Comments

Good article. This should be a lesson on the distribution of aid. The Chinese come in, do their deal directly on whatever it takes and move in their own workers immediately to commence construction. Meanwhile Western donors go through this elaborate planning, evaluation, bidding, deployment process with balanced recruitment and get contractors from all over to carry out the work with elaborate monitoring and reporting. The western aid is tied to hopeful friendship but not for a vote in the UN or use of ports etc. People don't learn from history as this is what happened previously in Africa where the USA and Russia had similar policies until Russia collapsed and the Americans found it didn't bring support.

Great article thanks guys. I don't mean to be picky but Lowy Data are incomplete for 2017 & 18 (it says this on the cover page of their website). Amongst other matters they are incomplete for NZ, which is the second largest bilateral donor if disbursements are measured for those years for which there are full data 2012-2016.

This story has shown us perseverance but even more it has shown us that education is a PRIVILEGE and NOT a RIGHT. Thank'you for shairing your wonderful and inspiring story.

Nice story mate , do what is best .

Enjoyed this wonderful story, he has come a long way and wishing you all the very best in the future years to come.

Many mother in today situation the problem they face was the lack of laboratory equipment and the hospital property in bad condition that cause pregnancy mother to deliver or giving birth in poor condition this is because of miss management of government funding in the district,province and and the national government. In addition government must provide all necessary need in hospital to solve this situation.

There are two opposing sides on this. A tax would be beneficial if the tax revenue is used in facilitating economic growth and development. Yes, it would cost the country's welfare in terms of the cost of communication being handed down to the end users and various other constraint will be faced. But on the upside, infrastructure development from tax revenue will greatly assist economic development in the long run. The only question is, if the tax is implemented, how will the tax revenue be used?

Monopoly brings corruption and unfair transaction. It must be stopped for the people. People and government can become likely to be a hostage by a company in the monopoly market. Turnover tax is like VAT. It is charged on companies but it increases the burden to poor PNG consumers. I don't think that Irish billionaire Denis O'Brien, the owner of Digicel, doesn't understand how to rightly pay the corporate income tax in PNG. He is manipulating local governments and their unsophisticated taxation where he operates telecommunication business. They are mostly undeveloped and highly corrupted countries across the Caribbean, Central America, and Oceania regions. I think that the corporate income tax must be firstly improved to collect the tax revenue for PNG government public service rather than introducing the turnover tax shifting the burden to PNG mobile communication consumers. A considerate bill most of the people can consent to makes people trust their government!

Hello Gabriel, thank you for your comment. You are quite right. I'd like to note that at the time this post was published, the photo caption clearly stating the origin of the photo was visible, but it was lost in the intervening years when this blog was re-designed. The editors have restored the caption now. Nevertheless, I appreciate your concerns about the perceived misrepresentation and I apologise for that. Thank you, Camilla

I believe Bal Kama's report here is based on media reports only and his report have not cited from actual reliable source. What he presented here is the same narration which the opposition had originated. The real scenario here is that the senior ministers just defected from PNC led government was because they have not been served their request by O'Neill to satisfy their personal needs and not actually for people.

Thanks for this great overview Tony. The easiest pathway for Indigenous participation in the aid program is for contractors to engage Indigenous sub-contractors and individual consultants on existing facilities. DFAT should be encouraging this because it helps to achieve the outcomes of Australia's domestic policies as well as its UNHRC pledges. Australia's application for candidature to the UN Human Rights Council, 2018-2020 included 'Advance the economic rights of indigenous peoples and harness the knowledge and expertise of indigenous Australians in the design and delivery of its aid programme. We recognize that indigenous businesses can provide expert, culturally appropriate, “peer-to-peer” assistance to other indigenous communities in developing countries).

The same people are moving here and there and there won't be any solution . Our Constitution governing our leaders are wick and can be manipulated by them.(Politicians) . Even a new Government is formed they will continue to fall victim of or existing laws. Our Constitutions needs to be reviewed and overhaul. Our Constitutions are colonial once and are outdated. Any Nations to prosper at a fast rate , only will depend tougher laws to govern. Today you see politicians move around freely like stray dogs who have no control. We need to tighten our laws on musrooming political parties. A small nation with too many political parties which brings confusion to citizens during elections. We must have less then Five political parties with clear policies so our people will be in a better position to understand it's policies and vote. Laws governing DSIP funds should also be tighten to enable delivery of goods and services. Up untill today we don't have proper check and balance on the disbursement of K10 million anually. In a full five year term a politician is paid K50 million as DSIP funds but very little is done. All the money sits in MPs account because there is no proper check and balance on all MPs. Fake acquittals are done and polish to attract new funds. Acquitals are blindly received and signed and new funds are released. No officers are assigned to g9 into electorate to physically check and confirm whether the acquitals truly worth the development on the ground. Also constitution governing other areas of heads of departments implementing government policies should also be tighten so service deliever y is very effect. Generally , government did it's part to allocate funds but funds interms of developments failed and our people are suffering. Our country's Constitutions needs complete overhaul to give clear vission to our leaders to have fear in our constitutions and execute their duties beyond our expections to bring our nation forward.