Big shakeup

Posted by The National

FOUR ministers were dropped in a major Cabinet shake-up announced by Prime Minister James Marape on Friday.
The biggest and only “casualty” was the Peter O’Neill-led People’s National Congress Party (PNC) which saw three of its Members of Parliament (MPs) chopped from Marape’s new 33-member Cabinet line-up.
The three are Elias Kapavore (Health and HIV/AIDS), Alfred Manase (Labour and Industrial Relations) and Petrus Thomas (Immigration and Border Security).
The fourth minister left out in the new Cabinet is former PNC member Charles Abel (Finance and Rural Development), now with Our Development Party (ODP).
Replacing them are four new faces, National Alliance Party (NA) leader Patrick Pruaitch (Foreign Affairs and International Trade), his party deputy Timothy Masiu (Information, Communications Technology) and United Resources Party (URP) leader William Duma (Commerce and Industry) and his party deputy Jelta Wong (Health and HIV/AIDS).
Wong is making a comeback to the Cabinet as he was the Police Minister under O’Neill’s Government.
Abel claims that he was leaving the Cabinet to assist the Milne Bay governor.
In announcing the Cabinet line-up, Marape said: “The appointments reflect (political) equality and fairness. (My new Cabinet also features) leaders with vast experience in governance, like Pruaitch and Masiu.
“I apologise to the people of Bougainville (with regards to the Cabinet changes) but the Autonomous Region of Bougainville now has a voice in the Cabinet in Masiu.”
The URP was also rewarded for its “loyal support” to Marape’s election as prime minister in Parliament since May with the appointment of Duma, taking over from Pangu’s Wera Mori (Commerce and Industry). Marape said former Environment, Conservation and Climate Change Minister Jeffery Kama (Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party), is now Labour and Industrial Relations Minister, replacing Manase who was dropped from the Cabinet line-up.
Wong replaces Kapavore who was also dropped from the Cabinet as Health and HIV/AIDS Minister.
Marape said: “I want the rot in the (health) department to be checked. Medicines must be delivered on time, corruption must be eliminated.
“The middlemen must be cut off and the distribution of medicines be tasked with Post PNG and PNG Defence Force.”
The prime minister also announced a reshuffle of ministerial portfolios and changes.
Rainbo Paita (formerly Communications and Energy) is now Finance and Rural Development Minister, Westly Nukundj (Public Service) is now Immigration and Border Security Minister and Soroi Eoe (Foreign Affairs and International Trade) is now Public Service Minister.
Marape said the energy portfolio that was formerly parked under the Communications and Energy Ministry “is now reverted to the Petroleum and Energy Ministry”.
The Communications and Energy Ministry is now renamed as Information Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry.

Go to this link for more: https://www.thenational.com.pg/big-shakeup/

For PNG's good, an unpleasant political task

By JAMES MARAPE MP - PNG Attitude

PORT MORESBY – On Friday I had the unpleasant task of decommissioning some fine Papua New Guinean leaders but at the same time uplifting leaders of the National Alliance and the United Resources Party into cabinet.

Government needs a cohesive and coherent mindset and, because I was leading a big coalition of over 105 MPs over the last five months, sometimes I was kept busy managing politics rather than the country due to differences of opinions from amongst different political parties in government.

Due to the continual contest of opinion I had to let few go, including the Pangu Party detaching from alliance with People’s National Congress.

The Pangu caucus continued to give hope for sincerity of its relationship with the PNC leadership but, since the cross-acceptance of the nomination by former prime minister Peter O’Neill on 30 of May and continual evidence of PNC’s interest in opposition leader Namah’s present court case against the election of prime minister James Marape, the cut by Pangu from alliance with PNC was bound to happen.

Most Papua New Guineans wanted change from the PNC influence. Well the country now has this by this rearrangement.

I am sacrificing my relationship with PNC and leaders I am close with but this is nothing tribal or personal but a national strategy to stabilise political numbers to get me and government security and cohesiveness to do what is right for our country.

In December I will be doing another performance review of my ministers and their departmental heads, and if performance warrants decommissions it will be so.

But for the meantime ministers are expected to do their job. For the interest of PPapua New Guineans, all ministers have their key performance indicators and their performance will be measured against those KPIs going forward.

I am not here to be a professional prime minister planning to serve long in this office, but to start a chain of changes that will progress our nation to a better future.

And so whatever time I have, I want to start by growing the economy by empowering Papua New Guineans to grow their own businesses.

Pangu gave political support independence at 1975, under new Pangu going forward we want to grant full economic independence to our people, our country.

All ministers are tasked to grow the economy in the first instances amongst other issues like fighting systematic wastes through corruption and complacencies in their respective ministries.

Irrespective of ethnicity, religion or gender, we want to encourage our citizens go into businesses harnessing from our own natural resources. That’s why we partnering our banks where government will park credit guarantee funds (K200 million every year) to assist Papua New Guineans to grow businesses.

Amongst everything else all my ministers are tasked to do, this is my anchor of taking back PNG, where no child will be left behind in the process of us making PNG the richest black Christian nation on earth.

In a nation blessed with gold, gas, copper, nickel , oil, timber, fish, tourism , agriculture, culture, and massive land and human resources, we can do it.

In this coming week I will inform Papua New Guineans of role of each minister under our government and some of our achievements to date.

Go to this link for more: https://www.pngattitude.com/2019/11/an-unpleasant-political-task.html