Comments

It's about time PNG women have a say in the national issues affecting the country as they are part and parcel of the society as a whole. Whatever changes have occurred whether good or bad, big or small, or whatever length of changes that affect our country during the reign of our forefathers, the good PMs back then, the consequences of such changes affects us all regardless of the norms, cultures and customs in PNG where women are generally subordinate to men. Thus prior to the fact, PNG women are urged to actively participate in political representation to affirm their marginalized status in civic society in PNG. And one way of achieving this is through political representation. As politics is about power. And with power at hand, it is possible to pursue the National Goals of "equality of opportunities" and "equal participation and representation" that embraces the rights and freedom of PNG women to actively participate in development opportunities as entrenched in the National Constitution. Thus at this stage considering the importance of women as opposed to men, I duly call upon the elites of PNG, the political activists, the lobby groups, and the donor agencies, to vividly advocate and provide support for PNG women in politics.

Nothing about "Another public holiday" in the article.

Stephen, thank you for highlighting the replenishment of the Global Fund, but why did you not ask the Australian Government to increase its pledge to the Global Fund like everyone else? The ‘maintain’ argument is fine if it is maintain by keeping in step with others: including USA (a 15.6% increase), Germany (17.5%), and UK (16%). With Australia starting from a low base (A$73m p.a.), matching others would require only about an extra A$12-27m per year; a modest contribution to an effective program to help end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Outstanding Remarks from Patrick Kaiku - explain to current leaders and coming leaders, I really support that directive principles of state policy are enshrined in part IV of the constitution and are basically directives given to the state to bring about a just and welfare society. These principles serve as guidelines for the government while framing policies and programmes. National goals are goals set by the nation's President during the presidential elections. Goals are in three categories, society, economy and military. Achieving a goal will earn the country a monument. The contentious reign of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill ended on 30 May 2019 with the election of James Marape as Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) new Prime Minister. Since his elevation to Prime Minister in 2011, O’Neill proved an effective tactician, overcoming numerous attempts to unseat him through the parliament, in courts and on the streets through protests. While O’Neill deserves credit for significant infrastructure developments and hosting of international events that arguably brought prestige to PNG, his legacy, like many of his predecessors, is shrouded in controversy. The Constitution contains a select number of human rights: the right to life, liberty and security of person and protection of the law, the right to take part in political activities, freedom from inhuman treatment and forced labour. The vision of the five National Goals and Directive Principles compelled post- independence governments to deliver social, economic and political development with consideration to equality, economic self-reliance, national sovereignty and protection of the natural environment. I’m the political Science student completely saluted my lectures have said – not to mockery the 8 million people. Understand the National goals before independence. Student@upng

Another public holiday, I like it.

There are at least 2 more reasons for Marape joining Pangu: First, Ginson Sonau was rebuilding Pangu Pati after Pangu MPs resigned and joined Melanesia Alliance. Sonau was the only MP to remain as Pangu MP after the resignations. Six other MPs who left Pangu for Melanesian Alliance later returned to join Sonau - this was during the impasse. He invited those resigning from PNC and others leaving the government coalition to join Pangu. Second reason is that, Marape and other Highlands MPs cited the unfair distribution or lack of payment of LNG royalties as they resigned. Sonau had earlier taken the government to court on behalf of the Morobe people and had successfully stalled Wofu mine from starting operations, arguing that the deal did not benefit the people of Morobe. It made sense for Marape and other Highland MPs citing dissatisfaction over resources payments to join Soanu. When it comes to leadership, Sonau has proven his loyalty to Pangu by remaining with the party when the others reigned to join Melanesian Alliance. It is possible that he will remain the party leader. Marape on the other hand, has joined the party out of convenience. Marape has not made any substantial statements which identified himself as Pangu man, apart from stating that Pangu was "detaching" from PNC on 30 August 2019. He uses the words "I", "my government", the "Marape Manifesto" etc. He is yet to declare anything as Pangu Pati policy. It is possible that Sonau may take control of Pangu Pati with the intention of becoming the PM when PNG goes to polls in 2022.

Thanks Patrick for this piece of notable remarks. I concur with your remarks that, in the post-independence state of PNG, the core ingredients of the NGDPs had never been used through any medium for public education and appreciation. I remember once I learnt the NGDPs when I was doing grade 4 or 5 in primary education. In the later part of my life, I read it in libraries and other official government magazines. Even today, I cannot fully cite the NGDPs by heart, let alone other educated Papua New Guineans. Before the NGDP were developed, extensive consultations were held across the country when the medium of communication was limited - the radios, the TVs, social media, the internet and mobile phones, all so called modern communication modules. Now that we are exposed to these various modern communication systems, we should be better informed and inform other fellow citizens on the true meanings of the NGDPs. However, it is the contrary today as you have remarked. I came across few citings of the NGDPs in official PNG development plans and strategies. The obvious one is on “integral human development”. However, in the subsequent sections of the official documents and its practical application, the true meaning of this NGDP slowly disappeared, so as the core value of the preamble to the Constitution and the development aspirations it should otherwise promotes. I supported your suggestion for a constitutional week or day to honour the significance of NGDPs like the annual Independence Day celebration it could be a better idea for all educated citizens to learn and understand the core purpose of the NGDPs and inform fellow citizens. Various activities can be organised to add the significance of the NGDPs as the preamble of the PNG home grown Constitution.

Thank you Cindy, It's great to hear the post was useful to you. Terence

Thumbs up for your hardwork in putting up this kind of article. It is beneficial to me as a Solomon Islander as it helped me to really see where our electoral politics and administration is like at this time.

Thanks Michelle for this analysis. I would suggest your headline should read something like “will Marape stand the test of coalition politics and individual MPs politics in PNG?”. Let me provide a background on the above suggestion. PM Marape was the then right-hand man for PNC and former PM O’Neill. For the 7 years when PNC led the government, both Marape and O’Neill manoeuvred the PNG political and economic landscapes to their advantage. PM Marape has no intention of starting a new political party or aligning with one of the existing ones or pulling out from PM O’Neill when the call for PM O’Neill was clearly written on the walls across PNG. Marape was in a comfort zone with everything at his disposal with full trust from the Boss. In early 2019, there were talks within the PNC bloc that Marape would be sacked from his Finance portfolio. This will be a surprise and a terrible slap in the face for Marape, not only as a loyal servant to PM O’Neill but a core inner member of PNG, and would cause a tribal disposition for him as a brother from the Huli basin neighbouring with Ialibu ranges. To withstand the downplay of PM O’Neill, Marape has to take a stand that would look “man to man business” by resigning from the Finance portfolio and step out to support in disguise the call on the walls across PNG. This is the moment of make or break when the small opposition team were already in camp with only one slogan “not to change the PM O’Neill government but remove Peter O’Neill”. It was the moment for James Marape. During that occasion from March to May 2019, few political parties break and regroup with others, individual MPs were party hopping and moved from one camp to other, including Marape. For someone like Marape to stand bold and take leadership role in a party is still a long way down the lane. Though Marape joined the Pangu Parti to lead as the major coalition, he still regarded as one belong to PNC and moved because of some unknown reasons as an individual MP, not moved with a genuine call to change. The PM position came to him as a surprise and not a cleverly calculated achievement. Since PM Marape has no leadership experience in political parties and how to nurture coalition partners in a political landscape, he would have a hard time trying to keep everyone intact. Right now, Pangu Parti wants to sack all PNC MPs with portfolios currently in government, while Marape holds loyal to some of the PNC colleagues with portfolios. Should Marape bow to Pangu and coalition interest or keep his friends without O’Neill-it is not a simple decision to make. Currently, the NA led opposition team and key MP like Mekere have moved into government posing more challenge for Marape. The PM Marape was indecisive on the move and how strategically he could keep everyone happy and intact is a holy grail. The clear indecisive statement from the PM this week was, “any Minister in government who wants to move to the opposition can do so at their own will and who wants to stay can stay”. Such statement will determine PM JM position leading into 2022.

I think the 2019 PNG Update was more improved than the previous years. They at least gave the students opportunities to present their papers based on the awareness which they had conducted on Frieda Mine. Thanks much!

I am a Grade 12 student who attended Malala Catholic Secondary School and I studied science courses and I'm very interested in studying midwifery.