Prime Minister Michael Somare's attempts to rule Papua New Guinea like an African dictator have taken another step forward with an Edict from the Minister for Justice (see attached pdf below) that bans public debate on the Environment Act amendment and orders the police to stop any public gatherings or protests.

Prime Minister, Michael Somare, has a secret legislative plan that will make the proposed changes to the Leadership Code and even the recent amendments to the Environment Act seem relatively benign and insignificant. 

The PM is waiting for the opportunity to again by-pass proper Parliamentary process and bulldoze through legislation for a Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that will further impoverish rural Papua New Guineans and boost the profits of foreign multinational companies.

ABC RADIO

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Covering politics can be a tough gig for journalists; there's always lots of speculation and big egos. Reporters are often critical of politicians, but it's relatively rare for the criticism to flow the other way, publicly at least.

Not so in Papua New Guinea, where journalists recently received a tongue-lashing, courtesy of the prime minister Sir Michael Somare.

And as our PNG correspondent Liam Fox reports, it's not the first time it's happened.

Mr. Ken Fairweather, a member of the People's National Congress and a senior minister in the Somare-led government, has resigned from the government in protest over the amendments to the Environment Act 2000. The amendments strip away rights of landowners to seek redress from the courts over environmental permits. The amendments were purposely made to defeat the current litigation by landowners, against Deep Sea Tailings Disposal System by a Chinese-Government owned Nickle Mine, MCC in Ramu, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. 

Post Courier,  Page 12, 15 June 2010 - Dr John Nonggorr, Mt Hagen.

The right thing for Sir Michael Somare to do to promote and uphold good and ethical government, protect the good name of the Office of Prime Minister and set a better example for leadership in PNG, is to step aside as Prime Minister now; and allow investigations to be conducted by relevant law enforcement agencies into serious allegations that he broke a number of laws in the Moti Affair. 

By:   Tolling Bells By Bisi Ojediran, Email & Tel: bisiojediran@thisdayonline.com, 08079861689(Sms only), 06.15.2010

ACT NOW has produced a briefing paper with the full analysis of the Environment (Amendment) Act 2010 that explains in detail the changes that have been made and their impacts.

Download the briefing paper here.