Links
Sepik CLC
(Thanks to Sharon in USA for that link) -- Sepik Community LandCare Project
(Sepik CLC) has a web page located at http://www.panda.org/resources/publications/sustainability/indigenous/proj_pnguinea.htm
Newspapers
For the latest news about PNG visit the Post Courier web site at http://www.postcourier.com.pg
or the National Newspaper web site at http://www.thenational.com.pg
both offer up-to-date news about PNG.
Sogeri Reunion
The next reunion for students and teachers of Sogeri National High School
has been planned for the 27th to the 29th of September this year. The reunion
will be held at the Comfort Inn Garden City, Jerrabomberra Avenue, Canberra,
Australia. Further information can be found at http://tufi.alphalink.com.au/sogeri/newsletter.htm
News Items
Sogeri Curfew
After threats that more buildings will be burnt down at Sogeri National High
School a curfew has been imposed between 10pm and 5am. Police from Sogeri
are aware of the self imposed curfew and are looking after the buildings and
investigating the alleged threats. No arrests have been made over the fire
last year which burnt down several dormitories.
Heart Surgery
A last minute rush of donations has saved the scheduled heart surgery from
having to be cancelled. The Port Moresby general Hospital (PMGH) has received
donations in excess of K100,00 which will be used to fly in 30 doctors, nurses
and technicians to perform heart surgery some of which will be open-heart
surgery. Donations have been received from Airlines of PNG, and places like
Mt. Hagen and Lihir. The surgical team is flying in over 3000 kilogram of
equipment including a heart bypass machine.
Malaria Treatment
Steve Bjorge has advised the following on the use of artemether or artesunate
for the treatment of malaria, it is important that people understand that
artemether or artesunate used alone may not cure the malaria infection. The
NDOH recommended treatment is artemether or artesunate (they are closely related
compounds) taken daily for 7 days IN COMBINATION with a single dose of Fansidar
(for an adult, 3 tablets). The artesunate/artemether drugs are very effective
in knocking down the parasite biomass in the blood and thus reducing the fever,
but they still can fail to knock out every last parasite. Studies have shown
up to a 50% recrudescence rate after 5 days of artesunate/artemether, and
a 5% recrudescence rate after 7 days of artesunate/artemether (i.e. less than
100%).
Note: According to http://www.dictionary.com/
-- re·cru·desce means "to break out anew or come into renewed
activity, as after a period of quiescence" and recrudescence means "a
return of something after a period of abatement" that is - "a recrudescence
of malaria"
Malaria Types
John Mackerell has advised the following:-
A correction to the last newsletter. There is a third species of malaria
found in PNG called malariae malaria (P. malariae) - basically like vivax
but without vivax's persistent liver stage.
Parliament Majority
The question has been raised whether a simple majority of 55 MPs based on
the actual 109 Parliamentary seats or whether 48 MPs out of the 94 declared
MP's are required to form Government.
The traditional Standing Orders of Parliament require a simple majority of
55 MPs to elect a Prime Minister and form government but in this case only
94 writs have been returned. It is hoped that the question will be resolved
before the Parliament sits on the 5th of August.
Preferential Voting
PNG's present "first-past-the-post" voting system has expired and
any new election conducted after that date would be held through the "preferential
voting system". Any supplementary or by-election conducted after that
date would be through the preferential system except with the exception (maybe)
of Enga and Southern Highlands provinces where the current elections have
not been completed due to various election related problems.
Medicine
All medical products manufactured and sold in the country must now be registered,
evaluated and licensed by the Department of Health. If the product is not
registered and licenced the product can not be legally sold in PNG. If the
product is not produced locally then it must be licenced in the country of
origin and manufactured in an approved factory for manufacturing the medicinal
products by the licensing authority of that country.
Kokoda Trail
The Anglican Bishop of Dogura, Tevita Talanoa, has planned a fund-raising
walk from Dogura in Milne Bay Province to Port Moresby via the Kokoda Trail
to raise money for the restoration of the historic Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral
at Dogura. The departure from Dogura will begin with a Eucharist for Martyr's
Day on September 1 and the Bishop hopes to arrive in Port Moresby on the 22nd
of September. The only fear Bishop Tevita has about the walk is that people
along the route will leave their villages, going ahead of him, hanging lunch
and water gourds on tree branches, and holding him back for breakfast however
breakfast in the bush is not breakfast at all rather they are more like feasts
with sing-sings and all. A picture of the cathedral can be found at http://www.michie.net/pnginfo/wamira5.html
21 toea stamp
Roadwork
Roadwork around Port Moresby continues to drag on and on. One company who
have half completed Boroko drive from Hubert Murray Highway to Boroko East
are into completely ripping up Hubert Murray Highway from what was the NBC
(five-mile) lights to past the creek at four mile and on to what was the
four mile traffic lights. The four-mile lights are long gone and the five
mile lights disappeared months ago. The company is trying but seem to be
struggling with basic safety items for the poor motorists who are never
too sure as to whether they are negotiating the obstacles in the right direction.
The four lane sea-front road (Hubert Murray Highway) at Koki
is still not open and motorists are forced to use the top road as a two way
road even after a year of construction work to get to and from Ela Beach.
Election Lockup
Amongst many of the happenings during the elections one incident saw four
MP-elects locked up at Jackson's Airport in a hanger for more than 12 hours.
It has been alleged that the four had to be locked up by officials and security
guards to protect them from PDM supporters who were trying to poach them
to make up the numbers game to form government. The MP-elects were smuggled
out to a safe location in the early hours of the morning. An investigation
is under way by the Registrar of Political Parties.
Ballot Smuggler
A counting official has been caught trying to smuggle ballot papers into
the counting of votes for the Chuave Open seat in the Chimbu province. Counting
was halted for an hour whilst all officials and scrutineers were searched
by police. It is believed that more than 200 unauthorised ballot papers
may have been smuggled in and added to the tally of the Chuave Open and
Chimbu Provincial seats by the same man.
Coca Cola
Drinkers in the Highlands are finding that due to the extremely poor road
condition of the Highlands Highway that their favourite drink of Coke is
in very short supply or run out completely. The trucking companies are running
up huge repair bills attempting to ship goods up from Lae and the insurance
for the companies has also increased. It is not uncommon for repairs to
trucks to cost more then the freight charged. A proposal has been made to
Coca Cola to set up a mini-manufacturing plant in Mt. Hagen to cut down
on transportation problems.
Telikom PNG
The privatisation of Telikom PNG has been finalised. A joint venture company
called ATH (PNG) Limited is now the new owner and manager. ATH is made up
of Datec (PNG) and Telecom Fiji Limited
which holds the management rights to Fiji's international communications
company FINTEL. ATH (PNG) will hold 50.1 percent of Telikom.
Public Admin Institute
The Institute of Public Administration has recently received a donation
of just over K800,000 from the Australian Government through its aid agency
AusAID. The donation will be used for the training of certificate and diploma
in accounting course students at the Institute.
Quarantine Office
The National Agriculture Quarantine Authority will now be able to cut down
on air pollution at its Lae office after the opening of a new incinerator.
The K80,000 diesel and electricity powered incinerator replaces a firewood
burner previously used by the office. The incinerator, which will reduce
smoke and generated heat, will be used to burn quarantine rubbish from the
large numbers of ships which visit the Port of Lae.
Politics
I an led to believe that the present PM and the PM elect have been meeting
last night at the Gateway hotel in Port Moresby in a bid to see who really
has the numbers to form the next PNG government. The two parties have booked
out a whole wing at the hotel and other guests are wondering whether they
should run for cover if things get a little heated.
For the latest election results please visit http://www.pngec.gov.pg
Boxing
The PNG boxing team has been knocked out of the Commonwealth Games currently
being held in Manchester, United Kingdom. Ben Tami Junior (57kg featherweight)
and Jack Willie (48 kg light flyweight) both lost their opening fights.
Raphael Lare (51kg flyweight) lost on a points decision to Kenyan Bernard
Irungu and Henry Kunsi (60kg lightweight) was outpointed by fellow Pacific
Islander Sada Wulf of Samoa.
Gerehu Volleyball
The Gerehu Stage Four Volleyball Association is fast becoming the centre
of attraction for young people living in the area. The competition has been
a positive thing for the community at large. The games have attracted 32
teams and involve over 500 young people.
PNG Aussie Rules
Two PNG Australian football league representative players (Overa Gibson
and Mathew Mondo) have been promoted to the senior division with the Coolangatta-Tweed
Heads Club. The club is leading the Queensland competition from a field
of 12 clubs. Both players are members of the PNG Mosquitoes squad that will
participate in the 11 nations International Cup in Melbourne, Australia
in about two weeks.
Gulf Province
AusAID has helped to build new permanent double classrooms, and other infrastructure
at Baimuru, Mapaio and Akoma primary schools in Gulf Province.
Hospitals
Studies are about to be undertaken in various hospitals throughout the country
to find out the problems with providing care to the patient. It is expected
that the studies will take a year and will focus on the defects of the health
sector in administrating and providing services.
Refugees
A total of 42 refugees from the immigration processing centre on Manus Island
have finally arrived at their destination in Australia and have been officially
recognised as refugees.
Illegal Entry
It has been reported that some foreigners are able to fly in into Port Moresby
and gain a work visas at Jackson's airport. Work permits or dependent visas
are not allowed to be issued at the airports as they should be issued at
PNG embassies and high commissions overseas. Tourist visas are the only
visa allowed to be issued on arrival into the country.
Chinese Visas
An English language test for people seeking employment in PNG from China
has slowed the number of people coming from China into PNG. The test is
actually carried out in any of the three official languages of PNG. English,
Motu and Tok Pisin (neo-melanesian). Most applicants have chosen English
for the test. Prior to this many people from that region were coming to
PNG and working in areas where a command of any of the three languages should
have been mandatory. i.e. working as a store keeper dealing with the general
PNG public.
Lae Yacht Club
After a low key ground breaking ceremony construction work is set to start
on a new clubhouse for the Lae Yacht Club. The K1.8 million clubhouse is
expected to be completed by mid-January next year. It will complete the
work on the development of the club's new marina between Voco Point and
Stuart Park in Lae. The total value of all work would cost a total K4.5
million. The club has been able to raise funds for the new clubhouse by
selling the old clubhouse to the National Fisheries Authority.
Women's Refuge
The renovation to the old PNG Banking Corporation mess at Ela Beach purchased
by the Port Moresby City Mission is well underway. When the renovations
are completed the building will house a women's refuge and child abuse counselling
centre. The total cost of the renovations is expected to cost K400,000 and
Australia's aid agency AusAID has donated K380,000 towards the project.
Jackson's Airport
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said that Port Moresby's Jackson's
International Airport will be closed from 10pm every night to 5am the next
morning for the next two months. This will allow CAA to carry out maintenance
on the runway of the country's only international gateway. This has caught
many operators such as aviation, courier and medivac companies by surprise.
In fact Air Niugini officials have been quoted as saying that they have
not been informed by CAA of the runway's closure.
The closure has meant that readers of newspapers will not be able to get
their early morning paper. The Post Courier has apologised to the 22,000
readers outside of Port Moresby who will have to put up with the late deliveries
for the next two months.
Air Niugini
The acting president of the National Airline Employees Association has called
on the board of Air Niugini not to consider any applications for the vacant
Chief Executive Officer position until after the formation of the new government.
The union hopes that the position will be filled from within PNG. The previous
Chief Executive resigned several weeks ago and since then the Executive
General Manager Operations and the Chief Financial Officer have been heading
the national airline.
One China
Bill Skate has reaffirmed his support for PNG maintaining a One-China policy,
recognising the Beijing leadership as the legitimate government of China,
despite saying otherwise in 1999.
PNG Media
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Articles for this Newsletter
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Some of the above are courtesy of Liz and her friends at the University of
Technology in Lae. http://www.unitech.ac.pg
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