83 MPs before court

Source: Post Courier, Septemebr 21, 2012
By TODAGIA KELOLA

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill, Opposition Leader Belden Namah and Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare are among 28 other MPs out of the 111 seats whose victory in the 2012 National Elections have not been challenged.
The other 83 are all before the National Court to determine whether their elections into the 9th Parliament were done in accordance with the law.
That is about 75 percent of the total seats that were contested in the 2012 National Elections.
This number of election petitions is the highest ever recorded in the short history of elections in PNG.
According to a website developed by the PNG Judiciary specifically for PNG national election petitions for 2012, there were 136 election petitions filed. Thirty-seven of these were originating summons while 105 are election petitions challenging either the winning member or the Electoral Commission in their conduct of the entire election process.
In the 83 disputed seats, there are two to three losing candidates who have filed separate petitions on one particular seat.
The most common argument by many of these petitioners is the conduct and performance of the Electoral Commission in delivering the elections. This include polling sites and schedules not provided to candidates and their scrutineers, counting of votes delayed by a week after completion of polling, and many more. The other common ground that will be challenged before the courts includes undue influence and bribery by the elected members.
Many petitioners have also raised concern that a number of election petition rules are very tough, arguing that many of their cases may be thrown out on technical grounds rather than the merits of the case.
One of these rules is for election petition documents to be strictly served on the respondents personally.A number of petitioners have returned to the courts to seek permission for extra time or substitute service after the respondents the elected members had deliberately evaded service.
Election petition administrator, Justice Collin Makail has also expressed concern about the number of election petitions that have come before him seeking extension of time. He said election petitions are very important and petitioners and MPs should corporate to bring these matters to conclusion as early as possible.

Southern Highlands Oil Head Owner Murdered by Americans.

Source: Unknown

Sometimes development comes at a cost but should not happen to the cultural heritage, societal norms and traditional beliefs of the thousands tribes that own this land.In the last two weeks, Southern Highlands was at war with nature, especially in the Kutubu, Gobe and Hides areas, extending right out to other districts that are not affected by the South Pacific’s biggest LNG project funded by EXXONMOBIL and managed by Esso Highlands.The natural events, including flooding and landslides happened when Exxon Mobil contractors blasted a cultural site to put the PNG LNG pipeline through to Hides from Iagifu Ridge, in the sacred jungles of the Fasu land, where most of the oil and gas is extracted.

The limestone mountain where the blasting took place a week ago is a scared site that traditional landowners fear to hunt or even gather food. Once, they blasted the limestone mountain, little did they know that the guardian of the oil and gas also lived there –   A MONSTER OF A SNAKEWITH 4 ‘Ls’ ON HIS FOREHEAD.

  

He was able to swallow 2 adult human beings at one time.Refer to the head of the snake and see what the ‘4Ls’ can mean. The snake cannot fit the hand of an adult. Look at the ladies and the child holding the tail. It’s so mesmerising; isn’t it. In its natural state, its mouth can open and expand up to 2 metres, whilst its 8 metre frame can accommodate any diet on its way.This ‘Man’ was slaughtered last Wednesday and shared amongst the chiefs.

YOU KNOW, WHAT HAPPENED NEXT IS TERRIFYING – THE MOUNTAINS STARTED TREMBLING AND THE RIVERS STARTED FLOODING TO UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS. Refer to the pictures below.

The light skin FASU girl holding the head of the Snake is crippled. The house of the Chief where the slaughtering happened is completely submerged in flood. Refer to the pictures. All LNG Pipeline operations was halted for the last 2 weeks, and is continuing to this day.The oil pipeline is now completely exposed. Use to hide 6 metres underground before.

This is no fake. Don’t you think Nature has its Own Way to tell PNG and the World that enough is enough?Why are we extracting too much from the natural world to enrich a Few Elites and further advance the developed world, whilst we remain status quo?

Wabag District vehicles sold: Ganim’s staff

Source: Highlands Region, Post Courier, Tuesday Septemebr 18, 2012

A YOUNG businessman claimed that more than 15 vehicles owned by the Wabag District were sold in Lae, Goroka, Madang and Mt Hagen following the defeat of former MP Sam Abal.
The owner of a nightclub and several stores in Wabag and senior staff of incumbent MP Robert Ganim on Friday alleged that the district was able to recoup five of the vehicles but the rest were still missing.
Kennedy Lemban said the district headquarters was empty with all computers, telephones, furniture and other equipment, ripped off by supporters of the former MP following his downfall.
He said all funds in the district accounts were also removed prior to the election, leaving the district with a zero balance account.
“Mr Abal was a Deputy Prime Minister, Acting Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister, front man of the National Alliance Party and a very devoted Christian. The action by his supporters is uncalled for and unbecoming of a man of his status.” Mr Lemban said.
He said the people of Wabag and Enga expected a good handover– takeover ceremony to take place following Mr Ganim’s victory but that never happened when Mr Abal refused to attend the ceremony.
“As a senior leader, Mr Abal has initiated several impact projects including a chicken abattoir and the Wabag town market. As a true leader, he should have congratulated Ganim on the win and advice and support him to continue on with the impact projects. But instead he decided to take Ganim to court and this all indicates the type of leader Abal is,” Mr Lemban said.
He said apart from all its equipment being stolen by Mr Abal’s supporters, the district lacked tangible development over the last 10 years.
“The people of Wabag will not benefit from any court case.
They want services and delivery. Mr Ganim being a man on the ground knows the people’s needs and he should not be disturbed to deliver much needed services to Mr Abal’s people.”

Policeman from Kandep dies

One of Kandep's Edcuated elite has passed away as report in Post Courier

Source: Post Courier, Spetember 18, 2012

 

Police officer dies in sleep

Relatives are mourning the death of a long serving Port Moresby based police officer who suddenly died in his sleep at his home near Games Village, Waigani, last week.
Senior Inspector Brian Warao, 40, who hails from the Kandep District in Enga Province worked as a staff officer with the National Capital District Metropolitan Command.
According to relatives, Mr Warao was not ill at the time of his death. They said he arrived home after work last Tuesday and was with his family that night and went to sleep.
His wife noticed the next morning that Mr Warao was still sleeping when he was supposed to go to work and decided to wake him up.
She was shocked when she noticed that her husband was lying still on the bed and was no longer breathing.
She alerted relatives and they took the body to the morgue.
Mr Warao is survived with wife Ruth, daughter Himmalyn eight and sons, Princely,five, and one-year-old Junior.
The haus krai is currently being held at the family’s residence at Games Village police barracks

Stop the Kandep Fight - UPNG Kandep Students

Source: Post Courier, September 13, 2012 

Students worry
By KOLOPU WAIMA

FORTY lives have so far been lost and the Murip wheat project worth more than K3 million was burnt down to ashes among many villages destroyed in the current tribal war in Kandep, Enga province.
Over 100 people have been wounded and thousands homeless. Women are being raped and the disabled are forced into burning fires, and children are being killed.
Kandep High School, the only high school in the district, and other primary and elementary education institutions and health services have been closed and are no longer in operation.
District service providers and business houses have fled in fear of losing their lives and businesses.
But no one is taking the initiative to stop the fight and the whole Kandep District is under serious threat.
Lives are not the same anymore.
Concerned Kandep students from the University of Papua New Guinea and working class living in Port Moresby in a joint media statement yesterday pleaded to responsible politicians and leaders to stop the bloodshed immediately.
The Kandep students gathered at UPNG yesterday and pledged they unity, stand united. They strongly called on the leaders in the province and the electorate to immediately do something about stopping the fight.
The students said that they are demanding the politicians because it is an election related tribal fight.
“We are demanding responsible politicians to go to the district and disarm their tribesmen without any further delay. This request is being put out not in favor of any person or to oppose any person. But to expose ignorance of responsible leaders and authorities upon hearing news of people being killed,” they said.
The student said that the Kandep District was made up of Lai, Waike and Marient Local Level Government (LLG) and these three (3) LLGs were under tribal warfare.
They said that the core of election related tribal fight was between Kamprip and Okul tribes in the Mariant LLG.
This has affected over 50 major tribal groups whose villages and houses have been destroyed.
“We had our villages burned to ashes and our relatives displaced in other parts of Enga or fled to the Southern Highlands Province. We are calling on the responsible persons behind the election related violence to immediately disarm their tribal groups, the Kamprip and Okul Tribes,” the students said.
They said that, this was a general notice to any responsible leader or politicians from the district to stop pretending as if nothing was wrong in the electorate.
“A seven day ultimatum is given after the publication of this news either in one or two daily papers to responsible leaders to take action or you will be named to take personal responsibility for causing conflict between your tribes which resulted in many deaths and destruction of villages,” They said.
“We are calling the National Government to Declare Kandep District a Tribal War Zone and impose District Emergency. We humbly appeal to Prime Minister, Peter O’Neil to take note of this plea to direct your Police Minister and relevant agencies to investigate the validity of this information for appropriate assistance,” the Kandep students said.

Three matches for Kumuls

Source: Then National, Wednesday 12th September, 2012

By KEITH PUARIA

 

THE road to the 2013 Rugby League World Cup begins for the Papua New Guinea Kumuls when a 40-man squad is announced this week alongside the Prime Minister’s XIII side.

Kumuls coach Adrian Lam sat with the PM’s XIII selection panel on Sunday after the Digicel Cup grand final, and there is no doubt he would have reminded the panel about the World Cup build-up.

Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League caretaker administrator Ivan Ravu indicated the PM’s XII match was not the only game for the Kumuls.

“There is a lot of work to do for the PM’s XIII Sept 23 match, but also for preparing our national team for the world cup,” Ravu said.

“The 40-man squad that will be announced will come from our local competition, and the others will come from overseas competitions.”

“There is agreement with other overseas competitions for our players in the UK, so we are not able to pick them at the moment.”

The immediate commitment for those selected to the larger Kumuls squad will be a camp in early January.

Trials will be played at the end of the camp, from where a 24-man squad will be picked to travel to Sydney to play Australian National Rugby League side South Sydney.

“That same side will play a club from the Queensland Intrust Cup in Brisbane, on their way back home,” Ravu said.

He pointed again to the PM’s XIII challenge and preparations leading to it.

“Otherwise, the Lloyd Robson oval is currently going through a minor facelift for our immediate task of exposing a PM’s side against the Australians.”

“Work is underway also on the ground and the playing surface, a lot of manual work to do, irrigation, especially so the surface is good enough and up to standard.”

Australia, meanwhile, named their 18-man touring team to Port Moresby after the initial 35-man squad announced two weeks ago was trimmed

Poll court cases

Source: Post Courier, September 12, 2012

By JACOB POK
Election petition cases registered at the National Court has gone up to a total of 101 cases as of this week.
It has also been rated as the highest of past records of election petition cases according to court officials.
Despite that, the court is expected to deal with the cases promptly and parties were told to adhere to election petition rules when pursuing their cases. But before the formal directions hearing, several urgent cases have been brought up by petitioners seeking extension of time to serve the petitions to respective respondents in the petitions.
According to national court rules on election petition, petitioners are required to file and serve their petitions to the respondents within 14 days after filing the matter in the National Court Registry. Yesterday, two petitioners, former acting judge Nemo Yalo challenging James Lagea’s win in the Kagua-Erave seat of Southern Highlands Province and Kei Kapa challenging Sir Puka Temu’s win in the Abau seat of the Central Province filed urgent applications, seeking extension of time to serve their petition to the respective parties they named as respondents in their petitions.
They appeared before Election Petition administrator Justice Collin Makail and presented their grounds for the court to grant more time for them to properly file and serve their petitions to their respective respondents. Justice Makail after hearing the submissions extended a further 14 days each for both petitioners to serve their petition to their respective respondents.
Mr Nemo is expected to serve the petition to two respondents, Kagua-Erave Returning officer Albert Wens and Mr Lagea while petitioner Kapa is expected to further enquire with the electoral commission office and serve his petition to Dr Temu after obtaining the residential address of the Abau MP through the electoral commission office.

So Only 2 People Dead in Kandep Tribal fight??

The election related fighting in Kandep has claimed more lives than as reported in the National. Enga provincial police Commander Martin Lakari to report that only two people were dead is a slab in the face of the majority of Kandep people. This clearly shows how ignorant he has been together with the elected leaders of the province.

 

What grounds and which facts has he got to prove that only 2 people have died in the tribal fight. Confirmed cases that the public are aware of are, the following is the confirmed list for each tribe

Yuripaka rest house (Apais) - 4 confirmed including the killing during counting

Gini rest house - 3 confirmed including the one killed at Wabag during counting

Kolopa Rest house - 6 confirmed including 1 woman

Pura 2 rest house - 4 confirmed dead

Supi rest house - 3 confirmed dead

Imal rest house - 1 confirmed

 

The above list is excluding those that have spear and bullet wounds as well as those that have missed a hand or a leg with bullet. The confirmed figure is yet to received but this is based on confirmed cases received by the author. We expect more than this number in the finally tally of dead.

 

Destroying of properties is countless of up to 12 rest houses completely destroyed

 

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Polye, Manase called on to help restore peace

Source: The National, Wednesday 5th September, 2012

ENGA provincial police commander Martin Lakari is calling on Kandep parliamentarian Don Polye and his rival, Alfred Manase, to go back to the electorate and help police restore peace among their warring tribes.
“I call on all leaders of the district to help police restore peace,” Supt Lakari said.
The fight between the Akulya and Kambrip people of Kandep district started during the elections in July.
The fight reportedly started when suspects from Akulya, Manase’s tribe, allegedly hacked two Kambrips, Polye’s tribe, to death in Wabag town.
The fight was then taken to the village and surprise raids were conducted on the enemy tribes involved.
“During the fight they burnt down the million kina wheat factory in Murip village,” Lakari said.
He said thousands of kina worth of property that included permanent houses and vehicles were burnt.
He said women, children and other peace-loving people were displaced and now lived in fear.
“Only two deaths were officially recorded and not 30 or 40 deaths as reported in the media,” Lakari said.
“These are unnecessary speculations creating fear in people’s minds.”
Lakari said if people died or were injured they took them to the hospital and reported it police.
Lakari said he had sent 30 police task force officers from Wabag into the trouble zone on Aug 8.
“They (policemen) are negotiating peace. The fighting has slowed down,” Lakari said.
He warned the fighters to lay down their arms and make a commitment to peace, saying police would not be easy on them.
“I urge losing candidates to accept defeat and try the elections again in 2017,” Lakari said.

Court: Polye to pay cost

Source: The National, Friday 7th September, 2012

THE Waigani National Court has ordered Treasurer Don Polye to meet newspaper advertising costs for publishing the election petition summons filed against him by losing Kandep open candidate, Luke Alfred Manase.
The unexpected scenario stemmed from difficulty faced by Manase’s lawyers to serve court documents to Polye in person.
Justice Colin Makail said several affidavits confirmed there was difficulty in serving the court documents.
“I am satisfied that serious attempts have been made by the petitioner/applicant (Manase) on the first respondent (Polye) but have been unsuccessful,” he said.
Makail had ordered that the documents should be published in both the daily newspapers over the next two days.
The court was told that “it is unknown where the official residence” of Polye was, and failed attempts had been made by Manase’s lawyers to have an audience with Polye.
The court had been informed that there were phone messages left with staff from Polye’s Treasury Department to arrange for the summons to be served but it did not work out.
Under the election petition court rules, a losing candidate can file a petition against a win 40 days after the official declaration and summons are to be served within 14 days after filing it in the Court of Disputed Returns

Eighty dispute poll wins

Source: The National, Friday 7th September, 2012

By ELIAS NANAU

THE Court of Disputed Returns has received a total of 80 petitions as of yesterday afternoon with all provinces, except Bougainville, represented.
Associate judge to administer election petitions Charlie Williams said the latest petition, filed on Wednesday, was by Joseph Kobol, a losing candidate for the Southern Highlands provincial seat.
Kobol is challenging the win by William Powi, a former Southern Highlands provincial administrator.
Also among the 80 petitions, a losing female candidate for the Central provincial seat, Philomena Kassman, is disputing businessman Kila Haoda’s victory.
Election petition rules, developed by judges in 2002, state that an election petition can be filed within 40 days after the declaration of a member of parliament, and the petitioner is responsible for serving documents to the respondent within 14 days after filing.
It became evident this week that four petitioners have had difficulties with serving notices on two declared members who refused to accept them.
Simon Solo, the former West Sepik governor, went before Justice Colin Makail yesterday over his successor Amkat Mai’s refusal to accept service.
The court was told the petitioner, Solo, had produced documents before the first respondent, Mai, on several occasions.
“Solo had gone out of his own way to serve documents in a genuine and mature manner,” Makail said.
And with the time limitation expiring yesterday, Makail approved an additional seven days for Solo to serve the documents on Mai.
Makail had also extended time for losing Hela provincial candidate Alfred Kaiabe, who is challenging the win by Anderson Agiru.
“It is difficult when the declared member has gone into hiding,” Kaiabe told the court.But Makail said: “The onus is on you, as the petitioner, to go looking for him.
“If it means climbing Mt Everest, go for it.
“If you are unsuccessful, put it in your evidence and I will give you an alternate order,” Makail said.
Makail had also ordered a two-week extension for losing Koroba-Lake Kopiago candidate John Kelewa to serve documents on declared member Philip Undiali and also to publish them.
But with the documents totalling 70 pages, cost of publication was now a concern for Kelewa’s lawyer.
This week, Makail also ordered the election petition against Treasurer Don Polye to be published in The National and the other local paper.
Polye had been ordered to meet the cost of publishing the advertisement.
The court was told that petitioner Luke Alfred Manase had been unable to serve the documents.