Whats happening PNG power?
It has become normal to live with power outages that occur for no apparent reason and in a haphazard way. You cannot run a city of one million people like that. Port Moresby is the capital City but it is being treated like a small town. We suggest a name change because the impression is very bad. This is definitely not a good organisation to be given a name that it is not living up to. Only large business houses have back-up power. The rest have to suffer and they dont deserve to be treated with contempt by the service provider. Even with back-up power, the power outages from the main grid are too frequent, getting supplies in the general atmosphere of things with the economy in the doldrums is only adding to the list of woes and getting longer. This is not a criticism or a complaint. And if Ministers are not working, they should be pulled into line by their leader, the Prime Minister. And we have another question. If the problems are ongoing and cannot be fixed, look for people who will. And if people are being put off for nonperformance, it is absolutely crazy to suggest that they should be paid out with a massive golden handshake. We make this point because theres too much of this nonsense going on and the nation is being driven further into financial difficulties and systems breaking down everywhere. It is about time the government realised that it is things like giving jobs for its boys when they are not qualified that is contributing to the mismanagement that is being experienced everywhere. When the government turns a blind eye, it can mean that the government deliberately places its cronies and they are party to the decay. If they were not, nonperforming officials would be sacked. White collar corruption is the single biggest reason that things cannot run properly and the government is aiding and abetting by not taking the necessary steps to correct things. The Energy Workers Union made a serious allegation about PNG Power management and called for the Minister responsible to institute investigation. As usual, the call has been met with a wall of silence. If the union does have the evidence to show and the names of officers who swindled millions of kina, the Minister should demand to see that evidence and take action. But no, the unions call is not important; it does not matter. At least that is the way people out there see things and they are left to wonder why every day, seven days a week, they will face power problems. To the best of our recollection, PNG Power started going to the dogs 20 years ago and is still the same. There is total lack of responsibility going on here because it seems no one has the will to repair this essential service. The unions secretary-general recently claimed he had an audited report that showed that a sum of nearly K2 million was paid to two officers who were named and another received K75,000 for housing. All senior officers in the public service and State owned enterprises ripping off the country with exorbitant perks and privileges. They are very highly paid and well looked after. Some of the vehicles are worth nearly half a million kina and they are maintained on a 24 hour basis. The Governor-General signs these contracts of employment. Another new year is on its way and good old PNG will have another great round of the usual fiesta.