Opposition Leader, Belden Namah, has labelled the recent events in the P’nyang Gas Project as fiasco and a political stunt by Prime Minister James Marape.
Namah said Marape is not displaying leadership qualities but contradicting himself regarding the P’nyang Project.
He said this has also been seen with the Papua LNG Gas Agreement.
In a media conference today, the Opposition Leader said after negotiations failed between the State and ExxonMobil for a Gas Agreement on P’nyang, the Prime Minister announced that they will focus on other projects.
Namah said now a week later, the Prime Minister has made a complete U-Turn and has now announced that a Ministerial Gas Committee will facilitate discussions between the State Negotiation Team and ExxonMobil.
Namah said this is no surprise after Marape, when taking over as PM, said he will do away with the Papua LNG Agreement, but six months later accepting the deal.
“How serious does he think this committee (MGC) will be taken? Both the committee and State Negotiation team come under the Authority of the Prime Minister so how can he pretend the committee is an independent arbitrator,” said Namah.
“This is just another stunt to cover up another disappointment under his Government.”
Namah added “His statement can only mean one of two things: Either he has backed down and already agreed behind the scenes to ExxonMobil’s terms, and he is looking for a way to justify his backdown. If this is the case, he will soon make some false claims that he has obtained a better deal just as he did with Papua LNG.”
In a recent statement the Prime Minister said the Government will shift focus to Wafi-Golpu and Porgera mines, Pascal LNG plus other resource sectors so life in PNG is not only dependent on P’nyang and other LNG projects.
Namah said this is all talk and the projects will face the same issues.
Namah claims that during the political standoff in 2019, when Marape was with the Laguna Camp, Marape promised to reform the resource sectors and the Mining and Oil & Gas Acts.
“If this Prime Minister wants to change the relevant legislation then shelve all these new resource projects and bring all necessary legislative amendments to the floor of Parliament and we will debate these proposed changes. But he has not brought any changes to Parliament.”
The Prime Minister has stated that the Mining and Petroleum Ministers would bring in reforms to the Mining and Oil and Gas Acts through enabling Organic Laws this year.
Meanwhile, the Opposition Leader says the Prime Minister has failed to show smart and strong leadership qualities when negotiating major international agreements.