Community advocacy organization ACT NOW! is today launching a new website, www.ddawatch.org to promote transparency and accountability in how government funds are used across all 94 Districts in Papua New Guinea.

This is the text of an Open Letter to the Prime Minister published by ACT NOW in the Post Courier newspaper.

Dear Prime Minister,

ACT NOW! is an advocacy organization that promotes a “gut pela sindaun blong olgeta” – a just and equitable society for all Papua New Guineans.

Post Courier Editorial

Are the voters responsible for the corruption in the country?

Health Minister and Member for Wabag Dr Lino Tom seems to think so and he is partly right in his public statement on the matter in this newspaper last month.

A moratorium on new Forest Clearance Authorities, recently announced by the PNG Forest Authority, has been welcomed by community advocacy organization ACT NOW, but the group says the measure does not go far enough.

Papua New Guinea’s latest corruption score is a damning indictment of the government’s failure to properly fund anti-corruption agencies and it confirms PNG as one of the most corrupt country in the world.

THE NATIONAL (February 3rd 2023) 

By FRANK SENGE KOLMA (fskolma@gmail.com) 

Papua New Guinea has a problem. The Pangu-led government’s silence on a major breakdown in decision-making speaks volumes on the lack of leadership quality and the stance of the current government in fighting corruption.

As exposed last week, an estimated K20 million (AU$8 million) has gone to waste on the purchase of expensive and unnecessary Maserati sports cars, yet no one is being held accountable.

Papua New Guinea’s long-awaited Independent Commission Against Corruption must be allocated substantial funding in the 2023 Budget if the government is to make good on its anti-corruption promises.

The Prime Minister has promised a fully functioning ICAC by 2023, but there are two crucial pieces of the jigsaw that are missing.

First is a substantial budget allocation and the second is the appointment of the first Commissioner and their Deputies.

Nearly 70% of Papua New Guinea’s round log exports between 2019 and 2021 were concentrated in the hands of just ten groups of companies, all with strong links to Malaysia, according to new research by Act Now! and Jubilee Australia Research Centre.

There are a lot of important issues for the new Forest Minister, Salio Waipo, to address, especially rampant illegal and unsustainable logging.