State funeral for Basil tomorrow

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State funeral for DPM Basil tomorrow

PORT MORESBY: The state funeral for Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil will be held at the Sir John Guise indoor complex in Port Moresby tomorrow (May 17, 2022).

Housing and Urban Development Minister Justin Tkatchenko, who is in charge the state funeral, announced yesterday on the event while receiving the body of Basil and his close protection officer (bodyguard) First Constable Neil Maino.

Hundreds, including Prime Minister James Marape, Speaker Job Pomat, governors, ministers and MPs, gathered at Jackson International Airport.

The news break was reported by The National:

State funeral set

May 16, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By REBECCA KUKU
THE state funeral of Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil will be held at the Sir John Guise indoor complex in Port Moresby tomorrow.
Housing and National Events Minister Justin Tkatchenko made the announcement yesterday while receiving the body of Basil and his close protection officer (CPO) First Constable Neil Maino.
Hundreds, including Prime Minister James Marape, Speaker Job Pomat, governors, state ministers and MPs, had gathered at Jackson International Airport.
Many wept openly while chanting “Ari” (brother) and placards everywhere displayed with “Bikpela Kumul” written as the casket was move into the ceremonial car park by the PNG Defence Force.
Marape said that no words were enough to describe the loss of a great man like Basil.
“We honour in his passing as we honoured him when he was alive.
“Most of us are still in shock.
“To his wife, children, people of Buang, Bulolo, Morobe, and his United Labour Party, our heartfelt sympathies and condolences, and to the rest of Papua New Guinea, we stand with you.
“Sometimes, life isn’t that easy and does not have all the answers, the late deputy prime minister was a great man, and will be remembered for a long time, ” he said.
ULP acting leader Lekwa Gure said Basil always spoke about the party, saying that it (party) would be an inspiration.
According to the programme released by Tkatchenko, Basil’s body will lay in state at the Parliament Grand Hall tomorrow at 11am for fellow MPs to pay their respects.
At 2pm Basil’s casket will be taken to the Sir John Guise indoor complex for the state funeral which will be led by head of the Lutheran Church Bishop Jack Urame.
Governor-General Grand Chief Sir Bob Dadae and Marape are expected to pay their tributes during the state funeral.
The casket is expected to depart Port Moresby for Lae at 10am on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the public is welcomed to pay their respects today at the Sir John Guise Stadium from 5pm to midnight.

Deputy Prime Minister and Bulolo MP Sam Basil walking out of the parliament chamber after a session early this year

THE late Bulolo Member of Parliament (MP) and Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil had served the country under various capacities, including as an Opposition Leader in his three terms as MP.
He was hours away from being nominated to defend his seat for a fourth term when he was killed in a two-car collision while returning to Lae on Wednesday evening.
Basil’s political life had been marked by his often unconventional outbursts on national issues, key involvement in changes in governments and his notable alliances with many political parties.
He had dominated the political limelight in the early part of his career with his critical views on issues that sometimes caused friction with fellow MPs, portraying the kind of leadership attributes that he had pursued until his untimely death.
In December 2009, he claimed the Parliament building was unfit for occupation and should be condemned. He was a member of the Public Accounts Committee when it reported, in the same month, that only five out of nearly 1,000 government agencies had adhered to accountability and transparency requirements, describing this as a “sign of a failed state” and threatening to resign from the committee if prosecutions were not initiated against those who had misused funds.
Basil was also heavily critical of the deal which allowed for the expansion of the Manus Detention Centre, and was involved in an opposition legal challenge claiming that it was unconstitutional.
In September 2013, Basil was one of only two MPs to vote ‘no’ on a bill which restricted no-confidence votes, requiring a month’s notice and a minimum of 22 MPs.
Basil also repeatedly complained throughout much of his second term that he and other opposition MPs were having difficulty accessing their district services improvement programme funds, in contrast to government MPs, and was repeatedly praised in the media for improving local services despite the interference.
In June 2014, then prime minister Peter O’Neill asked police to investigate Basil and sacked anti-corruption head Sam Koim, claiming that they had colluded to oppose him.
In terms of his movements among political parties, Basil had been with five parties, either as a member or a party leader.
He was a member of People’s Progress Party, Papua New Guinea Party, member and leader of Pangu Pati, member of Melanesian Alliance and founder and leader of United Labour Party.
He also played a key role in changes of governments over the three-term period.
He was a trenchant critic of former Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare in the months prior to the no-confidence vote that ousted Somare in favour of Peter O’Neill in August 2011, repeatedly assailing the government regarding alleged corruption and the state of Somare’s health.
The latest of such moves by Basil came during the vote-of-no-confidence against Prime Minister James Marape which had been withdrawn in December 2020 and had been seen as a clever play by some respects and some.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) was thrown into political crisis when Basil led a number of ministers and MPs to walk away from the Government to the Opposition.
That was the first surprise salvo in a campaign to knock off Marape as prime minister.
Rival “camps” holed up in hotels, soon took shape along with a Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak and multiple trips to the Supreme Court, including one case that invalidated the Parliament’s vote on the budget.
And then – the crisis was over. On the day of the vote, Basil walked back across the chamber with a number of MPs to rejoin the Government. That allowed the Government to see off the challenge.
One might be left questioning the Bulolo MP’s motivations.
It was just over two months ago that Basil had been appointed Deputy Prime Minister – presumably an attempt by Marape to stave off the political maneuvering.
Until he crossed the floor again, Basil was a full-throated member of the Opposition, pledging solidarity and signing on to a manifesto criticising the failures of the Government to deal with its finances and big resource projects.
But then, the Opposition camp snubbed him, choosing instead another former Marape Minister – Patrick Pruaitch – as its proposed candidate in the vote against Marape.
By the next sitting of Parliament, Basil was again in his government frontbench chair back where he started, as Marape’s deputy.
In terms of his contributions to the development of his Wau-Bulolo electorate, among his key achievements were the improvement of district roads, managing issues associated with the Wafi and Hidden Valley mining projects, and occasional ethnic unrest.
In 2009, Basil was involved in a deal which saw the people of Bulolo assigned a half share of the provincial government’s share of the Morobe Mining Joint Venture.
Basil was first elected to the 8th Parliament in Bulolo in 2007 general election as a People’s Progress Party (PPP) candidate.
He resigned from PPP on Oct 1, 2011 and joined the Papua New Guinea Party.
He was elected deputy opposition leader on Nov 5, 2011.
He was a member of different parliamentary committees between August 2007 and August 2011. He later became National Planning Minister on May 8, 2011 in the ONeill-Namah cabinet.
Basil was re-elected to the 9th National Parliament in Bulolo in the 2012 general election on a PNG Party ticket.
He was appointed deputy opposition leader following the formation of Government in August 2012.
Then, he resigned from PNG Party to join Pangu Pati and elected as party leader in Aug 2014.
He moved to join the O’Neill-Abel Cabinet, appointed Communications, Information Technology and Energy Minister from August 2017 to April 2019.
He then became Finance Minister on April 17, 2019 following the resignation of James Marape.
He later became National Planning & Monitoring Minister following a reshuffle on May 13, 2019.
He was re-appointed as a Treasury Minister from June 7, 2019 to Aug 26, 2019, following the formation of the Marape-Steven Cabinet.
He became National Planning & Monitoring Minister on Aug 27, 2019 and Deputy Prime Minister on Oct 1, 2020. He was re-appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce and Industry Minister on Dec 24, 2020 to mid-September 2021 after a tribunal leadership cleared the case against him.

Family wants probe

May 16, 2022The NationalMain Stories

THE family of the bodyguard of late Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil has called for a proper investigation into the road accident that claimed their son’s life.
The bodyguard, First Constable Neil Maino, 39, of mixed parentage – Central and Northern – died in a car accident along the Bulolo highway last week, with Basil.
His father Edmund Maino, 66, a former policeman, said he was not satisfied with the current report.
“When we were informed by his wife, at around 11pm, we didn’t believe it.
“My son is a highly trained policeman, he has tactical driving skills, and he would know how to drive along that road, if he was driving.
“I’ve been in the force half of my life, served for 36 years, I’ve driven high profile people in my time too, I drove the Pope on his visit, I drove, the Prince of Arab who is now the king, I’ve driven governor-generals, etc. So my question is, was protocol followed?
“And what happened because I’ve seen the pictures, I’m hearing reports and getting information from people, friends, family but it doesn’t add up. I just want answers, the truth. I want justice for my son’s death,” he said.
Edmund said that his son was loyal to the constabulary, he loved his job and took pride in the uniform he wore.
“I have seven children, and only he followed in my footsteps to become a cop.
“He passed out in 2008, and soon after underwent the Special Service Division training programme at Goldie River Training Depot and was attached to the NSU (National Security Unit) when he passed away.
“He never had time for family, he was a cop and always working.
“He didn’t spend much time with his wife and two kids, or his siblings, but he was always there, always there for his family, and now everyone is sad that we never got to spend much time with him as he was always busy working,” he said.
Neil is survived by his wife and two children, a 14-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter, his parents and five siblings.
Neil served the constabulary for 14 years.
His body arrived in Port Moresby yesterday.
A separate funeral programme for Neil will be held by the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister James Marape said that a full investigation would be carried out into Basil and Neil’s deaths.
“I’ve already instructed police to give a full account of the journey, leading up to the incident, including the other driver’s journey and everything that happened leading up to the accident and the passing of the late deputy prime minister,” Marape said.

Basil’s close protection officer also dies in fatal car accident

May 16, 2022The NationalNational

POLICE Commissioner David Manning has confirmed that Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil’s close protection officer (bodyguard) First Constable Neil Maino died in the car accident on Wednesday night.
“Police investigations are now underway to establish what happened. The country will be informed of the outcome of the investigations. Until then, I want to call upon people to be responsible and not speculate as to what had happened,” Manning said in a statement on Thursday.
Special Services Division Director Chief Superintendent Julius Tasion confirmed that Maino was on official duty with Basil to his electorate in Bulolo when the fatal road crash (involving two vehicles) occurred.
He said Maino died from injuries he sustained in the vehicle collision along the Bulolo-Lae road.
He said Maino was sitting behind Basil whilst another close protection officer Sergeant Fredy Setu was sitting in front.
Tasion said Setu sustained only minor injuries.
He was then taken to the Angau General Hospital in Lae where he was discharged on Thursday.
Tasion said Basil passed away first and Maino died about 30 minutes later.
Maino is of mixed Northern (Popondetta) and Central (Mekeo) parantage.
He joined the police force in 2009 and was attached with the National Security Unit of the Special Services Division.

Cops arrest driver in crash that killed Basil

May 16, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By JIMMY KALEBE
POLICE have arrested the driver of a car that was involved in a collision with the vehicle occupied by the late Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil on Wednesday evening.
Northern commander Assistant Commissioner Peter Guinness said the driver had sustained injuries to his chest but he was okay.
“The driver will be charged with two counts of causing traffic accidents.
“One charge will be dangerous driving causing deaths and the other will be dangerous driving causing fatal injuries,” Guinness said.
He said during the time of the incident, the driver was alleged to be driving the vehicle alone when the fatal accident occurred at around 8pm near Sumsum village along the Bulolo road.
“The two vehicles were travelling in opposite directions when the collision occurred,” he added.
Guinness said those involved in the accident were Basil, his two close protection officers (bodyguards), four civilians and the driver of the other vehicle.
Guinness said police have alleged that the driver was travelling at high speed downhill and was trying to avoid fallen rocks on the road when he allegedly swerved his vehicle to the opposite lane.
“The driver is alleged to have seen the oncoming vehicle and tried to apply his brakes but his vehicle could not slow down or stop,” he added.
Guinness said a passing truck driver brought all the injured to Bulolo Hospital where Basil was pronounced dead at 11pm.
Basil’s wife was not one of the passengers, according to a close family source.

Namah describes Basil as a man of peace and calm

May 16, 2022The NationalNational

OPPOSITION Leader Belden Namah has described the late Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil as a man of peace and calm.
Namah said Basil was a passionate member who put his electorate before everything.
“Bulolo changed under his leadership across three consecutive terms of Parliament,” Namah said.
“A forthright man who spoke his mind and acted on his convictions.
“He was a prime ministerial candidate after serving many senior ministries and twice as deputy prime minister,” he said in a statement yesterday.
“He became a member of the PNG Party and was deputy opposition leader under me in 2011 and in 2012 after the general election.
“In the time we were together, I have treasured his counsel and his no-nonsense stand on national issues, particularly against corruption.
“I hold him in the highest regard.”
Namah said Basil was a leader in the prime of his life.