William Samb

Chaired by the Minister for Civil Aviation, Sekie Agisa, the focus of the meeting was on strengthening regional collaboration for aviation safety and security.

Discussions were centred around the importance of aviation and the immediate need to adapt long term policies to combat the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also in attendance was Minister for Transport & Infrastructure, William Samb.

His moved was announced today in Port Moresby, bringing the total number of PANGU Pati members to 26.

PANGU Pati’s Deputy parliamentary leader and Transport Minister William Samb welcomed the MP to the party, witnessed by other members and Party General Secretary Morris Tovebai.

Samb said Isifu made a decision to join PANGU as they were in the same coalition.

Momase region members of PANGU also joined to witness the event.

Goilala is one of the most remote and challenging districts to access in terms of logistics.

With the upcoming Local Level Government Elections in August, that challenge remains in preparing the locals for the elections.

The Goilala District Authority today presented three cheques totaling K30, 000 to the Presidents of the three LLGs.

The district has 30 wards and an estimated 24,000 voters.

 It’s Member and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister, William Samb said the funding will go towards voter awareness and other preparation work on the ground.

During a press conference on Friday, the Goilala MP and deputy leader of Pangu gave the assurance that one of PNG’s oldest political parties still remains intact.

On May 8^th, the Pangu Pati Executive Council announced that it has suspended the party leader and Member for Bulolo, Sam Basil, from Pangu.

Governor General Sir Bob Dadae signed the official documents in the presence of his family, Prime Minister Peter O'Neil and other cabinet members.

Prime Minister, Peter O'Neil, when making the announcement, said Mr Samb is an experience politician and will deliver in his capacity as a Minister.
He said the government will be undergoing minor cabinet reshuffle in the near future to cater for other MPs.

“Pangu Pati has shown their loyalty to Government and we must accommodate them in a right way.

These plans were deliberated on during the district administration meeting in Kania Village, Goilala, Central Province.

The district development authority (DDA) meeting was brought back to the village with the aim of engaging leaders at the village level, thus encouraging collective decision making.

“We’d like to as much as possible bring service to our people, and bringing the DDA meeting to them is one way to let them know what we are doing at the DDA level,” explained William Samb, member for Goilala.

Mona Highway, is a stretch of about 96km beginning from Aropokina junction to Tapini station.

It serves and connects the Kairuku Hiri district and Goilala District.

For Goilala, it was expected to be the most reliable link into the city. But the wet climate of the area has seen the highway, deteriorate to very poor conditions.

GDDA’s partnership with DOW will see the government body manage a continued maintenance on the road.

In turn, for every million into the GDDA account, K200 000 will be diverted directly to DOW.

Being in Parliament for 18 months, Samb said the Government must also provide and fund auditors to carry out acquittals of the MPs’ funds.

Samb further raised concern on the lack of clarity on the functions of the District Development Authority (DDA) chairman and the DDA’s chief executive officer.

“There must be some demarcation in the district to clarify the functions of the district office,” said Samb.

He stated that on many occasions, the DDA chairman and CEOs were always caught in between as to who they will report to.

Local member William Samb said they have received a report from the Catholic Church alerting them of the situation.

Samb said a budget has been drawn up including this (emergency) specifically as well as for the medical assessment on ground.

But he said receiving funds was the cause of delay.

Speaking to Loop PNG this morning, Samb said he is aware that the funds into the district treasury should be confirmed today.

He said according to the budget, at least K50,000 each should be allocated for the two exercises.

His speech, which was presented on his behalf by Goilala MP William Samb during the closure of the Extractive Industry National Emergency Response Challenge 2017, said maintaining a high standard of health and safety at project sites are an integral part of any successful operation.

He said a 12-month analysis by the MRA on the performance of the mining industry on health & safety showed that there is a downward trend on serious injuries and severity frequency rates.