Don’t hike prices, shops told

By SAMUEL BARIASI
THE Independent Consumer and Competition Commission is warning businesses not to take advantage of the coronavirus (Covid-19) situation by increasing the prices of goods and services.
Chief executive officer and Commissioner Paulus Ain said those caught would be breaching laws preventing price-gouging of goods and services.
He said it was most likely that Covid-19 would hit PNG leading to panic-buying.
“(Some businesses) may significantly increase the prices of goods and services,” he said.
He said they would be committing “commercial robbery” which was immoral.
“Price gouging affects consumers, particularly the most vulnerable which are the elderly, the sick and children,” he said.
Ain said he understood that prices of certain goods and services might change due to the global economic impacts of Covid-19.
“The economy will be hit hard since it is heavily dependent on the importation of goods and services,” he said.
He said although no complaints from consumers had been received as yet, people should report unfair price increases by businesses to the ICCC. “ICCC investigators will be going around assessing prices once we receive formal complaints.”
Ain also appealed to suppliers to be fair in the distribution of goods and services.
“If you have limited supply, you should restrict those who want to buy in bulk so supply is available for the next line of clients rather than being limited to certain groups of people and business houses.”
He urged people not to panic because PNG relied on garden food.
“If our shops run out of food, it is better to fall back on garden food.”

Provinces team up to monitor people movement at border

By GYNNIE KERO
TWO provincial governments are working together in a bid to prevent the coronavirus (Covid-19) from reaching the country through the border with Indonesia.
MPs from East Sepik and West Sepik provinces announced their financial support towards a Covid-19 committee led by Timothy Teklan, the deputy provincial administrator for West Sepik.
Aitape-Lumi MP Patrick Pruaitch said the four MPs from West Sepik agreed to assist the committee with K3 million. East Sepik Governor will allocate K500,000 from the provincial government. Pruaitch said Vanimo-Green MP Belden Namah, Telefomin MP Solan Mirisim, Nuku MP Joe Sungi and himself would give K500,000 from their service improvement programme funds to the committee.
The Sandaun provincial government has already allocated K100,000 which the committee had used to conduct awareness along the border.
Pruaitch thanked the East Sepik government for supporting the Sandaun provincial administration.
“It is important to see solidarity of leaders to support the efforts of Sandaun provincial administration in containing the virus,” he said. Both provinces have access to the border.
“There are seven main check points along the border and it is quite difficult to manage and monitor the movement of people. We have decided that four open MPs committed K500,000 each.”
He said K250,000 would be paid immediately.
“We as border province feel it is necessary for us to put in our resources and support our team.”
Bird said ESP was pleased to be part of the initiative. He urged people from East Sepik to limit trading activities along the border.
“The East Sepik government will support with half a million kina and after we meet with open MPs we will discuss, and continue to support,” he said.
Teklan called on the Government to declare a state of emergency or a callout of law enforcement agencies to police the border’s seven entry points.
Teklan said illegal trading was common along the border which posed a greater risk in the spread of the coronavirus.
“These entry points were closed by the provincial executive council following instructions from the Immigration and Health Departments when the virus first broke out in Wuhan, China.
“But a state of emergency or a call out of law enforcement agencies must be declared to beef up security at the seven entry points.”
The covid-19 team was in Port Moresby and briefed Pruaitch and his department on the efforts taken to combat the coronavirus along the border.

O’Neill: Let’s unite in this campaign

FORMER Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says now is the time to unite, work together for the people, and put politics aside.
O’Neill, who led the national response to previous major disasters, commends immigration and health officials for the work they are doing to prevent the coronavirus from entering the country.
He said a plan must now be drawn up to prevent the inevitable spread of the pandemic to the people.
“The second phase of the coronavirus outbreak is where the real fight begins so that we can prevent the loss of lives around our country,” he said.
“We must be properly engaged with our partners in other countries who are dealing with the domestic spread of the virus, particularly countries where the peak of the spread has been reached and is now reducing.
“Drawing from their experience, and applying this to unique circumstances in PNG, we must be fully prepared to implement measures that will work effectively in our communities.”
He said medical checks at the points of entry (airports and shipping ports) must be mandatory and properly resourced.
“We cannot shut all the entry points but keep them open for supplies particularly food and medicine, and medical personnel,” he said.
“If we do not, supplies will run out and people will starve, and our response to the pandemic will be undermined.”
He said Jackson airport must continue to accept inward flights for screened passengers and goods.
“We need to fly in more medical test equipment immediately for major hospitals. There is no time to waste and muck around,” he said.
“We simply do not produce enough to feed our population, therefore we must keep Lae and Port Moresby sea ports open under very strict quarantine controls and medical checks.”
He also suggested that schools should be shut down for two months as school holidays to be recovered through the normal holiday period.
“All government departments should shut down except for essential services which will include hospitals, water, power, security forces,” he said.
“The private sector and government need to scale down operations and send non-essential staff home.”

Marape thanks health staff at airport

BY REBECCA KUKU
Prime Minister James Marape has thanked health officers conducting checks at Jackson airport for identifying the “probable” coronavirus case on Wednesday.
Marape said it was because of their dedication that it was easy to identify persons of interest and put them in self-quarantine and send their samples for testing.
He arrived at the airport after a trip to the Balimo Gogodala Canoe Festival in Western.
He conducted an inspection of the airport and commended the team for setting up an infra-red scanner.
The airport now has two checking stations. One has the infra-red scanner and the other has the thermo-scanner to screen arriving passengers.
He thanked all government agencies at the “front line of defence” and others from the private sector who have been helping out.
“I also thank our development partners who have supported us in the fight against the Covid-19.”
He also thanked “Yahweh God Almighty of Papua New Guinea who has protected us for thousands of years we have been here up till today”.
“I give credit, honor, glory and thanks to God Almighty. I thank all Christians who have been praying and I ask you all to dedicate worship hours this weekend to fasting and praying,” he said.