A civil society group in Papua New Guinea says the buck stops with the prime minister and he must act to cancel SABL leases.
The government ruled in June of 2014 that the Special Agricultural Business Leases were illegal but Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, continues to blame officials at the Lands Department for failing to carry through their cancellation.
The program manager of Act Now, Effrey Dademo, says unless people are made accountable, nothing will change, and the suffering of people in the SABL areas will continue.
She told Don Wiseman the government has to take responsibility.
The Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.
Photo: AFP / Peter Parks
Transcript
EFFREY DADEMO: The question is if there is nothing done on a public enquiry that had spent so much of taxpayer money having to establish it and run it, then finally you have a list of then finally you have a list of recommendations and you do not do anything about it for this long and someone has not actioned it for you. What are you supposed to do as the head of the country. I mean we can say it is the responsibility of the lands department but who is holding the lands department responsible for inaction.
DON WISEMAN: Where does the buck stop?
ED: Exactly where does the buck stop is our question. We can point fingers and say it is these people who are not doing their job but you are the prime minister of the day. Do something about it. Sack somebody who is not doing his job.
DW: With these SABLs they were controversial from the start there was this major enquiry the cabinet then made a decision back in June of 2014 and in the meantime what has been happening in those areas?
ED: Well logging has continued to go on. There is evidence of logs being shipped out of those illegal SABL areas. So you are talking about illegal leases continuing to remain current while people are making money out of those. And who is going to pay landowners for the suffering that they have suffered as a result of the fact that their land continues to be used.
DW: Does any money at all come to the landowners through this deal?
ED: This is a Special Agriculture Business Lease as far as we know there are no rentals there is no compensation payable for it. These people are not receiving any rent for the land being so leased. So what is there? There are some of them fighting in their own areas especially in East New Britain to take their land back and that is a classic example of a multi [million dollar] in Pomio, SABL area. There is a classic example of a multi-million kina so called oil palm company who basically has destroyed a community small scale saw milling project that was going on that particular piece of land. So you have really taken the business away from business circles and given it to companies that is planting oil palm on the same land they were harvesting their timber and sending it overseas for income for the community.
DW: Is it Act Now's sense that the government ever had any intention of following through on the decision it made back in June of 2014?
ED: Well it seems they had no intention of doing that. I mean why do you have to wait until we put so much pressure on you to come out and say that the department is responsible. Whose department is it?
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