Originally aired on EMTV's Olsem Wanem program, SPICES: The Forgotten Commodity is a short film on the potential of the spice industry in Papua New Guinea.

Although small now, the industry has the potential to earn the country more than K100 million a year. What it lacks though is any proper government support.

Despite this neglect, spices are a perfect example of how ordinary people can use their customary land for small and medium sized businesses that sustain their families and develop their communities.

Foreign owned logging companies could be defrauding the country of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues and ACT NOW! is calling for a moratorium on any further logging licences until there is a full and transparent investigation and the cancellation of all illegal SABL leases.

The government has tried to bury and forget the SABL land grab scandal in which more than 5 million hectares of land has been stolen from rural communities.

It is using a well tested formula that we see employed almost every time a new corruption scandal is exposed:

1.  First a long-drawn out official inquiry that is delayed by funding and other logistical problems.

2.  Then a further delay before the inquiry findings are tabled in Parliament.

Fraudulent SABLs that the government has failed to cancel despite the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry are still causing conflict and injustice - see stories below.

This is what the Commission of Inquiry said about the SABL over Portions 2465C and 2466C.  

“There was misrepresentation and fraud involved in the whole process” [Report p164]

Landowner signatures were forged in “a criminal act” [p150].

It is six years since Prime Minister Peter O’Neill promised the country an Independent Commission Against Corruption. Yet that vision is no closer to being realised today than it was in 2012.

Peter O’Neill has totally failed to live up to his promises in both the 2012 and 2017 Alotau Accords that the government would establish an ICAC.

Originally aired on EMTV's Olsem Wanem program, LIQUID GOLD is a short documentary film on the potential of the honey industry in Papua New Guinea.

The honey industry is a perfect example of how ordinary people can use their customary land for small and medium sized businesses that sustain their families and develop their communities.

Such enterprises also support the national economy, reduce our dependence on foreign imports and help make Papua New Guinea a strong, vibrant and independent nation.

Photo: New oil palm planting and processing mill in Pomio District, ENBP

Customary land registration processes can easily be captured by local ‘big men’ and companies with disastrous consequences for local people. This is the conclusion drawn in a study on recent oil palm expansion in Papua New Guinea by academic Caroline Hambloch from the University of London. 

Communities affected by three Special Agriculture Business Leases in the West Pomio District of East New Britain Province have assessed the economic damage caused by logging and oil palm planting at more than K2.4 billion.

Photo: ACT NOW! was on the panel for the discussion on Public Participation and Access to Information.

ACT NOW! Program Coordinator, Eddie Tanago, attended the High Level Conference on the Open Government Partnership in Port Moresby this week. 

Author: Michael Main. Source: East Asia Forum