Minister, NHC boss continue war of words                                          
THE National Housing Corporation does not belong to Sepiks but the five million people of Papua New Guinea, Housing Minister Andrew Kumbakor said yesterday.
He said it was unfortunate that as minister he is from West Sepik and the chairman and the managing director are from East Sepik.
Minister Kumbakor said that this was the best combination that could have done more for housing but unfortunately it was not happening that way.
He said he had no problems at all with the lobbying by the managing director to remove him as Cabinet minister responsible for housing.
“The Prime Minister has the prerogative to remove any minister but when I leave the problems at NHC, it will still remain because corruption is rooted in there.”
Mr Kumbakor said any new minister will not get the NHC out of the current state of affairs and no new houses will be built if the current management is in place.
NHC managing director Paul Asukusa said he made the call for the removal because the minister had been misleading Cabinet.
He said the minister had been misleading Cabinet on a number of decisions that were made outside the NHC Board including appointments of consultants, engagement of companies and embarrassing the Prime Minister, who did the ground-breaking ceremony for a new housing project at Gerehu that never eventuated.

No confidence in NHC: O’Neill
PUBLIC Service Minister Peter O’Neill said yesterday the National Housing Corporation will not be involved in his housing project for public servants because he has no confidence in the organisation.
The NHC has been in the spotlight this week over allegations of improper dealings in its properties.
Minister O’Neill plans to build houses for public servants, and the Government has allocated K37 million in the 2008 budget.
The Central Supplies and Tenders Board is at present determining the contractors to be involved in the project.
Under the project, 200 houses will be built in Port Moresby this year as a pilot project.
“A partnership with the Bank of South Pacific and Nambawan Supafund will provide long term loans. Construction will be on Government-owned land in NCD. Each part of the operations will be transparent,” Mr O’Neill said at a press conference yesterday.
He added that the K37 million given is a substantial amount of money. “We hold it in trust for the people of PNG. Any contracts will go through the Central Supply and Tenders Board and subject to competitive bidding,” Mr O’Neill said.

PNG Power has to improve: Parkop                                     
National Capital DistrictGovernor Power Parkop has warned PNG Power that if it does not improve its services, it should be prepared to face competition just like Telikom PNG.
He said the “continuous power blackouts in NCD” was unacceptable.
“I am sure the concern is shared by all residents of our city,” he said in a letter to PNG Power chief executive officer Patrick Mara last week.
PNG Power’s press officers said Mr Mara would respond to the letter, dated Feb 22, today.
Mr Parkop said he accepted that power supply could not be guaranteed 100%, 24 hours a day due to natural factors such as low water levels.
“(But) the fact is, PNG Power operates six electricity power generators which should be more then adequate for a city the size of Port Moresby,” he said.
He said there were four hydro generators at Rouna, a gas turbine at Moitaka and diesel generator at Kanudi operated by Hanjung.
“Between these generators, there should not only be enough electricity supplied to the city but there should also be capacity for a back-up system should one of the generators temporarily cease operation,” he said.
Mr Parkop said Port Moresby is growing and with the growing economy, the city must be provided with reliable power supply.
“I believe the capacity PNG Power currently has in place should be more than adequate to meet the needs of the city into the next ten to 20 years, as it is not a big city by global standard,” he said in the letter.

Rain and landslides cause havoc to Gena tribe                                                                  
BY ZACHERY PER
HEAVY rains over the past weeks has caused havoc to the Gena tribes in Kerowagi district, Simbu province.
Flood waters and landslides triggered by persistent rains destroyed coffee trees, food gardens and 11 houses belonging to the Goglmba-Goglkane clans of the Gena tribe.
According to a tribesman Dr John Banda, who returned from the flood-devastated area last Wednesday, the destruction and damage to the economic well- being of the Gena people was immeasurable.
He said this natural disster occurred last Feb 16 following continuous heavy downpours that destroyed about 20 ha of coffee trees and food gardens.
Dr Banda said 11 families lost their homes after they were swept away by the massive landslides.
“Fortunately, no human lives were lost apart from the destruction which destroyed the people’s only source of income– coffee trees,” he said.
Dr Banda said the landslides and floods also caused the Kornigle River to overflow and change its course and caused more damage upstream.

Student unfairly treated                                                      
By ANDREW ALPHONSE
A SOUTHERN Highlands student missed out on his Grade 12 certificate despite completing Grade 12 studies.
Willie Albert did Grade 12 last year at the Ialibu secondary school but was the only one from the class who did not receive a Grade 12 certificate.
His father, Pastor James Willie from Poloko Bible Church in Pangia, complained that his son was unfairly treated.
The principal, Elias Landea had already written to the measurement services unit (MSU) of the Department of Education in Port Moresby about the matter.
In his Feb 20 letter, Mr Landea confirmed that the student was in Grade 12 (A2) class last year.
However, he said it was discovered that the former deputy principal (DP) had entered the word “withdrawn” on the student information book (SIB) and was uncertified.
“He should have been certified like the rest of the 2007 Grade 12 students,” Mr Landea said.
The former DP had fed the wrong information to the MSU.
Mr Landea has urged MSU to rectify the error.

Surprise gifts for patients
By MADELEINE AREK
LINDA Salai, a nephratic patient from Watut in the hinterlands of Morobe, along with other young children in ward 4B at Angau hospital, were excited over the gifts they received yesterday from the Rotary Club (RC) of Lae.
The gifts included books, wall charts, a new computer set and several other itmes.
The National caught up with Linda struggling to hold on to a book too big for her frail little hands.
She needed help from her helper aunty Martha to keep the book in place.
Linda has been in and out of hospital twice since 2006. Her stay at Angau now is the third.
The RC of Lae also had other gifts for the hospital’s labour ward and the special care centre.
This was not the first gesture by the club as it has been donating to the hospital for more than 40 years now.
RC is also helping to build a duplex for staff accommodation, two new children’s wards and a supporting centre for cancer patients.
The donation was valued at over K60,000 and was mainly for the children’s ward.
It was a donation made available through the combined efforts of the Lae Rotary club, the Aspley Club of Queensland and Audrey Gough of the Rotary Club of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom.

Top students forced out of Unitech
CORPORATE–sponsored students at the University of Technology in Lae are seeking accommodation outside of the campus.
Even though their companies had paid more than K10,000 in fees that include tuition, board and lodging, the students cannot live on campus.
And the student services directorate of Unitech is telling them not to bunk up with fellow students.
Most affected are all students sponsored by Porgera gold mine and Ok Tedi and other major firms.
They are now blaming the student services for failing them.
Most of these students were high achievers.
Had they not been sponsored by the firms, they would easily have gotten Government scholarships and been given rooms, a student said yesterday.
“It’s funny how things work here,” he said.
“But things here are okay,” referring to a quite day on campus.
In other developments, 17 students terminated from the university over their part in last September’s uprising, had taken the administration to court.
They were said to be contending their exclusion from the university this academic year even though the Office of Higher Education had allowed them back.

Former Goroka MP dies, age 61
FORMER Goroka MP Bebes Korowaro has died.
Mr Korowaro died last Sunday morning in Goroka after a short illness. He was 61.
From Masi village outside Goroka, Mr Korowaro worked with the Department of Information and Extension Services before being employed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) as an announcer and radio station manager.
He contested the Goroka Open seat as a Pangu Party candidate in 1977 but lost. He then became the planner for Goroka town between 1978 and 1981.
He contested the Goroka Open seat again in 1982 and won, again as a Pangu Party candidate.
As a Member of Parliament, he was appointed minister for lands, national planning and police at different times.
He lost the seat in the 1987 general election and returned to active involvement in community activities in Goroka.
Mr Korowaro is survived by his two wives Sai Upi and Clara Kuidruwa, 14 children and 16 grand children.

Man jailed for killing wife with screwdriver
By NIDRA KEWERE MAPI
A MAN who killed his wife with a screwdriver following an argument was jailed for 13 years by the National Court in Madang last Friday.
Michael Jim Gorogoro’s lawyer urged the court to consider that the incident took place in a domestic setting.
He said his client, who is from Bogia District, had pleaded guilty.
However, Justice David Cannings said a screwdriver was an offensive weapon.
According to court documents, the argument started over the victim’s family pressurising Gorogoro for money.
He reportedly asked his wife to talk things over which she failed to do. Following the argument, Gorogoro stabbed her with the screwdriver.

WNBPG to assist churches
WEST New Britain provincial government has reiterated its commitment to assist churches that are providing health and education services in the remote areas.
In reiterating his government’s commitment, Governor Peter Humphries said they will be helping the churches to improve existing health and education facilities in remote areas because they lack capacity to construct new infrastructure.
The governor said this during his briefing with the Chief Secretary to Government Isaac Lupari, who arrived in Kimbe last week to open the service improvement programme workshop.
Mr Humphries said any province can have all the financial resources, but without dedication, commitment of public servants at all levels and proper capacity-building in place, the province will not prosper.

Landslip wrecks houses
By JAMES APA GUMUNO
EIGHT houses were destroyed along with coffee, red pandanut and banana trees in a landslide at Kambo village, Kerowagi district, Simbu province last Saturday.
Kerowagi education officer Dilu Deck said the landslide occurred after prolonged heavy rains in the area that began last year.
He said the landslide occurred where most of the coffee gardens are located and as a result, thousands of coffee trees have been destroyed along with banana trees with fruits.
He said that the landslide occurred where most of the coffee gardens
are located and as a result thousands of coffee trees were destroyed along with banana trees, red pandanus trees with fruits, casuarinas and giant leucaena trees.

Blackout in Butibam
THERE is some kind of power play going on in Lae leaving more than 1,000 Butibam villagers without electricity for the last three days.
The power supply was cut during a thunderstorm last Monday night villagers said.
To date, PNG Power has not restored electricity service. 

K2m to rebuild alternate road
WAPENANMANDA Open Member of Parliament has allocated K2 million from his district development fund to rebuild an alternate road linking his district and Western Highlands province. Miki Kaeok said due to constant landslides blocking sections of the road in the Minanb Valley, there must be an alternate road open up for the people and business houses to use. Mr Kaeok said the Wapenanmanda -to lumusa road was used to serve as an alternate road in the past until a bridge was built across the Lai River, which was washed away by floods in 1999.

Incest case sentence delayed
A DECISION for the sentencing of a 48-year-old Central province man charged with incest has been adjourned to next month. Au Numa Rokai Pene’s sentence was set for last Friday. However, Justice Panuel Mogish had fixed March 4 for the decision. Pene, of Maopa village in Abau district, pleaded guilty last Feb 15 to the charge of incest with his daughter between 2000 and 2005, in which the victim had two children from this relationship.

Prisoners to stay locked up
JUSTICE Panuel Mogish has directed Correctional Services officers to ensure that all prisoners brought to court are locked up in the court cells. He said this was to avoid the security risk posed as many prisoners are being allowed to sit inside the court while waiting for their case to be heard. He said during power outages it was risky to have many prisoners out of the cell at once. He said he had experienced this at the court sittings. He said only when a case is called, then the prisoner concerned should be allowed out, while the rest should remain locked up.

Stamp out graft: TI
TRANSPARENCY International PNG (TIPNG)is calling on the Government to properly task commissions of inquiry to swiftly deal with corruption issues. The call follows some recently corruption related reports. TIPNG commends those parliamentarians who had openly tackled corruption issues, like Environment minister Benny Allen for refusing bribes, National Planning and Monitoring minister Paul Tiensten and the recent criticisms by Rabaul MP Dr Allan Marat about corruption in leadership in the higher levels of the Government.

Solala ‘used’ divine powers
FORMER Eastern Highlands provincial police commander Supt Philip Solala was described as someone instrumental in allowing divine intervention to curb lawlessness. Family members of Goroka based police officers said Supt Solala led the police force in Eastern Highlands province with a Christian example for others to emulate. Anthonia Warkia, while speaking on behalf of the family members during a farewell function for Supt Solala at the Goroka police station said he was a God-fearing man who allows divine intervention in carrying out his job.