Juha SPA boss wants Organic Law reviewed

By Wally Maliku - Post Courier

There is a need to revisit the 1977 Organic Law on provincial government to re-establish the provincial government system in the country, says incumbent chairman for Juha Special Purpose Authority Peter Langa Andama.
He said this when applauding Prime Minister James Marape on his speech on Repentance Day, calling down curses on people who practiced corruption.
He said the call is not only for public servants but for all leaders at all levels to take seriously.
“The call to stop corruption by the prime minister carries a great message that deserves the change of behaviour,” Mr Andama said.
“This is the call from the highest office in this land – anointed by God.”
Mr Andama said it is a message for all leaders at all levels – for individuals, family units, communities and churches.
“The future of this nation depends on us,” he said.
“We start by changing our behaviour – saying no to corruption to allow more blessing.
“If we are accustomed to such evil practices then we are only inviting curses on ourselves and on our children.”
“We, leaders at all levels, need to embark on transparent and good governance development issues affecting our wards, LLGs, districts, provinces and nation as a whole.”
Mr Andama, who is a research fellow on Organic Law on provincial and local level government with decentralisation and citizen partnership program, supported by the Australian government, said in line with the call for change, the government needs to look that the service delivery mechanism and the governance systems.
He said although service delivery challenges remain enormous at all levels, the Marape-Davis government’s focus on strengthening systems, with checks and balances is commendable.
Mr Andama said PNG would turn 50 in 2025, about five years away but its economic independence still remains a challenge.
Mr Andama said what the Marape government refers to is the way forward and some of the service delivery challenges outline in the 1977 Organic Law on provincial government and the 1995 Organic law on provincial government and local level governments should be revisited to see effective flow of serves and governance processes.
He said these means to revisit the issues of legislations, the decentralisation of polices and fair and equitable sharing of resources.
Mr Andama said the government needs to revisit the laws to enable more powers to sub-national agencies, including taxation power, 100% revenue raising powers to provinces and districts and do away with 40/60 per cent revenue-sharing arrangement with national governments. This will enable the provinces and districts to be more autonomous, thus creating a better enabling environment at the sub-national level, he said.

Go to this link for more: https://postcourier.com.pg/juha-spa-boss-wants-organic-law-reviewed/amp/?fbclid=IwAR0bTJU7dSgYrcPePPIvIa7GoQmotqA45jrrZpI-Y1YUDzxLOO2hJTC0tHQ

Ministers’ discretionary powers over resources to be cut

Posted by The National

PRIME Minister James Marape, pictured says they will review all resource laws this month to disallow discretionary decisions by ministers.
He said they would be reviewing laws related to forestry, mining, fisheries and oil and gas to put a stop to decisions made by ministers on their own.
“Some of the laws we have in place also allow for the discretion of the ministers, cabinet and even the prime minister and that is something that I like to terminate,” Marape said.
“No ministers should have discretion.
“No primes minister or cabinet should have the discretion to make in the provision of law to harness benefits from the development of our resources.
“For instance, the provision of the oil and gas acts that allows the petroleum minister’s intervention call.
“So those areas we are trying to refine so that going into the future, our stakeholders and our investors win and our country also wins.”
Marape said on Monday that many of these fundamental resource laws would be looked in the best interest to ensure that we don’t harm our investors but at the same time we win greater sustainability for PNG’s resources.
“I will be consulting with various investors (this month) to inform them of some of the decisions of the Government so that they will feel no intimidation or harm.
Meanwhile, Marape yesterday praised Petroleum Minister Kerenga Kua who led a team to meet partners in the Papua LNG project seeking to renegotiate a gas deal signed in April.
“It was not easy, especially at the back of what was already a signed, legal document that defines the parameters and the fiscal terms of the project,” Marape said.
He said on the back of the Papua LNG gas deal that was signed by the previous government: “PNG is no longer a green field in the area of oil and gas.
“We are a brown field and have been producing gas since 1990. We are now entering into our second LNG agreement and so for future LNG developments and future oil and gas developments, we are now shifting towards putting into law what should be the DMO (domestic market obligations), so there should not be any question marks.
“Fiscal take is defined in law…ministers and governments will not have discretions.
“Not only oil and gas but all our revenue laws put together.”

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/ministers-discretionary-powers-over-resources-to-be-cut/

SPOTLIGHT ON AUTHOR CAROLINE EVARI

I started writing as early as when I was in elementary school. One thing that I realized I was good at was describing my environment. Because I spent my early years growing up in my remote village, the village had a huge impact on my writing- CAROLINE EVARI.

By Isabella Pennings – LFA

Caroline Evari is from the Milne Bay and Oro provinces of Papua New Guinea. She studied Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Papua New Guinea, however she was unable to obtain her degree when she was faced with financial constraints in 2012. She is now married with two sons and works with The World Bank Group as a Team Assistant.

When she is not working or caring for her sons, she spends her free time writing poems. She has just published her first book titled Nanu Sina: My Words. Caroline started writing children’s stories in 2018 when she discovered Library for All and has written over 25 stories; many of which have now been published and sent to children in Papua New Guinea.
Caroline kindly took some time to answer a few questions for us about her life and work.
Library For All works with authors and illustrators from around the world to create our responsive, relevant and diverse library.

Q. Library For All is going to publish some of your beautiful stories in our digital library. Have you always enjoyed creative writing or is this a new venture?
A. I’ve always loved creative writing. I remember in school my stories were used as examples for others to follow in writing.
Q. We’d like our readers to get to know you better. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
A. I started writing as early as when I was in elementary school. One thing that I realized I was good at was describing my environment. Because I spent my early years growing up in my remote village, the village had a huge impact on my writing. Then eventually, keeping a school journal boosted my writing hobby. So, when I discovered additional platforms where my writing could be exposed, I jumped on board, and Library For All is one of them.
Q. Can you tell us what benefits you think Library For All will bring to elementary schools and the PNG community?
A. One huge benefit would be providing reading materials that are relevant to our cultures and traditions. Most of the reading, writing and learning materials in our schools today are foreign materials that do not really resonate with us. Our culture is slowly fading and soon it will all be gone. LFA in a way is helping to preserve them.

Go to this link for more: https://libraryforall.org.au/2019/09/03/caroline-evari/?fbclid=IwAR0MJJwIjLKBPtXI9-7f9UR0lTj7Qi1i0rcETbs0DGgB6x4zC-b773-1mxI