Launa’s gone, minister says

 By HENRY MORABANG

MINISTER for Sports and 2015 Pacific Games Justin Tkatchenko has confirmed the National Executive Council last Wednesday revoked Iammo Launa’s acting role with the Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation.

Launa had been acting executive director of the foundation for the past 10 months.

“When her time is expired, she is finished as acting executive director of the PNG Sports Foundation,” Tkatchencko, pictured right,  said in response on her outburst in this newspaper last Friday.

But Launa, pictured left,  claimed she had not received any official letter from the Public Service Commission, the PNGSF board, or the NEC on her fate.

She said she only came to know after being locked out of her office on returning from a successful foundation sports review workshop at the March Girls Resort, near Gaire Village, outside Port Moresby.  

Launa said her treatment by foundation board and Tkatchenko was inhuman and unprofessional.

Tkatchenko said the same NEC meeting had asked the board to re-advertise the position of executive director – PNG Sports Foundation, as the three short-listed candidates for the position were unsuitable for the job.   

The National was told the three candidates are Launa, Juliane Leka and Takale Tuna but all were rejected by the NEC.

The foundation board is now likely to look outside the public service for an acting executive director.

One of the short-listed candidates, Tuna, who is the front-runner for the position, was tipped for the acting appointment along with Graham Osborne’s rugby connection – Peter Tsiamalili Jnr. 

Tkatchenko said the NEC had instructed the foundation board to reconvene an urgent meeting to appoint a new acting executive director while they re-advertised for the executive director’s position.

The NEC has been given a preliminary report on allegations of financial mismanagement of public funds by Launa. 

However, Launa said she was surprised to hear that as they were just allegations until proven in a court. 

“I have yet to receive a note from Ombudsman Commission to answer to those allegations, and what they (Tkatchenko and his board) did was unethical and unprofessional,” she said. 

“I am already tried by media rather than standing in front of the Ombudsman Commission to answers the allegations levelled against me,” Launa said.