MPs slam Post-Courier for inaccurate reporting, trying to paint a bad picture of PNG Government

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MPs slam Post-Courier for inaccurate reporting, trying to paint a bad picture of PNG Government

PORT MORESBY: Two Members of Parliament, Esa’ala’s Jimmy Maladina and Mt Hagen’s William Duma, have accused Post-Courier of inaccurate reporting and painting a bad picture of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government.

They have denied that they had accompanied Prime Minister James Marape to Singapore on what Post-Courier described as a “Mystery Govt trip” on its front page yesterday (Aug 15, 2022).

Maladina said: “For this once respected newspaper to suggest, or try to cast some negativity and create suspicions of secret meetings in Singapore involving me, are simply not true.”

State-owned Enterprise Minister William Duma said: “The Singapore trip was not a mysterious trip and had no adverse consequences for the country.

“I missed the flight as I misunderstood the departure schedule. It seems Post-Courier is twisting the facts to give its readers the impression that prime minister and his delegation had ulterior motives in travelling to Singapore when the fact is, there were no such motives and the trip had no adverse economic and political consequences for the country.”

The National reported the statements of the two MPs and details of the trip:

MPs deny overseas trip with PM

August 16, 2022The NationalMain Stories

TWO Members of Parliament have denied media reports that they accompanied Prime Minister James Marape on a trip to Singapore.
Esa’ala MP Jimmy Maladina and Mt Hagen MP William Duma said they had never travelled with the PM and accused the media for trying to taint the image of the Government in its first week in office.
Maladina had denied a Post-Courier front page report yesterday that he accompanied Prime Minister James Marape on a trip to Singapore.
Maladina said the report was tainted in such a way as to give a bad picture of the Government in its very first week in office.
“I would like to clearly state that this is incorrect and I refute the claims by Post-Courier.
“The irony is that the newspaper painted a bad picture of Government on the front page, however, in the inside pages made thousands of kina from congratulatory messages for Prime Minister Marape: You just cannot bite the hand that feeds you.
“I even went as far as unequivocally telling the Post-Courier newsroom on Sunday, when they asked me if I was in Singapore, that I was in Port Moresby and attending to my electoral matters.
“For this once-respected newspaper to suggest, or try to cast some negativity and create suspicions of secret meetings in Singapore involving me, are simply not true,” Maladina said.
He said Prime Minister Marape was working around the clock to make the country a better place for all people, and the last thing he wanted at this time was shoddy journalism to set him back.
State-Owned Enterprise Minister and Mt Hagen MP William Duma said the Singapore trip was not a mysterious trip and had no adverse consequences for the country.
“I missed the flight as I misunderstood the departure schedule.
“It seems Post-Courier is twisting the facts to give its readers the impression that prime minister and his delegation had ulterior motives in travelling to Singapore when the fact is, there were no such motives and the trip had no adverse economic and political consequences for the country,” Duma said.

S’pore firm eyes ‘clean energy

August 16, 2022The NationalBusiness

PRIME Minister James Marape says Singapore’s Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) is partnering Papua New Guinea (PNG) to harvest clean energy from both hydro and geothermal sources.
“They will, later, move down the line into solar and wind energy production,” he added.
Marape issued a media statement from Singapore yesterday where he is leading a delegation of cabinet and senior Government officials to progress talks further with FFI.
He said FFI had identified and set up project sites in Gulf for hydro and West New Britain for geothermal work and had been working in these areas since the signing of two agreements since 2021.
“With global consciousness of fossil fuel-induced global warming, clean green energy is the way to move into the future and this meeting follows on the Head Agreement PNG signed with FFI to progress investment in this energy sector,” he said.
Marape flew to Singapore to continue several important trade and investment issues, including those on Papua LNG, Pasca LNG, Pn’yang LNG and also to get Porgera and Wafi-Golpu sanctioned.
He also visited the PNG High Commission in Singapore to strengthen it further as a trade and investment office while getting the PNG Government to increase trade and investment with the Asean and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) countries.
“The Singapore office will be given more support in partnership with the Investment Promotion Authority, the Kumul companies, National Fisheries and Forestry Authorities, and our Agriculture and Livestock Departments so that it coordinates export and trade into the lucrative Asian market of more than two billion people. PNG can mass produce food, energy and other products, a key focus of the Government tob progress PNG’s economy.”