Thin blue line between justice and contempt
As a reasonably litigious society, it is often too easy for the PNG media to eschew publishing about matters that don’t flatter their prejudices using the excuse of subjudice contempt as their morally...
View ArticleIt’s vote-of-no-confidence time again.
By PNG Echo. Papua New Guinea is, once again, finding itself looking through one of those windows of opportunity whereby the government can be defeated and removed on the floor of parliament by a vote...
View ArticleSABLs – The way forward is here!
By PNG Echo The government has received the eagerly awaited blueprint of on how best to implement the findings of the Commission Of Inquiry into Special Agricultural Business Leases (SABLs). Under the...
View ArticleNational court decision: What were they thinking!
By PNG Echo. The National Court, in two separate decisions today, have stayed four government directives. Two against the banning of lawyers Egan and Lambert from entering the country and two against...
View ArticleWhen you’re handed a lemon – make lemonade. The PNG Oil Search shares saga.
By PNG Echo. Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill has defended his government’s position on the controversial UBS loan in the wake of an article published by Fairfax Media saying: The cost of losses we...
View ArticlePeople in glass houses…: A timely reminder by Hon Mao Zeming
By PNG Echo. The Hon. Mao Zeming, MP, the Deputy Leader of the People’s National Congress Party (PNC) and Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources, has questioned the motives of one of the Grand...
View ArticleIs payback the only game in town? Votes of No Confidence
By PNG Echo. Unless it is sure that a Vote Of No Confidence (VONC) will be successful, I doubt that any one MP, with the exception of those already on the opposition and middle benches, will vote for...
View ArticleVote of no confidence – a vain hope
By PNG Echo. In the lead up to this particular session of parliament, anti-government forces have been in overdrive trying to convince the public that a vote of no confidence is eminently reasonable....
View ArticleSDP is not Mekere Morauta’s retirement fund, nor the SOEs the Somare’s honey pot
By PNG Echo. Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill has hit back at the continued and sustained attack on the government by former Prime Minister Mekere Morauta, saying his… …ongoing stream of hate and malice...
View ArticleNo debate, early adjournment: It’s cause and effect.
By PNG Echo. This week, the Government of PNG rushed through legislation, including the budget with little or no debate. Afterwards, parliament was adjourned early and will not reconvene until the end...
View ArticleBrazenly contemptuous
By PNG Echo Sam Koim is a lawyer, an officer of the court. For an officer of the court to break the law is considered serious. Sam Koim has done so – knowingly and with considerable contempt. Just a...
View Article…and Makail J, thinks Koim may be too
Contemptuous, that is… Breaking news: Sam Koim today has been asked to show just cause why he should not be cited for contempt by Makail J in the Waigani courts. The hearing of the substantive case of...
View ArticleThe death of news in PNG
By PNG Echo. Last week, in PNG, a judicial review, in the court of Justice Colin Makail, that was to decide the fate of International Task Force Sweep (ITFS) was vacated (adjourned) pending a motion by...
View ArticleHe urinated into her mouth
By PNG Echo With her nephew dead in the driver’s seat of the car from a gun shot wound and another man wounded and bleeding following a police chase, Londe Pindia was dragged, resisting, from the back...
View ArticleToro! Toro! Toro! A cautionary allegorical tale.
By PNG Echo He pranced into the arena, young, fierce and arrogant – the audience screamed their encouragement: Toro! Toro! Toro! The steam coming from his nostrils is indicative of the fire in...
View ArticleFour years ago – have things changed?
By PNG Echo I have forgotten how stunned the audience was after giving my speech at Bordeaux University, France, four years ago. Have we become so inured to the problems in PNG that we’ve normalized...
View ArticleSpotlight on social media:
By PNG Echo This week there has been two separate innovations mooted to regulate social media by the government and its agencies. Firstly, the Office of the Censorship Board is talking of introducing...
View ArticleMediocrity throwing a tantrum
By PNG Echo “PNG is emerging as a cult country for MP worshiping,” writes anti-corruption (?) campaigner, Lucas Kiap, on a post seemingly addressing the front-page article that appeared in Monday’s...
View ArticleLet’s not lose our humanity: A message for 2016.
By PNG Echo As Christmas celebrations draw to a close and many of us spend some well-earned R & R before gearing up for welcoming in the new year, I have been humbled by all the messages of...
View ArticleTall tales and true: Strategically yours
By Susan Merrell I’m a journalist, people tell me things – lots of things. The information ranges from the factual to the fanciful and everything in between. Some want to see justice done through the...
View Article