by PAUL HANDAPEOn 02nd September the National Parliament of PNG passed two laws called the gazette NEC & PM Amendment Bill #02/2020 and Public Services (Management) (Consequential Amendment) Bill 2020. The intention of these two bills was to abolish the position of the Chief Secretary and consequentially remove Isaac Lupari from this position.
On the 03rd of September, the day after these bills were passed, Prime Minister Honorable James Marape., MP, wrote to Speaker of Parliament Hon. Job Pomat requesting that the gazettal of these bills be delayed until after January 2021. (The letter says January 2020 but that is an obvious typo as it was written in September 2020). Now why the Prime Minister would be writing to the Speaker of Parliament to do this is open to interpretation?
Readers need to reflect back to the APEC summit and the decisions of the O’Neil cabinet then that all government contracts for APEC were to be channelled through the Chief Secretary. In other words, Isaac Lupari was the last person to say yes or no for any APEC contract.
The letter, on the PM’s official letterhead, is very clearly signed by the Prime Minister. After all, there is a national outcry against the actions of Lupari and there is clear and in many cases irrefutable evidence that warrant further investigation into various allegations of corruption and mismanagement by Mr Lupari. Yet there has not been once investigation instituted by any law enforcement agency against this person.
It makes a letter from the PM (also signed) to Lupari dated 17th October 2019 directing that the APEC report be audited and finalised ineffective and useless. Lupari should have been out of the position last month by effect of the passage of the two laws above. This letter, to all intents, has become irrelevant as its intent has been overtaken by events. It is now October 31, 2020 Lupari has yet to furnish this report that PNG has been demanding be finalised and made public. And if anyone has misused or misappropriated any monies from this event, they must be brought to account. Yet it would appear that the very person who is holding us to ransom, Isaac Lupari, is being protected by the Prime Minister of this land.
We know that Marape’s wife was awarded a K4 million catering contract for APEC. We also know that of the K1 billion for APEC operations, the bulk of these monies went to the police force. We also know that Justin Tchatchenko facilitated the importation of the Maserati vehicles. And there are various and many other contracts which have not been acquitted to date because the APEC report is not finalised. Is this a game of smoke and mirrors?
So what was the purpose of the change of the O’Neil government then? People like Steven Davies, Gary Juffa, Alan Bird and other likeminded politicians who joined in to change the government wanted an end to the cronyism and nepotism and blatant corruption that was killing this country. But it appears that the person who vowed to actualise these intentions and ensure all were brought to justice and accountability is doing the opposite. I think they have so far been disillusioned and brought down to reality with a bang very quickly.
People like Kramer who went on a “maus pairap” campaign have suddenly gone quiet and been diverted to other things like stations of excellence, buying police cars, being election managers, running police operations to managing health issues instead of fighting corruption by effecting arrests and ensuring high level prosecutions like they promised to.
Perhaps it is indeed time for a change of government in November. Too much rot in the basket corrupts any new fruit placed in that basket.