Jiwaka Province

Despite the hospital being promoted to a provincial hospital status recently, there still remains infrastructural and personnel issues to address.

Maru visited the hospital on Sunday and gave his assurance.

The Minister made a surprise stopover at the Nazarene Hospital at Kudjip as part of his visit to Jiwaka Province.

Greeted by medical missionaries, Maru was given a tour of the facilities.

It was there the medical team informed him of their concerns.

These include facility upgrades and staff housing.

In a media conference this afternoon he announced that only one of the ballot boxes will be put aside, that box is from Kendu 1.

This comes after a state legal team for Jiwaka observed that video evidence only showed vote rigging for Kendu 1 and not the other five disputed ballot boxes.

Meredith Kuusa with more 

Election manager, Rossie Pandihau, said the issue arose from a certain electorate about centralising polling booths.

“This caused some candidates and supporters to disagree, resulting in an uproar.”

Pandihau said one of the returning officers was assaulted and more problems are expected to arise come the polling period in the province if the issue is not attended to quickly.

She adds that the electoral commission team has been corresponding with the team in Port Moresby to look at alternative ways to resolve the problem.

Provincial Police Commander Joseph Tondop said this is because of the informative awareness that has been going in the province since December last year.

“We have not seen much activity with the people since nominations started,” said the PPC.

“People have gotten back to their normal everyday routine and are just waiting for polling to start.”

Tondop also raised concerns on the locations of the polling booths, where he suggested to the Electoral Commission to have them in central, populous areas that are at walking distance.

This case involves a 26-year-old woman who allegedly posted defamatory remarks on social media, Facebook page ‘Jimi Politics Open forum’, against the sitting member.

Margret Opo of Karap village, Jimi district, Jiwaka Province, first appeared in court on November 1, 2016, where her charge was read and explained to her.

Three months on, police prosecution received no instructions from the investigating officers on the progress of the case, which prompted them to move an application to strike the matter out, which was allowed by the court.

This was made possible through a partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Inc.

“The work that Kudjip Nazarene Hospital is undertaking is exceptional. The new housing will allow it to continue to attract and retain the highest quality of physicians and nurses,” said Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (USAID/ASHA) director, Anne Dix.

Several access roads in the region have been cut off, isolating a large number of rural communities while the Highlands Highway is under threat of being cut off by landslips in several locations between Eastern Highlands and Jiwaka Province.

In the Chimbu Province, the Kundiawa-Gembolg road was cut off in three locations on Sunday night after heavy rains. The Dokorr Creek Bridge along the Gumine road, outside Kundiawa, was also covered by debris, cutting off the link from Gumine.

From the 870 people who took part in the first phase of the program, about 240 successfully repaid their loans to the National Development Bank and moved into phase 2 of the microfinance project.

The project is aimed at getting people into business to drive the government’s SME policy.

A capital of 1 million kina was deposited into the National Development Bank by the district in 2014.

With 87 council wards in the district, each councillor was tasked to identify 10 people from their respective council wards to participate in this scheme.

Kurumul Primary School unveiled the double classroom project on Friday, May 13, with a special visit from Chapez Construction Building Contractor, Charlie Tumun.

Tumun, who helped oversee the construction of the classrooms, handed the key to the school head teacher, Leo Koimb Wii, in a special presentation on behalf of Digicel PNG Foundation.

Apart from coordinating the TVET courses for women, the centre is an abode for people seeking guidance and also caters for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).

In an exclusive interview with the coordinator of the VCT centre there, Sr Regina Wamp, many concerns were raised on the AIDS epidemic that should be brought to relevant authorities as a high priority.

From your work here at the Centre, who comes to you for assistance?