Academia Nomad

“Thank you Mr Speaker,

The Opposition represents the views of those people who disagree with the way our country is being managed. That is our job. You might not like us but without us, the people would have no voice in this House.

With that, let me commend the Treasurer for another record-breaking budget of K28.357 billion. 6 record Budgets in a row. That must be a record too.

Let me also acknowledge that he has the hardest job in PNG given that daily payment requests from Government MPs can’t be easy to deal with. This is also the first time; the Treasurer has NOT brought a Supplementary Budget to Parliament.

Let me commend the Treasurer and his team for raising more money than any other government in our history through taxes, loans and quantitative easing. It’s an achievement that is going to be difficult to match in future. K145 billion from 2020 to 2025. That’s more money than the last two Governments combined. This Government will spend more money in 6 years than the last 17 years combined.

Knowing what goes on in Government circles, I commend you Treasurer for being an excellent kuskus in a very difficult environment and keeping the budget from running over. I am sure it’s really frustrating for you to raise the money while other Ministers get to spend the money.

Thank you, Treasurer, for the reduction in GST on everyday basic items for our people. I am so pleased that the little bag of goodies I gave you at the beginning of the year gave you a little motivation.

For raising revenue and balancing the Budget every year, I give the Treasurer an A+. If we were still in school, you would be valedictorian!

However, a Budget is not just about raising revenue, it should be about its impact on the lives of our people and about how it impacts the health of our economy.

While the hard-working Treasurer has been repairing the Budget these past 5 years going on 6, whose job was it to repair the Economy?

Mr Speaker,

Transparency on Actual Cash transfers

Around K1 billion was illegally transferred to certain provinces as indicated in the 2023 FBO, we have still not been told which provinces were given special treatment and granted this billion-kina windfall. One province received a K280m warrant which was not budgeted for. Is this part of the K1 billion transferred secretly to certain provinces? Which other provinces benefited? Do the people of Sepik deserve to know? Or the people of Chimbu? Central or New Ireland?

On very large capital Expenditures which I asked the Minister for Finance last week on the K1.15 billion in his department which he denied. I see that another K1.15 billion has been budgeted under Department of Finance on page 230-235 Volume 2, Part A. The people of PNG need transparency on where these funds are going.

Serious Issues with Cash Transfers to Agencies

According to the 2024 MYEFO which was released two weeks ago, all provinces have received around 30% of their Grants (including ESP with around K50m in grants outstanding) Our PHA has K16.7m still unpaid. We have not been given K10m in Provincial Infrastructure Funds.

All PHAs have received around 40% of their grant funding for this year.

UPNG, Unitech, UNRE and University of Goroka have only received 20% of Funds this year.

The Treasurer says the Police will get more than K700m next year. He said last year that they would receive K629m. We all got excited expecting some real improvement in Law-and-Order outcomes.

Checking the MYEFO, only K10m of the K200m PIP Budget for Police has been released so far and they have received only 30% of their operational funds. Just like all the provinces.

So, this new K697m Budget for Police, how much of it will actually get warranted to the Police on time? You heard right, it’s actually K700m unless some funds have been hidden somewhere else in the budget for them. No wonder we are all waiting for solutions, the Police never received the funds they were promised for this year!

The size of the budget is irrelevant if the funds do not get to the priority areas on time to have an impact.

M&E for Impact and Outcomes

In this Budget we have K7 billion in PIP. Last budget we had K10 billion in PIP. So over 6 budgets around K50 billion have been spent on Public Investment Programs. No other government has spent this kind of money in PIP Expenditure.

Can the responsible Department report to the House what was achieved with this record PIP spending? Where are the M&E Reports? Surely PNG deserves to know the outcomes and impact of this record funding?

This government needs 13 years to Repair the Budget. Do they also need 13 years to repair the Economy? We know repairing the Budget requires a lot of borrowing and printing of money. What do we need to repair the economy? Can they tell us that as well?

While the Government keeps itself busy repairing the budget, who is repairing the massive damage to the economy brought on by the shutdown of Porgera and the renegotiation of Papua LNG.

Total Budgets from 2020-2025 now stands at K145 billion.

There is an alarming and growing trend from the PM and from Ministers to say, we are giving MPs PSIP and DSIP and what are you all doing with it? SIP only constitutes around K1.2 billion which is 4% of the Budget. How come no one talks about what happens to the remaining 96% of the Budget? Why are we diverting the attention of the public to 4% of the Budget?

Three years ago, as Chairman of Plans and Estimates, I warned the Government about borrowing too much on the concern that it would drive inflation at a time when the overall productivity of our economy was poor.

By next year this government will spend K145 billion over 6 Budgets. In that time, it has borrowed K37b, and it says it has almost doubled Nominal GDP to K137 billion from K79 billion (as the PM says). K58 billion Nominal Budget Growth.

In the same period Real GDP will grow to K76 from K66 billion. Very sneaky, Very Cunning.

Some more Deep Budget Holes

In Volume 3A Page 554/555 we see the Budget for Connect PNG is up to K1.6 billion from K600m this year. Already, there is K300m allocated for Arrears some in Treasury and Works. Thank you for paying attention to my concerns on Connect PNG.

Connect PNG Contracts K10 billion?? Finance and Works Minister

Claims against the State K10 billion?? Attorney General

Arrears sitting in Treasury K7 billion?? Treasurer

GST Credits owing to businesses held by IRC K3/4 billion?? When will Government budget to repay money owed to our businesses?

The Government is deliberately killing 30,000 genuine businesses who have applied for rebates and are still waiting for 3 years now by withholding what is owed.

Contingent Liabilities K8.7 billion (Thank Treasurer for including all the details in MYEFO)

I note that the Additional Equity for PNG LNG K2.8 billion ($692m) and the Loan for PX of K3.4 billion ($850m) for new aircraft are not included in Contingent Liabilities. So, the government needs to be transparent about where these debts of K6.2 billion will be held.

Total debts off the books is K45 billion Add that to total debts on the books of K64 billion and our potential debts are around K109 billion

He said he was taking back PNG and therefore Porgera had to be shut down. Papua LNG has now moved its development timetable to the next decade.

On the K200 billion Economy

This government has continued to table record budget after record budget, unfortunately none of those budgets have translated into any significant economic benefit for our people.

Our good Melanesian PM tells us that the economy is growing so rapidly compared to previous governments. Unfortunately, the opposite is true outside of this Parliament. Only government expenditure is growing, real economic growth is not growing at the same rate.

The fastest way to get to a K200 billion Economy is to devalue the Kina. Let me say the government is on the right track with that goal.

Apart from a total spend of K145 billion the people of PNG have not been given any updates on our road to the PMs vision except that a K200 billion economy is the target. The fastest way to reach a K200 billion economy is to devalue the Kina. A Weak Kina gets us there.

On the Debt to GDP Ratio

Since Debt is measured against Nominal GDP, the government has cunningly borrowed and printed money and rained that into our economy. This has had two main effects, firstly, it has grown Nom GDP sky high. This high number then results in a lower Debt to GDP Ratio. That’s an absolutely brilliant trick. I thank the Hon Masere and NSO for releasing the real numbers.

This extra cash is also fueling Inflation which our people are feeling right now. The truth of the matter is that in the same period where nominal GDP is going like a rocket at K137 billion, Real GDP has only grown by around K10b in the same period to K79 billion. A Gap of K58 billion or 42%. This correlates precisely with the cost-of-living crisis our people are feeling.

Sneaky, Very Cunning magic tricks at work.

An Alarming Development

This year interest payments are K3.05 billion or 11% of the total Budget

Next year interest payments will be K3.522 billion or 12% of the total Budget

Interest payments in future years will keep going up.

How comes the Government is so quiet on these things? Very sneaky Ninja tactics.

Solution to our Cost-of-Living Crisis

The missing medicine for our economic sickness is the Real Private Sector.

Not the Connect PNG contractors or the suppliers of medicine or the landlords renting/selling offices to government.

Where are the 1 million jobs promised for our people? I see in the Treasurers report that the goal is to create 10,000 jobs a year. What’s going on?

You want a million jobs, create the right environment and private sector will do it for you.

In a 2023 Business Survey of 100 Business CEOs in PNG by the International Trade Administration they listed the following as the biggest impediment to doing business:

Lack of access to Foreign Exchange
Serious Law and Order issues
Skills shortages
Unreliable telecommunications and Utilities (power)
Lack of Government Capacity
Corruption
Regulatory uncertainty
Funnily enough, Political Stability isn’t high on this list.

The country urgently needs an injection of Foreign Capital to stabilize the freefall of the Kina and to soak up the printed money from the Quantitative Easing of the Government over the past 5 years.

Wafi Golpu is the only major project in the pipeline. Our strong recommendation: get it off the ground urgently. Stop wasting time.

Is the government aware that under our current laws, PNG is entitled to 30% equity in Wafi Golpu? Are our ministers also aware that under our current tax laws we are entitled to 30% profits tax on all businesses? Are our ministers also aware that our landowners and provincial government are entitled to a 2% gross royalty under law? We are also entitled to PIT.

PNG is already entitled under laws written 30 years ago to at least 65% of the free cash flow from any mine, Wafi Golpu notwithstanding. What are we trying to negotiate?

K200m has been paid to the Morobe Provincial Government consistent with the Governments K700m plus intention for the Porgera landowners, can the government give the Wafi Golpu landowners K100m to sort themselves out so we can get that mine going?

Wafi Golpu will bring in enough dollars to soak up at least K12 billion in printed money. Granted it won’t solve all our economic problems but it will give the country breathing space, stop the Kina freefall and give our hard-working tax payers some real relief.

Increase the Tax Threshold to K25,000 or reduce tax rates for our middle to low-income earners

This will provide more income to our most affected people, and it will also increase consumer spending which will lead to Real GDP Growth.

This will no doubt affect government revenue in the short term but increased consumer spending from more money in workers hands will improve their lives and lead to increased collections of GST. It is a good policy option for government.

Cut back Government spending, live within our means

Start investing in the productive capacity of the country. Stop wasteful spending.

The PM tells MPs, “I give you PSIP and I give you DSIP go and focus on service delivery in your district, in your province. Stop playing politics.” Yes, stop MPs from questioning your lack of performance. Keep them busy elsewhere, passim eye blong ol:

Law and Order
Continuous black outs
Endless Foreign Currency shortages,
National Highways
Fuel shortages & Flight cancelations.
These are National Government responsibilities! When will they be fixed?

Finally, to our people, most of our basic goods had taxes removed previously. With the devaluation in the Kina, please do not expect a huge difference in the prices at the shop.

Also, the K20,000 Tax Free Threshold is still remains unchanged. So please do not expect any changes to your taxes next year. You should be used to Government promises by now.

I want to close by saying this to the Government and I quote “Inflation is always a monetary issue and it is created by Government printing too much money” Prof Milton Freidman. So, whether its Keynes, Marx or Warren Buffet, they all say the same thing.

PNG doesn’t have a money problem. It has too much money being spent in the wrong places. Or spent in places that have a zero impact on our Real GDP.

Our K100 is buying around K58 worth of food right now. Someone needs to fix that.

After 5 years of listening to record Budgets have a negative impact on the lives of our people, I am glad to be on the record, telling the story the way it should be told. Our people deserve an honest answer, not just about how great the government is doing. Our people need to feel the benefit of a booming economy, not just smell the sweet sounds of the pigs being butchered and then, struggling to feed their children.

Treasurer says that in 13 Years Time, they will fix the Budget. PM is amending the Constitution so he can have 13 Years to fix the Economy. They need 13 record budgets and how many more deep debt holes to fix the Budget and the Economy?

Mr Speaker, can PNG afford to wait 13 years while they figure out how to manage our economy and our country?”

ENDS

Allan Bird
Parliamentary Representative for East Sepik Province”

This tribute from Professor Tarcisus Kabutaulaka on the impact of Professor John D Waiko:

“𝗔 𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗕𝗨𝗧𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗙. 𝗝𝗢𝗛𝗡 𝗗. 𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗞𝗢

Yesterday, Prof. John Dademo Waiko crossed the stream of life to the other side. As his relatives, friends, colleagues and country folk gather for the haus krai, I reflect on the life and contributions of this Papua New Guinean historian, anthropologist, playwright and politician.

Perhaps not many people beyond PNG and academia knew Prof. Waiko. Even in academia, one would be hard-pressed to find people beyond the disciplines of history and anthropology, and scholars of Papua New Guinea who have read and used his work. For many young scholars of the Pacific Islands, Waiko might not feature prominently in their constellation of prominent Pacific Islander scholars.

But Waiko was an icon of PNG and Pacific Islands scholarship. A quiet champion who believed in the value of his Binandere people’s knowledge, while recognizing how universities can help tell it to the world.

He was the first Papua New Guinean to earn a doctoral degree, which he received from the Australian National University (ANU) in 1982. His degree was in social sciences and his dissertation was titled, “Be jijimo: A history according to the tradition of the Binandere people of Papua New Guinea.”

While he appreciated the degree from the ANU, Waiko made sure university authorities knew the real source of his knowledge – his Binandere people/society. For him, his PhD dissertation merely revealed his people’s knowledge to the academy. The university was not its source.

He therefore wrote his dissertation in his Binandere language and then translated it into English. He also demanded that his people examine it, not just the university-appointed examiners. That was because he believed the ANU could not truly validate knowledge that did not “belong” to the university. During his graduation, Waiko refused to wear the ANU robe of Convocation, opting instead to wear his traditional Binandere costume.

Many people who knew Waiko will probably know the film, 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘗𝘪𝘨𝘴 (1991), which featured him and his struggles to reintegrate into his village of Tabara after years of university studies in Port Moresby, London and Canberra. He returned home armed with a doctoral degree, but no pigs, local alliances and knowledge of rituals that were vital in his Binandere society.

Waiko’s books include, 𝘈 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘢𝘱𝘶𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘢 (1993), 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥: 𝘊𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘖𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘷𝘴 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘱𝘶𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢 (1995), 𝘗𝘢𝘱𝘶𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘢: 𝘈 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 (2003), and numerous journal articles and book chapters.

Waiko was also a playwright and short story writer. In an April 13, 2018 interview with Jonathan Ritchie and Ian Kemish, Waiko discussed how he and other Papua New Guineans his time were influenced by Ulli Beier, the German writer and scholar who went to UPNG in 1966 after years playing a pioneering role in encouraging poetry, drama and literature in Nigeria. He pushed for creative engagements with scholarship and for people to write in their own languages. Those were the heydays of UPNG that saw Vincent Eri wrote his novel 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘭𝘦 (1970), Leo Hannett’s play 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 (1970), and later the film, 𝘛𝘶𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘢 – 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘵 𝘪 𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘢 (1984), plus many other plays, works of creative writing and visual and performing arts coming from UPNG. Leo Hannett’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 was staged in Canberra in 1970.

Waiko’s play 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘏𝘢𝘸𝘬 was performed in Canberra in 1969. Not many people knew Waiko as a playwright. During the 2018 interview, he jokingly told one of the interviewers, “you better read it . . . because I had become an extinct playwright.”

I first came across Waiko’s work as an undergraduate student at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in the mid-1980s and in a class called “Oral Literature and History” taught by the late Pio Manoa from Fiji. The main text for that class was Jan Vansina’s 𝘖𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 (1961). But I was desperate to read something familiar – closer to home. It was then that I came across Waiko’s article, “Oral Tradition among the Binandere: Problems of Method in a Melanesian Society” (1986). His name would also come up in my Pacific history classes with Samoan scholar Prof. Malama Meleisea who had previously taught at UPNG. I also read his play in my Pacific literature class with Prof. Albert Wendt.

It was not until years later that I met Waiko in person. I was impressed with his knowledge, humility and sense of humor. Some years ago, during a conversation at the UPNG campus I asked Waiko if there was a sequel to the 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘗𝘪𝘨𝘴 coming. He chuckled in his typical laugh and said, “wantok, it will be the 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺.”

Of course Waiko had another life as a politician and public servant. That is the subject of another story.

I hope that when the Association of Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO) meet in Nadi in February 2025, and when the Pacific History Association (PHA) meet, they will carve a space to remember this quiet champion of Pacific Islands scholarship.

For now, I bid farewell to a wantok and Pacific Islander scholar who had paved the way for those of us who came later. One day I will see you on the other side of the stream.

Lukim yu, Prof. John Waiko.”

The 7th attempt for a vote of no confidence against James Marape is underway. The acting Speaker of PNG parliament informed parliament he received a motion for vote of no confidence against James Marape when parliament met for the November 2024 sitting.

Here is a timeline of what happened so far since the end of grace period in February 2024. Since February 2024, PNG had:

1. 3 Prime Minister nominees challenging Marape
2. 6 Notice for Vote of No Confidence rejected
3. 1 Notice for Vote of No Confidence accepted
4. 1 vote of confidence vote taken and incumbent PM defeated the alternate PM candidate from the opposition
5. A VONC attempt every parliament sitting since February 2024
6. About 30 MPs switched sides: government to opposition, opposition to government, government to opposition back to government
7. Opposition PM candidate – Rainbo Paita – who challenged the incumbent PM and lost, has since moved back to join the incumbent government and the PM

My thoughts of Peter Ipatas:

Pita Ipatas is one of very few (along with Allan Bird when he was in the government) who criticised failing policies of the government, and continuously raised concerns about law and order before it broke down completely.

Senior politician, and somewhat of a statesman.

From the highlands, will play like the highlands, and get dirty if that is required to draw numbers.

Has never shown ambition to be PM, so as a test to see if he can manoeuvre intricacies of PNG politics.

Verdict: Ipatas over Marape.