The choice of the Somare/Abal Government as the preferred nominee for the next governor general, the current minister for education, Michael Ogio, has a history of dubious involvement in controversial illegal logging deals and is not a fit and proper person for the role as head of state, Bulolo MP Sam Basil said today..
Basil says that as forest minister Ogio frequently ignored the law to grant illegal access to vast areas of
“The source of the information on Mr Ogio is on the World Bank-funded Independent Review Reports by teams chosen by the then government that were carried out in the period 2001 to 2004,” Basil said.
“The teams conducted four major reviews of the forestry sector being the 2000/2001 Reviews of Proposed Logging Concessions, the 2003 Review of Disputed Permit Extensions and Timber Authorities under the auspices of the Forestry and Conservation Project sponsored by the World Bank, the 2003/2004 Review of Current Forestry Operations and the 2004/2005 Compliance Audits on new Timber Permits
“In September 2003, the World Bank suspended payments under the Forestry and Conservation Project agreement.
“One of the primary reasons for the suspension was the failure of the PNG Government to ensure the legal compliance of the Wawoi Guavi Blocks 1, 2 and 3 Timber Permit and the variance to the Timber Permit.
“Michael Ogio was the person and minister responsible for the suspension because, according to the legal compliance reviews, he granted an unlawful 10-year extension of the huge Wawoi Guavi Timber Permit to Rimbunan Hijau against the advice of the Forest Authority and in defiance of the National Forest Board
“The reviews also found Michael Ogio as forest minister had behaved improperly by:
• Giving three unlawful tax exemptions for the illegal Kiunga Aiambak logging project operated by Concord Pacific;
• Giving three ministerial directives to the National Forest Board to ignore proper procedures and unlawfully award the Josephstaal logging concession in Madang province;
• Issuing an unlawful Timber Authority (TA 1-08) for a huge timber authority in Western province against the advice of five government departments;
• Taking no action against the Forest Authority managing director, Thomas Nen, for allowing illegal logging in Pondo and Tuwapu;
• Breaching the then government’s forestry action plan to allow logging in inland Pomio, Pondo and Lak;
• Breaching the then government’s moratorium on new logging concessions; and
• Trying to manipulate the position of managing director of the Forest Authority – making six different appointments to the position between January and April 2002.
“Despite the clear findings of the review teams, the Somare government never implemented their recommendations to bring the forestry sector into legal compliance, which led to the cancellation on May 17, 2005, by the World Bank of the Forestry and Conservation Project. The World Bank was particularly concerned with the issues of non-compliance that Mr Ogio had caused.”
Basil says Ogio cost this country a forest conservation project worth over a K100 million kina.
“He is not a fit and proper person to be governor general.”
Basil calls on the office of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth – who is the Head of State for PNG - that Ogio’s election to the office of the governor general should be rejected because of his clear lack of qualifications for the role.
“Ogio’s reputation will also bring into question the credibility and the integrity of this vice regal post representing the Queen, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the 2nd, and our standing among other
“The other implications are that Ogio will have to immediately resign from being a member of parliament if he wins the governor general’s post which would either mean:
• The electoral commission will need to fund another election at a cost of
• The people of his electorate will be without representation in parliament until 2012.”
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