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Secret Strategic Plan-How Peter O’Neil Intends To Win Against PNG’s Corruption Fighters

July 20, 2014, 4:23 pm
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By Insider
This is a compilation of many conversations I have had over at least a year.   Some of the following information came from private discussions with staff working in the Prime Minister’s office.  The PM’s office does not have the PM’s most trusted allies, but those allies still talk, and some of that talk ends up hitting the ears of those inside the PM’s office, which of course include his media unit. By the way, even the PM’s legal defence talks after hours and some information came from legal sources assisting the PM’s defence.

From all these conversations, I have put together an overall plan our Prime Minister seems to be using to worm his way out of all the current scandals that surround him.  He probably doesn’t much care whether everyone knows about his plan or not.   As we all know, as a people there are hardly any activists amongst us.  From the bottom to the top, nearly everyone is ignorant of what government does or how it is structured.  Most rarely see a newspaper, much less read the papers every day.   Our newspapers leave much to be desired in accuracy and coverage.   Very few people have time, money, and access to newspapers and internet to keep track what is going on.   Thus, in the end, the fight against corruption will probably boil down to a few committed government bureaucrats that until now the PM has been able to easily defeat through intimidation or sacking.

This compilation contains all the strategies I have been told about which the informants say are being used by the PM or planned.  Starting with current strategies, ending with emergency ones:

1.  Counter each statement by anticorruption forces with a misinformation counter statement.   The purpose of this is to confuse the public so much that they finally give up trying to figure out what the truth might be.  A disinterested public is the PM’s goal because it assures that he will not have to face a people power movement.

2.  Convince citizens that an arrest is the same as a conviction and is unbecoming of a national leader in today’s world.   
This strategy has been in effect for weeks now.  Every time things get hot, O’Neil makes a statement that an arrest is highly unusual and improper and destroys the PM’s ability to make progress.   Right now in PNG, most citizens who know anything at all about the current court circus believe that arresting Peter O’Neil is the same as charging him and that conviction is a foregone conclusion.   Many of these misinformed souls will proceed to conclude that the whole process of arresting the PM is purely political and stacked against Peter O’Neil by his enemies.   This sentiment works brilliantly in O’Neil’s favour.   The strategy is already working.  

3. Help reinforce the message that an accused is innocent until proven guilty:   
Being a true statement, it is especially easy for Peter O’Neil to work it to his advantage.  Those who accept on face value the phrase “innocent until proven guilty” will also accept the accused mounting endless court challenges, since they haven’t yet been proven guilty.   O’Neil has planted allies in social media to bring up the “innocent until proven guilty” statement as needed to obstruct the building of any effective movement against the PM.  This strategy is working.

4. Create a defence ring of paid loyalists:   
This is now in place.  After some mistakes chosing the right man to protect him, Geoffrey Vaki proved an excellent choice.  Vaki is so effective that it has allowed O’Neil to end his court challenges and relax.  Vaki will keep the arresting cops away from O’Neil and O’Neil’s cronies.   O’Neil has now appointed a third ombudsman (acting) who can obstruct investigations in that unit.   In other words, O’Neil’s paid loyalists are activists and are expected to circumvent justice at all levels of the justice system, including the ombudsman.   This strategy is working.

5.  Use middlemen as smokescreens to confuse investigators:   
Related to the above, Peter O’Neil has always been very smart and cunning in protecting himself using middlemen.   He has middlemen briefcase carriers, middlemen bribe and kickback takers, and middlemen who pose as owners of O’Neil properties.   All get paid handsomely for being front people and they are all aware that if they dare give away the secret their handsome pay stops and there will be hell to pay.  There are no turncoats as of yet.  Through this strategy, O’Neil has gained a majority ownership of PNG pokies which followed his success at restricting pokies licensing.   This strategy has worked for a long time.

6.  Keep direct evidence scarce and extremely hard to uncover: 
This has been standard Peter O’Neil operating procedure, just as it is for the most crafty of PNG’s white collar criminals.   Deals are never put down on paper, bank transfer instructions are given verbally, and overseas banks are used to launder money, often using accounts in the names of Peter O’Neil’s trusted middlemen loyalists.   Unlike in develop countries, there is no FBI type institution that can secretly tap the phones of the corrupt and gather evidence, thus the evidence is never collected, much less available to use in court.   Money and capacity limitations in the recent Task Force as well as the ombudsman’s office makes finding the limited evidence that is present almost impossible to uncover.  This reduces the Ombudsman and Task Force to building a conviction based on circumstantial evidence.   While circumstantial evidence can successfully convict a defendant, the degree of certainty of the evidence is weaker than with direct evidence.  Peter O’Neil plans to use high priced lawyers who are masters at confusing magistrates to challenge the circumstantial evidence that currently dominates the Parakagate scandal, in order to get O’Neil off the hook.   This strategy has been ongoing, but the strategy to overcome circumstantial evidence is still in the planning stage.      7.  Behind the scenes destruction of evidence:   Files with potential evidence are disappearing as we speak.  Disappearing evidence has long been a successful strategy of the corrupt to subvert justice and be cleared innocent in court cases.   The recent attempts to secure and destroy evidence held by the police and ombudsman have been publicised, but hardly any of the public knows about these incidents because they haven’t appeared in the newspapers.   When intimidation doesn’t work, O’Neil in the past has used bribes.  When bribes don’t work, mysterious fires may succeed in destroying evidence.  Those fires never get traced back to the true culprits and have been used extensively over the years to get rid of evidence.   Right now, O’Neil is using his defence ring of loyalists to try to obtain evidence that later can be destroyed.    Ongoing strategy, but in its early stages.

8.  Buy the silence of government MPs:   
Peter O’Neil is the most successful PM in history to essentially buy a parliament.  His winning strategy are the district support grants, which are delivered on time and in full to all MPs in his government.   The K10 million annually for each district is place in the MPs hands.   All this money allows the MPs in O’Neil’s government to stay busy, spend the money in corrupt and noncorrupt ways to build up their own political support back home, and not be held accountable for how the money is used.   Whether they like the PM or not, virtually no MPs in Peter O’Neil’s camp dares to risk damaging the current money pipelines.  This is a brilliant strategy that O’Neil started during the 2012 election with his K500 supplementary budget monies, and plans to improve and make more sustainable using the Ok Tedi revenue he is grabbing away from PNG Sustainable Development Foundation that Mekere Morauta was a director of.   

9.  Submit endless court appeals and create other time wasters:   
 Very few citizens know that one of the basic rights guaranteed an effective justice system is that all accused be guaranteed a speedy trial.   However, speedy trials are not forced if the accused do not want it, and defendants around the world have used trial delaying tactics to fade memories of witnesses, amongst other things. 
Peter O’Neil believes in the general value of time delays, not only for investigations seeking to bring him to justice, but for anything associated with allegations being made against him.   For example, with each passing day, there are fewer negative revelations remaining to hit the front page news.  All those who have ratted on the PM have told the public or investigators everything they know.  As the news fades, citizen interest in Parakagate goes down and their motivation in demanding justice fades.   University students become tired of the need for constant struggle and give up.   All this gives O’Neil’s media unit an opening to exploit.   When the heat goes down in another month or two, they plan to begin a heavy promotion of Peter O’Neil’s “accomplishments”.   They also intend to plant more comments on the social media do saboutage the anticorruption activists.  Those activists will find fewer people coming to their defence as interest in O’Neil’s transgressions continues to fade. 

10.  Plausable deniability:  
This is a long standing O’Neil strategy that is a universal legal defense ploy that improves his chances of being declared innocent in anything he might be charged of.   O’Neil uses this on a daily basis, the main slips having been when he was under the influence of alcohol.   Plausible deniability is created when a defendant can convince the judge that there is not one, but two or more plausible explanations to explain something.   This effectively muddies the waters and greatly increases the chances of a defendant being declared innocent. 

11.  Buying off the court case:   
This is a set of strategies often practiced by PNG’s white collar criminals in the past but they work mostly in low profile cases where the magistrate is bought off at the same time as another participant in the court case.  The easiest way to throw a case in PNG and subvert justice is to pay the police to lose evidence.  It also seems to be easy to intimidate or pay off a witness not to show up in court or to get them to change their story.  More difficult it to pay off a prosecuting lawyer not to show up but in a high profile case this is made very difficult by the publicity and a magistrate will be pressured to adjourn court until the lawyer shows up.    Informants tell me that Peter O’Neil bought off the court to win his NPF corruption case but no one I have met has been able to tell me exactly how he did it.  Close sources have said that this strategy overall is for emergency use only because any court case against the PM will be high profile and closely scrutinised.  However, the fact that Geoffrey Vaki has been willing for a price to suffer damage to his reputation in order to protect the PM means that for a bribe going into the millions, our PM may be able to find a magistrate who is willing to use a judicial maneuver to dismiss the case and declare Peter O’Neil innocent. 
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DEPOSED YUPI ESCAPES DISCUSSION BY USING ADVERT TO DEFEND HIMSELF: DESTROYING A 40 YEAR UPNG LEGACY OF ACTIVISM

July 20, 2014, 4:25 pm
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UPNG’s students have been thrown into a state of confusion over last Friday’s full page advertisement in The National, in which the supposedly “deposed” UPNG SRC President Bobby Yupi defended his actions during UPNG saga 2014.   That advert cost a mountain of kina coins, which begs the questions:   

Who paid for it?     Did Bobby Yupi pay for this advert out of SRC funds, or was the advert bought by some unnamed donor?
If from SRC funds, who approved it?   Wasn’t there an SRC officer’s vote of no confidence against Bobby Yupi?  Hasn’t he been kicked out as SRC president for his despicable stone age tribal attack behaviour last week?  Are there no SRC checks and balances in place to stop SRC money from being spent so wastefully?   Is the UPNG SRC Presidency a dictatorship where the occupant can do whatever he or she wants?  And what happened to interim SRC president Diddley Aheng?  Is Diddley proving to be an ineffective whimp and another bad UPNG SRC leader? 

So many questions with no answers being provided to UPNG students.  They’re in the dark and so are we.   Bobby Yupi has avoided engaging in any deep and lengthy debate over his actions for weeks now.  Before the big brawl, he even escaped to Goroka during a critical time in UPNG student activism so that he wouldn’t have to answer embarrassing questions, like why was his strategy falling apart and achieving nothing?

All the evidence is that Bobby Yupi has DESTROYED the UPNG student legacy.  That legacy was UPNG SRC’s long standing reputation of students standing out in the forefront in speaking out on the wrongs of the nation, then making whatever personal sacrifice was needed in order to get the truth out and FORCE the corrupt to back down.   UPNG students were once known for strong and effective activism, that is, until July 2014, when SRC president Bobby Yupi let the UPNG movement degenerate into an animalistic tribal battle.

At least on Friday we finally got a coherent explanation from Bobby Yupi on why he did what he did.   But interestingly, he chose the 1-way communication of a newspaper advert rather than the 2-way communication typically present in the social media.   Not surprising.  Yupi tried one lengthy debate in the social media, but using fellow student Kenneth Yamu, to argue for him.  Yamu published an article that argued Yupi should remain SRC president (see http://www.pngblogs.com/2014/07/let-upng-src-president-mrbobby-yupi.html).   Unfortunately for Yupi, Yamu’s poorly written, rhetoric-filled defence brought dozens of angry replies and demands for more information.  Yamu ran away from the debate.   After that disaster, Yupi made his own try at explaining himself, but decided not to risk possible humiliation by opening the floor to discussion.  Hence, the newspaper advert.
Let’s get to what Bobby Yupi said in this costly advertisement:

He argues that he took a “tact[ful] and diplomatic approach” to national issues  in formulating the UPNG student protest.  Unfortunately, tact and diplomacy only work when you have a substantial power backup.  Bobby Yupi had none.  Thus, the government never took him seriously.  Also, Yupi gave all appearances of being a compromiser, not someone who would stubbornly stand on principle. 
He states that it was important to him that students continued their studies uninterrupted rather than inspiring them to sacrifice for the good of the nation.   This is a personal admission that Yupi doesn’t believe that working for the common good is more important than the short sighted, self centred attitude of worrying about one’s grades and being able to get a job.  How Nelson Mandela would cry and roll over in his grave!
Yupi proudly points to ‘actions’ he did carry out:
1) Petitions and more petitions (well demonstrated in PNG to be ineffective because government can reply but not change a thing in their actions).
2) Open dialogue sessions that gave government reps an opportunity to spread their biased propaganda to students.  
3)  A demonstration in front of parliament building, even though demonstrations are usually ineffective when not backed up by some kind of backup threat.  Again, the power of an ongoing boycott would have given the demonstration the power it needed to be effective.   Yupi did not put that in place.  
All in all, the big message Bobby Yupi managed to get across last Friday Bobby Yupi was that he was a poor leader who did not get into this battle to win, nor even knew how to win. He obviously was way over his head in meeting the challenge of this critical period in PNG’s history.  
Bobby Yupi used lots of space in his advert complaining about the “renegades” who didn’t listen to his authority.   He accused them of “infiltrating, hence persuading the entire student body to go against the SRC’s stance.”   Huh??????   Weren’t the renegades simply exercising their democratic right to speak out and to influence?  How could such statements come from a law student?   Do UPNG’s law classes no longer teach basic concepts and history of law? 

Successful revolutionaries for change and society’s most effective game-changers tend to act exactly like Bobby Yupi’s hated renegade students.  They challenge authority .  They go against ineffective ways of creating change.  They don’t respect the status quo that conservative, plodding, uninspirational leaders like Bobby Yupi promote.   During the years that Gandhi, Mandela, and ML King were rising and establishing their leadership, they perfectly fit Bobby Yupi’s definition of “renegades”.   Yupi could have also described Gandhi, Mandela , ML King and his own detractors by other well worn labels:  rebels, troublemakers, revolutionaries,  and worse.   Call them what you will, but in the end, they’re fighting on the side of justice.  Where does that put Bobby Yupi?   At best, he is a passive protector of evil.  He was so busy fighting and complaining those who wanted stronger action against the truly evil in our society that he forgot what side he was supposed to be on!   Yupi hates rebels and renegades because he aspires to promote the tired old strategies of ineffectiveness.    

Bobby Yupi should have embraced and assisted his renegades, not opposed them.  Renegades change systems that have become rusted and paralysed through corruption or disinterest.  The ‘self serving agendas’ (Yupi’s words) of the student renegades can be interpreted instead as attempts to change an ineffective Yupi strategy into an effective movement that could wrest PNG from the stranglehold of corrupt deals and legal paralysis that the O’Neill government now spends its energies on.    If there was any ‘self serving agenda’ in the sad picture of the 2014 UPNG failed activism, the evidence is here for all to see:   1) Bobby Yupi’s role as a cooperative lapdog to UPNG administration and the government, followed by 2) last Friday’s attempt to restore his thoroughly spoilt reputation with his fellow students.   Who looks to be the biggest self server of them all?

Bobby Yupi did immense damage to the generations long UPNG student legacy of forcing the government to stop doing evil, no matter what personal sacrifice might be involved to achieve that outcome.   In his advert, Yupi himself admits that he went against this legacy purposely, replacing what had been a largely effective strategy with actions that flopped.   He learnt absolutely nothing from the failed Unitech protest of 2013, but then again, he probably neve bothered to find out what happened over there and why their 2013 boycott was such a spectacular failure. 

By his own admission, Yupi embraces the general philosophy of the do nothing UPNG administration and self serving O’Neill government .   Because of Bobby Yupi’s yawn yawn actions to force government to deal with the most important corruption allegations and obstruction of justice attempts in PNG’s history, Peter O’Neill can now add a much needed victory against his opponents that will free him to continue holding PNG and the court system hostage to his monkey games for months to come.  O’Neill never follows any law or any ruling that goes against him.  He either ignores the law or tries to find a sneaky way to get around the law or defeat it.  O’Neill only stops his game playing when he sees virtually everyone lined up against him in anger, as he did when the Unitech students rose up.  Now it was the UPNG students turn to take the torch and lead the movement against injustice forward and stop O’Neill’s monkey business.   Bobby Yupi wasted a lot of student time with nothing to show for it except what Peter O’Neill gave to the SRC.   How shameful! 

The nation expected nothing less from UPNG than what Unitech’s students achieved last April when they gave Peter O’Neill’s scheming and scamming a major defeat.   The expectation was that UPNG’s students would further push down the corrupt self interests of O’Neill, Paraka and associates.  Instead under the leadership of SRC president Yupi, UPNG students gave an impression of being mostly ineffective whimps who run in fear at the first government or administrative threat, and above all else are more concerned with themselves and their schooling than the longer term state of the nation.   Why is attending classes more important than pushing evil out of government processes?   After all, it is the state of the nation, not whether the students missed or attended classes during a single semester, that ultimately will most determine whether they’ll get and be able to keep a job after graduation.  

The outcry has been building for Bobby Yupi to explain how his yawn yawn tactics were going to produce pressure on the government.   He took the easy way out, avoiding debate by staying away from the social media, and running his expensive newspaper advert instead.   In doing this, Bobby Yupi is demonstrating that he’s hoping to defeat his detractors by jumping over them.   His opponents may know the truth and have the facts, but they don’t have thousands of spare kina to run rebuttal newspaper adverts to make sure the truth comes out.   Yupi knows this and like a corrupt pollie, he’s using big bucks to trump his opponents, communicating in a way that makes rebuttal difficult if not impossible.   Just like the dictator that his personality naturally aspires to, Yupi is performing like Peter O’Neill, ignoring the vote of no confidence within his SRC and simply forcing his way to remain the SRC UPNG president.  It doesn’t matter if he was a success or a failure.  Like Peter O’Neill, Bobby Yupi has simply decided that he will remain president and has intimidated or stared down those opposing him.   Just like Peter O’Neill.  Bobby Yupi is just like Peter O’Neill! 

The way make sure Bobby Yupi faces justice is the same strategy we’ll have to use if we want Peter O’Neill to face justice.   The key is spreading the facts and educating many many people about what really is going on.   In the case of Yupi, this means spreading all the pngblogs articles that covered the UPNG student issue and Bobby Yupi’s role.  Here are the links:

http://www.pngblogs.com/2014/07/unitech-students-propose-48-hour.html
http://www.pngblogs.com/2014/07/a-personal-account-of-upng-tensions.html
http://www.pngblogs.com/2014/07/will-new-interim-src-president-aheng.html
http://www.pngblogs.com/2014/07/let-upng-src-president-mrbobby-yupi.html

Either copy and post (or distribute) the articles or email their URLs to your friends, especially if they’re at UPNG.   Let others read the ongoing debates that follow these articles.  Let those who want to add evidence and share viewpoints, so that the truth becomes clearer.   Encourage vibrant debate and let each reader draw their conclusions.  That is the spirit of real democracy that Bobby Yupi and Peter O’Neill are both so desperate to avoid.   
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Being Realistic: Successful protests come from effective educating and organising, not hoping and praying!

July 21, 2014, 4:03 pm
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By Steven Mark 

Over the last few months, there have been at least 2 protest gatherings advertised on the internet where hardly anyone came. 

It is unclear who announced these marches or what organising they did behind the scenes.   But the damage is done and the O’Neill government is now confident that the anticorruption movement is weak, disorganised and of no threat.   The public that supports the anticorruption protest movement were demoralised by the protests that never materialised.  

Those involved in coming up with these ghost protests placed too much false hope and made too little organisational effort to make the protests successful.  They seemed to think that advertising alone would bring out participants.   This is yet another example of the lazy, short-cutting, excessively optimistic, blind chance taking, triam tasol without any planning kind of attitude that has held our country back time and time again.

“Hope without strategic planning is meaningless, strategic planning without action is futile, and action without strategic planning is fatal.”
Nowhere outside PNG have public protests succeeded  on hope.  The key to success is extensive planning that relies on research, not faith.  It is irresponsible to assume that 100 eager respondents on Facebook will convert to 100 warm bodies eager to march when there is lots of existing evidence that this is not true.   People who post comments on the internet are usually inactivists.  Expect no more than a small percentage of committed activists to show up out of all those on Facebook who say they will. 

Until the recent UPNG disaster, university SRCs did much better at organising protests. They first laid  the groundwork for protest by carrying out awareness.  After that, they organised students to speak loudly and persistently with a single voice that conveys power and determination.   
SRC leaders rely on awareness forums as the main education mechanism.   Most students never participate, but that’s not a worry since most people are selfish and don’t do anything in life for the common good anyway.  Instead, the forums are meant to reach students who care about issues and want to learn more.  

It is not enough to provide facts and figures during awareness.  The information must be presented in a way that is relevant to the students’ lives and aspirations, their families, and their future.  People embrace the common interest through a sophisticated look at the self interest.  The awareness must be such that it makes students angry as they learn the truth.   Information inspires, anger motivates.  Without intense motivation, students will find it hard to resist threats by authorities and persevere in boycotting classes or joining illegal protest marches.

Once the SRC has sufficiently inspired the most committed students, it’s time to use them to organise everyone else.   Students usually work in provincial groups.  These groups plan what kind of action to take.   The organising process must result in students working together to create a loud voice that is unified and with a simple message.  Such a voice will frighten opponents and attract others to join the movement.   Good organising tactics keep everyone in line to speak as one voice. Whenever opponents make attempts to divide the students, students must react strongly to hold their coalition together and resist intimidation and bribery.  Organising becomes more sophisticated when it uses different groups to carry out different actions.  For example, a march might be backed up by a boycott, which in turn is backed up by widespread painting of graffiti outside the university campus.  Organising also involves building coalitions with groups outside of campus, including the police.
The bottom line: successful protests only come out of a process of inspirational mass education that makes people angry, followed by effective organising that intimidates the opposition and inspires even slackers to join the protest movement.   

The current situation:  Inspirational awareness is uneven and incomplete.   In particular:
-there is no simple, attractive rallying cry. In the early 2000s, the Post courier very effectively used the “Jimmy Come Home!” rally to pressure Jimmy Maladina to come back to PNG to face the courts.
-awareness activities remain too centred on the social media or on public gatherings that are infrequent and too often prohibited.  Voices of concerned inactivists now dominate the internet, giving a feeling of paralysis.  

  • Awareness teachers tend to have only a superficial understanding of the current issues surrounding O’Neill and his government.   They don’t convince their audience that they are real experts. 
  • Activists have thus far shown no ability to apply new inspirational awareness tactics that can get around government pressure. 
  • There is no voice attached to a face that can inspirationally serve as a voice of conscience for the protest movement, driving good people to take action.  As a prolific, articulate writer with strong personal ethics, Lukas Kiap once served this role.  For unknown reasons, he stopped his prolific writing. 


So long as there is a strong clear message to unify protestors, the activist movement against corruption can be effective without having a single unifying leader.  However, heaps of informal ‘mini leaders’ faceless and with faces, are a must.  Together, they must create a giant, informal awareness campaign that focuses mainly on street education.  The information can come from the social media, but the information is only effective if it spreads to the average person in the street. 
The Arab Spring movement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring) and European revolutions of 1989 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1989) provide many ideas on what might work in PNG.  Every society is unique but all humans share a basic human psychology.  Any successful protest movement has its starting point in being able to tap effectively into that universal psychology. The goal is nothing less than to inspire and motivate people to get out of their seats and protest in ways that intimidate the opponent into submission. 
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UPNG SRC clarifies student impasse

July 21, 2014, 7:40 pm
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The Students Representative Council of the University of Papua New Guinea has clarified on the recent student impasse at the Campus.

The focus of the clarification is based on the event occurred on Tuesday July 8th where the SRC President Bobby Yupi clears his position, the UPNG Southern Highlands and Hela students positions during the student impasse.

SRC president Bobby Yupi stated on a press release that since my swearing into SRC office, I have to the best of my able judgment and wisdom placed above all else prioritizing of my fellow student’s academic welfare.

Bobby stated that under my leadership, we approached two inter-twining controversial issues (UBS Loan and the State’s acquisition of 10.1% share in the Oil Search Limited) of national significance without the academic semester (semester 1) being interrupted in any single way.

It is stated that in the same manner the SRC was trying to address the Paraka Saga issue but few students instigated and turned everything around and caused the impasse.

UPNG SRC claims that the students on campus impasse were caused by few student instigators on an assumption basis which they saw things only on one eye but close the other.

Bobby said the Southern Highlands and Hela students took a defensive approach arming themselves with bush knifes having full knowledge of what the opposing faction were plotting against me and the state’s properties.

“The SHP and Hela students were never in support of the Government as put by the media stating SRC president with SHP and Hela students defending the Government, it is incorrect to say the Hela/SHP Students attacked the ‘THE REST OF PNG’ as was carried around by the media.

Southern Highlands and Hela Students have no ill intentions towards ‘THE REST OF PNG’,” Bobby explained on the press release.

He added that the Southern Highlands and Hela male students ran to take cover under the presence of the Police was reflective of their motives as genuinely to defend me from physical harm, the State’s properties and themselves.

It was incorrect to say they reacted so to avoid the STRIKE ACTION. That was never at all correct. Why would they do such when the student body had already spoken through the Vote of Referendum?

Meantime Bobby urged the fulltime registered students that academic year is secure and he convey regret to UPNG administration, Academic and Non academic staff association that we regret to instill fear and sense of insecurity over ther3weeks and now we look forward to a successful end of our remaining weeks of semester.

Bobby also appealed to the Government of the Day and our Parliamentarians saying that as mandated leaders you are putting your legacy on the sands of time.

We are yet to see leaders who can build the social, political and economic landscape of this nation for the future of our children and not rob this nation’s wealth.

What UPNG has come to terms with has been an indirect result of Political infighting amongst you, our mandated political leaders.

This must stop and the Parliamentary Culture to debate on issues of national significance must be rejuvenated. Over the successive years, our Parliamentary culture has been weakened and this has the potential to stir a possible civil unrest.

This is a pathetic situation, and our investors and the International Community must not be allowed to lose respect in us as individuals, leaders, Government institutions, organizations and as a nation.
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NATIONAL COURT ISSUES INTERIM STAY ON PM'S ARREST

July 21, 2014, 8:17 pm
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NATIONAL COURT ISSUES INTERIM STAY ON PM'S ARREST UNTIL SUPREME COURT RULES ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENCE AND  NATIONAL COURT REVIEWS DISTRICT COURT'S DECISION.

On Friday 18 July 2014, the National Court Judge Gavara-Nanu granted leave (gave permission) to the PM for Judicial Review of the District Court decision refusing the Police Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki's request to set aside or withdraw the arrest warrants against him (O’Neill).

In the handing down his decision Judge Gavara-Nanu issued the following orders (summarized).

1) The PM is be allowed to join Vaki's application for leave as 2nd Plaintiff seeking Judicial Review of the District Court decision.

2) Leave is granted to the PM for Judicial Review of the decision of the District Court on 12 June 2014 issuing a warrant of arrest compelling Fraud Squad Members to arrest the PM for allegedly committing the criminal offence of Official Corruption.

3) Constitutional question be referred to the Supreme Court to answer whether the Constitutional powers provided to the Police Commissioner under Sections 197 and 198 of the Constitution - including the Police Act - gives him the powers to challenge the validity of a warrant of arrest issued by the District Court Magistrate that were applied for by a Police Officer.

4) The warrant of arrest against the PM be stayed (stopped) until the decision of the Supreme Court regarding the constitutional powers of the Police Commissioner and the decision of the National Court Judicial Review of the District Court decision.

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So what does this all mean in layman terms?

Analysis by BRYAN KRAMMER

(1) Initially it was Vaki who filed the case in the National Court for leave (asking for permission) to review the decision of the District Court after the District Court Chief Magistrate refused his request to withdraw the arrest warrants against the PM.

At the first hearing in the National Court the Chief Justice (CJ) raised the point to Vaki's lawyer, why is your client (Vaki) seeking Judicial Review when he is not aggrieved (affected) by the decision of the District Court, in that the arrest warrants are against the PM not Vaki. The CJ suggested it's the PM who should be seeking Judicial Review. Vaki's lawyer then asked for an adjournment (defer or postponing court hearing to another day) to discuss the issue with his client. The CJ adjourned the case to Friday 18 July 2014. When the matter returned to Court on 18 July 2014, the PM's lawyer appeared in court making a request to join Vaki's case as a plaintiff (a plaintiff is a person who files a case in court). In this case Vaki filed as the only plaintiff and PM wanted to join to support his case as 2nd plaintiff. The Judge granted leave (permission) to the PM to join the case because ultimately he was the person affected by the District Court’s decision to issue arrest warrant against him.

2) The Court then heard arguments from both Vaki and PM's lawyers asking for leave (permission) for Judicial Review of the District Court’s decision. In the end, the Court refused Vaki's application because he never had standing in that to qualify for Judicial Review you have to be a person aggrieved or affected by a Court's decision. The decision of the District Court to issue arrest warrants only affected the PM so the court only granted leave for Judicial Review to the PM.

So what is a Judicial Review?

A Judicial Review is a special process of the Courts where a person aggrieved or affected by an earlier decision of the Court can make an application or request to a Higher Court to review the decision of the Lower Court that made the decision against them. In this case Vaki initially filed an application in the District Court who ruled against him. So he applied to the National Court (higher court) for Judicial Review of the District Court's decision (lower court). Although the District Court ruled against Vaki he did not qualify to seek a Judicial Review because the decision by the District Court to issue the arrest warrants was never against him, but against the PM.

The process of Judicial Review first involves a person obtaining leave (permission) from the higher court before it will review a decision. This is because Judicial Review is not a right to any person but special inherit powers afforded to the National & Supreme Courts to review any decision of a lower court. These powers are provided for under Section 155 of Constitution. A National Court can only review a District Court or a Tribunal decision, and the Supreme Court can review all rulings including National Court decisions.

Whether or not the National or Supreme Court will grant you permission is at their discretion if they believe you have a very strong case and not just wasting the Court’s time. This process for leave (permission) involves a single court judge to first hear a person's application and look over the reasons for them wanting a Judicial Review. You first file an application (motion) outlining your reasons/grounds to demonstrate that you have an important point of law or question of fact that justifies the Court granting you permission for Judicial Review. A person can only apply for Judicial Review in special circumstances where either there is no right of appeal or after someone has lost an appeal.

An example where there is no right of appeal or law prohibits an appeal: In an Election Petition the Organic Law on Elections Section 220 states the National Court ruling in an Election Petition is final and not subject to appeal. So where the National Court rules against a person in an Election Petition it prohibits any appeal and therefore the only option is for the person who believes they are aggrieved by the decision to apply to the Supreme Court for a Judicial Review.

I'm sure there are those of you who are asking the question but what is an appeal? In most court proceedings civil (private disputes) or criminal cases if a court rules against you, by law you have a right of appeal to challenge the Court's decision. This right of appeal is provided by law and you don't need to apply for leave (permission). The reason for appeal or review is, we are all human and sometimes make mistakes, and the best way to find out if a mistake has been made is to have it checked. An appeal or review is a process of the Courts to double check its own decisions to avoid injustice either through bias decisions or honest mistakes. If you believe the Courts decision is biased or it made a mistake then it's up to you to appeal to a Higher Court to overrule the lower Courts decision against you.

If a decision is made in the District Court you appeal to the National Court. A decision of the National Court can only be appealed in the Supreme Court. The same applies for Judicial Reviews. The Courts have put in place strict processes and guidelines for appeal or Judicial Review to follow including deadlines to file. In an appeal a person must file their case within 40 days from the Courts decisions against you. In the case of Judicial Reviews the deadline to file is just 14 days. If you fail to comply with this process or deadlines the Courts will typically throw-out your case.
So what's the difference between an appeal and a Judicial Review? In an appeal you don't need the Court's permission and is common in civil and criminal cases. In a Judicial Review you first need the Court’s permission. In an appeal the higher court will look over the lower court's decision in detail to confirm if all processes were followed in arriving at its decision. However, in a Judicial Review, the Court will take a narrower approach and is only concerned if the final decision was lawful. Whether there is an important point of law raised, in that you believe the Court applied the wrong law or whether the facts the Court relied on were so outrageous and absurd that it resulted in injustice.

So in this case the National Court granted leave (permission) to the PM to have the National Court review the decision of the District Court when it issued the arrest warrants against him. The reason of the review was not based on facts but on important point of laws raised by Vaki and PM's lawyer.

1) The first being whether or not a District Court had the powers to issue the arrest warrants compelling or ordering the Fraud Squad members including every member of the Police force to arrest the PM.

2) Whether the Constitutional powers provided to the Police Commissioner under Sections 197 and 198 of Constitution including the Police Act give him the powers to challenge or withdraw the warrant of arrest issued by the District Court Magistrate that were applied for by a Police Officer.

The second point was referred by the National Court to the Supreme Court to answer. Why? Because it relates to Constitutional Law (highest law) which comes under jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (highest court). So the Supreme Court will first have to interpret or answer this question before the National Court will hear and rule on PM's Judicial Review case.
To answer why this question was asked in the first place is because Vaki raised this point as part of his arguments asking for leave for Judicial Review. When Vaki filed a case in the District Court to withdraw the arrest warrants his lawyer argued that as the Acting Police Commissioner Vaki was empowered under Section 198 of the PNG Constitution responsible for the superintendence (management, administration and control of the Police Force. Vaki argued the District Court erred in law by not taking this into consideration when it refused his request for the Court withdraw the arrest warrants against the PM. Vaki relied on Justice Kariko comments in his ruling against the PM's earlier National Court application to stop Police from arresting him. The Judge stated that “the administrative matters are for the Commissioner of Police to resolve and not the Court."

The District Court Chief Magistrate Nerrie Eliakim ruled that the application by Vaki to discontinue the arrest warrants on PM was misconceived (wrong). The Chief Magistrate explained that police were required by law to obtain arrest warrants on Official Corruption cases before charges are laid, such as the current case of O’Neill. Further, that there were no proper reasons as to why Vaki should revisit the investigation files when the former Police Commissioner Sir Tom Kulunga had already assessed the files and established a prima facie case to have the matter prosecuted. The Chief Magistrate stressed that the National Court decision by Justice Kariko was not disputed and that it clearly stated that the courts cannot interfere with the work of police. It would be in direct interference with the work of police if the warrant was discontinued. "Courts can only interfere when there is a clear case of abuse,” she said. She also said court orders were meant to be obeyed and should be obeyed at all times. She therefore refused the application. (source post courier).

So now Vaki and PM filed a Judicial Review arguing the Chief Magistrate erred in law by not accepting the Police Commissioner (Vaki) had constitutional powers over the entire force and there the powers to ask the court to withdraw the arrest warrants. The Supreme Court will determine whether or not the Constitution does give Vaki such powers.

In the mean time now that the PM has been granted leave for Judicial Review and until the Supreme Court rules on that question the PM's lawyer will be required to first file new proceedings for Judicial Review in the National Court and also responsible for compiling the Review Book. A Review Book will contain all the relevant documents that the court will consider in reviewing the District Court's decision. This will include all originating documents filed and argued in the District Court by Vaki's lawyer including the District Court’s decision and orders.

The Judicial Review process will go through a number of court hearings before the National Court will hand down its final decision. The first hearing is the Directional Hearing where the Court will issue directions for parties to comply setting deadlines to file relevant documents that will be included in the Review Book etc. Second is the Status Conference hearing where the Court will confirm all orders at the Directional hearing were complied with and the case is ready for substantive (main) hearing. Third, the Substantive hearing where the Court will hear the main arguments from the PM's lawyer. 4th is the Final Decision after the Substantive hearing the Court will adjourn or defer handing down its decision to carefully review and consider all the arguments and documents. This process of Judicial Review may take up to three months, in some cases one year, depending on the Judge who takes the case and availability of dates. You can also expect the PM's lawyer to look for every excuse and opportunity to delay this process as they did in the first National Court case. The longer the issue is before the Court the longer the stay order remains in place preventing his arrest.

Lastly the National Court issued interim stay order preventing Police from arresting the PM. Many have asked why? The Court will typically invoke its powers under Section 155(4) of Constitution to issue interim stay orders when a matter before the Court. Section 155(4) gives both the National and Supreme Court inherit powers to issue any orders to do justice in circumstance. In this case the Court saw it was just to stop Police from arrest the PM until it heard the case and it would defeat the court process if Police arrested the PM then there would be no point for the court to review the decision especially when it has ruled there is an important point of law to determine.

In humble my opinion the National Court should rule against the Review and uphold the District Courts decision. The Supreme Court should also rule that the Police Commissioner powers under section 198 of the Constitution that relate to management and administration of the police force does not give him powers to interfere with every Police Officers constitutional powers of arrest provided by section 197 of the Constitution. Vaki would only have powers to infer if the Police officers abused these powers and there are no evidence to prove they did. This view is consistent with the Chief Magistrate's ruling.

Irrespective the PM's Lawyers objective was never to win the case but to (1) obtain a stay order against the PM's arrest and (2) lock up the matter in courts. Both objectives they have achieved and probably celebrating over it. Remember its not PM or Vaki making these calculated decisions it highly paid lawyers and consultants behind the scenes. However in politics as the saying goes there is more than one way to skin a cat and it was never the arrest that will remove the PM. It's what we will discuss in my next article.
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Holding on to our heritage - Tambaran Culture

July 23, 2014, 3:34 pm
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Companies circle Bougainville like vultures – waiting for the natural resource bonanza

July 23, 2014, 9:05 pm
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In what seems a relentless cycle of resource companies lining up to take a bite out of Bougainville, on Monday Nevis Capital Corporation purchased a 50% stake in Tall J (PNG) Ltd (see the announcement below).

Tall J, is currently owned by Stephen Strauss, whose was the subject of a expose published via the MicroKhan blog in 2011, which includes a detailed response from Strauss himself (see below).

According to the company press release Tall J has rights to pristine Bougainville forest with timber valued at $1.3 billion, in addition to mineral exploration rights over 255,000 acres of land.

So what do we know about this company who has evidently purchased a large chunk of Bougainville? Not much. It has one subsidiary, registered in, gulp, Costa Rica, which focuses on the online gaming industry. From one swindling industry to another, it would seem.

And the company’s website hardly inspires confidence, either. http://www.neviscapcorp.com/

But as long as government economic policy hinges on the mirage of resource fuelled riches, companies like these will come sniffing for a quick buck; because like at the casino, the house always wins!

 Nevis Announces Investment In Bougainville Development, LLC

July 21, 2014

Nevis Capital Corporation (OTC: OCEE), is pleased to announce that they have signed a final agreement with Bougainville Development, LLC, a Mississippi Limited Liability Company, to acquire a 50% ownership of Bougainville Development in an all stock transaction consisting of Nevis common stock. The principal asset of Bougainville is a wholly owned subsidiary, Tall J (PNG) Ltd. of Papua, New Guinea, that has the contractual rights with the Papua Government to harvest the timber and to explore and develop the underlying minerals on 255,000 acres in Section 1645. Bougainville has a current investment in excess of $4,000,000 USD in this project. Mr. Stephen Strauss, BD Director, estimates that production should commence within 12-15 months for delivery of finished materials to Asian markets. Surveys from ITTO estimate that this tract contains approximately 2.5 million cubic meters of timber valued at $1.3 Billion at current prices, generating estimated revenues of $37 Million annually over a 35 year production and reforestation cycle. The Papua Government has endorsed the economic growth and development of their natural resources. Exxon Mobil has recently invested $19 Billion in Papua, NG, building one of the largest Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) projects in the world which began shipments in May with anticipated annual revenues of $7.2 billion. Nevis Capital expects the operational profits from this investment, the previously announced US producing oil and gas investment and expansions thereof, the Macau Live Online Gaming investment, and initiatives to acquire interests in profitable Medical Marijuana ancillary product producers to rapidly increase shareholder value for this development stage holding company.

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Brendan Koerner – MicroKhan Blog, 8 July 2011

Okay, then, so what is the Tall J Foundation? Records are spotty, indeed—I couldn’t find a corporate listing in the United States. This forum post from 2010 suggests that Tall J has been soliciting investors for some time now, with a fantastic promise of 500 percent returns. If the poster is to be believed, the company’s director is one Stephen M. Strauss, with addresses in both Texas and Olive Branch, Mississippi. I got another pop on that exact name through a recent SEC case, in which a Stephen M. Strauss stands accused of orchestrating a pump-and-dump stock scheme while head of the Chilmark Entertainment Group.

Coincidence? Well, Chilmark was headquartered in Southhaven, Miss., just a stone’s throw from Olive Branch, so I’m thinking the answer is “no.”

The only other easily accessible trace of Tall J is this LinkedIn listing for one James Blackmore. But I can find no connection between Blackmore and Strauss—at least not yet.

The bottom line is that it seems that a tiny, shady-seeming investment concern actually appears to be wreaking genuine havoc on the Bougainville peace process. That immediately made me think of such infamous 19th-century filibusters as William Walker, who fomented great chaos in Latin America in the service of making fortunes. This is why private interests really shouldn’t be permitted to assume roles that might destabilize shaky governments; corporate self-interest is typically more at odds with international order than diplomatic self-interest.

PNGExposed Blog
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SIR KULUNGA SEEKS REINSTATEMENT AS POLICE COMMISSIONER

July 23, 2014, 9:55 pm
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By BRYAN KRAMER

Former Police Commissioner Sir Thomas Kulunga has filed an application for leave for Judicial Review against the decision of the PM & National Executive Council (NEC) that terminated/retired him from office.

Kulunga's lawyer filed an urgent application in the National Court last week, but was only listed this morning (24/7/14) after short service on the State. Kulunga is seeking to be reinstated as Commissioner of Police. The central grounds of his case is that his termination/forced retirement by NEC was without proper cause nor was he given the right to be heard.

Judge Gava-Nanu adjourned the matter to 7th August 2014 after the State failed to appear in Court.
This recent development may chuck a spanner in the works in the PM's efforts preventing police from arresting him. If leave is granted and stay on Vaki's appointment then Kulunga may re-assume office and consolidate the force.

It was Kulunga who wrote to the PM on 16th June 2014 requesting he make himself available for a formal record of interview.

In the letter, Kulunga said: “With the greatest respect to yourself and your esteemed office, I refer to the above and request your attendance at the National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate at Konedobu, National Capital District for a formal record of interview at 11.am or 1pm on 16th June. The interview relates to the allegations of fraudulent payments made to Paul Paraka Lawyers between February, 2014 and May 2013. The investigations were carried out at your request through Prime Ministerial Directive issued under your hand dated May 13th, 2013. Pursuant to the requirements of law, a warrant of arrest has been issued today, ordering police to arrest you. A copy of warrant of arrest dated June 12, 2014 is enclosed here in for your reference. You would note that a warrant is a court order demanding police to affect your arrest. It would help if you could make your way to the nominated time and place for a forma record of interview and answer questions that would be put to you formally.”

On the same date Kulunga wrote to the Police Minister Robert Atiyafa that he was taking special leave effective 18th June 2014 until Monday 4th August 2014 and Deputy Commissioner of Police Simon Kauba will perform duties as acting police commissioner.

But on 17th June 2014 the PM announces that “Cabinet has taken the decision to retire Commissioner Kulunga now under the circumstances" and appointed Geoffrey Vaki as Acting Police Commissioner.
In retrospect it was Vaki who initially challenged his termination in the Courts by way of Judicial Review in 2006 when he was then the Deputy Commissioner of Police. In the end the Court upheld his case on the grounds Vaki was terminated by NEC without a valid excuse prematurely made, unreasonable and not a good reason. The decision was also contrary to his Contract and ultra vires the Police Act 1998. Kulunga failed to execute the Courts orders to reinstate Vaki. Vaki then prosecuted contempt charges against Kulunga resulting in his conviction and 7 months sentence for hard labour. Kulunga filed an appeal and obtained a stay on his sentencing. He is currently out on bail while his appeal is being heard in the Supreme Court. Ironically Vaki is now also facing two contempt charges that’s currently before the Courts.

If Kulunga is reinstated he will have the command of the Force and although the National Court stayed the arrest warrants against the PM in relation to the Paraka-gate issue this does not immune a person from being charged on other allegations.
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A DESPERADO BY A FOREIGNER IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY

July 24, 2014, 4:57 pm
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BY STEVEN ANDRE

Just like all the Queens Counsels lining up and exploiting all legal loopholes to defend Peter O’Neill’s personal criminal case at the expense of the PNG tax payers, this foreign once esteemed judge is running Peter O’Neill’s conspiracy theory.

After repeated calls by reputable persons in the legal profession for him not to take up the offer in difficult times when the rule of law is clearly being tested by Peter O’Neill, the once esteemed retired judge Graham Ellis seem undeterred. He came to PNG to take up his newly appointed role as the head of an interim office created by Prime Minister O’Neill to replace Task-Force Sweep immediately after the appointment. Nobody knows, he must be still camping at a popular hotel in Port Moresby or running his office out of the Prime Minister’s own office where his new office would be conveniently placed at the height of serious allegations of corruption implicating the Prime Minister himself.

Another retired judge, Warrick Andrews, who is less opportunistic, heeded the call and exercised restraint. He has not taken up his role as the new commissioner of a commission of inquiry Peter O’Neill instituted.

Credence to the National Court, the National Court stayed the decision appointing Ellis and creating his new found office when it granted leave to Taskforce Sweep and stayed the decision of NEC. Despite that, the retired judge (who is believed to be still on the judges retirement benefit) has seen fit to come out to the media and claimed that he was in full swing with his operations as the head of his new found office. He claims to have received and investigated allegations of corruption.

It appears more clearly that foreigners and half-bred foreigners do not seem to have respect for our court orders and laws of the land. It is feared that people who were once custodians of the law and should be custodians are paying total disrespect to the court orders and carrying on with total impunity. They are all here for money.

Graham Ellis in his last media release claimed that he did not meet with any politician since or prior to his appointment. He said it again this time.

Well, Mr Ellis, who said you met with one? Is it a question of you pre-empting your innocence in an event someone raises it? Seems like you are jumping the gun and to all thinking persons, it is very obvious.

Lets say we believe you… But how did you get your confirmation to be appointed by NEC which comprises of politicians and the Prime Minister (your current boss) who is the Chair? How are you getting your instructions when under your terms of reference, you are supposed to report directly to the PM?

The last time Mr Ellis was in Port Moresby few weeks ago, he was seen meeting with Enga Governor Peter Ipatas at Holiday Inn (where Ellis is believed to be residing) for two full hours. Many people saw him and Ipatas. Ipatas is a close ally of PM and Isaac Lupari (PM’s Chief Strategist). Is that not a meeting with a politician, not to mention a veteran one?
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Voluntary surrender of ACP Thomas Eluh and Sam Koim

July 24, 2014, 8:50 pm
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Announcing the voluntary surrender of ACP Thomas Eluh and Sam Koim at Boroko Police station at 2:00pm this afternoon to be charged for whatever offence(s) certain members of the Police deem fit.

Information being circulated since this morning is that certain policemen want to arrest Messrs Gitua, Damaru, Eluh and Koim for certain charges (unbeknown to all of us).

Despite court restraining orders in place, it seems these people will not stop at nothing. The only way to show them true observance of the rule of law is for both of us to voluntarily make ourselves surrender to whatever it's worth

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How Bad Are Papua New Guinea’s Universities? Awful Beyond Belief and Still Declining!

July 26, 2014, 3:39 pm
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By OHE Insider

Recent public statements by UPNG SRC President and law student Bobby Yupi show a tragic lack of intellectualism and overall knowledge about the world outside of PNG that now generally characterises PNG’s university students.     The decline in how PNG university students as a whole think and reason is a simple reflection of the bad education they receive.  

How Bad Is the Education That PNG’s University Students Now Receive?

PNG’s colleges and universities deliver a horribly low quality of education to the future leaders of this country.  Because students are ignorant of what an excellent learning environment would display, they usually say nothing and quietly take what’s thrown at them in the pretence of education.   Professors don’t bother to show up to class.  University academics lead by example by teaching in tok pisin, writing down as little as possible, and plagiarising the writings and ideas of foreign academics as if these came from their own brains.  Students rarely have textbooks to supplement the skeleton information presented in lectures.  The curriculum is out of date, libraries only contain books not considered worth stealing by past students, and student cheating is rampant.   Labs have insufficient or broken down equipment that prevents students from practicing enough to make perfect the skills they need to apply in their desired careers.

A 2009 report commissioned by the Somare government and approved by the O’Neill government entitled “PNG Universities Review” (Garnaut and Namaliu) noted the astonishing decrease in government service expenditure per person:    As the population increased 65% between 1993-2009, government recurrent expenditure per person was reduced by 29%.   They concluded: “Such a large decline in real public expenditure per person is, so far as we can gather, unique in the world, except in countries that, unlike Papua New Guinea, have descended into comprehensive civil disorder.”

PNG’s four public universities have been hit harder than most other public services.  Never have students or their tuition paying parents ever spoken out forcefully that the university’s needs to provide students with a good education be paid for and supported.  Thus, the quality of PNG university education has being going downhill since independence.

The “PNG Universities Review” notes that above all else, “inadequate funding of the State universities is a sufficient condition for failure to meet adequate standards. Funding in real terms per student has been declining since Independence. The decline accelerated sharply through the economic instability of the mid-1990s. Currency depreciation and inflation in the absence of significant increases in nominal funding stripped the universities of many internationally competitive staff. Expenditure on maintaining assets and investment in the quality of the teaching environment was cut to negligible levels. Quality reviews involving academics from other 13 institutions could not be funded and stopped. Real funding per student continued to decline after the stabilisation of economic activity and institutions in the early twenty first century.”

The youthful human resource that now graduates from this broken down PNG University system are mostly like the UPNG SRC president (Mr Yupi), whose recent behaviour suggested strongly that he has little ability to intelligently debate issues while relying on facts rather than rhetoric.

But Yupi is just one of countless red flags that are warning us that the next generation of leaders in PNG will be much worse than the present.    Our current university graduates rarely have the knowledge nor necessary skills to operate effectively in their discipline of training.  They lack critical analysis abilities so essential to competing effectively in today’s global economy.   The “PNG Universities Review” notes that “employers in all fields report that new graduates are poorly prepared to take their places in responsible positions without high levels of on-the-job training.  This message came to us from representatives of all of the business and professional organisations to which we spoke in the course of the Review, and also from leaders of the public service. The general assessment was that there had been substantial deterioration in standards in recent years, and that the decline is continuing.”   That’s why globally competitive companies operating in PNG hire so few graduates and so many foreigners in their place.

Rather than being terrified by the tragic state of PNG’s universities and take drastic action, as any responsible government and public would be, the people of PNG, the PNG government and its higher education bureaucracy move like snails.  Government vigorously opposes any student activism that might produce pressure on them to move faster.  As a result, things get worse, while university students and their parents mostly close their eyes and pretend things are ok.

World University Rankings Reveal The Harsh Truth

The oldest, most respected university ranking system is the Times Education World University Rankings (UK).   Another well know, respected ranking list is China’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).   However both cover only the world’s top 500 universities.  None of PNG’s universities make those lists.

The Webometrics “Ranking Web of Universities” is the only respected rating system that captures the best and worst universities.   It is run by the Cybermetrics Group of the Spanish National Research Council.   Information related to university academic performance is gleaned from a variety of data sources.

Webometrics rankings correlate well with results from other university ranking systems, especially those that emphasise research excellence.  However, the Webometrics ranking also takes into consideration other missions of today’s universities.   Thus, a university that focuses on teaching and public service and de-emphasises research is not disadvantaged in Webometrics rankings.

The following statistics on how PNG’s universities compare with those in the rest of the world come from the latest Webometrics “Ranking Web of Universities”  (http://www.webometrics.info/en).

How PNG’s Universities Compare Against the World’s Other Tertiary Institutions

1. Divine Word University  (DWU)

Divine Word University (DWU) probably has the best reputation, domestically and internationally, of any PNG university today.   That’s why its low ranking of 9630 is so shocking (higher numbers mean poorer academic performance).    Many Australian or New Zealand tertiary institutions that rank better than DWU are actually near unknowns in their own countries.   Unlike the pretentious Divine Word University, however, they don’t even pretend to call themselves universities:  Manukau Institute of Technology (ranking 6529), Australian College of Physical Education (ranking 7640), Kangan Batman Institute (ranking 8097), and JMC Academy (ranking 8336).    DWU isn’t even close to catching up with Fiji’s University of South Pacific (ranking:  1766) and ranks well below University of South Pacific’s small VANUATU campus (ranking 6475) and College of Micronesia (ranking 6579), both located in Pacific island nations considered poorer than PNG.   DWU’s ranking is much worse than destitute Burkina Faso’s (Africa) Universite de Ouagadougou (ranking: 6649), famine-famous Ethiopia’s Jimma University (ranking: 5732), politically unstable Egypt’s Al Azhar Al-Sharif Islamic Research Academy (ranking: 6276), and war-torn Rwanda’s Kigali Institute of Science & Technology (ranking: 8023).  DWU’s ranking is worse than 31 different universities in the almost unknown country of Kazakstan!   Even Putland State University (ranking: 6570), located in the failed state of Somalia, substantially OUTRANKS DWU.   Simply unbelievable!

The fact is that Divine Word University’s reputation for “educational excellence” is a deceptive fairy tale created by DWU President Jan Czuba to keep his job, attract infrastructure building donors, and fool parents who struggle paying DWU’s high tuition.  ‘Father’ Czuba is a hardass about demanding full tuition payment or immediate termination from studies, but what kind of education do students get in return?   Well, they each get a laptop that Czuba makes them pay for.  However, it appears that the greatest achievement of the laptop programme is to allow DWU to stop buying computers for computer labs.  More impressively, the laptop programme has stimulated the local economy by creating a market for stolen DWU student laptops!   To be fair, in the job market DWU’s graduates tend to outcompete those from PNG’s public universities.  But DWU’s graduates generally can’t compete with the rest of the world and their capacity is looked down upon by nearly all employers.

2.  University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG)

PNG’s top ranked public university and best known PNG tertiary institution, earns a horrible 10,673 ranking.  Even Australia’s unknown Raffles College of Design and Commerce (ranking 10081) does better, even though its main “campus” consists of one small building.   Ten tertiary institutions in small Pacific island countries beat UPNG as does desert-poor Botswana’s University of Botswana (ranking 3398), genocide-ravished Cambodia’s Royal University of Phnom Penh (ranking 3568), impoverished Bangladesh’s Rajshahi University (ranking: 5178), overpopulated Malawi’s University of Malawi (ranking: 5867), and impoverished, desert-covered Chad’s Univesite de N’djamena (ranking 8455).  Even tiny Bhutan’s little Royal University of Bhutan College of Natural Resources does better (ranking: 7121).   All these universities also rank higher than DWU!

UPNG’s poor ranking partially reflects its small annual budget.  The government of the “island of gold and copper, surrounded by seas of oil, gas, and tuna” has no real interest in supporting higher education.  Instead the national budget is now mostly devoted to funding foolishness in Waigani, nonsustainable loyalty buying activities in the districts, or is stolen outright.

Compared to universities struggling to operate in various poor developing countries, UPNG ranks LOWER than 34 universities in Belarus, 30 in Algeria, 20 in Uruguay and 6 universities in civil war-torn Syria.   In the basketcase dictatorship of Zimbabwe, 3 universities rank higher than UPNG.   Pathetic!

UPNG’s independence era reputation was pretty good, but today it has a terrible reputation, bordering on awful.   Yet UPNG SRC president Yupi, along with VC Mellon and OHE Director General Kavanamur, believe that it’s more important for students to shut their mouths and read their lecture notes at one of the world’s worst universities than use the time to vigorously protest the abysmal education they get because of the continuing disappearance of literally hundreds of millions of kina under this government.   Who had their priorities straight until last week?  Looks like it was UPNG’s students!

3.  PNG University of Technology (Unitech)

Unitech, with its terrible world ranking of 12,624, performs a lot worse than Billy Blue College in Australia (ranking: 11,476).  What and where is Billy Blue?  Hardly anyone knows, just like hardly anyone outside of PNG ever heard of Unitech.  Actually, Billy Blue is a school that teaches design.  It is one of many examples showing that small Australian schools of art can beat the pants off PNG’s universities!   Billy Blue operates out of rented space and has no real campus, yet outranks Unitech.   Also outranking Unitech are the desert covered impoverished Yemen’s Yemeni University of Science & Technology (ranking: 5569), corruption ridden Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (ranking: 2164) and corruption ridden Nigeria’s Federal University of Technology Acure campus (ranking: 5776), impoverished and overpopulated India’s Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur campus (ranking: 1803), war-torn Iraq’s University of Technology (ranking 5940), and hardline muslim fundamentalist Iran’s Isfahan University of Technology (ranking: 807).    All these institutions not only outrank Unitech, they outrank UPNG and DWU too!  Absymal.

4.  Pacific Adventist University (PAU)
5.  University of Goroka (UOG)
6.  University of Natural Resources (UNRE)

PNG’s three other so called “universities” aren’t even close to achieving the academic standards of a true university.   Adding “university” to their names is nothing more than a lie designed to fool the students and parents of PNG and make the administrators of those institutions feel important and deserving of high salaries.   An objective and deep analysis of the academic standards achieved by these 3 institutions reveals 3 ugly truths:  
PAU’s world ranking is an embarrassing 13,400, yet it has the highest fees of any PNG university.   We keep hearing PAU is such a great school.  Hello???

UOG, the PNG university that produces all our high school teachers, plays a critical role to the future of PNG’s education level.  But look at UOG’s ranking:  15,031.     This single number reveals why so many of our secondary school teachers can’t even teach their lessons in English anymore, much less deliver the required high school curriculum effectively.

UOG’s ranking, as bad as it is, doesn’t even come close to matching that of the “Mother of PNG’s Pretend Universities”, run by the late Sir Anthony Siaguru’s brother, Professor Philip Siaguru.   UNRE’s miserably low ranking of 20,998 is beyond shameful and good proof that PNG’s university administrators are incapable of feeling shame.    Just to give you a better feeling for what UNRE’s ranking compares against, consider these facts:

NOT ONE of New Zealand’s 48 tertiary institutions rank as low as UNRE.
NOT ONE of the UK’s 299 tertiary institutions rank as low as UNRE.
NOT ONE of Japan’s 1004 (yes, 1004!) tertiary institutions rank as low as UNRE.
NOT ONE of the 17 tertiary institutions in war-ravaged stateless Palestine rank as low as UNRE!
ONLY ONE of Australia’ 101 tertiary institutions (Melbourne School of Fashion, tucked into a third floor suite of an office building) ranks worse than UNRE.
ONLY TWO of 121 tertiary institutions in the former war torn developing country of Vietnam rank lower than UNRE.
ONLY FOUR of 178 tertiary institutions in Pacific Island countries rank lower than UNRE.
17 out of 25 tertiary institutions in the tribal war lord run failed state of Somalia rank HIGHER than UNRE.    Good Lord, this is unreal

An Unbelievable Decline In University Education Passively Accepted By the People of Papua New Guinea

No matter what data you use or where it comes from, the report card on PNG’s public and private institutions is worse than appalling and exceeds being a national embarrassment.  It is a death sentence for human resource development that kills the potential of nearly every young person so unlucky to be schooled in PNG.   The fact that one university inSomalia ranks higher than PNG’s best university, with nearly half of that failed state’s higher education institutions ranking higher than UNRE, would be laughable if the affect on PNG’s aspiring young minds was not so tragic.   Against this reality, any description of PNG’s resource wealth becomes an obscenity.   Longlong sounding university students like the current UPNG SRC President, should be pitied, for they know not how they sound to the truly intellectual.  They’re blissfully ignorant of how badly they’ve been educated, and are blind to how much they’re being manipulated.   The government can only hope that today’s PNG university students never see the bitter truth of their career dreams until they’ve graduated and are thrown into the sea of life’s struggles.
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PAUL PARAKA ARRESTED

July 26, 2014, 3:41 pm
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Paul Paraka was arrested and charged on Friday afternoon by the Fraud and Anti-Corruption unit. His arrest is in relation to fraudulent payments made to his law firm. His law firm received 162 million kina through fraudulent means.

 He was arrested and charged with stealing by false pretense, conspiracy to defraud the state, money laundering and misappropriation of public funds. He has been brought to the Boroko Police Station and will be released on bail. Mr. Paraka will appear at the Committal Court in Waigani on Monday. Director Fraud and Anti-Corruption Mathew Damaru told the media there are more people expected to be arrested and charged.

 Whilst the legitimacy of the Task Force Sweep team is before the courts, arrests related to ongoing investigations into the Paraka saga, are continuing. Mister Damaru said more arrests will be made in coming weeks. Following the recent drama over the arrest warrant against the prime minister, the court-reinstatement of Task Force Sweep has not deterred, what has been described, as the wheels of justice turning.

Source: EMTV
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SWEEP TEAM TO OPERATE, PARAKA PLANS TO CLEAR HIS FIRM AND NAME

July 27, 2014, 8:17 pm
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By: Maivo Lafanama NBC NEWS


The National Executive Council's decision to disband the Task Force Sweep Team has been permanently stayed by the National Court.
The decision was handed down this morning by Justice Les Gavera- Nanu.

A decision by the N-E-C on June 18 and 24th respectively to disband the Sweep Team and have files transferred to a new interim investigative body are stayed effectively.
Sweep Chairman Sam Koim filed a review application after the decision citing personal bias and unreasonable actions in its removal.
The judge among others agreed there is a strong case established and that interest of justice is paramount as millions of kina have been allegedly stolen by individuals.

Justice Gavera-Nanu also says its important the files are kept by the Sweep team to avoid risk of it being destroyed.

PARAKA PLANS MAJOR PR CAMPAIGN TO CLEAR HIS NAME

The man at the center of the Paul Paraka Lawyers payout controversy, the principal, Paul Paraka plans to conduct a major national awareness campaign on the circumstances and charges laid against his law firm. Mr Paraka said over the weekend, he will conduct these public meetings in all centers of the country.

He explained that thousands of people, who are linked or depend on law firm which has branches nationwide, don’t know about the charges, and he himself could not say much in the media, because of court restrictions.
This comes as Paraka was arrested on Friday and charged by Port Moresby police in relation to alleged illegal payments to his law firm.

Paraka is out on a 50-thousand-Kina bail and is scheduled to appear at the Waigani Committal Court in Port Moresby this week.
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Why Is the Government of the Land of Gold and Copper, Surrounded By Seas of Oil, Gas and Tuna, Content To Let Papua New Guinea’s Universities Rot?

July 28, 2014, 7:31 pm
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Same Ol, Same Ol Confirmed for 2015

Because the government continues to squander too much of our national wealth, OHE has already announced that the O’Neill government’s 2015 budget for PNG’s universities will be very close to the 2014 budget, which was similar to the 2013 budget, and so on.   Of course, PNG’s national budgets overall keep increasing.  That means the budget for our universities must stay the same.  PNG universities again will receive a “barely surviving” chunk of money that allows them to stay in debt and continue to quietly fall apart.   Poorer education for 2015 is business as usual for the O’Neill government, just as it was for the Somare governments, Morauta government, Skate government, Chan governments, Wingti government, and Namaliu government.  Nothing has changed on that front.

Keeping the People Dumb and Ignorant Has Become A New National Directive

However, the O’Neil government has done much better than past governments in one area of education.   It has perfected its “free education in classrooms without books and often without teachers” policy that ensures that most students passing through the school system will develop into dumb, ignorant adults.   Any government intent on slowly dismantling a democracy and replacing it with a 1 party state knows how important it is to make young people dumb and stupid as early as possible.  This is because the dumb and ignorants of the world are least likely to see how their nation is headed, and won’t figure out how the government has treated or manipulated them.   

It’s painfully obvious that no national leader would be doing what Peter O’Neill is doing unless they were intent on creating the foundation for dictatorship.  Consider that the PM already has more than 95% of all MPs on his side in government.   What then is the point of his henchmen working right now to secretly entice MPs in other political parties do defect to PNG?   It’s happening! Furthermore, Peter O’Neill’s history of flagrant ignoring or manipulation of the nation’s laws show his personal belief that he need not follow any authority (even God’s) but his own.   But Peter O’Neill’s aspirations to become PNG’s first PM for life will have the greatest chance of being realised if he can use the educational system to make the young people of PNG into relative morons.  

The Correlation Between Poor “Top Universities” And Successful World Dictatorships

Plenty of sociologists and political scientists have published on the association between authoritative governments and piss poor quality education.   You can verify the trend yourself with respect to the quality of universities in the dictatorships of the world versus the most democratic nations.  Locate the 2012 ranking (called the “Democracy Index”) published by the Economist National Intelligence Unit. This annual index rates every country on their relative democracy and overall freedom.   You’ll not be surprised to see that North Korea is the world’s most repressive government.  What’s surprising is to see what countries made the top 5 as being most free and democratic:  Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, and New Zealand.  

Looking at the top 15 (not 5) finest democracies, it’s obvious that some of them (Iceland!) have economies too small to lavishly support their universities.  Or their populations (New Zealand!) are too small to generate a richly funded private university.  Yet, if you take the top 15 most free countries in the world compared against the world’s 15 most undemocratic countries, then for each country, find the rating of their highest ranking university (using Webometrics data), here’s what you’ll see with your own eyes:

TOP 15 MOST FREE & DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD:
Rankings of their top universities ranges from 30 (Canada) down to 1054 (tiny Luxembourg)
Average:  272

BOTTOM 15 MOST REPRESSIVE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD:  
Rankings of their top universities ranges from 288 (Saudi Arabia) down to Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea (tied at 19,137).  Three of the 15 countries either don’t have any universities, or don’t have any that break the top 21,000.
Averaging the 12 least democratic countries who even have universities breaking the top 21,000 we get:  9903.   9903?   That number is very close to the ranking of PNG’s very own “premiere” institution of higher learning, Divine Word University!  (9630 for DWU)

272 versus 9903.  That’s a huge difference and it occurs even though some of the repressive countries (like Saudi Arabia) are filthy rich and can put lots of money into higher education, while some of the most free and democratic nations are sometimes small and would find it challenging to financially support quality education.  Yet, universities in the most democratic countries still manage to greatly outdistance those in the dictatorships.

It’s easier for dictators to stay in power if they provide their people with pathetic educations.  Start with the universities and work down until the entire population is stupefied and your future as dictator for life is secure.  

Have Our University Students Already Become Stupified Into Inaction?

Of course, even in repressive countries, most young people don’t become stupid until their poor education makes them that way.   Even so, there are always a very few very bright minds that survive the bad education and usually figure out what’s going on around them.   As they figure things out, they get angry.  In countries where the brightest minds aren’t jailed or killed, these are the young people who stand up to speak out and organise their less bright colleagues to protest as well.   Throughout the world, University student boycotts are very common (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_protest).   

But not here in Papua New Guinea!   Of course there have been university student rebellions and boycotts, but they have usually been self centred and they’re not frequent, considering the sad state of affairs in our universities.  Yes, the boycotts were usually driven by selfishness, but shouldn’t getting a good education to maximise the chance of getting a good job in place of a foreigner, and using that job to develop a well paid, satisfying career motivate students to fight for their right to a decent education?   If so, where’s the protesting for a better university education?   

I don’t see it. Maybe it’s because PNG’s university students are mostly blind to the piss poor education they’re receiving.  Either that or maybe they’ve been successfully stupefied by their early pathetic education and now they don’t give a shit about much of anything.   Either option explains why the majority of university students aren’t standing up to be counted.   The mystery is why haven’t the brightest student brains figured it out and started enlightening everyone else?   Have they all become like UPNG SRC President Bobby Yupi?  
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A young PNG model on the rise

July 28, 2014, 9:30 pm
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Noreen Pisa, as she is known was born in Port Moresby General Hospital to a very beautiful couple who she says were very much in love. “I was the last born to a family of four. My dad is from Ialibu, Southern Highlands and my mother is also a Southern Highlander from Kagua” she tells fastbusinessHer dad is a Chief Warrant Officer and a Pipe Major (PNGDF Music Director) in PNGDF Taurama Barracks and her mother, a house wife. She grew up in Taurama Barracks in a very closely knitted community were everyone knows everyone. She did her grade 1-8 in 1996-2003 at Taurama Primary School.

Unfortunately, her mum passed away due to health issues when she was in grade 7. Here is how she recounts her mum’s loss. “My life changed from there on. I learned to become more and more independent” she tells fastbusiness. “It was very tough at that very young age. But my dad became my mother as well as my father” she proudly says. “He did things that I don’t think any father would do. From dealing with my teenage dramas to dealing with my boy issues and the rest. He is my hero. He had molded me into the person I am today because he had trust in me. I grew up in a Christian family, where I was thought to respect others and treat people the way you want to be treated. I am very much a daddy’s girl and still now he calls me his baby” she says laughing.

 The struggles in her life, instead of knocking her off her feet, boosted her moral to be the best for herself and her family. Noreen graduated from year 8 with all distinctions and made into Kila Kila Secondary School where she did her grade 9 to 10 as she recalls with smile. She then went to do her Grade 11 in Port Moresby International and half of Grade 11 and 12 in Marianville Secondary School taking up Physics and Math A. “Physics was my favorite subject. I was always an A student but because of losing mum at a tender age caused me to drop interest in school and my marks dropped” she recounts. She however, made it into UPNG (open college) Science Foundation but due to financial issues she wasn’t able to complete her studies. “I wanted to get into Geology. I had a plan to start working saving up for myself and go back into Uni. I started working in hospitality industry.

 I wasn’t like my other friends who were fortunate to have parents paying for them through Uni. I had to do on my own because my father was supporting my older sisters with their Uni fees and I didn’t want to be an extra burden therefore I had to pull out” she says. The biggest ever challenged she faced in her life as she tells fastbusiness with a sad tone, yet with greater confidence and conviction is the passing of her mum at a tender age. “My mother’s passing away at a very young age was obviously a major challenge. Growing up without a motherly figure was very tough” She also points out that another challenge she faces is having to be a very outgoing and always a happy person.

“I had fair share of haters, it can be really tough” she grins She proudly says her father is the biggest role model in her life. “My father was my biggest role model growing up and still is. He came from a humble beginning from a little village called Ponowi in Southern Highlands Province. Made it into the PNGDF when he was only 16 years old now he is now 65 and has traveled the world doing what he loves. Along the way he rubbed shoulders and made friends with famous and powerful people and still has stays a humble man” Just like any other girls growing up in a big busy city like Port Moresby, Noreen had her childhood dreams. “As like many other little girls, I dreamed of becoming a model.

I was a little fashion diva. I remember around the ages of 4-7 I would dress up in my older sister’s clothes and put on their high heels, makeup and walk the corridor of my house as my runway with my family sitting around cheering me…good old memories” she says with a broad grin on her beautiful face. “Never imagined I would do that in few years’ time with high heels that would actually fit. In primary school my dream was to become a pilot and as I grew older and went into high school I was interested in working in the mines instead. I wanted to be a mining geologist” She however says that her others dream have changed over the years but her dream on being a model stayed.


 “My dreams have changed over the years but ironically I’ve ended up doing what I love as a little girl” she says and adds “Maybe because I never stop dreaming of it” When asked about one thing she wish she changed about her, she like Billionaire Warren Buffet, says “I wish I started earlier” In her own words; “If I could change one thing it would be, I wish I could have started this career at a younger age while I was in PNG” Today, success is a predictable as sun rising and setting. Anyone, anywhere can be successful in their dreams, but the magic is to start early as Noreen highlights.

Early in this sense, means today. Early doesn’t mean you wait till tomorrow. Get up, get dirty and move on. That’s what we call success and that’s what Noreen is doing. Noreen is reaping the benefits of her commitment and perseverance as she recounts below; “I had the opportunity to travel so I took it. I started doing modelling in Vanuatu for a fashion Designer who was previously working backstage in Paris Fashion shows. She had her own Fashion Label in Vanuatu called Jojo Fashion where she designs beautiful summer clothes. I was one of the models who parade her garments in local resorts in Vanuatu every week as a runway fashion show. Even did catalogue modelling for her business website. When I moved to Australia I decided to continue modelling and started by entering modelling competitions with other aspiring models”

http://www.modelmayhem.com/3047710
http://www.starnow.com.au/noreenpissa
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Magistrate Pinson Pindipia frees Paul Paraka without Bail, Same Magistrate seen meeting with Paraka on two ocassions.

July 29, 2014, 12:37 am
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Paul Paraka was arrested and charged last week Friday 25th July and whilst the Police were imposing K50,000 bail, Paraka's lawyers went and saw Magistrate Pinson Pindipia who issued a "Certificate of Discharge" on the same day without even imposing a bail of K50,000.

A certificate of discharge is for discharging a convicted criminal from prison or remand etc. It could have been a bail certificate but instead it is a Certificate of Discharge, Is the Magistrate preempting something?

The same Magistrate was accused in the media of having secret meetings with Paul Paraka early this year.

The same magistrate adjourned Paul Paraka's cases for 6 months unduely.

It is understood, Paraka's all other cases are coming up before Pinson Pindipia on Thursday. The fear is that Pindipia might do anything to make the case against Paraka fail come 31st July

Pinson Pindipia is from Southern Highlands and  related to the Prime Minister


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Magistrate Pindipia detained by fraud squad

July 30, 2014, 2:40 pm
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Magistrate Pindipia detained by fraud squad, PNG Echo

Magistrate Pindipia was tonight picked up by police from Appollo Restaurant, East Boroko, and taken to Fraud Squad Headquarters where he is detained and being questioned in relation to a document that ordered the release of Paul Paraka who, until the production of the controversial document, was in police custody on charges relating to a K242 million fraud.

The document that facilitated Mr Paraka’s premature release emanated from Mr Pindipia and is regarded by the investigating authorities as “highly inappropriate.”

Furthermore, a police spokesperson said that it is suspected that such orders, on the part of the magistrate, are not isolated or confined to this one incident.

Mr. Pindipia, at time of going to press, was still assisting the authorities with their investigations.

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Our grassroots legal  expert Bryan Kammer says "It is highly irregular for a Magistrate to be so quick to dismiss charges against an accused on the same day as his arrest without a committal hearing where the evidence is considered including arguments from the public prosecutor."

He continues "If it was a certificate of discharge is means pursuant to Section 100 of the District Act, District Magistrate formed the opinion the evidence is not sufficient to put the defendant on trial. In other words the Magistrate dismissed the charges against him".

"If the Public Prosecutor is not satisfied with a magistrate opinion finding insufficient evidence to put a defendant on trial or discharge him/her from the offence the Public Prosecutor may file a special indictment (called an ex officio indictment) against a person and that person will stand trial in the National Court by passing committal proceedings in the District Court". 

 

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How did I come to believe that James Marape was dishonourable (Along with Powes Parkop, John Hickey, Carol Kidu and even Gary Juffa?)

July 31, 2014, 4:37 pm
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Depressed over the news that bail-free Paul Paraka is already out of jail and back to his old tricks of buying the PNG legal system, I was hit broadside again by yesterday’s news that James Marape got an interim injunction from the Supreme Court making him immune from arrest until the current appeal he has before the courts is dealt with.  How easily PNG’s wheels of justice are corrupted! 

If you ask for my opinion, I reckon that James Marape is one of the most Dishounourable of the Dishonourable Gang of 111, a foul smelling slimebucket if there ever was one.   How did I reach that conclusion?   By watching how he operates and how he responds to critical comments about his actions.  Marape isn’t the first PNG pollie who removed their shoes, dipped their feet into social media water, and were immediately shocked by the electrified discussion!  I feel privileged to be one of probably thousands who witnessed the unveiling of the real James Marape on the internet in April 2011.

It all started with a PNG Blogs article that exposed rampant corruption in the area represented by this hideously obese con man:

Massive Corruption in Tari Pori District & Hela Transitional Authority  (April 14, 2011)

www.pngblogs.com/2011/04/massive-corruption-in-tari-pori.html

The evidence presented seemed solid.   Responses and questions appeared. I prayed that Marape would appear and respond.  And he did-but not on PNG Blogs!  He probably realised that this would be suicidal as a giant tsunami of pointed questions and heated comments hit him.  Thus triple chinned James camped outside and set up his own blog where he posted this reply to his critics:

“Marape’s Respond to Wheelchair Critics on PNGBLOG”  (May 2011)

pngpositive.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post.html

Note that our ‘esteemed member’ can’t even get his English straight (not unusual for our majority half kanaka MPs, including many Ministers).   But Marape isn’t smart about much of anything.  He only succeeds in stealing so much because our justice system is thoroughly bagared with incompetent investigators, money hungry lawyers, and bribe-able magistrates.    

At least Marape figured out that he’d better stay away from the crowd at PNG Blogs.  Thus he set up a cyber location where he could control not only what he put on the blog, but also control any responses.  What Marape didn’t know (or maybe he’s created one and I don’t know about it?) is that Facebook sites are much better than blogs for corrupt politicians.  On Facebook, you not only can write nice things about yourself using fake names, you can also define your “friends”, creating a loyal audience of pea brains who are either related to you or mentally incapable of thinking logically, and who applaud everything you say.  Kind of like what we see in North Korea.  

Even without a Facebook page, Marape’s game plan mostly worked.   He posted a rebuttal far away from PNG Blogs, at his own site.  His arguments contained the usual deception and avoidance tactics PNG pollies are expert at.  Of course, seeing Marape dance around the questions was like throwing water on a bee’s nest back at PNG Blogs.  People commented plenty about Marape’s avoidance of the facts.  Sadly for James, his own blog site didn’t attract the army of supporters he may have hoped for.  It remained deathly quiet, with only one positive and one critical comment ever appearing.   Better go back to Hela land, Dishonourable James, and buy your supporters some Digicel dongles! 

James Marape is not the only PNG politician who appeared on the internet, then suddenly vanished.   The same happened with the alleged road construction King of Kickbacks, Powes Parkop.  At least Dishonourable Parkop wrote an article that was published on PNG Blogs (and also PNG Exposed) in response to blog allegations of major mismanagement at NCD (Parkop signing off on K100,000 worth of unbudgeted car rentals and other shady approvals).  Here’s Parkop’s response and the readers followup responses: 

Parkop Respond To Fake Audit Report  (September 1, 2011)

www.pngblogs.com/2011/09/parkop-respond-to-fake-audit-report.html

Parkop too, quickly vanished. 

All politicians must somehow get hold of a book entitled something like “How to Fool The Public.  The Ultimate Guidebook For Politicians”.  Parkop responded to allegations just like Marape.   The whole process begins with the politicians telling whatever half truths or falsehoods they want.  When debate ensues, they’re careful not to answer questions in ways that would reveal any hidden truths.  Instead they look for selected parts of the questions that they will proudly answer as if that’s any indication of openness and honesty (it’s not!). 

Unfortunately for them, that trick lasts only a short while until the sharp thinkers realise they’re being humbugged.  When they respond strongly, the pollie finds an excuse to disappear. 

Thus our equally triple chinned Parkop used many sentences in his rebuttal to proclaim the NCD audit report posted on the internet as being fake.  When specifically asked whether the financial information contained within that ‘fake report’ was also fake, Parkop naturally didn’t answer.  He ran away!   And thus we learn that what the pollie reveals more than what he does say. 

The only PNG pollie I’ve seen so far who hasn’t yet ran away from healthy debate is Sam Basil.  That doesn’t exonerate Sam, since he has never followed his articles published by PNG Blogs by coming on line and answering readers questions.  Sam Basil generally stays within personally owned blog territory surrounded by effective security fencing.  Just like Slimebucket Marape.   

Gary Juffa, who I once admired a lot, once wrote for PNG Blogs and also commented.  However, this past March he ran away after too many “unnecessary questions” were thrown at him following a PNG Blogs article that alleged a number of improprieties.  The article was clearly deleted from the PNG Blogs archives but you can still read it at a PNG Blogs mirror site (papua87.rssing.com/chan-7046137/all_p16.html), well down the page. 

What you can’t see anymore are the comments and questions directed at Juffa, followed by his responses.   Basically he declared all the allegations lies without providing backup evidence and without directly answering any questions.  I used to think Gary Juffa was a different kind of politican.  Now here he was on PNG Blogs acting just like the others. 

After this incident, which only lasted a few days, Juffa disappeared from PNG Blogs.  Was he embarrassed and shamed about the whole affair?  Or angry that PNG Blogs let freedom of speech prevail instead of corruptly helping out Gary by deleting any uncomfortable comments and questions?   Who knows.

Nearly all PNG blog, Facebook, and discussion site owners haven’t been able to resist the corrupt temptation to help out friends when the going gets tough and their allies are surrounded by rapidly fired questions and comments.    Certainly helping out friends is what PNG Attitude (asopa.typepad.com) owner Keith Jackson does, so no wonder why Gary Juffa is now over there submitting his articles.   On an old discussion forum site that PNG Blogs used to maintain, there used to be a revealing posting about how Jackson used to allow uncensored comments until an article full of praise about egomaniac Paulius Matane generated some nasty comments.  The comments vanished overnight and PNG Attitude’s comment section thereafter became “regulated”. 

To be fair to Gary Juffa, the allegations aimed at him at PNG Blogs seemed to involve little or no corruption. The allegations seemed to be that certain extravagances in Juffa’s personal life, including how he and his wife earned extra income, made Gary’s public preachings hypocritical.   Gary is probably basically good and would have come out of the discussion  looking alright if ONLY HE HAD BEEN HONEST AND ANSWERED QUESTIONS TRUTHFULLY AND DIRECTLY.   Why’s that so hard for a politician?

I only know of two other MPs who came onto the internet (and of course quickly vanished).   Maybe some of you out there can share other stories.   My last 2 stories are about events on PNGscape.net. 

Many years ago, Dishonourable John Hickey (who like the Dishonourable Beldon Namah, “owns” his own land grabbing SABL) put up a single posting on Scape.  A few responses, including some questions (which I remembered were all polite) followed.  Off Hickey ran, without answering a one. 

Carol Kidu, bless her heart, was braver but also didn’t last.  When pressed by the cyber audience on whether she wasn’t being a giant hypocrite by saying she was against corruption while simultaneously serving the corrupt and mostly incompetent Michael Somare government, she responded a bit weakly if I recall.  Soon afterwards, she too vanished from Scape. 

Watching dishonourable PNG pollies on the internet I’ve learnt some good lessons.  First is that pollies will be pollies, even those who we think are ok.  We all know that politics is dirty, and maybe the mud ends up rubbing off even on good people who go into politics.  Case in point: Gary Juffa.  Sam Basil seems different, but let’s not forget (he would prefer that we did) that Basil happily voted to help make Peter O’Steal the PM. 

Secondly I learnt that in situations where freedom of speech on the internet is protected strongly, with little or no censorship, the resulting strong debate usually exposes the truth.  Anonymity allows people to pose the most embarrassing of questions.  Pollies who run away from them are obviously avoiding something unpleasant that they fear might come out with further dialogue. 

Our pollies escape the internet, run up a mountain, then like angry kokis babble endlessly about how libellous and unfair social media is.   Our newspapers, undoubtedly threatened by the painful evidence that their investigative reporting sucks compared to what you sometimes find on the PNG internet today, also rant about the unfairness of the social media.  They all sound like crybabies.

The social media, and especially PNG Blogs, has been able to reveal the deepest of unpleasant truths that our newspapers would never touch.  Because of that, I’ve become a strong supporter of “trial by media” (which is common overseas in developed countries).  Like it or not, it tends to reveal the truth.  

At the same time, a “trial by media” process works best at identifying the guilty if it meets 3 conditions:  1) the accused knows about or is invited to respond to allegations posted on the internet (if they run away instead, that alone says a lot), 2) enough deep thinking, perceptive people are present to engage in vigorous but logical debate, and 3) totally idiotic respondents who specialise in repetitious name calling are lightly controlled.   But in general let even the childish comments remain.   Most readers aren’t stupid and can pick out comments containing substance from baby arguing. 

The last lesson I’ve learnt is that fantastic organisations can accidentally make big mistakes.  I believe that PNG Blogs is a Godsend for PNG and a powerful weapon against corruption and am one of PNG Blogs’ biggest supporters, in action and in my heart.  That’s why I was a little depressed when I discovered that PNG Blogs had quietly removed the original article critical of Gary Juffa.  I don’t know why.  What I do know is that PNG Blogs is too great an idea to worry about Juffa’s ruffled feathers, and too dependent on the reality that free speech eventually reveals the truth to remove articles when no one is looking. 

We always need both sides of a story to discern the truth.  Even a tiresome self centred, hate filled article submitted by Paul Paraka should be published on PNG Blogs if he emails one in.  As for the Lost Allegations Against Gary Juffa article, let PNG Blogs remember that Gary had every opportunity to debate what was said and answer the questions and points thrown at him.  If he was innocent of the allegations, and had answered everything truthfully, even if it meant being a little embarrassed, I believe that truth would have set him free.   Now we’ll never know.  Which means we will always suspect. 
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PRESS RELEASE

August 1, 2014, 10:51 pm
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Judge Mark Sevua Rtd
On Tuesday morning, 22 July 2014; NCDC Officials with the assistance of armed Police, Paga Hill Development Company and Curtain Bros demolished the SDA Church located at Paga Point together with the shelters of the Settlers on the Reclaimed Land below Paga Hill at Paga Point. The demolition and destruction of the Church and the Settlers' shelters were carried out without any consideration of human dignity and the interest and welfare of the affected citizens. This is a blatant violation of the
Constitution!! !!!!

It is quite amazing that a person of the calibre of Powes Parkop, the NCD Governor, who used to be describe himself as a champion of "Human Rights" could authorise his employees and henchmen to destroy the Church and the Settlers' life with the use of armed police, without any human consideration at all. I only wish that the three World War 2 bombs had exploded that day and destroy all those involved in the destruction of this area!!!!!!!!!!!

Where was NCDC when this area was filled by extracted rocks and soil from the Burns Peak Poreporena Freeway construction in the late 70s????? When did NCDC declare the Reclaimed Land at Paga Point to be "Part Commercial, Part Public Utilities and Part Open Space" ????? If NCDC claims title to the
Reclaimed Land, why did it not prevent the Settlers from moving onto the Reclaimed Land from the start, when the area was filled????????

These citizens have been residing on this Reclaimed Land for many years without interference by any authority. The eviction exercise initiated by Paga Hill Development Company was wrong in the first place. Even the National Court Order to give vacant possession of Portion 1597 including the Reclaimed
Land was also wrong. As determined by the Supreme Court on 1 July 2014, such order given by the National Court on 29th January 2014 excludes the area known as the Reclaimed Land. The reason is simple- Portion 1597 did not, does not, and never include the Reclaimed Land. Up to today, some Settlers are still residing on the Reclaimed Land under sun, wind and cold because they have nowhere to go. The destruction of their homes was done in haste and without affording them ample opportunity to relocate. NCDC headed by the so called "Human Rights" lawyer and Governor

Powes Parkop must be held accountable for their employees'.actions, especially when there is a Supreme Court Order in place. I therefore call on the Governor of NCO, Curtain Bros, Paga Hill Development
Company and the Police to compensate these Settlers who have fallen victims of the unconstitutional breaches by all those concerned. These Settlers are simple people, some unemployed, but they are nevertheless human beings and they deserved to be treated with human dignity.

It is ironic and quite sarcastic and stupid for Gudumundur Fridriksson to deny his company's involvement when the Settlers have seen and identified Stanley Liria in company with NCDC and Curtain Bros employees in the area since the Supreme Court decision. The Settlers may be just ordinary people, but they are not stupid, and they know who Stanley Liria is.

I would suggest that the Settlers' Lawyer should file contempt of court proceedings against Stanley Liria and his company and the others who have been involved in this destruction. Contempt of the Supreme Court Order is a very serious matter and hopefully the Supreme Court will deal with those who think they are smarter than the Supreme Court.

I condemn in the strongest terms possible the inhuman and unconstitutional treatment these ordinary Papua New Guineans have suffered at the hands of NCDC, Police, Curtain Bros and Paga Hill Development Company. I also condemn the unlawful use of threats and violence by armed policemen who behave as if they are above the law. They behave like armed criminals and

I call on Geoffrey Vaki and Jim Andrews to stop their armed thugs policemen from getting onto the sides of private companies and NCDC and to stop harassing unarmed civilians. Finally, I call of NCO Governor, Powes Parkop to apologise to the Settlers and compensate them for the damages inflicted on them through his employees. As a champion of human rights cause, he should be accountable for the abuse and breaches of human rights his employees had rendered to these simple innocent Papua New Guineans and o the right thing by these people who continue to suffer from the unconstitutional violations.

Signed

JUDGE MARK SEVUA Rtd
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Using Government Bullshit To Create Illusions In the Public Mind: It Won’t Save PNG’s Universities, My Friends

August 2, 2014, 2:53 pm
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OHE Insider

All Objective External Assessments of PNG’s Universities Point To A Giant, Growing Mess

When I wrote my first article on the pathetic state of PNG’s universities, I thought the university ranking data would be enough to convince readers how unprepared our universities and their graduates are to meet PNG’s challenges in the 21st century.

Maybe I should have shared more of what is contained within the Garnaut & Namaliu paper “PNG Universities Review”(www.rossgarnaut.com.au/.../PNGUniversitiesReview310510v7.pdf).   For example:

[a nation] “pretending to educate children with pretend teachers trained in pretend universities and teachers colleges”.

“The National High Schools which were once the main source of university students have deteriorated to the extent that standards are generally no higher, and in some cases lower, than the provincial secondary schools.”      

“many members of staff draw full salaries but participate in teaching only to the extent that it suits them and fits in with other professional activities.”

The report paints the same picture as the Webometric ranking of PNG universities:   That of a government and its people letting the higher institutions it inherited at independence fall apart, with even newer institutions far from reaching acceptable standards.   If you compare the state of our universities against relevant goalposts of PNG’s 2050 vision, it becomes obvious that we’re on track to reach our 2050 development goals in 2150, 2250, or maybe never.  Never assume that countries are guaranteed to develop.   Many in the world today, despite centuries of relative independence, continue to languish in sluggish development that only benefits the privileged.  PNG could easily become just like them.

In PNG today, most uni graduates know depressingly little and can apply even less.   Yes, yes, there are a few (usually those who read widely outside of class) who become successful despite their atrocious PNG university education.   Praise those solid achievers but don’t glorify them as being any kind of “typical” graduate.  They’re not.  Most of today’s graduates, as they leave uni, are kissed with a lifelong disadvantage getting scholarships, jobs, and developing satisfying careers.  For anyone to celebrate DWU because it is PNG’s top university is to participate in a coverup of painful reality.   It’s like taking a box of rotting pawpaws and picking the least rotten one to hold up and exclaim how beautiful it looks.  Those sweet words do not in fact make the pawpaw either beautiful or sweet.

Saving PNG’s Universities Is Firstly About GETTING MORE MONEY!

There are many reasons why PNG’s universities have become so pathetic, but the core problem is NOT ENOUGH MONEY.    For nearly two generations, PNG’s universities haven’t even had close to the funding they need!

Yet, we are living in a country where the national budget has skyrocketed over the past few years.  Our government can quickly go into massive foreign debt (Exxim loan) to use Chinese companies to build our roads, but seems oddly incapable of increasing the budget of the higher education institutions that build the brains of the future.

Six Beliefs That Help Ensure That PNG’s Universities Will NEVER Be Properly Funded

Even if you, the reader, are finally realising what a disaster our PNG universities have become, be assured that our PNG universities will NEVER get the funds they need if you hold any of the following beliefs dear to your heart:

1.  Believing that “the government must start taking action”.    Of course they “must” take action to solve the problem.  But they haven’t taken action for the last 39 years and they never will as long as the current status quo persists.  People, you must understand how our government actually functions to reveal why it doesn’t function!

Do you believe that OHE should solve the problem?  Of course they “should” but they haven’t and they won’t.   OHE is totally useless at putting any pressure on government to substantially increase support for higher education.   Whoever happens to be the HERST minister at the time will never start a campaign to make higher education a national issue.  They’re afraid to!   To understand why, consider that Director General David Kavanamur, who is in the same lifestyle boat as the ministers he serves.  If Kavanamur made any waves broadcasting to the nation the 39 years deterioration of PNG’s higher learning, it could undo Kavanamur’s comfortable life of commuting to work in PNG while permanently residing in Australia.  OHE planners and staff underneath Kavanamur perpetuate this impasse.  They all know the rule:  Speak up in dissent and you’ll be on your way out.

But OHE isn’t alone in this paralysis.   The same selfishness and personal greed drives staff, managers and ministers in the National Planning Office and Department of Finance, which play roles in allocating funds to different line items in the national budget for higher education.  The overall situation is that of complete immobilisation.   That’s why the government isn’t going to “do something” about the problem just because you, the reader, demand it.

2.  Believing “the minister has promised to help our universities”.    All those flowery speeches of past HERST and Dept Education ministers have only succeeded in throwing new bullshit on top of a 39 year old mountain of bullshit.   What happened to the hundreds and hundreds of new computers Acting HERST Minister Don Polye that promised our universities would receive this year?   Long forgotten!   Now we’re applauding current Minister Delilah Gore’s airheaded project to build new libraries at the universities.  Minister Gore, look around you.  Our universities already have libraries!  The problem isn’t no buildings, it is that the libraries are nearly empty of modern, relevant books for students to learn from!   Few books, fewer magazines, no technical journals, that’s the reality.  

3.  Believing that “another investigative report is needed on the state of PNG’s universities”.    We don’t need another @#($*@#$@ report!   We’ve had nearly 40 years of decline because government WILL NOT GIVE OUR UNIVERSITIES ENOUGH MONEY.  Full stop.   The Garnault & Namaliu report said it all.  That report is now 5 years old and counting, yet there has been NO slowdown of the 39 year old trend of decline.   That’s not to say that OHE doesn’t use the Garnault & Namaliu report.  It has been their guide to carry out snail pace activities to reform the system, motivated by David Kavanamur’s promise that recommendations from these activities (such as the nearly finished quality review of all PNG’s universities) will be fully funded.   Empty promises followed by empty promises.   Throughout it all, PNG’s public universities continue to deteriorate and Divine Word’s ranking as a quality university remains worse than the top university of the chaotic warlord ruled country of Somalia!

4.  Believing that “PNG’s universities will be saved by privatization and sugar daddies”.    Hello?  Privatization is already here in the form of the abysmally ranked, horribly expensive Pacific Adventist University, as well as the poorly ranked, very expensive Divine Word University.    They both struggle to fill their available spaces BECAUSE SO FEW PARENTS CAN AFFORD THEIR HIGH SCHOOL FEES!    Not to worry.   Some of you have become convinced that there’s a sugar daddy somewhere out there willing to bail out PNG’s public universities with heaps of cash or will set up their own private university in PNG.  Sorry, laka, that’s cargo cult thinking and it won’t happen.  Bill Gates isn’t  interested in bailing out PNG higher education nor is Bill Clinton.   Nor is any other super-rich fat cat.   Nor the Australian, New Zealand, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Philippino nor American governments interested.   Nor are any truly genuine private educational institutions of those countries interested.   Repeat:  NOT INTERESTED!   Even outside idiots can see that neither PNG’s government nor its voters much concerned that PNG supports some of the worst universities in the world.   If we don’t care about our own universities, why should anyone else?

5.  Believing that “it takes time for change”.    Accepting that excuse removes every bit of energy and motivation to do anything radical to compensate for nearly 40 years of quietly watching UPNG and Unitech fall apart.   It didn't take Don Polye and Peter O’Neill 39 years to put together a K500 million supplementary budget to help their chosen candidates buy votes in the last national election.   It took a few months.   Whenever there’s a will, there’s a way, as they say.    

6.  Believing that deteriorating universities have little to do with PNG’s economic  progress.   Too many of us have come to believe that the sad state of our universities isn't relevant to PNG’s economic progress and development.  If you think that, you’re in denial.  Japan and Singapore are the world’s best examples that a highly developed human resource is more important than owning all the natural resources in the world.

As citizens of this nation, we've become like the female bird of paradise that becomes drunk on the sight of the male’s pretty feathers and impressive dance.  We put all our faith in the government’s pronouncements that the economy is growing and we’re all going to be rich.  That, in turn, motivates us to embrace LNG and other natural resource extraction as the saviors of PNG simply on their potential to grow the economy.  

WE ASSUME that more economic growth means more money entering the pockets of the average Papua New Guinean.

WE ASSUME that natural resource extraction will bring great progress in the sustainable development of our rural areas.  

WE ASSUME that billions of kina worth of gas and oil revenue won’t be stolen like it has been in Nigeria, Venezuela, Mexico, and Indonesia, to name a few utterly corrupt countries where great resource wealth has largely been squandered with nothing to show for it.  

Reminder:  Assumptions aren't the same as facts!  

Why does corruption blow up as soon as massive revenues begin flowing in from natural resource extraction?   It happens because of PUBLIC TOLERANCE caused by PUBLIC IGNORANCE.

Years of excreting half-educated university graduates has allowed IGNORANCE to dominate PNG today.   Years ago, the main cause of public ignorance was that too few people attended school.  Today, the main cause is our decrepit educational system, from the pathetic bottom to the abysmal top.  The great majority of our uni graduates (still a tiny percentage of total population) show tragic deficiencies of knowledge and understanding of how the world works and how to meet the everyday challenges they’ll face in their lives and jobs.

These kinds of half educated uni graduates tend to create an environment of PUBLIC TOLERANCE –of tolerating things like 39 years of no action to stop the collapse of PNG’s universities.  Maybe they’re hoping that the next 39 years will be better.  Probably they’re not worrying about it at all.  

TOLERANCE caused by IGNORANCE not only allows corruption to prosper but ensures that a big chunk of in flowing wealth will instantly turn around and leave PNG via expatriate held jobs, foreign owned companies, and foreign driven projects.   Where is PNG’s sovereign independence in all that?  Ha, it only exists in our imagination!   Worse, nothing will change as long as we lack sufficient numbers of highly skilled young people whose hard work leads us to get greater control of our economy and the economic processes that drive economic growth.  

If we rely instead on using OVERSEAS universities to train our youth and make up for our shameful PNG universities, we’ll never come close to producing the number of highly skilled graduates required.   Get that solution out of your head too!   It won’t work.

Why is it so damned hard for you to accept these realities?    Why is it that you who are parents with kids, haven’t figured out that they’ll likely end up with a much worse education than you got?  Why are there so many letters in the newspapers demanding better roads, improved health care, more community project support, and more new bare walled classrooms, yet no letters that demand better higher education for our cream of the crop young people?

Unless we seriously and immediately increase funding for higher education, most Papua New Guineans will forever be mere observers, not benefiting participants, of development created from our land and resources.  

If we continue leaving intact a university system that sees each new group of young people being more ignorant and dumber than that of the previous year, PNG will find itself with an army of morons who proudly hold up their degree papers, then move on to become tomorrow’s leaders.

Some of these stupefied graduates will eventually educate themselves in new ways (at least they’re getting educated!):  They’ll become conmen and conwomen who become skilled at skimming their personal 10% off of resource boom revenue.  Most, however, will become honest but brainless baboons who quietly eat their bananas, passively watch the stealing going on around them, applaud the continued growth of foreign owned and implemented activities as being symbols of “development”, and follow whatever the national dictator of the day (Peter O’Neill?) tells them to say and think.

That’s where we’re certainly headed, good people of PNG, unless our universities start getting a lot more money that results in much more educated young people than what we’re now seeing.  

I’ll end with a question concerning something that puzzles me:   Why am I writing this article instead of the handsomely paid Director of Higher Education, OHE Director David Kavanamur.   Shouldn’t he be the loudest voice raising the alarm on today’s pathetic state of higher education in PNG?    I’m picking up my ears but I still can’t hear anything.   Maybe David and the missus are at Trinity Beach today, leisurely watching the waves instead.

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