Driver of ill-fated truck that crashed, killing 16, on the run
News that matter in Papua New Guinea
Scenes at the Mt Hagen General Hospital after the deadly Isuzu truck crash.
PORT MORESBY: The driver of the Isuzu truck that ran off
a cliff killing 16 General Election 2022 campaign (GE22) supporters in Western
Highlands Tambu on Sunday (June 12, 2022) is on the run.
Tambul-Nebilyer police
station commander Chief Sergeant Jacob Kumin said the driver fled the accident
scene.
“We advise the driver to
present himself at the police station for investigations,” he added.
PNG Cyber Monitor reproduces below the news break and a few GE22 news updates as published The National:
Driver told to surrender
June 15, 2022The NationalMain Stories
Tambul-Nebilyer police station commander Chief Sergent Jacob Kumin urged the
driver who fled after the accident to present himself at the police station.
The truck went off the road and plunged down a cliff around 9pm along the
Highlands Highway.
The passengers were travelling from Tambul to Mt Hagen to attend an election
campaign gathering.
They were believed to be from Upper Kagul in the Tambul-Nebilyer electorate.
The 16 people died instantly while others, including an infant, were admitted
at the Mt Hagen General Hospital, .
Hospital’s physician and coordinator emergency department Dr John Junior McKup
confirmed the deaths and the casualties.
McKup said the exact number of people admitted and those discharged after
receiving treatment was yet to be confirmed.
Western Highlands police commander Superintendent John Sagom and Assistant
Commissioner of Police (ACP) Highlands eastern end Rigga Neggi could not be
reached for comment. Locals described sections of the highway between Tomba and
Paia Kona in Tambul–Nebilyer as “death traps”.
Violence, accidents add stress on hospitals
By LULU MARK
ELECTION-related violence and road accidents contribute to unnecessary stress
on the already stretched health system, a doctor says.
Port Moresby General Hospital director of medical service Dr Kone Sobi said
injuries from such incidents were preventable.
“I was concerned when I saw overloaded trucks during the nomination period,” he
said.
“It is still a concern and even now during the campaign period.
“When accidents happen, all these people will be rushed to the emergency
department of the hospital where other emergency cases are already there.”
Sobi said there were patients already admitted, plus new admission daily who
suffer from diseases, and then there were injuries from accidents and fights.
He said some of the injuries were very serious and required quick actions to
save lives.
He said a man who was stabbed at Boroko in Port Moresby last week was rushed to
the hospital.
Due to the seriousness of his injury, he had to be rushed to the operating
theatre where he was operated on the whole day.
“A number of surgeries scheduled that day in the theatre had to be put on
hold,” he said. “There are only four theatres. All the theatres have their
schedules. This was a preventable situation.”
O’Neill spares time for young fan in Kerema
Six-year-old Koralynn
Kauoi finally meeting People’s National Congress party leader and former prime
minister Peter O’Neill at Kerema airport in Gulf yesterday. – Picture supplied
By AILEEN KWARAGU
SIX-year-old Koralynn
Kauoi finally got her wish to meet former prime minister Peter O’Neill
yesterday after she was upset when she was unable when he arrived in Gulf on
Monday.
O’Neill, the leader of the People’s National Congress party, was in Gulf to support
the party’s three candidates for the General Election 2022.
Koralynn’s dad Timothy Vaii posted on Facebook how upset and miserable his
daughter was after not being able to meet O’Neill when he arrived on Monday.
He said Kauoi cried until they got home that evening which affected him as
well.
“As a father, I was shocked at how Koralynn reacted to missing out on greeting
Peter O’Neill because she has always been a shy little girl,” he said.
“My post attracted comments from supporters and eventually got O’Neill’s
attention.”
Vaii told The National yesterday that he received a call from one of O’Neill’s
representatives yesterday that he wanted to meet Koralynn at Kerema airport.
O’Neill greeted and talked to Karolynn briefly at the airport.
He said reading about how upset she was reminded him that as leaders, they were
supposed to be role models to everyone – young and old.
“Koralynn and millions of other children need us to enshrine into law that no
government should take away their rights to free education,” he said.
O’Neill said after reading what her father posted about how upset she had been
after not meeting him, he organised to greet her in person through her father
Vaii, before he left Kerema yesterday.
Two men arrested over shooting of returning
officer in Enga
By REBECCA KUKU
TWO men have been
arrested for allegedly shooting Enga’s Kompiam-Ambum returning officer.
Police commander Chief Superintendent George Kakas said the two were charged
with attempted murder and were in custody.
Early this month, returning officer Beto Pokale was shot at by two gunmen and
sustained pallet wounds although he was not seriously injured.
Kakas said police wanted the nine tribes living near the area where the
shooting took place to surrender the two suspects and/or come forward with
witness statements.
“The two men, one from the Paiu tribe and the other from Lait tribe, were
brought in by the community, unfortunately none of the community members was
willing to give witness statements,” he said.
“But Pokale was able to identify them and name them, so we arrested them and
the two have been charged and will appear in court for first mention
(yesterday).”
Kakas said police believed that the murder attempt on the returning officer was
election-related.
“There were some issues when the RO was appointed, and a group of people
stormed to the police station and gave in a petition for the RO to be changed.
“We believe the shooting was a result of this, but that is yet to be
confirmed,” he said.
Meanwhile, election manager Anton Iamau said Pokale had fully recovered and was
back at work.
Pruaitch confident in team
June 15, 2022The
NationalMain Stories
Party leader Patrick Pruaitch said the candidates represented a team of former
government ministers, top-ranking bureaucrats and successful and driven
individuals.
“The team is filled with talented and dedicated individuals who are capable of
running the government even though they are destined to be part of a coalition
government in the 11th parliament,” Pruaitch said.
He said cabinet ministers contesting in the four regions were former police
minister Sani Rambi, for Mul-Baiyer open in Western Highlands, former
Agriculture and Livestock minister Andrew Baing for Markham open in the Momase
region, former Fisheries minister Alois Kingsley for the Madang provincial seat
and former Forest minister Tim Neville for the Milne Bay provincial seat
representing the Southern region.
Pruaitch said the Islands region candidates included party secretary general
and Civil Service Minister Walter Schnaubelt for New Ireland’s Namatanai open
and former Agriculture minister for East New Britain’s Gazelle open Malakai
Tabar. Meanwhile, Pruaitch will re-contest the Aitape-Lumi seat.
Pruaitch said NA members contesting for provincial seats were Allan Bird (East
Sepik), Tony Wouwou (West Sepik), Julie Soso (Eastern Highlands) and Neville
(Milne Bay).
He said they had endorsed four women and urged the people to vote for them in
their electorates.
The women are Joyce Grant, the NA secretary general contesting the
Kiriwina-Goodenough seat in Milne Bay; Mary Morolla for the Kerema open; Sheila
Harou for the Morobe provincial seat and Soso for Eastern Highlands.
Election officers in NGI, Southern start
training
THE first level
election training for electoral officers in the New Guinea Islands and Southern
regions started this week.
The training for Manus is being facilitated by NGI operations manager for PNGEC
Serah Yanderave.
It started yesterday and will continue for the next few days covering polling
and counting.
The participation of about 10 includes election managers, their deputies and
provincial training officers.
New Ireland election manager Benjamin Kliawi told The National that the level
one training covered Manus, New Ireland, West and East New Britain and
Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
Kliawi said the Highlands and Mamose regions’ training was held last week from
June 6 and this week was for the Southern and NGI regions.
The Mamose training programme was held in Vanimo while the Highlands training
programme was held in Goroka.
He said training for Southern was being held at Dixie’s Bungalows, outside Port
Moresby.
The election managers and their assistants were in Port Moresby a week ago
where they discussed logistics of polling and counting.
Meanwhile, the campaign period continues to be quiet in most provinces.
Morobe election manager Simon Soheke also confirmed that the campaign was quiet
in most electorates.
He said they anticipated election materials to arrive in their province by this
week.
Kua wants to change laws to make SOEs
profitable
THE PNG National Party
plans to introduce legislative reforms to enable all State-owned enterprises
(SOE) to be more profitable without being subjected to political influence,
says party parliamentary leader Kerenga Kua.
He told people at Doliba in Salt Nomane Karamui, Chimbu, during a rally for
party candidate Francis Alua Yori on Monday that the SOEs’ potential to
generate more revenue had been compromised by politicians with vested
interests.
“If the PNG National Party forms the next Government, new legislative reforms
will be introduced to (allow) SOEs to generate huge revenues for the State,” he
said.
“Reforming SOEs is one of the priorities of the PNG National Party.
“It will pay good dividends for the State.
“In fact, I introduced the reform but it was opposed by other political parties
(which had the) numbers.
“They prefer to maintain the status quo.
“The SOEs are under-achieving.”
Kua said some politicians wanted to maintain their control instead of making
SOEs profitable.
“We need numbers, you give us the number and we change the laws and you will
see SOEs will perform better and the State will be able to make higher gains,
especially in Mining and Petroleum.”
N’dranou urges New Guinea Islanders to behave during
GE22
PEOPLE of the New Guinea Islands (NGI) have
been urged to be responsible during the General Election 2022 (GE22).
New Guinea Islands Divisional Commander and Assistant Commissioner of Police
Perou N’dranou said he wanted the people of Manus, East New Britain, West New
Britain, New Ireland and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) to behave
well and work with police to ensure GE22 was peaceful and orderly.
“The onus is on each and every one of you to take ownership and be responsible
on how you conduct yourselves for the delivery and attainment of a safe, fair
and free election and this simply means that being an eligible voter you should
cast your votes without threats, intimidation or violence,” he said.
N’dranou said the best contribution the people of the NGI could make during the
election period was to behave and not break the law.
“The Electoral Commission and security forces, made up of police, PNG Defence
Force and Correctional Services, want to see that all people in the region
exercise their rights to cast their votes in a safe, fair and free
environment,” he said.
“The election had become associated with violence and general unrest in
communities but this did not need to be the case as voting leaders was a
democratic process and required personal freedom and the right to choose.
“We, the people of NGI region, are good, peace-loving and law-abiding people,
let us not try to behave like people from other provinces, but let us work
together to make sure this election is trouble free in our region.”
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