papua new guinea

The meeting was underway at the Ribito Hotel on Saturday 17th December, 2022.

The meeting was hosted by Board Chairman and Acting Provincial Administrator Sandis Tsaka.

During the meeting the board decided it would host the 9^th PNGRFL Annual General Meeting in Wabag on March 25, 2023. PNGNRL CEO Stanley Hondina made the announcement.

On behalf of the Enga Provincial Government, Protocol Officer, Philip Kandes, thanked the PNGRFL for convening the fourth quarter Board Directors meeting in Wabag.

This was mentioned during discussion on issues regarding West Papua. Both Ministers met in Bali, Indonesia when Minister Marsudi highlighted the need for respect and sovereignty as separate nations.

“Minister Marsudi spoke in detail thanking the PNG Government and Foreign Affairs Department for recognising the issue of West Papua as an internal Indonesian matter. They are a sovereign country and like PNG we respect and support Indonesia and its sovereignty. We will work with them to resolve any issue that may come up with West Papua in PNG,” Tkatchenko said.

Yama finished fourth with 39,058 votes. His votes will be distributed among the three leading candidates.

After exclusion 33, the four candidates on the race with their scores are as follows:

1. Ramsey Pariwa (PFP) - 100,537 votes

2. Jerry Singirok (PANGU) - 60, 657 votes

3. Benny Panti  (AP) - 39,703 votes

4. Peter Yama (PLP) - 39,058 votes

Returning Officer Vincent Manukayasi made the declaration at the PILAG counting centre at 5: 30pm yesterday, 12 August after nearly three weeks of delay, due to heavy scrutiny from rival candidates contesting the seat.

Mr Samuel won by 23, 452 votes surpassing the absolute majority of 21, 149 votes.

Coming in second place was Joe Tonde with 18, 863 votes.

Mr Samuel who is an indigenous from the big Motaun village of Hanuabada, clearly collected majority of his votes from all Motu Koitabu villages in the Moresby North-West electorate.

Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai said any discussions and talks of failing an election and calling for a Supplementary or a By Election is not on his table and will not happen as costs of running elections have escalated and are expensive.

The top five contenders in the EHP regional seat are:

1. SIMON SIA – PNC – 108, 890
2. PETER NUMU – PNG ONE NATION – 102, 129
3. LIVINGSTONE FONTENU – ULP  – 50, 512
4. JAMES PUPUNE –PNG PARTY – 33, 617
5. PIUS KASAMPI – Independent – 27, 081

The absolute majority stands at 257, 325 votes as eliminations continue. There are 19 exclusions to follow.

The counting officials have informed this newsroom that all quality checks ended before lunchtime today. The elimination started after lunch and continues tomorrow. 

The People First Party candidate, Ramsy Pariwa still maintains lead with more than 50,000 votes, running second is PANGU Party candidate, Jerry Singirok with more than 30, 000 votes and on third spot is incumbent governor, Peter Yama with more than 20, 000 votes.

PM Marape said, “I want Papua New Guinea in the next decade to be a K200 billion economy. I wanted Papua New Guinea to be the Richest Black Christian Nation on Earth.”

The PM emphasized that his statement recognized that Papua New Guinea’s political forebears ushered in political independence in 1975.

He said they crafted legislations, built institutions, wrote policies and established relationships to deliver us political independence.

Based on what has transpired in the elections and the economic and social issues currently faced by the country, the new Parliament will have its hands full on the different areas that need to be addressed in the next five years. 

Through a media statement, Dr Osborne Sanida, Director of the Papua New Guinea National Research Institute (PNG NRI) put forward some key areas that he believes the new Parliament must address.

This was the directive issued in the revocation of previous measure number 2, under National Pandemic Act 2021, on 4^th of August, by the National Pandemic Controller, David Manning.

Under the new Measure No 2, a person is considered fully vaccinated if they have received: