“We want grants and not concessional loans,” is the crisp message from Papua New Guinea businesses directly affected by the Black Wednesday looting four months ago.

The businesses, which lost millions after the January 10 rioting and looting, say they need grants as part of the government’s Restock and Rebuild assistance — and not more loans.

This is the message delivered by the PNG Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday after news that the national government has so far given K7 million (NZ$3.2 million) in funding to several affected companies to pay staff salaries.

President Ian Tarutia said the business coalition representing impacted businesses would be meeting with the Chief Secretary and his inter-agency team this week to find out when the assistance will be given.

Their message at this crucial meeting will be the same — no loans!

“The real impact assistance that is truly beneficial is rebuilding and restocking,” Tarutia said.

“We will meet with the chief secretary hopefully this week to get an update on this component of the government’s relief assistance to affected businesses.

Concessional rate loans
Tarutia explained that an initial National Executive Council decision was to provide loans at concessional rates and managed through the National Development Bank.

“Business Coalition’s response was grants and not loans are the preferred assistance. Meeting with the Chief Secretary this week hopefully can resolve this.”

He also indicated that in the initial impact by businesses compiled in late January, the estimated cost for rebuild and restock covering loss of property, cost of clean up, loss of goods was K774 million.

“This was for 64 businesses mainly in Port Moresby but a few in Goroka, Rabaul, Kundiawa and Kavieng,” he said.

“Out of this K774 million, an amount of K273 million was submitted as needed immediately.

“Business Coalition met last Saturday morning. Business houses are looking forward to meeting Chief Secretary Pomaleu and his inter-agency team this week to find out when the assistance for rebuilding destroyed properties and restocking looted inventory will be given.”

Tarutia acknowledged that so far, the government had paid out approximately K7 million in wage support for businesses which includes eight businesses including CPL.

Businesses acknowledge the wage support to date and are appreciative on behalf of their affected staff.

Dale Luma is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister says he is confident he can retain power in the wake of the recent riots.

Prime Minister James Marape claims he has the direct support of more than 50 MPs from his own party as well as coalition partners in the 111-seat Parliament.

The Black Wednesday riot claimed the lives of more than 20 people and the Chamber of Commerce is estimating the cost to businesses at more than one billion kina mark (NZ$ 440 million).

But despite the departure of several back benchers from the government’s ranks, Marape has been seen busy working to strengthen his coalition support and placate the public.

RNZ Pacific PNG correspondent Scott Waide said the deadly riots could not have come at a worse time for Marape, with the protection of new governments in PNG against leadership challenges coming to an end next month.

“A lot of people feel that he’s being supported, with the government ranks there’s not enough people talking about his removal. That’s the general sentiment that many people have expressed,” Waide said.

“He’s articulated a figure between 51 and 54. He’s basically satisfying coalition members so the defence minister has been changed, he’s tried to appease the public by removing Ian Ling-Stuckey as treasury minister and taken over.

“The United Resource Party that belongs to William Duma has been given a few portfolios, so a lot of political movement to shore up the numbers to satisfying the coalition partners and appease the public.”

Chamber president Ian Tarutia said this figure could increase.

The National newspaper reports that the business group has compared the impact of the rioting and looting to a natural disaster and they want the government to respond with that in mind.

They have already sought an immediate capital injection of up to one billion kina.

Marape has promised a relief package for businesses, which would include a loan scheme, tax holiday and start-up capital.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Port Moresby is in a state of emergency for 14 days with at least 16 people confirmed dead following violent unrest on Wednesday.

The violence broke out with shops and businesses being set alight after public servants went on strike over what has been described as a payroll error.

Prime Minister James Marape announced at a late night news conference on Thursday that more than 1000 defence force personnel WEre ready to step in whereever necessary.

Amnesty International Pacific researcher Kate Schuetze told RNZ Pacific firearms was often never an appropriate way to respond to protests.

“They have declared a state of emergency under the constitution which gives extraordinary powers to the authorities like the police and the military,” Schuetze said.

“What we really want to do is just remind them that protesters have human rights, that people in the streets have rights as well and ultimately, they have to work in a way to use the least lethal force possible and uphold the right to life.”

Members of the disciplined forces were among those protesting after their fortnightly pay checks were reduced by up to 300 kina (US$80).

Schuetze said the deductions for some officers amounted to half their pay packet.

“The deductions we’re talking about here are not an insignificant amount … understandably they were concerned.

“There’s questions around how much the government knew prior to the strike around this pay area and why they didn’t take steps to address it sooner.”

Schuetze said inflation was a concern for people.

“A lot of people are doing it tough in Papua New Guinea and I think it could be a sign of rising resentment and dissatisfaction with the leadership of the government, as well as livelihood factors that people feel are not being addressed.”

Marape is under increasing political pressure to step down, with six members of his coalition government resigning in the aftermath of the deadly violence.

Among them, Chauve MP James Nomane and Hiri-Koiari MP Kieth Iduhu made their resignations public via social media and blamed blamed Marape for the riots.

Schuetze said there needed to be “prompt, impartial and independent investigation” into what happened, including the causes of the riots.

“Likely there will be several colliding factors which cause this to happen.

“Any government, if this happens on their watch, if it happened in Australia, in New Zealand, we would expect there to be a full independent public inquiry.”

She said there tended to be an absence of appropriate police response to address the violent acts once they had occurred in Papua New Guinea.

“Obviously, the fact that people have died in the course of these riots is a really strong indicator that there may be human rights violations by the state.”

Schuetze said there were lots of videos uploaded to social media that showed police actively encouraging and participating in the chaos.

“If the police themselves were involved in acts of violence, there is a responsibility of the state to hold them accountable as well, as much as any other person engaged in active violence.”

‘Dysfunctional government’
Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) said the frustration among police, and other public servants over tax calculations, was just the tip of the iceberg of a dysfunctional government system.

It is calling on the PNG government to engage immediately in genuine open dialogue with the police representatives to address their legitimate grievances.

The organisation’s board chair Peter Aitsi said this must be done quickly through transparent and open communication in order to resolve this crisis.

Aitsi said the public service and police were institutions of the state, and if truly independent and free of political control, should play a critical role as a check and balance to the executive government.

Open for business
Meanwhile, PNG’s largest retail and wholesale organisation — the CPL Group — has re-opened for business.

In a statement on Friday, the company said its Stop & Shop outlet at Waigani Central, Town, Boroko, Airways was now open.

The City Pharmacy chain in Waigani Drive, Boroko and Vision city are also open for trading.

However, the group says those outlets in areas which “suffered devastatingly” remained closed.

It is also warned people not to use stolen pharmaceutical products, including baby formulas, off the counter and prescription medicines.

It is urging the public not to buy these products as they may be damaged and tampered with and wrong doses could be administered.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fires from the 24-hour spate of looting, rioting and mayhem in Papua New Guinea’s Port Moresby — the worst ever social unrest in the city — have all but subsided into skeletal remains of ash and buildings in National Capital District (NCD).

The smoke has cleared with six members of Parliament resigning from the Pangu Pati-led government, 10 people are dead in in Lae and NCD, 46 are wounded and hospitalised, and multiple people are suffering non-threatening injuries.

The government responded by declaring a State of Emergency in NCD and suspending Police Commissioner David Manning and secretaries of the Department of Finance Sam Penias, Treasury Andrew Oeka, Personnel Management Taies Sansan for 14 days.

The Post-Courier understands there was disagreement on the suspension and that the SOE was not the way forward. However, National Executive Council decided on going ahead with the SOE and suspension.

According to details released by Prime Minister James Marape, cabinet deliberated yesterdy afternoon and in a decision invoking Section 226 of the Constitution a a 14-day SOE was declared in Port Moresby only.

“14 days is the limit of the SOE, any longer period would require Parliament approval,” Marape said.

Meanwhile, according to the details released by Marape, Deputy Commissioner of Police-Special Operations Donald Yamasombi is now acting Police Commissioner and Controller of the country.

“Secretaries for Treasury, Finance and Personnel Management who are suspended for 14 days, their respective deputies are now acting.”

Prime Minister Marape reiterated his claim that riots in Port Moresby had been organised, but declined to say they were political, instead saying his government would only be removed on floor of Parliament.

He said that Chief Secretary and others would undertake an investigation of what happened in Port Moresby.

In other coverage of the crisis by the weekend edition of the Post-Courier, Claudia Tally reports:

Few shops open
Port Moresby was in confusion yesterday following the aftermath of the worst ever civil disorder as reality sets in leaving people with no shops open to buy food and essentials from.

While the PNG Defence Force and members of the police patrolled the city’s streets in an attempt to restore normalcy many genuine city residents were queued at the only three service stations open to refuel their vehicles in anticipation of the weekend.

A-Mart supermarket at Manu Auto Port was the only shop open within the vicinity of Taurama and Boroko suburbs where angry shoppers crowded around the shop begging for entry which was heavily guarded by PNG Defence Force soldiers.

On Wednesday, more than 20 shops were looted and 8 others burnt leaving the streets of Port Moresby covered in papers and plastics from the items that were looted by hundreds of people who took advantage of the city polices strike over their salaries.

A mother of four who wished to be anonymous was worried where she would buy food for her children over the next couple of weeks as all the shops, she knows have been either looted, burnt or are closed for security reasons.

“I went to a shop at Hanuabada and waited for three hours for it to open to buy my children’s food but unfortunately, it was not open so I came back,” she said.

‘How are we going to survive’
“If these issues are not resolved, how are we going to survive.

“These shops are our gardens. They are where we get our food from.”

Meanwhile, many tucker boxes and canteens in the city were open today and their prices have sky rocketed only hours after Wednesday’s wild rampage.

For example, at Konedobu a 1kg packet of rice now costs K10 (NZ $4.50) — double the price prior to the looting.

Following the disorder, many clinics were also closed to the public over safety concerns.

Miriam Zarriga, Gorethy Kenneth and Claudia Tally are PNG Post-Courier reporters. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guineans have been challenged to “actively contribute” towards development projects like the Boroko Transformation Project if citizens want to see change in the Pacific’s largest country.

Prime Minister James Marape issued this challenge this week when launching the National Capital District Commission’s Boroko Transformation Project in Port Moresby.

“This must happen. We all have a job to do, a role to play. Not just here in Port Moresby, but also around the country,” Marape said.

“If you want Papua New Guinea to develop, you have a job to do as well. Take care of Boroko.

“Don’t spit betel nut spittle here. We do not have other cities, we only have this city.”

Betel nut is the seed of the fruit of the areca palm with distinctive blood-red juice. It is chewed with betel leaf and lime for their effects as a mild stimulant, causing a warming sensation in the body and slightly heightened alertness.

It is popular across Papua New Guinea and in neighbouring countries.

24-hour business hub
The Boroko Commercial Business District will undergo major developments to enable it to achieve the status of a 24-hour business hub that is clean and safe for residents, businesses and visitors.

NCD Governor Powes Parkop said this project is part of NCDC’s Vision 2030 to transform Port Moresby.

“This city carries our name. It is our image, our pride. It is the first place of arrival and the last place of departure for all our friends, investors and tourists from all over world,” he said.

“They define our people and our country by this capital city of ours. That is why it is very important that we lift this capital city leaving no stones behind.”

According to City Manager Ravu Frank, the plans for the Boroko Transformation Project were drawn up in November last year and since then, more than K400,000 (NZ$186,000) has been spent in major clean-ups and road work programmes, setting the foundations for developments expected in the future.

“The Boroko Transformation project is all geared to achieve our desire, wish and objective of a clean, safe, healthy and a planned Boroko for a liveable environment,” Frank said.

On Monday this week, Boroko was declared a “betel nut-free zone” and other similar regulations will kick in as the transformation project unfolds.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

After 36 hours of unrest, fear and anxiety, Port Moresby city woke up yesterday morning to a quiet start under the watchful eyes of the police and military personnel as tensions slowly faded.

Kicking off to a slow start, shops and business houses opened their doors to the public while a few buses and taxis took to the roads as workers, students and city dwellers gradually resumed their daily routines.

National Capital District (NCD) police issued a safety notice on social media urging city residents to report any suspicious activities to the Police Operations Centre hotline number.

City Manager Ravu Frank gave reassurances that efforts to restore normalcy in the city would continue as City Hall remained open for public business.

“The incident on Sunday was an isolated one and it is not affecting the city in any way,” he said.

“Police acted swiftly and the disciplined forces patrolled the city to give confidence to the people.

“From here on, we will look at ways of preventing them from reoccurring.

“NCDC also deployed our Reserve Police to monitor and provide additional security. I am hoping that the city’s business houses will be fully functional from tomorrow onwards.”

Parkop calls for peace
NCD Governor Powes Parkop also appealed for peace while noting that the people of the city could count on City Hall for leadership during tough times.

Yesterday, there were reports of commotions in very few places across the city, including at Gordon where many shops as well as the market remained closed.

While life returned to normal, public transport was also a main concern and according to NCD Public Motor Vehicles Association president Jack Waso, security must be provided for buses as well.

“Buses are out on the roads but the main concern for us is security if police can assist. Our safety too is also very important,” he said.

By yesterday afternoon fuel stations, which were closed earlier in the day, re-opened for business. Major malls and centres also opened their doors and more people were on the streets.

Claudia Tally is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz