Sir Mekere will not back down

 

By KONOPA KANA

SACKED chairman of Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program (PNGSDP) Sir Mekere Morauta will not back down from his battle against the Government’s move to expropriate K8.5 billion belonging to the people of Western Province.
Sir Mekere said this after Mr O’Neill’s announcement of chief of staff Isaac Lupari’s appointment as the new board member of the state takeover bid of the PNGSDP.
He also expressed disappointment over the directives by Mr O’Neill for a private accounting firm to audit the books of PNGSDP and to review the BHP involvement on extensive environmental damages and compensation.
“This 63.4 per cent shares from the OK Tedi mine dividend belongs to the people of Western Province and the PM so far has failed to justify the motives behind this move when PNGSDP have one of the best governance structures in the world,” he said.
Sir Mekere said that the PM had lost his sense of equity and fairness when PNGSDP books are open annually where the public is invited to attend and see for themselves the development projects that the organisation has done and how much time was spent to implement the project.
“The PM must check his own backyard before going around trying to destroy PNGSDP. We certainly invite the PM to write to us requesting that he wants our books to be audited rather then making announcement that will deviate from the real issue,” Sir Mekere said.
He said that the state has no right to investigate books of private companies because it is setting a dangerous precedence that all private companies are subject to investigation.
About the BHP issue, Sir Mekere said the company gave 52 per cent shares for free to OK Tedi mine and seek protection and PNGSDP was set up to manage this shares after the lifespan of the mine itself.
He said that PNGSDP and the directors will fight that issue to the end and will not give in easily.