It’s now Governor Michael Marum for PNG’s rugby league great

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It’s now Governor Michael Marum for PNG’s rugby league great

PORT MORESBY: Former ruby league coach and national player Michael Marum is now “East New Britain Governor Marum”.

He was declared the winner of the provincial seat in General Election 2022 (GE22).

Marum won as an independent candidate after securing 33,285 votes.

Incumbent Nakikus Konga did badly and was eliminated with 7,991 votes. The runner-up in a 23-corner electoral battle was was Cosmas Tatavue Bauk (United Labour Party – 25,433).

PNG Cyber Monitor reproduces the news break and a few GE22 news updates as published by The National:

Governor Marum

July 28, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By PETER PUSAL and MICHAEL PHILIP
FORMER rugby league coach and national player Michael Marum is now “East New Britain Governor Marum”.
He was declared the winner of the provincial seat in General Election 2022 (GE22) yesterday.
Marum won as an independent candidate after securing 33,285 votes.
Incumbent Nakikus Konga (People’s Progress Party) did badly and was eliminated with 7,991 votes. The runner-up in a 23-corner electoral battle was Cosmas Tatavue Bauk (United Labour Party – 25,433).
Provincial election manager Joap Voivoi said despite the issue of missing names in the common roll, “we have plans to improve in the next election come 2027”.
He commended the 103,961 voters who cast their votes for GE22.
Marum thanked senior leaders like Leo Dion, Konga, Nobert Kubak and Cosmas Bauk for a good contest.
“Again, I will repeat, whether you are leader in sports or politics, it all depends on how you lead.
“For as long as you lead and deliver, you are already defining leadership.
“I am now looking forward to lead ENB forward,” he added.
Marum said he would be working with his four MPs (Rabaul, Kokopo, Gazelle and Pomio) in the next five years to deliver the best for ENB.
Marum, born on Oct 8, 1973, is arguably PNG’s most successful rugby league coach.
The 49-year-old is best known as the inaugural coach of the SP PNG Hunters, Papua New Guinea (PNG)’s team in the Queensland Cup.
He coached the side over six seasons from 2014 to 2019 and won a premiership in 2017 in a dramatic 12-10 win over the Sunshine Coast Falcons at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
He also engineered Kumuls’ rise to number five on the world rugby league ranking.
Destined for the top job, Marum took over as Kumuls head coach from Australian legend Mal Meninga at the end of 2014 after serving as assistant coach under Bob Bennett, Adrian Lam and Meninga.
His record as Kumuls coach from 2015 to 2019 is exemplary, ushering in an era of competitiveness and success where the national side beat the Fiji Bati and Cook Islands in the annual Pacific Test fixtures, winning their pool at World Cup 2017 and qualifying for the quarterfinals.
Marum also guided the side to a historic defeat of Great Britain (28-10) in Port Moresby in 2019.
The Rabaul, East New Britain native represented his country on four occasions from 2000 to 2001 and played hooker or backrow.
He was a member of Bob Bennett’s Kumuls squad to World Cup 2000 in the United Kingdom.
PNG topped their pool (D) but lost to Wales (8-22) in the quarterfinals.
Marum played for Paga Panthers in the Port Moresby Rugby League in the mid-1990s after transferring to the nation’s capital from Boisen High School in Rabaul.
He would go on to play for the Port Moresby Vipers in the then SP Inter-City Cup before returning to his home province for a season with the Gurias as captain.
After retiring as a player, he took up coaching, understudying Gurias head coach Jeff Wade before taking over the reins in the mid-2000s.
He stepped down as SP Hunters coach after the 2019 season, citing a need for change and also to spend more time with his family.

Official gets ‘threat’ call

July 28, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By HELEN TARAWA
A PHONE call made to a returning officer in Port Moresby threatening his life and his family forced the suspension of counting on Tuesday, the official says.
Moresby North-East Returning Officer Billy George told The National that he and his six assistants received the threats on the phone while at the Sir John Guise Stadium counting centre.
He said the matter had been reported to the police who quickly beefed up security at the stadium and the homes of the officials.
“We stopped counting on Tuesday to iron out those issues because we were threatened and our families were affected too,” he said.
“Our lives and those of our families were at risk.
“People were going to our houses.
“We received information that we were being targeted and our families too.”
George said after the police and soldiers guaranteed their safety, they resumed counting yesterday.
He said following the violence on Sunday afternoon, counting had continued on Monday.
Five boxes were counted on Monday before counting was stopped because of the security issues.
He said with the extension of the date for the issue of writs from July 29 to Aug 12, they would have time to complete the counting.
“We have (provided) our counting stations with additional tables.
“Our manpower has been increased to work 12-hour shifts until we declare our new member for Moresby North-East.”
George said the updated figures would be uploaded on the Electoral Commission website as soon as possible.

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Moresby North-West count delayed

THERE was a delay in the counting of the Moresby North-West seat yesterday when officers demanded that their allowances be paid, says Returning Officer Vincent Manukayasi.
The officials resumed work after they were assured that the allowances would be paid into their bank accounts by tomorrow (Friday).
Counting was suspended to around 4pm.
“This is because the officials refused to count until they get their polling allowance.
“The allowances were to be paid before counting but due to (lack of) bank account details, this was delayed.
“They should all get paid by Friday.”
Manukayasi said the team was supposed to complete the counting yesterday and to start on the eliminations process and quality checks today.
He hoped that they would pick up the pace when counting resumed.
Counting was recorded on the closed circuit TV (CCTV) and shown at the Electoral Commission head office.

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Imbonggu counting officials demand payment of allowances

By PETER WARI
ELECTION counting officials for the Imbonggu Open seat in Southern Highlands want their outstanding allowances paid before continuing their work.
They raised this with assistant election manager Grace Wong at the Momei Oval counting centre in Mendi.
The officials from the Ialibu Basin, Imbonggu Proper and Lower Mendi local level governments (LLG) told Wong that they wanted to be assured of when the Electoral Commission (EC) was going to pay them.
Wong told them an officer from the Mendi election office had been sent to Port Moresby with details of their bank accounts so that the payments could be executed.
“While waiting for the allowances to be paid, K6,000 will be given to each LLG counting centre for the five open seats and the regional seat,” she said.
“This money is not the allowance.”
She thanked them for working without being paid.
“You worked hard, sometime without lunch to continue the counting.
“This (K6,000) is to keep you going while waiting,” she said.
Wong said she sympathised with them for the late payment of what was owed to them.
Tunu Temokang, on behalf of the counting officials, said they had been working without being paid the allowance since polling started.
“From past experience, the EC failed to process the allowances and many worked without getting paid,” he said.
“(We do not want) to jeopardise the counting.
“We are prepared to go into quality check,” he said.

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Moresby South quality check delayed over unused ballot papers

By LULU MAGINDE
WHAT was shaping up to be a simple quality check to declare a winner for Port Moresby South seat yesterday, encountered a complaint over unused ballot papers.
Then final quality check had to begin after 3pm, with tired-looking counting officials checking Ward Two at 3.45pm.
Returning Officer Tau Toea told the scrutineers that he was not going to set a precedent by allowing officials to go through all the unused ballot papers.
“We are not going to bring all these un-issued ballot papers in,” he said.
“If I am going to allow that to happen in here (for Moresby South), I have to advise North-East and Regional on what is happening, which is not supposed to happen in the first place.”
The scrutineers then asked for the serial numbers of all the papers be read so that they could cross check with their records.
Toea and his assistant stated that they had already read out all the serial numbers before the quality checks even began.
“If you were not here, you failed to check on it because those that were here, checked and went through all the corresponding lists,” he said
“We are running out of time.”
Police officers advised the scrutineers causing the delay to take the matter to court later.
Meanwhile, counting for the National Capital District Regional seat was progressing smoothly until disagreements arose between the scrutineers of a candidate and counting officials.
Police confirmed that there had been a mix-up with the figures.
Everyone agreed that counting be suspended pending the arrival of Election Manager Kila Ralai.
Toea ordered everyone to remain inside the counting venue, including the international observers.