Somare family ‘honey pot’ dismantled

THE Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC) and its state-owned enterprises were seen as the Somare family “honey pot” with family members and cronies appointed to its various boards, parliament was told last week.
Public Enterprises Minister Sir Mekere Morauta said in a report tabled in parliament that IPBC became a super ministry that overlooked all processes.
“Deals were done with no commercial sense and have proven to be of little or no benefit to the public.”
He said the IPBC had “completely lost focus” of all other SOEs as they were more concentrated on the LNG project.
Sir Mekere said under his leadership, the ministry was going through the process of sorting out the mess as many irregularities were identified during the leadership of Arthur Somare.
“Reports on all SOEs indicated poor performances,” he said.