Wantok Nius

Manus Province’s deputy District Administrator (DA), Mr Paso Pohei, has been arrested and charged with official corruption, The National (April 19) reports. Mr Pohei, 55, was charged following investigations by the fraud squad. Acting Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Inspector David Yapu said the suspect was investigated and arrested following allegations of misuse of K100, 000 allocated by the National Government to support fisheries activities in the island province. Inspector Yapu said other officers implicated in the misuse of public funds would also be arrested and charged accordingly. Mr Pohei was released on K1000 bail and will appear before the Lorengau District Court for mention today.

The closure of the Wild Dog Mine in the Baining area of East New Britain (ENB) has been announced by governor, Ereman ToBaining, The National reports. ToBaining said the province does not need the mine and the government would focus more on developing agriculture. He said the provincial government would try to revive and improve the cocoa and copra industry. Already, K5 million has been allocated to the cocoa rehabilitation program. The governor said there is a need to improve cocoa production since it has been around for years. He also predicted that cocoa prices would make a comeback in 2016 after the full rollout of the rehabilitation programs.

The New Ireland (NI) provincial government is conducting a voluntary repatriation exercise for settlers who have lived there for more than a decade, according to The National . The first batch comprising of 148 people from the highlands provinces arrived in Lae on Tuesday where they would be transported back to their respective provinces. David Yaplin, who assisted with the repatriation exercise, said this was the first batch of three of settlers to leave the province. He said those from coastal provinces would make up the other two batches. The repatriation exercise is voluntary.

Morobe governor, Kelly Naru Morobe governor, Kelly Naru, has started the year 2014 with the sacking of 19 employees in his office because they were either incompetent or inefficient, says The National . Governor Naru said he wanted to start the New Year on a clean slate and new qualified and competent officers should help him govern the country’s largest province for the next four years. Naru added that 2013 was good year for the province with equal distribution of development funds and services to the districts. However, he admitted that there were areas that still needed improvement. He said it was unfortunate that there was some negative publicity in the media, in particular, the suspension of the micro credit scheme which resulted in the destruction of government properties. Meanwhile, a group of youths in Lae are still waiting for a promised payment of K100, 000 for their development program, claims their patron. Thomas Agiru, patron of the Ward One Youth Associati...

Two days after the public service resumes on January 6 a complete ban will be enforced on betelnut or buai in the National Capital District (NCD). This will see the supply and trade of nut being stopped from entering the city and hefty fines will be imposed on those who do not comply starting January 8, according to The National . Ironically, in a public notice today, the NCD Commission advised the public that the ban would take effect on January 1 with penalties going to up to K10, 000 for violations on any commercial airline or ship, K1000 on PMVs and dinghies while a K300 fine for anyone trying to bring in the banned nut in a private vehicle. The onus is also placed on operators as the fines will be imposed against the carrier and not the actual smuggler. Shop owners are also in the spotlight with a K10, 000 fines if they allow vendors to sell betelnut within their premises.

It seems nobody wants to work this Christmas with the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) announcing the closure of the public cemetery at Nine Mile over the festive season. In a public notice, acting City Manager, Simon Vai, advised the public that the cemetery would be closed for business starting on Christmas Day (December 25) and normal services would resume on January 6, 2014. Meanwhile, NCDC is also placing a liquor ban during the festive season. The ban which will take effect at midnight on the eve of Christmas Day will apply on Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s.

A Papua New Guinea (PNG) woman stumbled on the find of the century when she was harvesting her sweet potatoes, Pacific Business Review (Saturday, November 23) reports. Nemilo Kebu, 30, from Ahioma village just outside of Alotau unearthed a bronze plate of US$100 bill when she was digging for sweet potatoes last month. However, she had forgotten about until he close neighbor told her about finding a couple of dog tags when she remembered her find. The plate is partially damaged but the left side has the insignia of the US Federal Reserve, and states that it is a “Federal Reserve note FE 00779918A E5” at the top. Below, it says “This note is a legal tender for all debts, public and private.” The plate also has the “Series 2003A” printed on it. This series was, according to Bureau of Engraving and Printing website, was first circulated in March 1999. The find brings to the light the possibility of US currency being laundered in the area these past years.

By: ABIGAIL APINA   A COUPLE in East New Britain has claimed that red ants have played a vital role in tackling cocoa pod borer (CPB) in their cocoa block. They noticed a few weeks ago that the quality of cocoa that was covered with red ants was better than those without ants. “The quality of cocoa with red ants on them is good and creamy, and we believe this could be a possible solution to fighting CPB throughout the country,” they said. James and Bonnie Wartovo said they were amazed when they realised the difference when harvesting cocoa in the past few weeks. Another villager also claimed that ants were fighting CPB in her backyard cocoa block. She told The National that she had been monitoring her cocoa trees for a few weeks and later concluded, after several harvests, that red ants were fighting the borer. A scientist at the Cocoa and Coconut Research Institute (CCI), Dr Eremas Tade, said there was a possibility red ants were fighting CPB. He ...