Pangu is ready, says Marape

PRIME Minister and Pangu Pati leader James Marape says his party has won 30 seats (as of yesterday) and is preparing to form the Government with coalition partners and Independents for the maiden 11th Parliament meeting on Tuesday.
“We have 30 Pangu MPs and we expect to have more joining us before the return of writs (today) to receive the invitation (from Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae) to form the Government,” he said.
“The total number of Pangu, Independents and coalition MPs has risen to a total of 67 today.
“And the number is expected to climb by tomorrow.”
Marape said Pangu went into General Election 2022 (GE22) with clear coalition partners like the United Resources Party, National Alliance, and others.
“We did not endorse candidates in seats held by our coalition partners in GE22, knowing very well that we will be relying on them to form the Government again for Papua New Guinea,” he said.
“Hence, it is very easy for us now to stitch a coalition, because we went into the elections together.
“We backed each other during the campaign period, hence, we now have 15 political parties as coalition partners with Pangu.
Marape said Pangu was “no ordinary party” as it was the party that gave PNG its sovereignty in 1975.
“Pangu is the party that foresaw the vision of our country,” he said.
“And today, I am privileged to be leading this national icon, the Pamgu Pati” he said.
“We have a huge resource base and this generation of Pangu leaders are aiming to ramp up our downstream processing – in order to anchor our economy for the next five to 10 years,” he added.

MP dedicates win to Samb, mum, people

By AILEEN KWARAGU
THE new member elect for Goilala open seat Casmiro Aia has dedicated his win to the late member William Samb, his late mother and the people of the electorate.
At his declaration at the Bomana Correctional Service centre yesterday he said he would deliver much needed services to the district.
“A declaration like this should not be for an individual but should be for the people of Goilala because you have spoken through your votes,” he said.
Aia, a former policemen with 25 years on the force, said he would use his experience in law enforcement to build a safer, prosperous district.
Aia polled 9,997 votes while runner-up Alex Hoem Robert collected 6,270 votes.
Goilala returning officer Theodore Maia said Aia had polled the most number of winning votes for a Goilala candidate compared to previous elections.
He said Aia had collected votes from both Tapini and Guari local level governments.
“From the previous elections in Goilala we have been declaring members with less than 5,000 votes while this year’s winner has broken the record,” he said.