07-19-2012, 09:32 PM
Agree with you on C, Polye should become a valued coalition partner.
It is true as you post that 'Somare hates O'Neill' and it doesn't stop there.
Somare dumped Polye as his deputy, demoted him to Foreign Minister and replaced him with Abal Jan. 2011.
Polye could well have been Acting PM when Somare's health failed Spring 2011. No love loss there between these 3.
Abal in June 2011, sacked Polye and Duma claiming he needed 'cohesion in cabinet'. Abal and Somare via Abal, lost MP support as their actions alienated large blocks of MPs and allowed O'Neill coalition to takeover the Gov't. O'Neill reinstated Duma as powerful DPE, Polye as Treasurer and picked Namah as Deputy PM. Likely these choices were of necessity, not of preference. It will be of interest how O'Neill builds his coalition and odds are good Polye will be key. One of my sources on the ground in PNG has verified that Duma will be picked by O'Neill to be the first 'Curator of Bouganville Civil War Museum and Guide of Walking Historical Tours'. He will be dispatched immediately.
Regarding cash for coalition programs, this is far from new in PNG. Per Dame Carole in an earlier interview:
..."As an outgoing, Australian-born MP, Dame Carol Kidu—herself formerly a cabinet minister under Sir Michael—said last week, politics in PNG is “fraught with problems with numbers, having to buy numbers”. That issue arises not only after general elections, when the process of building governing coalitions is greased with large sums of money. Helped by a mineral-resources boom over the past decade, even the passage of ordinary legislation nowadays often requires payouts."...
The resource boom is about to get turbo charged with Gulf LNG and there should be much cash thrown about again.
It is true as you post that 'Somare hates O'Neill' and it doesn't stop there.
Somare dumped Polye as his deputy, demoted him to Foreign Minister and replaced him with Abal Jan. 2011.
Polye could well have been Acting PM when Somare's health failed Spring 2011. No love loss there between these 3.
Abal in June 2011, sacked Polye and Duma claiming he needed 'cohesion in cabinet'. Abal and Somare via Abal, lost MP support as their actions alienated large blocks of MPs and allowed O'Neill coalition to takeover the Gov't. O'Neill reinstated Duma as powerful DPE, Polye as Treasurer and picked Namah as Deputy PM. Likely these choices were of necessity, not of preference. It will be of interest how O'Neill builds his coalition and odds are good Polye will be key. One of my sources on the ground in PNG has verified that Duma will be picked by O'Neill to be the first 'Curator of Bouganville Civil War Museum and Guide of Walking Historical Tours'. He will be dispatched immediately.
Regarding cash for coalition programs, this is far from new in PNG. Per Dame Carole in an earlier interview:
..."As an outgoing, Australian-born MP, Dame Carol Kidu—herself formerly a cabinet minister under Sir Michael—said last week, politics in PNG is “fraught with problems with numbers, having to buy numbers”. That issue arises not only after general elections, when the process of building governing coalitions is greased with large sums of money. Helped by a mineral-resources boom over the past decade, even the passage of ordinary legislation nowadays often requires payouts."...
The resource boom is about to get turbo charged with Gulf LNG and there should be much cash thrown about again.