at Koge, and it was only proper for him as a responsible leader to subsidize some funding responsibility. So far Mr Rambi had spent K120,000 in this community alone. In return, the school had named one of its new teachers duplexes after him last Thursday. The building will be called Rambi Duplex.

In a previous presentation, Mr Rambi gave K50,000 to Koge Namba Primary School and K20,000 to Koge aid post for the erection of new buildings. The MP also paid K30,000 to the local Jika Panga people for beautifying the road from Kelua to Gumanch with flowers.

Last Thursday, Mr Rambi presented another K20,000 to the aid post to purchase medical supplies. He said Koge village deserved his funding because the people from Mul Baiyer’s border villages benefited from its services.

“I am not spending all these mon-ies here because I have friends and relatives here, it is because I have children and people from Mul Baiyer attending school and getting treatment here,” Mr Rambi said. In appreciatiion of Mr Rambi’s support, the board and management of the school presented Mr Rambi and Western Highlands Governor Tom Olga with two pigs each.

Happy New Year (2011)

2010-12-29T20:09:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all my friends worldwide for visiting Western Highlands Province

Cheers to the new year!

Don't mourn the past as it won't come back. Rejoice over the new beginning and accept the challenges with happiness and optimism.

New Year begins, let us pray that it will be a Year with New Peace, New Happiness, and Abundance of New Friends, and God bless you throughout the New Year.

Merger with Eagles on the cards for Kuris in 2011

2010-12-29T18:46:00.000-08:00

By Elias Lari

The Mt Hagen Kuris have struck it lucky for the second year in a row with Wantok Gaming System (WGS) renewed its support of the inter-city cup side with a K200,000 sponsorship package to compete in the new season.

Chief executive officer of the National Gaming Control Board (NGCB) Simon Sanagke revealed this on Sunday in Mt Hagen. However, he said currently Mt Hagen had two teams, the Eagles and Kuris, but added that these two teams were working towards a possible merger so that they could form a stronger side.
The Kuris were the wooden spooners in the bemobile Cup last season and would welcome the proposed merger which would not only bolster its playing ranks but possibly bring in many loyal Eagles fans.

He said if both teams Kuri and Eagles sit in a round table discussion then they could form a better team selecting from the cream of the province’s best players. He said Western Highlands produced quality players and that was why WGS was proud to become the major sponsor of the Kuris.

Eagles president Peter Bepi has not indicated any interest in combining with the Kuris but may have no choice if they do not re-enter. Sanagke said rugby league was a national sport and such sponsorship would boost the morale of the players. He said the sponsorship package was not a waste but it was part promoting development in the country.

PPC: No control over alcohol sale in Hagen

2010-12-29T18:39:00.000-08:00

By James Apa Gumuno

MT Hagen is turning into a black market for beer as residential areas were given licenses to sell alcohol by the provincial liquor licensing board. Highlands divisional police commander ACP Simon Kauba said on Tuesday that there were too many liquor outlets in the city and that contributed to many social problems.
Kauba said it was against the law to grant a license to anyone wanting to sell alcohol in a residential area but this was not happening in Mt Hagen. He said he could not understand why licenses were given to anyone wanting to sell alcohol.

He claimed liquor inspectors were not doing their job by inspecting the applicants’ premises and facilities before issuing licenses and provincial liquor inspectors did not have time to move around and monitor the liquor outlets and impose their rules and regulations.

Kauba said the liquor board issued licenses without realizing the sort of problems or impact it would have on the residents. He said there was no control over the sale of liquor in the city and as a result, the city was becoming like a “black market for alcohol”, adding that to make it worse, the license holders sold alcohol past 10pm which was beyond normal trading hours.

In other centers, liquor outlets selling beer beyond trading hours had their licenses removed but not in Mt Hagen, he said. “Many offenses committed in the city are alcohol-related and this was a big concern and authorities should take immediate action and address it,” he said.

Kauba said Mt Hagen was a city and there had to be some control over the sale of liquor, adding that the police were willing to assist the liquor board to address this issue.

A cultural group seeks assistance to perform in Sydney

2010-12-29T18:07:00.000-08:00

By Daniel Gerson

A cultural group from Mt Hagen is appealing for contributions in cash and kind from individuals and business houses to finance their three-week trip to Sydney to perform at the Opera House. The 30-member Pulga Cultural Group from the Moge Adamglimp tribe of Hagen Central need about K150,000 to make the trip that scheduled for February 27. They have raised K60,000 already and need another K90,000.
According to the group’s chairman of the fund-raising committee, Mr Leo Wakimp, they have been invited to showcase their unique culture by the organisers of a three-week international festival that will be held at the Opera House.

Mr Wakimp said they have asked Western Highlands Governor Tom Olga and Hagen MP and Minister for Petroleum and Energy William Duma for financial assistance. The group is also appealing to business houses in Mt Hagen for assistance.

The Wamp Nga Group of Companies has donated K1000 and Goodman Fielders International donated 20 bags of 20kg Flame flour to assist the group in their fund-raising drive. The 30 members- will contribute K2, 000 each to help meet the cost of their trip to perform at the Opera House.

Voters happy with Duma’s work

2010-12-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

By David Muri

Voters in Mt Hagen have assured incumbent MP William Duma that his seat is safe and secured for the 2012 election because of the decisive, vibrant and transparent leadership he has displayed at all levels in the province.

The Moge Angump people told Mr Duma at Gapina village on Christmas Day that they will return him to Parliament after the 2012 general elections because of his visionary leadership. Leader and businessman John Tembon said Hagen Open was an expensive and powerful seat that had produced a prime minister and a finance minister. The seat was held by former Prime Minister Paias Wingti and former Finance and Planning Minister, the late Paul Pora.

Mr Tembon said Mr Duma also held the senior ministry of Petroleum and Energy and was responsible for the lucrative LNG project and gas industry. Another tribal leader Pukup Opa expressed similar sentiments, saying Mr Duma was a rare leader who had his electorate and the country’s prosperity at heart. He said Duma had proved himself to be a leader like Pora and Wingti who were honest in their dealings.
Duma given a traditional welcome by the Jika Kupingal tribe at a ground breaking ceremony for classrooms at Minimp Primary School outside Mount Hagen City

Chief Opa bestowed Mr Duma with a traditional axe and a pair of spectacles, indicating that the Hagen MP would reign until old age. “I give you this axe to conquer enemy territories. You are now armed and nobody will ever harm you. The glasses represent longevity, meaning you will rule until age catches up with you,” Opa told Mr Duma in front of a cheering crowd.

Accepting the gifts, Minister Duma agreed that he must return after 2012 to complete the unfinished tasks that he had started. Mr Duma said the multi-billion kina LNG project was one of his biggest achievements, adding that he should return to see the project into production in 2014. He said the Hagen people must also benefit from the LNG proceeds as they were the initiators of this mega resource development project.

Villages recovering from hailstorm

2010-12-28T12:14:00.000-08:00

By Agnes Fifi Uki

About 1,000 people in the Minimb area in the Hagen Central district, Western Highlands, have been badly affected by hailstorm. The hailstorm, accompanied with strong winds and rain, caused massive destruction to cash crops and food gardens last Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.

The Popral tribesmen, who normally supply daily fresh vegetables to Mt Hagen main market and even to restaurants in the city, said because of the storm, there would be a shortage of vegetables in the markets in the coming weeks. The price of fresh vegetables at the market was also likely to increase.

The local farmers who visited The National last Friday said there were still thick ice blocks lying overnight on their vegetable gardens. They said these ice blocks affected the roots of their cash crops causing them to die. Community leader Peter Raima said the cost of damages was in the thousands.

Raima said on a daily basis, farmers supplied the market and restaurants in the city with cabbages, broccoli, carrot, potatoes and other vegetables. He said the strong winds uprooted trees and also destroyed other food crops like banana trees, sugar cane gardens and many other crops planted but said they could not blame anyone because it was a natural disaster.

Raima said the lack of produce meant no income and the farmers were concerned about their children attending school next year because the schools normally asked the students to pay almost 50% of their fees before enrolling. He said the money that came from the sale of vegetables was also used to meet medical expenses, buy household items and other necessities.

He said it would take them more than three months before they would recover after making new gardens. Raima said they visited the provincial disaster office in Mt Hagen last Friday but did not get any help because the office was locked. Meanwhile, village court magistrate Melpa Wama called on their local MP and Minister for Petroleum and Energy William Duma and Western Highlands Governor Tom Olga to assist them to rebuild their lives.

Largest drug plot in Western Highlands uprooted

2010-12-28T12:09:00.000-08:00

By Elias Lari

Mount Hagen police task force, during their special Christmas and New Year operation, uprooted more than 600 marijuana plants and arrested and locked up the suspect at the police cell last Thursday.

Police described it as one of the biggest marijuana plots in the province, adding that the plants were mature enough and ready for sale. Task force section commander Peter Magulis said the operation was a success and identified the suspect as Kei Kusa, 25, from Keram village at Aviamp in the Anglimp-South Waghi in Western Highlands.

Once close enough, his men had left their vehicles and approached the plot by foot. The suspect’s attempts to hide from police in a drain were in vain and he was locked up and charged. Magulis said plants’ street value would be worth several thousands of kina.

He said the suspect would appear before the Mt Hagen district court today. Western Highlands police commander Supt Kagilo Ambane commended his men saying this was one of the biggest operations they had made. He also thanked the community leaders and the public for their cooperation, adding that the community and the police should work together to make the province a better place to live in.

MP proposes grand coalition

2010-12-28T12:01:00.000-08:00

The MP for Anglimp South Waghi, has called on all Members of Parliament to urgently put together a grand coalition government when Parliament is recalled on January 11. Jamie Maxtone-Graham made this call in light of prevailing political instability and constitutional crisis that has brought the Somare-Polye government to its knees.

He said: “The Prime Minister must take full responsibility for the current political mess which he had created himself, he failed to take sound advice from professional people around him, he cannot blame anyone else, the buck stops with him.

“He should gracefully retire from politics and allow Parliament to elect a new prime minister to head a new bi-partisan government made up of the best brains available on the floor of Parliament. “There is too much at stake now, with the LNG and other major projects of national significance that urgently requires the support of a stable government, we can’t afford to prolong this crisis any longer,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Maxtone-Graham congratulated the Member for Wabag for his meritous appointment as acting Prime Minister. It’s quite obvious that the Prime Minister is looking for people he can trust, unfortunately supply of trusted ones has run short in his own National Alliance party.

However, he warned the Prime Minister not to destroy good leaders, as he has done with many leaders in the past, and urged him to give his total support for the Member for Wabag and not use him as another pawn in his political chess game.

Woman caught growing drugs

2010-12-23T20:42:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime and Deborah Pranis

A woman has been arrested with two other suspects and detained at the Mt Hagen police station cell block in the Western Highlands Province for cultivating marijuana. The married woman who works for a coffee company was arrested on Wednesday afternoon with two other suspects and locked up. Police are yet to lay formal charges.

Police made the arrest during normal Christmas and New Year operations in the province. They uprooted more than 1000 marijuana plants at Aviamp in South Wahgi District. Police believe that they had set a record in both Jiwaka and Western Highlands for uprooting such a large quantity of marijuana.

Police are doing everything possible to ensure that people celebrate the Christmas and New Year festive season in peace and harmony with their families and not worry unnecessarily about disturbances and illegal activities. Mt Hagen-based task force and members of the mobile squad have been deployed to Jiwaka to assist Minj, Banz, Nondugl and Kudjip-based highway patrol units to conduct the operation in the valley.
This is because illegal marijuana and home-brew is heavily consumed in Jiwaka.

Police are also setting up roadblocks to check unregistered vehicles and drivers without proper license on public roads. The Christmas/New Year operations started on December 21 and will end on January 5. The policemen said they went to Kigabah following a tip-off and arrested the suspects, adding they sighted the marijuana plants growing in a garden.

As they entered the garden where the marijuana was grown, one of the suspects who was working at his marijuana plot escaped and hid in the bushes but they flushed him out. The policemen started uprooting the marijuana plants at 2:30pm and continued for the next three hours.

National Alliance (NA) Highlands bloc firm

2010-12-23T20:39:00.000-08:00

Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal’s is apparently on his own after his bid to take over the National Alliance Party leadership of the highlands bloc was rejected by the party leaders from the region. Party executives and the Parliamentary wing from the region told Mr Abal there was no vacancy when he went to a meeting of the NA highlands bloc last Tuesday at Parliament House, where he put the request for the transfer of the leadership to him.

The Highlands bloc has 13 MPs- the biggest number in Parliament. Deputy President (Highlands), James Kond said: “We made it clear to the Acting PM that we respect the decision by the Grand Chief to replace Don Polye with him but Polye remains the deputy leader of the party in the highlands.

“We want Mr Abal to be Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Prime Minister. We respect the decision by the Grand Chief because as Prime Minister he has the prerogative to hire and fire ministers but Don Polye remains the deputy leader of NA in the highlands. That is the unanimous decision of the NA party members and executives from the region”.

Mr Kond said what the PM did was illegal under the party’s constitution when he replaced Don Polye with Abal as Deputy PM, however the highlands bloc respect the sidelined PM because he had the powers under the National Constitution and also because the solidarity of the party was important.

Party insiders said the meeting on Tuesday, although heated, was held to endorse resolutions made at an earlier meeting held at the Grandville Hotel last week where the party executives passed two resolutions - the first, to respect the decision by the PM to remove Polye and appoint Abal as Deputy PM and second, to keep the party solidarity intact so that programs and projects initiated by the government are completed.

Party insiders said the meeting also requested Mr Abal to put Mr Polye back as the Minister for Works and Transport because there were important projects and projects that he had initiated that needed to be completed. Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal yesterday denied asking or campaigning for the position, adding that there was no tussle between him and Mr Don Polye, the current leader. Mr Abal also said he had neither asked for nor campaigned for the position of Deputy Prime Minister but the Grand Chief, in his wisdom had appointed him.

“It is a great honour and having accepted the job, I will do my utmost to continue the policies and programs of Government,” he said. Mr Abal said the onus is on the highlands faction of the National Alliance to take ownership of what has been provided by the Grand Chief, Sir Michael Somare.

“It is not for me to decide or even fight for, I have a big enough task to run Government. We have big programs and a huge budget to manage next year and that is what I have set my sights on,” he said.

Policemen warned against wife bashing

2010-12-23T20:37:00.000-08:00

By Johnny Poiya

Highlands Divisional Police Commander Simon Kauba yesterday issued a warning to his men that anybody who bashes his wife would be automatically suspended. The ACP made the stern call during a luncheon with his senior officers at his headquarters in Mt Hagen.

He added that as of next year, he did not want to hear of any wife beating in the region’s police force. Mr Kauba revealed that earlier yesterday he had to remove his uniform to go to do his banking after reading of the mammoth support the wife of a policeman was receiving after she revealed to this paper of the violent physical treatment she received over the last six years.

“This is a total disgrace to the police force. From now on, Mr PPC and Mr Met Supt, you are to deal personally with any policeman who beats his wife. I don’t want them to be referred to the family violence section. You suspend them on the spot!” Mr Kauba sternly said to Western Highlands PPC Kaiglo Ambane and Metropolitan Superintendent Jeffery Kera.

“We should be proud of our uniforms and the bashing of wives should not be on our list, regardless of how deep our wives push with their demands, we got no right to bash them. PPC, Met Supt and Station Commander, you are to make sure you deal with your officers or you’ll face the consequences.

“How do we expect people to respect us and help us carry out our duties effectively if we bash up our wives? We have to know that half of the police work is done by the community. “What sense does it make if we go and arrest someone who bashes his wife if we don’t respect our own wives?” Mr Kauba questioned.

The ACP also cautioned his men to be very careful of police brutality which has become a norm over the years. He said people are human beings and it would make things hard for the police force if they did not work closely with them. Mr Kauba thanked his men throughout the region for keeping their professionalism during the transitional period at the police hierarchy.

“We’re a professional disciplinary force and it is not our responsibility to decide who takes the hierarchy. “Our job is to walk with who is leading us. In the new year, we have to be conscious of all our failures and improve on them to strengthen the force,” Mr Kauba said.

Jiwaka needs fair representation

2010-12-22T19:08:00.000-08:00

New Jiwaka Province must have fair representatives for each part of Jiwaka. Jimi must have its own, Waghi must have its own and Kambia too must have its own to represent the rights of the people. We can’t leave the people of Jiwaka in the dark since they suffered for 35 years.

We must let the people of Jiwaka walk into the light. These representatives must be selected for the interest of the people and there must not be self appointees. People are the land and resource owner who have the power and responsibility to say yes or no.

If we are interested to be provincial members for the Jiwaka Transitional Government, we must let the people understand them before they make their own choices and appoint their representatives in the Jiwaka Transitional Government and Assembly meeting.

However, we understand that Jiwaka is one of the economical resource-rich provinces as its counterpart Hela Province. Most of these economical resources will come from the remote parts of Jiwaka. Most likely would be Jimi and Kambia, with that understanding as the leaders of the government, non-governmental organisations and community chiefs to let the people appoint each representative by themselves.

Our people are unique and resourceful people in our society. The people of Jiwaka make an appeal to the Chairman and Members of the Jiwaka Transitional Authority or Jiwaka Transitional Government to seriously look into the Interim Provincial Assembly to have more representatives from the various parts of Jiwaka.

This will encourage people in each part of Jiwaka to give their land and resources to the foreign developers to develop for economical benefit to the Jiwaka Province. It will also bring up the provincial budget.

Avi Primary School to close next year

2010-12-22T18:51:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime and Elma Moiya

Classes at Avi Primary School in the Western Highlands Province may not resume next year due to problems with teacher houses. Head teacher John Kama revealed this to the Post-Courier last week, saying the school had lost four staff houses in a fire. Avi Primary School is a level-seven school that has 27 teachers and 883 students.

Mr Kama said they urgently need to replace the four houses before the start of the new academic year or the children’s education would be affected. He said the fire started when students were taking their “Making a Living” (MAL) lesson. One of the teachers’ houses caught on fire and it spread to the other three houses.

Mr Kama said the matter had been reported to the Western Highlands Provincial Education office. He said the teachers lost all of their property in the fire and he warned that starting a fire without due caution during the dry spell that was currently affecting the Highlands region was very risky.

He said he was unhappy after learning in the media that the Provincial Government had committed K100,000 and the Education office committed K150,000 to Koglamp Primary School. He said the Provincial Government also gave K50,000 each to Bomburi and Raglamp elementary schools and he wants the same for his school.

Mt. Kuta people need roads in their area

2010-12-22T18:25:00.001-08:00

By Johny Poiya

If places were to have developed in chronological order as white men arrived, Kuta, on the ridge south of Mt Hagen City would have been a city on its own. It was the home of Danny Leahy, one of the three pioneer explorers into the Highlands region in 1933.

The other two being his brother Michael and Jim Taylor. Leahy’s base received its supplies from the first Airstrip built further down the valley at Wulya. The airstrip was in full swing in 1934. Locally known as “Kund Ten” Leahy established a cattle ranch on top of the hill, where the mighty Waghi begins its hundreds of miles of meandering journey down the Waghi Valley, to Chimbu, Eastern Highlands and south to Gulf province where it joins the Coral Sea as the Purari.

During the 1940s, 50s and 60s, the Lgatek creek flowing down the Kuta ridge was bustled with alluvial gold mining under Leahy - a prospect that is still alive today and pretty much the economic base of Kopi and Penambi tribes - posing another threat to the main city water supply further down.

As time passed, Kuta eroded. Instead of going forward, it has stumbled backwards over the years. Leahy left and died elsewhere. Fr Whilelm Ross, a prominent figure in the area who joint Leahy a year later in 1934 as a young man from United States also died in 1973. Today, this place is in a sorry state. Nobody at the political level and responsible authorities see this once bustling place as it was during the pioneering and colonial eras.

Though it is only 10 kilometres out of Mt Hagen, the roads have deteriorated to beyond repair. Just early yesterday morning a culvert bridge built on the side of a cliff was washed away at Sikarap Market, cutting off access to over 2000 people, a community school, several churches, a telecommunication tower and the world renown Haus Poroman Lodge.

The cut-off was not new as the base soil down the cliff started eroding over 10 years ago. Regardless of continuous reports made to politicians and people in authority, the culvert was finally washed away early yesterday after a heavy downpour.

Repairing it now would be time consuming and fairly expensive. Kopi leader Peter Raim said: “Our efforts in calling in help fell on deaf ears over the years. We don’t know who is really responsible for this section of the road, though it is part of Mt Hagen city.” The once striving cattle ranch and Leahy’s residential area was also cut off by the washed away culvert.

Group set for stint at Opera House

2010-12-22T17:47:00.000-08:00

By Agnes Fifi Uki

The Pulga Young Culture group in Western Highlands will be taking PNG culture to neighbouring Australia in next March. The 30-member group from the Moge Andaklamb clan in Hagen Central will perform and display their unique culture at the Opera House, Sydney, Australia.
The cultural group was formed in 1991 and participated in many cultural activities throughout the country.

However, the trip to Australia will be a first for the group to travel overseas to display their culture. The chairwoman of the cultural group, Maria Moge, said the trip had been made possible by one of their tribesmen who resides in Sydney.

She said their Sydney-based tribesman arranged with the Sydney Opera House for the group to perform there next year. She said the group members had already visited the Tourism Promotion Authority branch in Mt Hagen for travel arrangements and that were sorted out with the help of Trans Niuguni Tours.

She said the group was carrying out fundraising activities to raise K150,000 that would cover all their costs.

Olga to bid for 2014

2010-12-21T19:07:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

The Western Highlands Provincial Government plans to integrate various sporting codes in the province starting next year. Governor Tom Olga revealed this to the Post-Courier in an exclusive interview at Airport Motel outside Mt Hagen City in the Western Highlands Province last Sunday.

Olga said this was because sports programs orgainsed by the Papua New Guinea Sports Federation only benefitting the people living in the main urban centers of Port Moresby and Lae and not the people in Western Highlands and other provinces. “We will bid to host the PNG Games in 2014, but before we do so we must have the infrastructures, in place for various sports like cricket, basketball, softball, volleyball and others so that it will enable us to host the games in the province,” Olga said.

He said he had advised the Provincial Sports Office to organise this but he was still in the dark about what the office was doing to promote sports in the province. Olga said all the districts in the province would affiliate to the provincial sports council which would then affiliate to the PNG Sports Federation. The program would also include training and sports clinics for both officials and players.

Olga said he hoped the plan would work out because the Provincial Government through the Western Highlands Development Corporation was already sponsoring the Governor’s Cup and there was potential for other organised code competitions in the province. “We are only pumping money into rugby and there is no reason why we can do do the same for other codes,” he said.

Olga wanted all districts in the province to take part in the program because fundings would be made directly to the districts so that the district administrations would take charge of their respective competitions. He said if the program was properly organised, it would attract corporate sponsors, adding there were also plans to organise sports carnivals for all the schools in the province.

Olga said schools must have sports included in their curriculum to keep students occupied and help promote fitness and healthy living. “If all sports are integrated in the province, Western Highlands will become a healthy province because indirectly it will help reduce the consumption of illegal drugs and other activities,” he said. Olga said his government would give priority to this program next year because it was consistent with both national and provincial government development priorities.

“Last year the provincial government gave K150,000 to team Western Highlands to participate in the PNG National Grassroots Games and we assured the team that if they made it to top three, we would send the team to the Arafura Games in Australia but the team did not make it,” Olga said. He said sports was one of the avenues that createed opportunities for unemployeed youths.

Olga said this was his government’s 15-years vision and policy aimed at changing the mindset of the youths in particular and the people generally to ensure a peaceful province for everyone. He said it would also address common issues and the government would continue to take a leading role, together with the educated elites, councillors, leaders and youths. Olga said sports was an avenue that united the people and urged everyone to come together in the true spirit of sports in the communities and the province.

Rehab of coffee praised by grower

2010-12-21T18:56:00.000-08:00

By David Muri

Mount Hagen “garden queen” Cecelia Paraka has praised local MP William Duma for allocating funds into rehabilitating coffee plots in his electorate. Ms Paraka, who is a leading pineapple farmer but has since ventured into coffee growing in the Mt Ambra area outside Mt Hagen, says coffee remains the number one cash-generating commodity in every family unit. She said Mr Duma’s move in allocating funds to revive the fading industry is in the right direction to generate income and alleviate poverty.

“I praise Mr Duma for prioritising coffee in our district. Coffee is our backbone and such funding will go right down to the rural people as almost everyone owns a coffee plot,” Ms Paraka said. She said many block holders have converted their coffee plots into cultivating other cash crops because of the falling prices and lack of government support to sustain the multi-million kina industry. But she says the injection of K8 million into rejuvenating coffee would boost production and boost income per capita in the electorate.

She said Mr Duma’s move to fully revitalise the industry in his electorate came in at a right time as price of parchment coffee currently soared to more than K6 per kilo. All block holders and project owners in Hagen electorate will benefit from a total of around K8 million funding. Mr Duma has allocated K3 million from his district service improvement program (DSIP) funds while sidelined Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare supplemented an additional K5 million in his recent trip to Mt Hagen to officiate at the launching of the city’s redevelopment plan.

Ms Paraka said there are many coffee growers whose plots have been run-down due to lack of management or price factors but added the funding would eventually boost the production of coffee in Hagen to newer heights. With her vast experience as a certified road-side cherry buyer, Ms Paraka said she buys around three to four million tons of cherry every season which means around K3 million to K4 million ends up with small-scale coffee growers in Hagen alone.

But she does not know how much other buyers are spending. Ms Paraka is one of coffee and tea giant WR Carpenters’ major clients in the province. Nearly one third of Hagen’s estimated 150,000 people have coffee plots as valuable family assets. She asked that the funds should go down to the people at the grassroots level to benefit them. She said coffee will remain a lasting resource after the minerals have been exhausted and asked many people who have land to plant more coffee trees.

Jiwaka authority taken to task

2010-12-21T18:33:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

A community leader in Jiwaka has called on the Jiwaka Transitional Authority (JTA) not to preach about where the provincial headquarters will be established and do something constructive for its 200,000 people instead.

Paul Andaku said the JTA was preaching a lot about where to establish the headquarters and urged the executives not to make a big issue out of it. Mr Andaku said the people of Jiwaka were not really interested in the location of the new headquarters, all they wanted was to see new infrastructure development projects to help them.

“Whether the provincial headquarter is established at Aviamp, Kudjip, Minj, Kimel, Banz, Nondugl, Jimi, or Tsigmil is not the issue because it will be established in Jiwaka province,” Mr Andaku said. He said the role of JTA was to get collective ideas from the people on how they would co-operate and work together to promote socio-economic developments for everyone.

Mr Andaku said the JTA’s responsibility was to inform the people how it was putting together development plans for Jiwaka in preparation for 2012 when it will be officially declared a separate province from Western Highlands.

He said the JTA must do something immediately to revive the run-down and controversial Wahgi Mek Plantations, because this was the only source of the revenue for Jiwaka. “We have seen flashy JTA vehicles on the roads and the people want to know where all the money is coming from to buy these vehicles,”he said.

Dei women get K10,000

2010-12-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

By Daniel Gerson

The National government allocates adequate funding for women activities every year but much of this funding was diverted elsewhere, a women leader has said. Dei Womens Association president Jacinta Kui said this when speaking at a ceremony to recieve K10,000 from Dei MP Puri Ruing on Friday on behalf of the 2000 members of the association.

“The National Government allocates enough funds to womens groups throughtout the country but most of it was diverted to other projects,’’ she said . Mrs Kui said her members would use the K10,000 to expand their existing agriculture projects like kaukau farming, poultry, piggery and coffee production, the main income earners for the Dei council area.

Dei District Administrator Steven Korowa said K80,000 has been set aside in the 2010 budget to assist women groups, youths, sports and churches and urged all groups to use the money wisely and provide acquittals as required by the financial guidelines.

“ I wish to assured everyone that the Local MP will honour his commitment to help provide funding for the all community groups and ensure that everyone is given their share of public funds, Mr Korowa said. The Dei Women Association was the second group to receive funding from Mr Ruing this year. The first group was Kims community Womens Association. Mr Korowa, district treasurer Casper Mek and more than 300 women witnessed the presentation of the K10,000 cheque.

Mt Hagen access road cut off

2010-12-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

A Thirty-metre stretch of an important access road from Mt Kuta to Mt Hagen city in Western Highlands has been completely cut off following continuous heavy rain in the province. Community leader Jeffrey Pii told the Post-Courier yesterday about the damage that has cut access to thousands of people.

Mr Pii said the road was damaged on two separate occasions, on Sunday and Monday night, following heavy down pours. He said this was the only road for about 6000 people of Mt. Kuta area and also the people of Nebilyer who normally used the same road because it is a short cut to Mt Hagen city.

Mr Pii said both the Pro-vincial Government and Hagen Open MP William Duma had not bothered to fund maintenance work on the road for a long time and it was therefore prone to damage. “We, the people have therefore become victims,” Mr Pii said, adding the same road was damaged in 2000 but the repair work was not done properly.

He said this was the second time for the road to be washed away by rain. He urged both the Provincial Government and Mr Duma to provide the funds needed to immediately fix the road. Mr Pii said the washed out section had prevented all access by vehicles and stopped the people, especially mothers, from bringing their garden produce to the main Mt Hagen market to earn money.

He said about 30 to 40 metres of the road had been completely cut off, affecting the people of Kope, Eltepinambe, Nokpa at Mt Kuta and Ulga in the Nebilyer valley. Mr Pii said it was also making travel difficult for people who wished go to Haus Poroman Hotel, the local Catholic church, Kuta Primary School and the Pentecoastal church. The matter had been reported to the Provincial Government.

Christmas Greetings from Notre Dame Secondary School (NDSS) Kumdi, WHP, PNG

2010-12-21T17:01:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

Christmas is the time of celebration,
We celebrate LIFE and LIGHT!
Jesus, Emmanuel, IS WITH US!

My prayer for each of you is
that Jesus, God with us, will be experienced by you
as we celebrate this Christmas Season!
And may HE walk with you each day of 2011!

As many of you experience the beauty (and the hardships) of a winter wonderland, may your days be filled with JOY and PEACE. Sometimes with all the sunshine and rain, I can easily be removed for all the hustle and bustle of Christmas as we close one school year and almost simultaneously prepare for the next.

Last week was the end of the 2010 school year. This week the Education Department posted the teachers assignments and are determining the grade 9 students for next year. (I heard that they gave us 4 classes!!!! I don’t have a classroom or beds for them!!!) Last week I spent in hot and humid Port Moresby selecting 213 grade 11 students for 2011. (Can you believe that 2011 is almost upon us??? Where is the time going???)

The next school year begins when the teacher report for duty on 31st Jan. and the students arrive the following week. I can’t conceive what 2011 will bring student-wise, we have 17 classrooms and 600 beds and the totals are adding up way beyond that. And so many want to transfer in because there are other high schools in our Province that are not functioning too well!!!

This week we are still awaiting the arrival of the grade 10 and 12 certificates which show the students results in relation to the entire country. These results determine whether they will continue to grade 11 or gain entrance into a tertiary institution. Results are standardized with the scores of the entire nation! That is, about 350,000 grade 10’s and about 14,000 grade 12’s. And there are only 3.500 spaces in all the institutions of higher education!!! We are truly sitting in a pyramid!!! And they are talking about Universal Basic Education to grade 8 by 2012!!!

Since it has been a long time since I wrote to you, let me backtrack to Graduation, 19th November. Although it rained in the early morning it turned out to be a sunshiny at least until the people were well on their way home!!! We had a huge tent this year, but it was filled to capacity!!! It was the 5th grade 12 graduation of 168 students and the 38th grade 10 graduation with 138 students.

They looked so wonderful and “older” in their light and dark blue gowns! The Governor, Honorable Tom Olga was the guest speaker who gave a good talk on the value of education in PNG today and what is being done to see that more are educated—the number one priority of the 2011 budget for the country. He promised the students internet connections which he wants in all 6 secondary schools. Time will tell!!! Many students received awards besides their certificates of attainment. The real certificate should be here soon! Of course before Graduation as well as before the National Exams we had our traditional “formal dinner” which was quite formal for many of the girls!!! They were beautiful young women!!! There were three weeks of National Exams at the beginning of October. The grade 10 and 12’s leave after the exams are over. The grade 9 and 11’s stay until December. It is a wonderful time with only 330 students, and they were so cooperative and worked very hard!!!

Now for community: Last Saturday all the sisters came to Kumdi for a beautiful memorial Mass for Sr. Mary Magdelida. Many stories were shared at table and afterward. Sr. Marietta arrived home from the General Chapter in Rome at the beginning of December. We were all glad to have her back with us. The same week that Sister left for the Chapter at the end of October, Sr. Mary Aruna arrived from Africa to minister in the Secondary School – what a gift for us! She is getting acquainted and ready for the work ahead especially in 2011.

Now looking ahead – tomorrow Sister Marilyn will renew her vows. The week between Christmas and New Year we will have our Community Assembly here at Kumdi. In early January we will be happy to welcome Sr. Mary Delores and Sr. Marie Christine from the USA. Their visit will conclude with the Profession of Sr. Mary Monica. We will also welcome Fabiola back to discern if she should return to Notre Dame. She will be a big help in the Secondary School as librarian and secretary. In between we will have our annual retreat! Peace and quiet in the Lord! Yeah!!!

I’m sure that your life especially during this wonderful Season is just as full!!! May every moment be blessed with the Season’s PEACE and JOY in EMMANUEL – God is with us! My special prayer for each of you as I remember you daily in my prayers!

Shalom,

Sister Mary Vivette, SND

All phones and email was down during Thanksgiving so I hope that Christmas will be better!

Dei Hunters get MP Ruing's help

2010-12-20T18:06:00.000-08:00

By Daniel Gerson

Dei MP Puri Ruing committed K10,000 to local rugby club Dei Hunters recently.
The club is one of 14 teams currently taking part in the Western Highlands Governors Cup competition. The MP’s electoral co-ordinator Timothy Mel officially presented K3000 in cash as part of the K10,000 sponsorship package to Dei Hunters team manager Nelson Sam in front of players and team officials at Kitip Secondary School outside Mt Hagen.

Mel also disclosed the package including the hiring of a 25 seater coaster bus purposely to help transport players to games venue. And he assure them of the MP’s continued support to the local team with whatever means possible. However he stated that in order to acquire such financial support they had to submit a formal letter to the district headquarters for consideration by the Join District Budget Priority Committee(JDBPC) to consider their request.

Dei Hunters team manager Nelson Mel on behalf of team officials and players thanked the MP for recognizing them . Mel extended his gratitude to representative of the MP and assure them, that they would be equally competitive this year. Last season they manage to make it to semi-final and are aiming to go one step further in the race for the Governors title.

He also challenge the board of the semi-professional league team, the Wantok System Kuris to be fair in their in selection of players . This was a provincial team and their must be equal participation across the board. He said from past experience the team was dominated by players from Mt Hagen and Gomis league respectively.

Dei District has raw talent ready to step up to representative level and has over the years produce high profile players in the likes of former PNG Kumul hit man Andrew Norman and current Kumul and Bintangor Lahanis grand final winning prop Tony Dai and others.

Kondo East gets boost from Olga to travel to Aust

2010-12-20T18:02:00.000-08:00

By Mal Taime

The dream for Kondo East Rugby League Club to travel to Australia to play the Gold Coast Titans feeder club came true last Sunday. This is all thanks to Western Highlands Governor and patron of the Governor’s Cup Tom Olga for honoring his commitment.

Olga traveled to Kondopina rugby league ground and presented the K100,000 dummy check to Kondo East team manager Joseph Wamil before a packed crowd that turned up to witness the third game of the Governor’s Cup. Kondo East are last year’s pioneer premiers of the Western Highlands Governor’s Cup rugby league competition. Before presenting the dummy cheque Olga congratulated them for being the winner of the competition and Hagen Doa for claiming the runner-up tag.

Olga said his government had taken the initiative to sponsor this competition through the Western Highlands Development Corporation to unite the youths in the province so that they would refrain from taking part in illegal activities. He urged the youths, business houses, companies, politicians, PNGRFL, sponsors and competition officials to work together because the competition needed everybody’s support and efforts. “The people have to understand that the competition is the initiative of my government and this is not my competition, it’s belongs to the people of the province and I want the competition to continue in the years to come,” Governor Olga said.

“The Western Highlands Development Corporation is a business arm of the provincial government and the revenue it generated is going back to the people indirectly which I’m glad of it,” Olga said. He urged the team officials, players and spectators to look after the referees and not to assault them because they were the ones that control the games.

Olga said also the aim of the competition was to change the mindset of the youths of the province and they had to think positively and look forward in whatever thy do. He said this was one sure way of ensuring that there was peace, harmony, unity and cooperation in the province. Olga said he wanted peace in the province in order to promote sports and other activities that would benefit the youths.

Competition chairman Nikints Tiptip said the competition kicked off last year and every effort had been made to ensure that all the teams from the seven districts participated in the competition. Tiptip said this was the competition’s second, adding it was becoming more competitive and urged everyone to work towards a successful end to the tournament.

Kondo East team manager Joseph Wamil after receiving the dummy check from Olga thanked the provincial government for recognizing the needs of the youths in the province to sponsor the competition. Wamil said most of the Kondo East players were unemployed and were not in a position to afford such money to travel to Australia. “We did not expect such money and the trip to Australia after we won the premiership and presented with K8000 and the cup but were surprised after we were informed that we will travel to Australia,” Wamil said.

He said it was an historic achievement for them, adding the money would be used to pay for necessary costs. Wamil said at the moment they were training hard to play a Gold Coast Titans’ feeder club. They will travel to Australia at the end of February.

Pora, Moni and Aiye remain Guria men

2010-12-20T16:35:00.000-08:00

Agmark Guria Rodney Pora and George Moni have denied claims outright of negotiating contracts with Mt Hagen Eagles next season. Speaking from Mt Hagen, Pora, the Kumul vice-captain, said he had never been approached by anyone from the Eagles with an offer to join the Western Highlands franchise.

“What was reported is just a slap in the face of our current team, Agmark Rabaul Gurias,” a digusted Pora said. “Ol mekim kain giaman toktok oslem na ol employer blong mipela long Rabaul bai ino amamas ( They have made false statements and our employer back in Rabaul will not be happy with us),” Pora said in Tok Pisin. Both Pora and Moni said they were in Hagen to spend time with their families and the information given is misleading.

Pora was also upset when Gurias coaching director Michael Marum rang him to confirm the news. “Kange boss mi no kisim wanpela tok or mekim toktok long mi bai joinim Eagles. Ol bai lukautim femili bilong mi wantaim ol dispela tok giaman blong ol oh (Kange, boss I have not got any word from them nor have I tried to join the Eagles. Are they going to feed my family with this false information?),” Pora asked.

Moni relayed the same sentiments saying he was in his village outside Hagen and had never met any of the Eagles board or representatives. Marum said from Kokopo that he was not aware of any moves taken by his three big guns originally from Mt Hagen. “As far as I know, they are on holidays with their families.” “They will be back with the team for the new season.

“They have not signed with us for 2011, but I’m confident they will be here in Kokopo for pre-season training,” he said. “I am not aware of any players leaving. However, all players are free agents after the grand final, and it is really their prerogative which club they want to join next year,” he said.

Marum claimed Moni had called him this week saying he was ready to return to Kokopo for the pre-season training. Both Pora and Moni have confirmed that they will still play for the Gurias. “Most of my things are still in Rabaul and I have called Michael to send me my ticket to go back and I am still waiting,” Moni said. Attempts made to get Aiye’s comments failed but it is believed Aiye has not made any commitments to play for other franchises in the 2011 PNGNRL inter-city competition.

Teachers stranded in Mount Hagen due to nepotism at the provincial education office

2010-12-20T16:28:00.000-08:00

By James Apa Gumuno

More than 40 teachers from the Southern, New Guinea Islands and Momase regions are stranded in Western Highlands because their leave fares have been reduced by more than 50%. It was alleged that K1,000 was used as PMV fares to send some teachers back to their villages and provinces.

A woman teacher from Bougainville, who requested K17,000 in leave fares to travel home with her family, was only paid K5,000 last Friday. Another woman teacher at Tiki Memorial Primary School in Hagen Central, who wanted to travel to Alotau and had asked for K6,000, was only paid K2,700. But, a headmaster of a primary school, travelling from Mt Hagen city to Kotna in the Dei district, was paid K1,000.

Branch president of the Western Highlands Teachers Association Aita Sanangekepe expressed grave concern yesterday and questioned the leave fares committee on the criteria used to pay teachers’ leave fares. He said he could not understand why a local teacher, who needed only K8 on a return PMV fare, was overpaid compared with teachers from outside of the province.

Sanangekepe claimed that not one teacher from the Southern, NGI and Momase was paid in full. He said most of the teachers traveling by air could not do so with their families because the money allocated was not enough. Sanangekepe said he had learnt from past experiences and had appealed to the authorities last week to ensure all teachers were properly accommodated when they take their break. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

He said the leave fare committee had breached the Teaching Service Commission Act 130 of 1988 when they underpaid teachers from the coastal provinces and overpaid local teachers. He said it was a serious matter that he would take up with the concerned authorities.