Justice sets up office in Buka                                                                                              By AUGUSTINE KINNA
REGULAR court circuits will now be conducted in the Autonomous Region of Boungaville now that the new Buka courthouse was officially opened last Friday.
The courthouse was built at a cost of K1.8 million, funded by AusAID through the Law and Justice Sector in Bougainville.
The courthouse has the capacity to house the District, National and the Juvenile courts.
AusAID Minister Counsellor Margaret Thomas took the honour of officially opening the courthouse last Friday.
Ms Thomas said the new courthouse is an important and powerful symbol of the shared commitment between Bougainville, Papua New Guinea and Australia to the rule of law.
She said the rule of law and the justice system were fundamental to the economic and social development of the region as well to its democratic system of government.
“The new court house is intended to be a one-stop shop with space for all stakeholders including the National and District Courts, the public prosecutor, public solicitor, village court, juvenile court and offices for police and correctional services,” Ms Thomas said.
She said the courthouse would provide opportunities for cooperation and collaboration over many issues, including HIV/AIDS and gender.
Attorney-General Dr Allan Marat said the opening of the new Buka courthouse marks a new beginning in the overall peace process in Bougainville.
He said many provinces in the country still do not have such modern court facilities.
Bougainville must be proud of this new building, he said.

Pubsol offices needed in 15 provs:Pitpit                                                                     
FIFTEEN of the 20 provinces including the National Capital District are without access to State legal services since independence, according to Public Solicitor Frazer Pitpit.
He said the Public Solicitor was required by law to establish offices in all provinces of Papua New Guinea.
However, since independence, 15 provinces were still without Public Solicitor’s offices, Mr Pitpit said.
He said the PNG Constitution says that during the course of justice, all people must be legally and equally represented by the State, especially the ordinary villager, who could not afford expensive legal fees.
Mr Pitpit said this when calling on ABG president Joseph Kabui for help in setting up an office in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
Speaking at a news conference at the Buka airport last Thursday, Mr Pitpit said with the
opening of the Buka courthouse, there was a need for the office of the public solicitor to be set up on Bougainville to assist ordinary villagers with their legal needs.
Mr Kabui accepted the offer and said he would be looking at it seriously.

End row over top job, says Sir Mekere                                                        
Opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta has called on the Government to end the tug- of -war within its ranks over the top planning job.
The Member for Moresby North-West made this call amid strong media reports last week which suggest.
There was a serious rift brewing within cabinet over who should hold the important position of secretary for National Planning.
Sir Mekere said he was concerned that people with vested interest were tyring to create confusion within the National Planning Department.
“The office of National Planning is the engine room that drives the development agenda of the Government and any infighting over the secretary’s job would seriously affect the work of the department and set back the Government’s ambitious development programmes set out in the multi-billion kina National Budget handed for this year,” Sir Mekere said yesterday.
He said people in Government should put aside their differences and personal interest and work with National Planning Minister Paul Tiensten to roll out the development programmes in the interest of the people of the country.
“As someone who abhors corruption and corrupt dealings, I am personally pleased with the undertaking given by Minister Tiensten to clean up his department,” Sir Mekere said.
It is the first official admission by a very senior Government minister of the rot going in Vulupindi Haus.
“I am sure that given the support, Minister Tiensten can turn the department around so that it can function well,” Sir Mekere said.

Flood causes destruction in WHP
By ELIAS LARI
MORE than 2,000 people from Kotna 1 and 2 in the Dei district, Western Highlands province were hit by floods last Wednesday.
The flood washed away 12 pigs, 20 houses, five bridges, and destroyed food gardens and thousands of coffee trees.
The Kuyia River flooded its banks after two weeks of continuous rain in the Dei district and other parts in Western Highlands.
Spokesman for the villagers Philip Pengkundi said the Kuvia River has already caused massive damages to the people and who are now living under threat because of the prolonged rain in the area.
He said more that 70 people are now living with their relatives.
Mr Pengkundi urged the provincial government, disaster office and their local MP to assess the situation and help the people.
Pipil Andia from the division of Agriculture and Livestock Delartment who visited the area, said the destruction caused by the flood was massive.
Mr Andia said the people are facing the threat of starvation and need help.

Training workshop for Govt officers
THE Department of National Planning is now in a better position to plan and design Government-funded projects in the country following a workshop which imparted skills to some of its senior officers.
This took place in a week-long workshop it held in Port Moresby last week.
The workshop was the first of its kind 16 years.
The last such training was held in 1991 and most staff in the department have not undergone any formal training on project design and appraisal.
Acting Secretary, Joseph Lelang, who is very much involved in project design and planning was very pleased that such training was now being reintroduced to equip his officers.
When closing the workshop last Friday, one of his first public engagements since taking office last Tuesday, Mr Lelang said the training on project design and appraisal boded well for the future and commended participants and organisers.
“This is a key initiative of the department to promote best practice in project planning and design which is critical for the delivery of the public investment programme in Government,” Mr Lelang said.

Lack of respect a big issue faced by the country
By FRANK RAI
LACK of respect is one of the biggest issues that Papua New Guinea (PNG) is facing at the moment and this contributes to excessive vandalism of State and private properties.
Because of this, business houses in the country are passing on enormous costs to the consumer because their asset protection efforts demand huge capital inputs.
These remarks were made by PNG law and justice sector media advisor Joe Kanekane when he spoke to first year students at the University of Technology in Lae during their orientation day last Tuesday.
“Do you know that one of the biggest issues we face in the country is the lack of respect?” Mr Kanekane asked.
“Not just every day respect but the total lack of it. Look no further than the halls of residence, or the pathways, or even the bus stops where you will see testimonies of my observation,” he said.
Mr Kanekane said every citizen in the country is paying the price for the lack of respect to property and other people’s assets.
Mr Kanekane challenged the students to “start respecting the reason why they are at the university by taking care of the establishment” and making it a partof their responsibility.
“After all, your children and their children will one day enrol here and you all do not want them to have bitter memories to reminisce. The choices you all make from now on will have an impact on the future,” he said.
Mr Kanekane appealed to all the students to use their potential to excel into positions of power, authority and expertise.
“The quickest way to get there is through the respect of laws in our society,”he said.

CJLU ends workshop
THE law and justice sector community justice liaison unit (CJLU) recently concluded a three-day workshop at the St Joseph Pastoral centre in Lae.
The workshop facilitated by the individual and Community Rights Advocacy Forum (ICRAF) and Wagambi Lawyers, was aimed at strengthening the performance of law and justice NGOs’ throughout the country.
The 20 paralegals in attendance received training in counselling, conflict resolution, mediation and alternative dispute resolution skills.
CJLU national coordinator Dr Rodney Kameata said the unit had shifted its focus targeting individuals and organisations they believed were doing work on the ground.
“The past focus by CJLU and other formal law and justice agencies has been on the number of people attending training. This has changed and the focus now is on people that actually trained and who are delivering that service and also what data is in place to prove that these individuals are actually working,” Dr Kameata said.
ICRAF executive director Lady Hilan Los who was at the training said donor agencies were interested in results.
They wanted reassurance that monies they invested into projects were used for those purposes that people on the ground were seeing results.
“The clarification of clear performance measures and how data needs to be gathered provides a firm understanding on why data is important to verify that people trained are actually delivering,” she said.
Caritas PNG training coordinator Theresa Kekai commended all the organisations represented at the workshop and stressed the importance of networking.
She said now that they were all there, it was important that they all got together and started networking - sharing views and ideas - on how they could successfully implement the law and justice sector reforms at the community level.

Two community schools in Wabag re-open after two years
By PETER PIA
TWO community schools in the Maramuni LLG area of Wabag district, Enga province, will re-open for the new academic year after being closed for two years.
Teachers had refused to take up postings because of the Pasalagus and Kaiamatok community schools’ geographical isolation.
There were little or no government services such as health and trade facilities or a road link to Wabag town.
The lack of services compelled teachers to go elsewhere, leaving the schooling children without any educational opportunities.
Their fate was changed by the efforts of the MP for Wabag Sam Abal who re-activated the schools with the help of the locals and had the Enga provincial education board send five teachers to each school.
Mr Abal, through his district education services, has already donated stationery worth K7,347 to the schools to start off the year.

Man allegedly tortures wife to death
POLICE have been called to arrest and put behind bars the man who allegedly ‘tortured to death’ his 32-year-old wife last week at Ialibu in the Southern Highlands province.
Provincial family and sexual violence action committee chairman Nicholas Sambu made the call yesterday from Mendi following the alleged beating to death of the woman identified as Betty Wina from Walupape 2 village in Pangia district.
Mr Sambu condemned the manner in which the woman was allegedly beaten and tortured for about four days until she passed away last Wednesday.
Mr Sambu said even if couples have disputes on any cause of problem for that matter, it does not warrant such an inhuman treatment of beating and torturing the woman to death, including pressing red-hot irons to parts of her body.
He said it is also outrageous that only few days after the incident and the suspect was still yet to be arrested.
He said the suspect had being reportedly sighted at the market and public places at Ialibu station on the weekend armed with a bush knife and Mr Sambu called on the local police to have the suspect arrested, charged and put behind bars.
He said domestic arguments does not give any man the right to remove someone’s life, adding that there are proper avenues to resolve problems.

Workshop for journalists
Five journalists will be participating in a five-day development workshop with 16 of their colleagues in Solomon Island this week.
Dorah Gawi (PNGFM), Kens Tereni (Sunday Chronicle), Alison Anis (The National), Clifford Faiparik (The National) and Andrew Molen (Wantok) will be attending the workshop in Honiara from today till Feb 29.
The workshop jointly organised by the Commonwealth Press Union with the Commonwealth Foundation will address climate change, and discuss the issues that stand in the way of socio-economic development of their countries with particular focus on climate change.
They will be taught how best to use the media to address these issues and help the public and decision-makers reach informed opinions.
An important theme running through the workshop would be the problems raised by the United Nations millennium development goals (MDGs) agreed to in 2000 by nearly 190 world leaders, who gave their countries 15 years to try and achieve the eight target goals.

Youth sentenced to 11-year imprisonment
ONE of the six men involved in the break-in and robbery of the residence of former Community Development Departmental head Joseph Sukwianomb last March was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment with hard labour by the National Court.
David Mundi, 23, from Kerowagi, Simbu province, was among five other men who cut the fence and broke into Mr Sukwianomb’s residence at Jabiru Drive, Gordon.
They stole K120, a computer, television set, radio, CD player and other valuable household items valued at K9,543.
Mundi, still attending a vocational school, and the others, held up Mr Sukwianomb’s wife at gunpoint when she came out after hearing the noise and then held up Mr Sukwianomb who came out to see what was going on.
They then ordered him and his family into one of the rooms and ransacked the house.
Mundi was also in possession of a home-made gun during the robbery.
e before the National Court last week.
Mr Mundi was still attending a vocational school at the time he committed the offence.
Justice Mogish handed down the decision on this sentence after considering the submissions made by Mr Mundi’s lawyer Martin Kombri of Paraka Lawyers and public prosecutors acting on behalf of the State.

Bishop orders inquiry
By ELIAS LARI
GUTNIUS Lutheran church head bishop Rev David Piso will order an investigation into allegations of mismanagement at the Mambisanda Lutheran Rural Hospital in Wapenamanda, Enga province.
Bishop Piso said he is aware of allegations raised by villagers in the area and they are very serious.
But he said at this stage, he could not remove the current administration based on the unfounded allegations.
He said the church would engage an investigation team to look into these allegations.
Villagers from Mambisanda want the current administration of the hospital removed.
Mr Peter Sombak, who claimed to represent the villagers, claims the administration was not following the church’s regulation.
Mr Sombak claimed that the administration appointed people who didn’t the necessary qualification to work at the hospital. There has also been misuse of properties, he said.
Ends..

‘Abolish education reforms’
By JAMES APA GUMUNO
THE reform that is being implemented in PNG’s education system should be abolished as it is creating a high number of drop-outs every year, the Member for Kundiawa/Gembogl Joe Mek Teine has said.
Mr Teine, who is also chairman of the Constitutional Reform Committee, said parents are not happy as their children who achieved Grade 10 or 12 levels cannot read, write or speak English. properly. He said children should learn how to speak and write English at the elementary school, and not taught their own language, as is the case today.
Mr Teine said that all the teachers teaching elementary schools should be properly trained and every school should be provided with all the necessary materials for the students to learn.

Clans for delay in log export permits
Landowners from the Ioma Block 4 TRP area in Oro province have called on the Forestry Minister to delay the issu of export permit for logs.
Speaking on behalf of the landowning clans John Kawowo said there were existing customary land disputes among clans and villages that are yet to be settled.
He said while the land mediation remains pending the logging companies are extracting and exporting round logs from the disputed customary land.

Cop held over shooting spree
THE police officer accused of shooting and injuring eight CS officers at Bomana appeared before the Boroko District Court last Tuesday, police said. Snr Sgt Bensania Kageni, 49, of Omuisusu village was charged with three counts of assault and a count each of unlawfully discharging a firearm in a public place and. He is now out on bail of K1,000 and would appear before the same court on Feb 29.

Call to remove MP
Tribal chiefs of Konnou constituency in Buin district have called their member in the Bougainville house of representative, Wilfred Komba to resign from his post. The call was made following what they claimed was incompetence displayed by the MP in dealing with law and order problems in the area. Chief of Konnou area Francis Kagarau said there had been another shootout between factions in the area, which resulted in two men being shot dead.

Marat appeals for info on EHM
ATTORNEY-General Dr Allan Marat has appealed for information about the clandestine activities of ‘Economic Hit Men (EHM)’ . Dr Marat said Peter Masi raised the issues about the hit men in the media recently. He is inviting anyone who knows about the existence of these EHM to report it to the authorities.

Danaya critical of Labour Dept
PNG Labour Party leader Dr Bob Danaya has criticised the Labour Dept for not effecting the decent work policy concept in the Government and private sectors. Mr Danaya said decent working conditions was a right of all and must be achieved by through sound policies framework and persistent political and bureaucratic will.
He made the remarks in response to an advertorial by the Labour and Industrial Relations Secretary David Tibu last Feb 13.