O'Neill appoints new Ministers after conferring with Coalition

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O'Neill continues to do things the right way.  When he became PM he told Ministers that they each had duties to perform per the Accord they agreed upon as a coalition.  If you did not perform, you would be replaced.  He's following that charge as any good leader must, and today he named new Ministers to replace those recently booted.  And he did it after consulting those in the coalition and in the process made some peace with Michael Somare.  It's hard for people to oppose him when he does things as they all agreed to, and he puts out clear daily statements which makes it hard for the papers and people like Namah to twist what is going on.

**** PRIME MINISTER HON. PETER O’NEILL ANNOUNCES NEW MINISTERS IN LINE WITH ACCORD ****

Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill today announced further changes to the Cabinet. The Prime Minister appointed Hon. Patrick Pruaitch as Minister for Treasury, Hon. Douglas Tomuriesa as Minister for Forest and Climate Change, and Hon. Benjamin Poponawa as Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations.“When I decommissioned two Ministers last week, I said there would be further changes to the Cabinet.“In line with the Alotau Accord, I consulted with THE Party our coalition partner, and invited them to nominate their candidates for consideration.“As a result of that consultation process, Kiriwina-Goodenough MP Tomuriesa and Tambul-Nebilyer MP Poponawa are now members of the Cabinet. “Mr Pruaitch, the leader of National Alliance Party, now takes up the senior portfolio of Treasury.“Pruaitch is a senior politician and his past stewardship of this important portfolio will be useful as our economy enters the next phase of its growth. “By virtue of his position as Treasurer, Pruaitch will also assume the role of Chairman of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Group.“THE party and The National Alliance party have assured me of their commitment to stability, and I commend them for that. “Tomuriesa and Poponawa are intelligent young leaders who are highly motivated and I have no doubt they will be contributing meaningfully in many ways to Cabinet and the country.“I want to thank former Ministers Hon Don Polye, Hon Mark Maipakai and Hon. William Duma for their contributions in Cabinet,” the Prime Minister said.He had lunch with former Prime Ministers Sir Michael Somare (Governor ESP), Sir Julius Chan (Governor NIP), and Paias Wingti (Governor WHP), who accompanied him to Government House for the swearing-in of the new ministers. The Prime Minister said he consulted widely with the former Prime Ministers and leaders of other coalition parties in government before making the cabinet changes.

Smart man

[jft310]

Coalition builder . Strength in numbers.

[Tree]

Pruaitch back in role as PNG's Treasurer
Updated at 10:42 pm on 19 March 2014

The Papua New Guinea government has named Patrick Pruaitch as the new Treasurer.
The appointment comes after Don Polye was sacked as Treasurer last week by the Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.
Mr Pruaitch is the leader of the National Alliance party, which is one of the key coalition partners in the O'Neill-led government.
He previously held big portolfios such as Finance and Treasury in the former Somare government.
Mr Pruaitch was suspended as Treasurer in 2010 after being referred to a leadership tribunal over allegations of misconduct in office.
As part of the cabinet reshuffle which sees Mr Pruaitch take up the Treasury portfolio again, he vacates the position of Forestry Minister which is to be taken up by Douglas Tomuriesa.
Mr Tomuriesa is from the Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party of Don Polye.

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Polye also took the opportunity to explain why he balked at supporting the OSH purchase as it was outside of the 2014 Budget and it was done hastily.  I know some here were certain that PNG would buy back the OSH shares from IPIC to settle the exchangeable bonds, but PNG itself in it 2014 budget document stated clearly that IPIC "would" exercise its right to take the OSH shares as payment on the bonds and that PNG would have to make up any deficiency should the OSH shares be below the A $8.55/share strike price.  It's hard to fault Polye for taking the stand he did in this, but he did and it seems with good reason.  Question is, why did O'Neill make the move (a very quick last-minute decision according to Polye)?  IMHO he was himself a bit surprised that IOC chose Total over Exxon, and OSH obviously continued negotiating right through to its own very quick decision to buy the Pac LNG interests.  Before long we will know more about all of this.

"Polye Explains On Sacking

on Wednesday, 19 March 2014. Posted in News

In a media conference this afternoon, Polye revealed that his sacking was done because of differences in position, between the Prime Minister and himself, on the 10.1 percent Oil Search shares acquisition, by the state.

He said his view was one of conscience, not to bring additional debt onto the PNG economy.

He said if the government is to incur a debt of K3 billion, it must have the authority of the 7.8 million people, meaning it must be passed on the floor of parliament.

It was a solemn former treasurer that appeared before the media this afternoon.

He started off by stating after much consultation, that he felt duty bound, to explain why he was sacked.

He said the government acted in a hasty manner to incur the K3 billion debts from an Australian financier, UBSA G.

He said the economy is going to go into huge level debt.

He said the announcement by Oil Search on the 10.01 percent shares, by the state, was done in haste, two weeks too early.

The loan itself was not in the 2014 budget, and therefore, should have awaited a supplementary budget.

He said the government has a number of constitutional laws including:

• Section 209, where no prior parliamentary approval was given before signing the loan agreement.
• PNG Fiscal Responsibility Act
• Loans (Overseas Borrowings) Act, amended 2013
• Public Finance Management Act
• The IPBC Act,
• Appropriations Act 2014, and,
• Attorney General Act, whereby no external lawyers were briefed on behalf of state.

From the business perspective, he said, putting PNG’s assets on the stock market is not a good business deal.

Mr. Polye also outlined that the country has major infrastructure development projects, yet to be fully financed. The government should be getting its priorities right, investing on physical needs."