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| The K.B.E Medal. as cheap as they come, only in PNG. |
The process in smaller countries like PNG need to be overhauled so that award committees are chaired by respected individuals who are not prone to bribes and persuasions by their political leaders.
The recent award of knighthoods to foreigners such as George Constantinou Jr and Luciano Cragnolini are classic examples of individuals-mostly small time businessmen-who have never served the state on any respectable boards let alone made sacrifices in their own lives that have benefited the majority.
Donating K30,000 per annum like Constantinou has done is not a sacrifice when your profits are beyond that,
Being a drinking buddy of the PM Peter O'Niell and having your wife Ni Cragnolini- visited the PM residence every night and donating cash to his political party the PNC is not a reason to be knighted.
In developed countries like England,Australia Canada and New Zealand, one receives a knighthood after many many years of service typically 40 years as a benchmark.
That service is well documented and widely respected, To learn that Cragnolini received such an award given he has been convicted for shooting a rascal dead in 1998, went bankrupt in 2002 and served only as a member of the NCD building board, a position he never should have been appointed to because of direct conflicts of interests with his building company L&A construction (and subsequent allegations that he took bribes/donations for the PNC party as a condition of approval for building permits) is an insult to her majesty the Queen and of course the lovely people of PNG.
George Constantinou Jr is another poor if not corrupt example of paying cash for knighthoods which is so common in PNG it seems. Young George must be 40 something and hardly is old enough to be called sir.
The process is corrupt, The chairman of the awards committee is none other than Sir Fred Reiher, an old overweight foreigner himself who has lived at airways motel, you guesses it owned by George Jr for the past 20 years.
How does a poor public servant afford a K1400/night room on national wages? he cant afford it! so he pays back the brothers in kind, knighthoods to them. Fred Reiher is the problem and is well known for selling knighthoods discretely to his drinking mates. Mostly millionaires, last month Peter O'Niell canned a K60 million government housing contract owned by you guessed it, Fred Reiher the poor public servant,whose company should have infact paid the state millions of kina in liquidated damages but O'Niell's spin was that Reiher simply pays back the deposit.
Reiher's partner in that company was the owner millionaire of the Carpenters group who you guessed it, also received a knighthood from sir Fred and O'Niell last year.
Unfortunately many in Papua New Guinea and even Australia and England have commented that PNG knighthoods are not worth the toilet paper they were printed on, and that makes the recipients *****!
George Constantinou and Luciano Cragnolini hang your heads in shame because you are both not fit to be called sir.
KAVIENG BLOGGER
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