Southern Highlands Provincial Police Commander (PPC) Chief Inspector Daniel Yangen is preparing the province for Monday’s polling with awareness campaigns, random road blocks and checks and even a clean-up of the provincial capital of Mendi. Mr Yangen said the security forces are ready and prepared. He said the Quick Response Force (QRF) on the ground comprises Police Mobile Squad and PNG Defence Force (PNGDF) personnels as well as local policemen and policewomen. “We are waiting for the roll-over teams to arrive from Enga Province to boost our manpower strength,” Mr Yangen said. The PPC said he has completed briefing and scheduled the polling contingent and inserted his field commanders into the five electorates in the province. He said his field commanders are Police Station Commanders (PSCs) and Section Officers in Charge (OICs) who will work with the roll-over teams in providing security for the polling. “We know the number of polling areas to be covered in each electorate so we will insert the security personnel into these polling areas. We are doing random roadblocks and making awareness to ensure no drunkards and disturbances occur during polling and into the counting and declaration periods,” Mr Yangen said. Mr Yangen said all the candidates in the province are cooperating well with him and have promised that such incidents in the 2017 election would not be repeated in the 2022 National General Election. He said the candidates have promised to take ownership and control their supporters and the public. Mr Yangen reassured the people of Southern Highlands and Papua New Guinea that this election would be a successful one and would be free, fair, safe and corruption free.

The Gerehu Magpies will be aiming for a morale-boosting win over the University Tigers in the main Moni Plus Port Moresby AFL match for the Men’s Senior division at the Colts Oval today. The Magpies are playing their best football to date since they re-entered the competition this year. They beat Gordon Kokofas 86-83  two weeks ago only to be denied the match points on the reversal of decision for having a 19th  player on the field in the second quarter. As per the match rule, all points scored by the Magpies up to that stage were all removed and they had to start the match on a clean slate; however, last weekend they nailed Alavana Swans 63 to 2. The Magpies will be aiming to add the Tigers to their list of victims and the onus will be on the entire team to maintain their coordinated football game from the centre square. The Gerehu Magpies team is predominantly made up of youths from the Gerehu suburb, including students from Gerehu, Lwanga and Kopkop secondary schools as well as from Port Moresby National High School. Talented youngster and former PNG Binatangs star Bart Sovara, will lead the boys from Gerehu onto the field at 4:00pm in the afternoon.

Air Niugini wishes to advise the travelling public that effective from 06th August 2022 the airline will resume direct services to Honiara, Solomon Islands, and Nadi, Fiji. The resumption of services has been made possible by the relaxing of border restrictions in the two countries, and flights will initially operate once a week in each direction. Air Niugini Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Bruce Alabaster said “Air Niugini is delighted to be able to resume flights to the Solomon Islands and Fiji following their suspension over two years ago at the start of pandemic when borders were closed. “ “We are confident that the resumption of these flights will boost trade, investment, and people movement between the three Melanesian countries.” The flights are scheduled to provide convenient connections in Nadi to and from Suva, Los Angeles and San Francisco. In Port Moresby these flights will allow convenient connections to and from Singapore, whilst in Honiara they will connect conveniently with Solomon Airlines domestic services around Solomon Islands. Flight PX084 departs Port Moresby on Saturdays at 09: 45am, arriving in Honiara at 1: 05pm local time, before continuing on to Nadi where it arrives at 6:00pm local time. The return service PX085 departs Nadi on Sundays at 08: 30am, arriving in Honiara at 10:30am local time. After a one-hour stopover flight PX085 departs Honiara at 11:30am local time, landing in Port Moresby at 12: 50pm. Flights will be operated by ANG’s Boeing 737 aircraft, with both Business and Economy class available, and with complimentary refreshments and entertainment on board.

Air Niugini wishes to advise our valued customers that the airline has suspended flights to Wapenamanda airport, Enga Province, effective Friday 08th July until further notice. The decision to suspend flights follows the vandalization of the airport runway last night, which has resulted in NAC closing the airport and poses an unacceptable safety risk to the travelling public, our staff, aircraft, and property. The flight suspension is for an indefinite period. Air Niugini management said “The airline (ANG) only resumed operations to Wapenamanda twelve months ago in July 2021, after the National Airports Corporation (NAC) and Government spent millions of Kina improving the airport runway and terminal infrastructure. The vandalism which occurred overnight shows a complete disregard for public property and facilities and is completely unacceptable. “ “ We understand the inconvenience that the actions of a minority will cause the travelling public, however in the interest of safety we have no choice but to withdraw services indefinitely. Safety is always of paramount importance in our operations.” Prior to the flight suspension, Air Niugini was operating five weekly services to Wapenamanda using Dash8 aircraft. Passengers who have already paid for tickets may have them rerouted to or from Mount Hagen at no extra charge, or apply for a refund. Air Niugini is not responsible for passenger road transportation between Mount Hagen and Wapenamanda

The Wapenamanda Airport in Enga Province has been closed indefinitely as of this morning. The National Airports Corporation issued a STOP Press NOTAM this morning advising of the closure of Wapenamanda Airport until further notice. This follows an incident last night (Tuesday 7th July) where oil was spilled together with broken bottles on sections of the airport runway. NAC Managing Director and CEO, Rex Kiponge has strongly condemned this incident and said that NAC together with Police will conduct a full investigation including an assessment of the damage caused. “I am very disappointed and strongly condemn these actions which are caused by a few people who are holding the rest of the travelling public at ransom because of their senseless actions.” Mr Kiponge said. “Again, this is a breach of the Civil Aviation Laws and a criminal offence and NAC will not tolerate this behaviour. I appeal to the people of Wapenamanda to work with NAC and the police to identify those perpetrators and hand them over to the police.” He added.

Commissioner of Police David Manning signed a MoU between the Joint Security Task Force and the PNG Electoral Commission on Wednesday July 6 which effect Police coordination of logistic air support for the 2022 National General Election. The MOU, which was signed in Mt Hagen, Western Highlands Province, was witnessed by the Chair of the Inter-Departmental Election Committee (IDEC) Mr. Ivan Pomaleu, who is also Secretary for the Department of Prime Minister and NEC. Mr. Pomaleu said this is in recognition of the limitation of air assets available for contracting to the PNG Electoral Commission. “The contractors engaged by the PNGEC for air support do not have adequate capacity to deliver logistics for the elections. So after having reviewed and evaluated the air support arrangements with Hela, and the first couple of days of polling, it became necessary to reconfigure the coordination and leadership arrangement for insertion and extraction of polling teams and the required security oversight. “This MOU recognizes the critical air assets capacities with contractors procured for the movement of polling teams and ballot papers, and sets out to achieve a more coordinated approach, and to ensure that all available air assets are coordinated through a lead point,” Mr. Pomaleu said. He added that there will be a need to reassign resources to fill the gaps as part of this MoU, with the key outcome being the achievement of operational efficiency as the teams move into the Enga and other provinces for polling. Chairman Pomaleu said the MoU may be reviewed depending on the evaluation of the operating environment after covering the upper highlands region and moving on to Simbu and Eastern Highlands provinces. The MoU was a result of discussions between the Police Commissioner Manning, Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai and Secretary Pomaleu. “Under this agreement, the RPNGC Air Wing hereby takes over the coordination and the delivery of air support,” Chairman Pomaleu said. The RPNGC Air Wing will command, control, manage and coordinate air support for this 2022 National General Election

OUR CULTURE will sustain the country’s economy after all the extractive resources are depleted, says the Executive Director of National Cultural Commission, Steven Enomb Kilanda.   While officiating the launch of Kala Community Culture Center at Kala Village outside Mt Hagen City in Western Highlands Province on Tuesday Mr Kilanda reminded the guests and villagers of the importance of preserving, safeguarding, developing and promoting their cultural heritage.   He said after all the minerals that are currently being developed around the country are extracted, one of the fall back plan to sustain the country’s economy would be their culture.   “Therefore, you must make every effort to preserve and safeguard your cultural heritage so that they will benefit you and your children in the future,” said Mr Kilanda.   He said apart from other cultural activities and events, the cultural center is where they practice and express their culture and arts on daily basis while passing on their cultural knowledge and skills to young people.   Mr Kilanda while commending the Chairman and Chairlady of Kala and Moga Community cultural centers said they took the challenges of preserving, safeguarding and promoting their dying cultures and arts.   He said the National Cultural Commission (NCC) was only a small government organization mandated to deal with the huge cultural matters of the country.    Therefore, he told the committees of both culture centers and the villagers to use the certificates that were presented to them to venture into small to medium enterprises (SME) because NCC does not have enough money to give it to them.   “Don’t expect NCC to give you money, rather use the certificate NCC is presenting to you to go into SMEs and earn incomes,” said Mr Kilanda.   He said conducting cultural activities and events at the cultural centers would certainly bring tourists into the communities because their cultures and arts is the only standalone tourism product in the country.   After the speaking and officially presenting the certificate to the chairman of the Kala Community Cultural Center he committed K10,000 and another K5,000 to Moga Community Cultural Center.    He also committed another K2,000 each during the official ribbon cutting to open the culture center for the cultural groups that performed during the launching for both cultural centers.   One of the NCC Board Members and one of the sons of Western Highlands, Professor Michael Mel was also invited to the launching.   He spoke highly of the efforts of the chairman of the Kala Community Cultural Center, Martin Nusa and his committee.  Prof. Mel visited the Kala Community Culture Center and Mini Nature Park and talked to Mr Nusa on conducting traditional knowledge and skills training with children and young people in that area.  Mr Kilanda, Prof. Mel, invited guests and other dignitaries who were there at Kala village were taken on tour into the Kala Community Culture Center and nature park after the facility was officially launched. 

 To create an enabling environment for cocoa, vanilla and fisheries entrepreneurs and to generate real possibility for economic growth that will enhance the livelihoods of rural communities, the UNDP under the EU-Funded Joint UN STREIT PNG Programme, is closing in on preparatory works with stakeholders to install solar generated clean and renewable electrical energy in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea. In a one-day workshop organized by the Programme in Wewak, East Sepik Province, on Thursday 23 June, participating stakeholders from Division of Education, Sepik Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Mission, Division of Health and Catholic Health Service came together to discuss and gauge feedback from beneficiaries on the installation of micro grid solar systems in six identified facilities. The selected recipients in East Sepik Province are Taul Community Health Post in Turubu area of Wewak District, Nagum Adventist Secondary in Yangoru-Saussia District and the Catholic Health Service-run Dagua Community Health Centre along west coast highway in Wewak District. The beneficiaries in Sandaun Province are all located in Vanimo-Green District namely Don Bosco Technical School, Vanimo Secondary and Baro Community Health Post. These education and health facilities are located in areas with limited or no access to grid-connected electricity. Opening the workshop was Head of FAO Country Office in Papua New Guinea Mr Bir Mandal who was visiting Wewak to support the programme to expedite the programme implementation and enhancing partnerships with East Sepik Provincial Government. Mr. Mandal draw attention to the global scenario on energy access and what this means for the Greater Sepik Region and PNG. “A third of the 2.6 billion people in the world still do not have access to safe, clean fuels and technologies for cooking or heating their homes, at significant health, social and environmental costs. In PNG, only 15% of the total population of about 8 million have access to grid connected electricity.” He added: “For change to occur, we need to reset our energy systems and put people into the centre – ensuring that these systems are cleaner, more secure, more resilient, and totally inclusive.” “Under the Programme, we’re working together with relevant Government of PNG (GoPNG) agencies at the national level and our target provinces to ensure communities in the agri-value chain get connected to electricity via renewable energy sources. This initiative will contribute to the GoPNG’s energy access target as outlined in the Medium-Term Development Plan III and various development plans, policy frameworks and regulatory instruments,” said Mr Mandal. Despite the disruption in the global supply chain by the Pandemic which has put a strain on the progress of this effort, UNDP’s Project Manager, Ms Karen Anawe, said, “I’m pleased to announce that preparatory works are now underway to ensure we assist the government to close the energy access gap by promoting clean energy and a transition towards a low carbon economy in our focus areas.” Ms Anawe said the meeting also discussed sustainability and ownership arrangements of these micro grid solar systems. For the recipients, unreliable electricity supply has been an ongoing dilemma for years, hence the support will give confidence as well as strengthening their operations to service better the rural people. “Nagum Secondary is a recipient of this support and I like to say thank you to the European Union as financiers of this impact project, not only for the school, but for the community at large. We’re glad that the solar project in the future will gather for students from the Sepik provinces, and also from Madang and Morobe,” said Mr Jeffrey Saigomi, Secretary for Sepik SDA Mission. For Dagua Community Health Centre, serving sick patients after hours or in the night has been an concern for some years because of no proper lighting. “This is a big help to us, especially for the people living along west coast including Dagua LLG. The solar power will provide sufficient lights for sick patients in our wards. It will also help with some emergencies we conduct after hours and in the night like attending to deliveries and injuries from road accidents mainly,” said Mr Ignatius Burr, Health Extension Officer. The rural health facility services some 100,000 plus rural population of Dagua LLG including those from Boikin LLG. Despite being handicapped in its operations, the facility is known for being the first to attend to some very serious road accident injuries along the west coast highway before referrals are made to Boram General Hospital in Wewak Town. A feasibility assessment for renewable energy power was conducted in early 2021 for the region, and six facilities were identified for solar energy installation. The UNDP under the EU-STREIT PNG Programme supports development and improvement of renewable energy to create an enabling environment that will embrace development of the three targeted value chains which thousands of rural communities in the Sepik Region depend on to sustain their livelihoods. The EU-STREIT PNG, as a UN Joint Programme (FAO as leading agency, and ILO, ITU, UNCDF and UNDP as partners), is the largest grant-funded Programme of the European Union in the country and the Pacific region. Being implemented in close cooperation with the National and provincial government institutions, research entities, civil society organizations, and private sector enterprises. The Programme aims to help improve the lives of the people from East Sepik and Sandaun provinces, by focusing on increasing sustainable and inclusive economic development of rural areas through improved economic returns and opportunities from cocoa, vanilla and fishery value chains while strengthening and improving the efficiency of value chain enablers, including the business environment, and supporting sustainable, climate-proof transport and energy infrastructure development

To celebrate the launch of the American Chamber of Commerce Coral Sea (AmCham Coral Sea), the Chamber hosted young Papua New Guinean business leaders for a networking reception. Young professionals met with both the leaders of the AmCham and U.S. embassy officials to share their stories. This event marks AmCham’s first event within the business community upon becoming an official organization. Leaders chose this event as the first in order to spotlight that empowering young people and promoting inclusion is a cornerstone to the AmCham’s mission. Winifred Kula, President and Co-founder of PNG Digital ICT Cluster, attended the event as a young leader. She said, "I really like the shared vision and mission of AmCham and the PNG Digital ICT Cluster association.  As we also believe in prosperity through partnership and entrepreneurship as a powerful strategy to help individuals gain economic independence and serve as a catalyst for creating jobs and wealth in our society and way of life.” The recently established AmCham is committed to empowering all groups within Papua New Guinea to develop a diverse and equitable business community that will thrive in the decades to come. The AmCham notes the importance of youth voices in the business community, and empowering them is not only good for individual professional growth, but is also a key pillar in promoting a sustainable and strong economy. During the event, Duncan Lowe, Business Development Manager at Airswift and AmCham founding member, emphasized the importance of empowering all groups to create an inclusive and sustainable business environment. She said, “AmCham Coral Sea represents an amazing opportunity to create meaningful relationships and positive impact in businesses, communities and our people in the Coral Sea and the Pacific. The Chamber also works closely with the U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby. Joseph Zadrozny, Chargé d'Affaires, a.i. of the U.S. Embassy, said, “The United States is dedicated to our partnership with Papua New Guinea. We’re committed to supporting equal opportunity and economic growth in the region. And we are especially committed to supporting Papua New Guinea’s young people.” Over the coming months, AmCham Coral Sea will continue to build its presence and outreach into the Papua New Guinea business community. The AmCham plans to host its inaugural Business Breakfast, as well as attend the 2022 Business Advantage PNG Investment Conference. To learn more about the mission, vision, and future activities of the AmCham Coral Sea, as well as how to engage and become a member, please visit: https://AmChamCoralSea.org For further information, please contact info@amchamcoralsea.org.

Save the children is working with the National Department of Education and Provincial Departments of Education to implement trainings in 37 clusters and 27 districts in 6 provinces under its Boosting Education Standards Together (BEST) PNG project. Last week, the BEST PNG team held a week long training attended by 17 primary school teachers on Module 2 of the Standard Based Curriculum (SBC) Mathematics for Junior Primary (G3-G5) teachers for the Vanimo cluster in West Sepik Province. The implementation of the BEST PNG project is led by the National Department of Education (NDoE) in partnership with the Provincial Divisions of Education and funded by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Save the Children is the Grant Agent for the project. Other trainings under the BEST PNG project that have been carried out include SBC Module 1 Maths and Science to improve learning outcomes for junior primary students in 6 low performing provinces through strengthening pre-service and in-service for teacher education, to expand access to teacher training for female teachers and improve access to textbooks. The SBC Maths Module 2 expands on learnings from Module 1 and aims to equip teachers in using the SBC materials in supporting their planning , teaching, and assessment of students in Mathematics. It also focuses on a problem-solving approach for teachers to get students to understand and be interested to learn Mathematics as well as arms the teachers with the knowledge to return to their schools and share these learnings with their fellow teachers. West Sepik Provincial Department of Education's Superintendent for Operations & Standards, Basil Pere highlighted that these trainings were important for West Sepik because it is one of the 6 provinces that needs to upgrade in Mathematics. He said Maths is a subject that trains the mind of logically analyze and solve problems. Pere said, "In West Sepik training like this is important because we've been identified as one of the provinces that need to upgrade in out mathematics capability, so our children have to be upgraded in their knowledge through this kind of programs, so they acquire a lot more in Mathematics". Pere further challenged teachers attending the training to take ownership and fully implement what they've learnt from the trainings back in their schools when they returned. Provincial In-service Coordinator Sharon Buke with West Sepik PDOE further emphasized that trainings like this ensured that students learning was in line with the national curriculum's overarching benchmark. Buke said, "It is important to be trained in a way that when they sit for national examinations, the knowledge skills, and aptitudes they have gained from the teachers through this curriculum it has to be aligned to out national curriculum overarching  benchmark. Buke said, "It is important for students to trained in a way that when they sit for national examinations, the knowledge skills and aptitudes they have gained from the teachers through this curriculum it has to be aligned to our national to our national curriculum overarching benchmark. And the teachers must be competent". BEST PNG Project Manager Ambrose Ruyooka thanked the teachers for their participation in the training and shared a bit about components of the project and its objectives. The training was led by BEST PNG Provincial Coordinator Pauline Area together with officers from the West Sepik PDOE which included Provincial In-service Coordinator Sharon Buke, Provincial Trainer Elizabeth Bingop, School Inspector Basic Education William Basehan and Master Trainers Marie Gumari and Salley.

NCSL currently is urging its 143,000 members to update their personal member details to ensure the Society correctly captures member details onto NCSL’s core banking system. The mandatory updating of member records came into effect on Thursday 2 June, 2022 following a series of communications sent through the mainstream and social media, registered employers, SMS and other online advertising platforms. NCSL CEO, Vari Lahui said ensuring accurate and correct member details on file is a very important part of securing member’s funds and ensuring that NCSL deals with the rightful owner of the account and not someone pretending to be a genuine NCSL member. “As a result, we have decided to make it mandatory on our system for specific and important personal details to be provided by a member before we can progress any transaction for this member,” the CEO said. “There have also been instances where someone pretended to be a genuine NCSL member and had intentionally provided incorrect information to defraud the Society. For this reason, NCSL began the process of updating the records of our genuine members to avoid any more potential fraud cases,” he continued. NCSL’s Team Leader Branch support, Mr. Raphael Leo reiterated the importance of updating details which helps the NCSL staff to immediately identify a genuine member and attend to their queries more swiftly and efficiently,” he said. Presently, members with incomplete details or records will see a pop-up message on the Member Online Portal as “Your transaction(s) will not be processed due to missing member details. Email datacleansing@ncsl.com.pg or call 313 2049 for assistance”. Members who are yet to update their details are required to complete the Member Data Update form and submit with a copy of a valid identification card to the Data Cleansing group email. For more information on this article, please contact Ms. Louise Mary Kodor – Media & Communications Officer on 313 2055 or email lkodor@ncsl.com.pg

More than 1,500 members of the Joint Security Task Force began moving into the Enga Province from Hela as of Tuesday, July 5, in preparation for polling duties. Polling for the Enga Province is scheduled for today, July 7. Commissioner Manning who is in the Highlands overseeing the election security operations said, “The security operation focus has been in the highlands provinces based on the past experiences and intelligence reports but so far Hela has been reported relatively quiet with few isolated incidents which have been managed. We expect the same from the remaining provinces of Enga, Southern Highlands, Western Highlands, Jiwaka, Simbu and Eastern Highlands provinces.  “However, the security deployment and capability still remain heightened for worse case scenarios for polling leading in the couniting period.