DID PNG’S GOVERNMENT MAKE A MISTAKE BUYING THE APEC MASERATIS AND BENTLEYS?

I personally asked current Papua New Guinea's Finance Minister Charles Abel whether he thought getting the Maserati’s in the first place was a bad idea, but he didn’t want to comment.

“I can’t comment on that, they went through different reasons why they couldn’t get certain vehicle, the number in different types, the colors’ and all the reasons that were given.”

But, Mr. Abel- who was Deputy Prime Minister at the time PNG hosted APEC, says the meeting was a success.

“It’s not for me to comment at this time, we have to deal with it, APEC was a success.

Papua New Guinea’s government aims to sell the APEC Maserati's and the Bentley's at prices equivalent to buying two three bedroom kit homes in the country.

The Maserati's are priced at a minimum of K400, 000 while the Bentley's are priced at a minimum of K800,000 when the second tender is out.

Many commentators in PNG politics will be interested to see how many Papua New Guineans will actually buy the vehicles; especially with the state of the country’s roads and impossible to find, spare parts.

But, the country’s Finance department will be putting up new tenders anyway.

“We will put tenders up domestically and internationally,” said Finance Secretary Dr Ken Ngangan.

It's clear the PNG government is hoping international buyers will pick up the vehicles, even though the first tenders put out earlier this year to sell the vehicles was a failure.

Former APEC minister Justin Tkatchenko blames the Finance department for mishandling the first tender process.

“The Finance department didn’t put a public reserve price,” he said.

In October last year, Mr Tkatchenko told the media many had been pre-sold to the private sector, that they would sell like hot cakes.

But, now there is public anger targeted directly at the Australian born PNG politician for what many say are misleading comments.

“Yes, I am not denying it, I said that, I said it… because when we put the word out that the Maserati’s would be sold after APEC the response was overwhelming,” said Mr Tkatchenko.

Since the cars were bought there has been speculation via social media that PNG politicians and APEC senior officials had some how benefited from the vehicles purchase.

One of the most outspoken and critical on the controversy is Police Minister Bryan Kramer, who wrote extensively on his blog ‘Kramer Report’.

When the vehicles were locked up and hidden away from the public, there was speculation again on social media that some have already been sold off secretly.

Mr. Tkatchenko has called on the public to believe the government’s statements.

“Find out the facts, find out the evidence, don’t go by hearsay, it may come back and hit you in the mouth,” said Mr. Tkatchenko.

The PNG government has never revealed how much it has spent on APEC, although, the O'Neill government has maintained the funds of some K330 million was allocated in the national budget to be spent over three years.

A report on it has been delayed by an investigation that’s being carried out by the Ombudsman Commission.

The current Finance Minister Charles Abel said the report is now with the country’s Auditor-General.

“He is independent, I can’t dictate to him, we just want that process to be expedited and we will offer him every support that we can to make that happen.”

Critics have accused the government of spending money on expensive cars, while failing to deliver basic services for its people.

THE MV RABAUL QUEEN, LEST WE FORGET

Carolyne Maniot

The hardest thing for me was hearing Carolyne Maniot speak about her two sons in present tense.

“One is final year and one is second year, the final year is at polytech.”

Her sons – Alfred and Adrian – aged 20 and 23 were on board the MV Rabaul queen on their way to university when it capsized and sank in rough seas in 2012. 

“Its really painful to me when I lost my two sons, my final talk with the two was in Kimbe and they said the ship is over loaded and the sea is rough,” she said.

Adrian Maniot

She didn’t have family in Kimbe and couldn’t afford to pay for accommodation, so she couldn’t tell them to get off the ferry despite wanting to. 

It’s still not known exactly how many people died on the ferry from Buka to Lae – but it may have been in the hundreds.  

Adrian left behind two children who now live with their grandparents.

Seven years on Mrs Maniot says she feels like she doesn’t have justice. 

“They must receive justice, because Peter Sharp and Tony his captain, made a big hole in our hearts to this day we still cry.”

Alfred Maniot

She said her two sons were planning to finish school and take of her.

Like most Papua New Guineans, she and her husband don’t have life insurance.

“Our investment in our children has gone to waste just like that.”

 Thirty-year-old Theodore Yep was also on board the MV Rabaul Queen.

He survived, but his father Tommy says he is still traumatized.

“Yes, he did survive the effects on him too, he did lose his job, now he’s got no job, many of us are suffering in our own small way.”

Mr Yep was part of the group of family members who took the Australian ferry owner Peter Sharp, the shipmaster Anthony Tsiau and others to court for 175 counts of manslaughter.   

The courts later reduced it to 88 charges. 

In July last year Mr Sharp and Mr Tsiau were acquitted of manslaughter.

In August, Public Prosecutor Pondros Kaluwin announced that further charges would not be pursued.

Mr Yep says the family members of the victims are outraged.

 “The public prosecutor do the right thing explain to everyone why you did what you did, we just want to have some answers.”

But there may still be hope in the family members’ bids for justice.

PNG’s Attorney General Davis Steven has told local paper The Post Courier he will use his powers to re-open the investigation.

“I am now reviewing the circumstances in which the decision was made in the national court to accept the declaration filed by the public prosecutor under section 525 of the criminal code,” said Minister Davis.

DID WORKERS IN PNG'S CAPITAL CITY STAY HOME TODAY?

I got out of the car and walked across the Boroko main bus stop in PNG’s capital Port Moresby to speak to several bus drivers about the strike that’s supposed to happen today, it’s the 26^th of October 2018.

But, before I get into that, let me tell you what is happening.

Outspoken opposition MP Bryan Kramer has called for the strike in response to the Government flying in 40 Maseratis for the APEC Leaders’ Summit. 

The PNG Government has defended the acquisition saying a certain standard of vehicle is required for the World’s leaders and that the luxury cars will be sold on to the private sector.

But, there has been a public outcry on Facebook and today those keyboard warriors on FB will walk the talk, all those people who commented will be expected to protest.

Downtown Port Moresby

So, what really happened today?

The short answer is, there is no way of knowing how many people went on strike or protest, but businesses could tell us how many workers turned up for work today.

But, from the amount of traffic observed, a good number of workers may have stayed home.

Children in schools around Port Moresby were also sent home to their parents after the year eight exams in case the buses stopped.

So let us go back to the bus drivers… the first two bus drivers I spoke to said they would continue to operate despite receiving a notice from passengers stating they should stop at 11 a.m.

They told me about their own reasons. They had to pay off the loan used to purchase the bus and they felt the problem was for the politicians’ to sort out. I know… those responses were very ignorant.

The buses and taxis in Port Moresby never stopped operating, so it allowed people to commute in the morning, but, as the day progressed, I was staking out main bus stops from around 9 a.m. till 12 noon and saw that buses waited longer for passengers, very odd for a fortnight Friday, isn't it?

So, what does today tell us about Papua New Guinea as a society?

Again, it's very hard to know if the protest did actually work or not. It's even frustrating that I can't tell you, how I really feel about the way things are. You see, I am a journalist and I have to keep objective with everything... 

So, all I can say is the writing is on the wall, we are either very ignorant about the state of our country, we have too much respect for the delusional idealism of the “big men” in parliament or we’re just too busy trying to make ends meet everyday and can’t take part in protests, I’ll let you  all decide….

THE POTENTIAL OF DIGITAL MARKETING IN PNG

For the sake of doing business with partners from overseas it would be wise for any company in the country to start its digital marketing campaign. The real potential of digital marketing lies in industries that need customers coming from overseas. The most vital sustainable industry for the future after Papua New Guinea’s extractive industry stops contributing to the country’s GDP is the tourism sector. The Papua New Guinea tourism authority must think of a way to ensure their digital campaign reaches out to the target audience.

 There is no simple answer to get tourists into Papua New Guinea against a backdrop of negative news about the country, but the authority can start by making use of all platforms available to it. Instead of advertising within PNG, the authority can look at pushing its campaign overseas to Western worlds and also toward wealthy Asian countries. Japan and Australia will always remember the World War 2 history shared with Papua New Guinea. It’s really simple, just a few short videos or high quality pictures of war relics and the kokoda trail will get tourists excited.

Villagers in PNG getting registered on a portable IDBox to get involved with E-Commerce
pic:APEC

The campaign can also include a short interview with PNG’s Police Commissioner and Prime Minister assuring tourists that the country is safe and willing to host friends. APEC is already a stepping-stone. The Maserati’s would have won over money hearts.  But, putting aside the jokes, it would make a huge difference to use digital marketing to drive advertising overseas instead of in PNG, because lets face it, 600,000 people on Facebook isn’t a market for tourism, when the authority could target hundreds and millions of people in the Western world who want to see jungles, the wildlife, surf waves and dive in pristine reefs.  

The digital campaign would be cheap to conduct. For about US$200 a month, targeted audiences would be aware of the experiences waiting for them. There is no need for expensive television or newspaper advertising in local newspapers, because social media platforms will play a pivotal role in getting the message out there, driving traffic to a resort, hotel or tourist guide travel website for them to make reservations, purchase airline tickets and organise other vital services. The prospectus of the tourism industry is huge, but again, the management of the authority needs to be changed and those in charge need to be laid off the job, because quite frankly, they lack the creativity. No offence, this is after all a blog post and not an academic write up.

HOW IS DIGITAL MARKETING INFLUENCING BUSINESSES IN PNG?

In the developed parts of the world, digital marketing has changed the way people buy and sell products. E-commerce has become a convenient way for customers to make purchases on cars, clothing, groceries and more. In the United States of America, Australia and the rest of the Western world a lot of it is done using desktop computers, because marketing campaigns and web designs were done for computers’. But, that could be different for developing countries like Papua New Guinea.

Most people in Papua New Guinea like Latin America and other developing parts of the world, have limited or no connection to broadband or DSL for most of the population. For PNG, only recently Australia signed an agreement with the Solomon Islands’ and Papua New Guinea to build a new cable for some hundreds of millions of dollars. But, for the time being internet rates remain expensive, desktop computers or laptops are quite expensive to buy and so mobile phones take precedence over them. Therefore, digital marketing campaigns in those areas heavily focus on encouraging their customers to call or visit their local dealer and less on driving traffic to their website.

APEC meeting on E-commerce 

But, Papua New Guinea is trying to make a quantum leap into the new world of digital marketing without providing the basic services needed to power mobile phone and computers. 85% of the country population live in the rural areas where there is no electricity, no Internet and no communication infrastructure. While, people living in urban areas also living in towns and cities face frequent power outages and expensive Internet rate charges. In 2018, the PNG government hosted a series of meetings during Asia Pacific Economic Forum or APEC; one of the topics discussed during the meetings leading up to the leaders summit was e-commerce. The PNG government expects its people to take part in e-commerce, but that seems like a far shot, because it’s simply not possible to drive E-commerce, because most people living in the village don’t have bank VISA cards or Master Cards to buy and sell online.

So where does E-commerce fit in a country like PNG? The short answer is, it doesn’t fit in now, in terms of buying and selling.  It will probably work in the next ten years, because right now, customers would prefer to physically make the payments. Most of the people in the village don’t have birth certificates or the ability to sign papers for a bankcard. If the PNG government is serious about E-commerce, it must try to prepare its people to take part.