Kanekane passes away
The National, Wednesday July 17th, 2013
By MALUM NALU
RESPECTED senior public servant and Papua New Guinea Media Council president Joe Kanekane has died. He was 44.
Kanekane, from the Kowengil village in Ialibu, Southern Highlands, was director of the PNG Law and Justice Sector Secretariat (LJSS) at the time of his death from a suspected heart attack at Tabubil Hospital in Western on Sunday while he was on vacation.
His body was flown to Port Moresby from Tabubil yesterday with funeral arrangements being made.
News of his death has shocked the law and order sector, as well as the media industry, as Kanekane was a well-known journalist and writer before he joined the LJSS.
Kanekane held an MBA, a degree in arts with honours from the University of PNG and a post-graduate diploma from the University of Wales.
He was president of the PNG Media Council, chairman of the Individual and Community Rights Advocacy Forum (ICRAF) board, a member of the National Scouts Association Board and was the chairman of the PNG Censorship board.
He was also on the Caritas PNG board, was co-chairman of the Community Coalition against Corruption and was an accomplished poet and writer.
His mother Cecilia told The National at his haus krai at Rainbow Village in Gerehu yesterday that Kanekane was born in Maprik, East Sepik, on Sept 9, 1968.
Kanekane went on to the Madang Teachers’ College where he trained for two years and in Western Highlands before taking up studies at UPNG.
“He said he loved writing and wanted to become a journalist,” his mother recalled.
He did, with a successful career at Word Publishing before joining LJSS.