An NGO which pushed for an investigation into the issuing of Special Agriculture Business Leases in Papua New Guinea is questioning why the government hasn't acted on the findings of a Commission of Inquiry.
In September the prime minister Peter O'Neill tabled a report in parliament from the inquiry which found more than 90 percent of those leases were fraudulently or improperly obtained from customary landowners.
An East Sepik province commentator has called on the Government to cancel all Special Agriculture and Business Leases (SABL) and to investigate and prosecute those responsible for one of Papua New Guinea’s worst land development schemes ever.
Customary owned land is the secure source of sustaining livelihood and must be utilized well for the benefit of local Papua New Guineans.
This was one of the key conclusions from a rapid qualitative assessment report titled “Gender and Economic Choices in Papua New Guinea” which was commissioned by the World Bank, Papua New Guinea.
Despite staunch protests, Malaysian palm oil giant Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK) has illegally forced its way forward to try develop almost 40,000 hectares of customary land in the Collingwood Bay region of Papua New Guinea. The indigenous communities of Collingwood Bay have made themselves clear, they do not want their lands to be cleared for palm oil or anything else, but instead want KLK out of their lands with immediate effect.
Landowners and interested citizens are still anticipating the outcome of the Special Agriculture Business Lease (SABL) taskforce, since the appointment of the taskforce in late October this year by Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill.
Many who have followed the issue of SABL since the Commission of Inquiry have questioned the Government why it has taken too long to cancel all SABLs and return land titles to the rightful landowners.
THE National Court in Waigani has issued an interim order restraining an oil palm company operating in Northern from transporting any equipment, material or property into the Collingwood Bay area.
Landowners successfully obtained the restraining order last week.
Governor Gary Juffa yesterday congratulated the landowners for their persistence in pursuing what he suspected was an illegal Special Agriculture Business Lease in the province.
Sad but true: the mahogany desk in your study or the merbau flooring in your living room probably came from illegal timber logged on tropical lands. It's a dirty trade that's been happening for decades, but a new report finds that Papua New Guinea, one of the main exporters of illegal timber in the world, is now leasing out its ancestral lands to foreign loggers and investors in one of the fastest and largest land grabs in recent history.
SABL Commission of Inquiry Report 1: Pages 143 – 166
Gerrard Kassman and his sons Charles and John are the beneficiaries of two illegal and fraudulent SABL land deals close to Port Moresby that seek to cash in on the Exxon-Mobil LNG project.
”There was misrepresentation and fraud involved in the whole process” [p164]
The forging of landowner signatures “borders on fraud and is a criminal act” [p151]
An East Sepik province commentator has called on the Government to cancel all Special Agriculture and Business Leases (SABL) and to investigate and prosecute those responsible for one of Papua New Guinea’s worst land development schemes ever.