PNGBLOGS

by PAUL L. KEBAIJA On 16 June 2026, the District Court at Waigani cleared ousted Kandep MP Don Polye of all three fraud and corruption charges, ruling that the evidence brought against him was insufficient to proceed. Polye — once the first sitting politician ever arrested and charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) — walked out a free man, his bail money refunded. Under the law, that outcome is entirely proper. A person is innocent until proven guilty, and a magistrate who finds the evidence wanting is doing exactly his job. Polye is entitled to his vindication. And yet the case lands like a familiar punchline. ICAC was sold to Papua New Guineans as the instrument that would finally hold the big men to account. Its very first prosecution of a politician the case meant to prove the new agency had teeth collapsed at the committal stage for want of evidence. Ordinary citizens are forgiven for asking a blunt question: if the state cannot assemble a case against t...

by NICKSON WAIYO In the context of an economically unstable country struggling to perform, politicians who make a long list of promises are no better than those who promise the impossible to people, trying to move heaven and earth. This behavior is not only a mockery, but it is also detestable. A responsible leader has a patriotic duty to speak out about what is at stake and publicly denounce such behavior for the good of society. It is unfortunate that bad leadership is often highly regarded, even by rational individuals. Leadership should not be motivated by extreme greed for material gain and aggressive greed aimed at achieving political milestones through corrupt means. Such a leadership approach is a recipe for anarchy and should not be encouraged. A patriotic leader should engage in self-examination and reflection, asking themselves questions such as "Have I done enough to liberate the people? If not, what has hindered me from doing my personal best?" Instead of using t...

by DON POMB POLYE I do realise in the mind of the young a DESIRE FOR MORALLY  UPRIGHT ways of life for PNG. An UPRIGHT life for THEMSELVES, do they crave for!!!. The inference I have deduced expressed in social media and talking to many of them is that,  the  poor leadership  that some leaders have provided  has hampered their progress and success. The conduct of some leaderships have set very bad precedence that has misled many of them. The young have been confused as to which is the right example to follow or who would be the  correct lifestyle role model to emulate in National leadership, public service,  private sector,  in  or in other fields. The success stories are very rare in this country while  corruption and failure  is very  frequent and prevalent in their daily lives.The confidence of many of our  young has dwindled. This is very serious matter!!!  Business, politics, religion, family, traditions, culture...

Peter O'Neill has successfully silenced and neutralised three of his biggest and most vocal critics who were in the opposition benches in the previous term of Parliament. With a highly corrupt and heavily manipulated election process, Don Polye stood no chance as O'Neill targeted his Kandep Electorate with very heavy police and military presence during election 2017. The result is that Don Polye was ousted under a questionable election process, the outcome of which is yet to be decided by the courts to this very day. The court process to hand down a decision on the Kandep seat is being unnecessarily delayed and this indicates that the judiciary may not be operating freely from political control and interference. Kandep was one of the seats that experienced violence during the election and how they managed to conclude the election process and declare a winner remains a mystery. Belden Namah and Sam Basil managed to get through the first hurdle by winning t...

THE TRUE STORY OF THE UBS LOAN AND OTHER DEALS BETWEEN THE O’NEILL GOVERNMENT AND OIL SEARCH Part 2 – Sweetheart  deals cost taxpayers and landowners BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT IN SINGAPORE Comments by Oil Search executives and directors at the company’s annual general meeting earlier this year raise serious concerns about its knowledge of many specific instances of corruption in Papua New Guinea relating to its business, and its corporate behaviour. These instances are separate to the illegal UBS Loan which Oil Search helped to arrange, as detailed in Part 1 How Peter O’Neill and Peter Botten cost Papua New Guinea at least K1 billion. Some of these issues were the subject of questions in in the Australian Senate, but no satisfactory answers were provided by the Australian officials responsible. For example landowners in the PNG LNG project are owed hundreds of millions of kina in royalty payments and other entitlements, much of which is paid to the Government by Oi...

BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT IN SINGAPORE Part 1 – How Peter O’Neill and Peter Botten cost Papua New Guinea at least K1 billion The Oil Search Annual General Meeting in Port Moresby earlier this year confirmed that the company is acutely aware of the extent of corruption in the Papua New Guinea government of Peter O’Neill. Oil Search executives privately commented to attendees after the AGM closed that "... everything here in PNG is corrupt …" “… the government is so corrupt …”, "… PNG has a lot of corruption issues …" and others in similar vein. The cost of O’Neill Government corruption is high, estimated to be several billion kina a year. Now the contribution of Oil Search’s own questionable dealings with the O’Neill Government has come under public scrutiny. Late last month stockmarket trading announcements revealed that the nation has lost at least K1 billion in an illegal sweetheart deal organised in secret between Prime Minister O’Neill and O...

by YAKEN LEPAKALI Untangling a piece of the puzzle; Peter Ipatas, Pundari, George Kakas and the realm of regional, national and local politics.  We will examine the current Provincial Police Commander, Sup George Kakas in a huge maze puzzle. In 1997, George Kakas used policed issue gun and shot his cousin brother Joe Krammer Kandamain at point-blank. The latter a contestant in Kompiam Ambum.  Kandamain was then a deputy commissioner at IRC. Thank Miss lucky luck the next day he was airlifted direct to Australia. That traumatic night, Kakas was providing security escort for Pundari’s hijacked ballot boxes to wabag town. Kandamain and late Nere were providing logistics for the failed onslaught ambush that night. Kandamain was supporting his cousin brother Augustine Kunuman Kyakas, brother of former Enga Election manager Henry Kyakas. FYI, Kyakas, Kandamain, Pundari and Kakas are blood cousin brothers. Anyways, PPC George Kakas was suspended for many years due to this incid...

by PETER S. KINJAP Papua New Guinea has entered the third week of the eight-week election campaign before polling commences next month. Unlike previous elections, this year’s campaign appears not as noisy as in the past. Social media has played an important role in the campaign so far with political parties buying Facebook pages to launch their awareness messages. Almost all the 15 political parties in PNG contesting the election now have a paid Facebook Page. The ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) has reportedly disseminated a lot of information about its polices and continues running social media ads. One of the PNC’s major party platforms is the Free Education policy. As the ruling party, it has implemented and PNG has felt its impact since 2012. Like any other government policy, the PNC free education policy has its weaknesses. In order to defend this policy, party leader and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said recently he wanted to make the PNC’s free educat...