The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights has written a strongly worded letter (copy below) to the Papua New Guinea government demanding answers about the granting of agriculture leases over large areas of customary land.

The letter, signed by the Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, also raises concerns about the impacts of controversial amendments to the Environment Act last year, that took away citizens rights to challenge approvals for large-scale resource projects and seek compensation for any damage.

By Ilya Gridneff, AAP

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare has been found guilty of 13 charges of misconduct in office for submitting annual financial statements late or incomplete.

A three-member tribunal sitting in Port Moresby handed down its decision on Monday afternoon and will reconvene on Tuesday to hear recommendations for an appropriate penalty.

Somare, 74, who has been at the forefront of PNG politics for 40 years, will remain in the top job and is expected to be punished only with a small fine.

Local people living around the site for the proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone north of Madang town, have taken out a newspaper advertisement opposing the project.

The PMIZ will be the first Special Economic Zone in PNG, under new laws being drafted by the World Bank.

By SAM BASIL, MP for Bulolo

The Prime Minister published the names of the national ministers 
constituting the National Executive Council and their respective 
responsibilities in the National Gazette on Thursday 3rd March 2011,
 National Gazette No. G57 of 2011.

Local leaders of the Kananam and Dapu people have spoken out in opposition to the governments controversial Pacific Marine Industrial Zone, and declared they will not allow the project to be built on their land.

(Photo: Adolf Skarmai (second from right), Vitus Kai (right) and other leaders)

"We hear we may be moved elsewhere but this cannot be! This is our land, our birth right," said Augustine Lalo.

By James Macpherson, Eric Kwa and Ray Anere* 

Crisis

Political climate change can create a political cyclone. Controversies over parliament’s election of the Governor-General, votes of no-confidence, environmental legislation, integrity of political parties, and infrequent meetings of parliament are political climate changes. Parliament risks unconstitutionality and irrelevance. This could be the cyclone.

From ABC Radio

It was expected to be one of the most explosive legal cases Papua New Guinea had seen for years. The elderly prime minister, Sir Michael Somare, was hauled before a specially convened tribunal to answer charges of official misconduct.



But compared to the political dramas that preceded it, the action in court turned out to be something of an anticlimax.

 

On the 21st of February 2011, we posted a letter by a very concerned Australian Citizen, Trevor Freestone, addressed to Julie Bishop, regarding the serious governance issues facing PNG. Below is the response from Honorable Julie Bishop, MP, and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Australian Parliament:

By Lydia Kailap*

THERE ARE THREE kinds of raskols in Papua New Guinea: street raskols; nasty street raskols; and the real raskols.