Tapini and Guari LLGs goes into Eliminations – GOILALA DISTRICT

COUNCIL ELECTION UPDATE VIII [Round Up]

TAPINI LLG
Tapini has gone into the 5th Eliminations. And they aim to get down to the business end of the counts tomorrow. After 5th elimination for Tapini LLG President Seat counts…the ladder stands as…

1. Michael Moro – 761
2. Keleto Kope – 583
3. Anthony Onne – 403
4. Allan Kaurupu – 379
5. John Anamala – 319

GUARI LLG
Guari LLG went into the last count of the First Preference Votes – count 9 – and closed shop to start on the eliminations tomorrow.

Guari President Count 7 and progressive total as follows;

1. Balai Patrick – 990
2. Mathew Poia – 370
3. Thaddus T. Haiva – 200
4. John Kiar – 175
5. Steven T. Javoi – 165

WOITAPE LLG
Woitape LLG has completed its normal Ward Councilor counts for all 9 wards today, declaring Ward 6, 7,8 and 9 Wards today. [refer to picture].

PNG FM NEWS FEED… with Belinda Kora, tomorrow at 8. We have locked down Daniel Riolo at Tapini as the spokes person who will talk to PNG FM News Crew and we also locked down Philip Kiso [who told me he lost my number] to be on standby at Woitape.

I will ensure these two gentlemen are online and available before PNG FM News Crew calls them.

Thanks to our sources on the ground and thanks also to GFI team for the flex top up for our Tapini sources.

Special mention to PNG FM Crew, for making time available to air our Elections Updates.

Long Live the GOILALA Dream.
Top Evening.

Mathew Poia – Enters the Race – Goilala District LLG Elections Update

Patrick Socrates Mansfield Immortal Balai or better known as Patrick Bauai is the guy who defeated Mathew Poia back in 1987 for the Guari Council President seat. Poia then challenged Balai in the court of disputed returns & won the case & became the President. Poia was President up till 2002 when he contested the Goilala Open Seat & Cyprian G. Mavai came in. In 2007 Emilio Gaviz was elected Council President. John Kiar has always been contesting the Goilala Open Seat just like Patrick Balai & Mathew Poia. Interesting to see all three of them in the Guari LLG Presidential race with Mavai & new comer Thaddus T. Haiva. I think this will be our top 5 contenders for Guari LLG President & the final tussle should be between the two old dogs Balai & Poia. However, if there will be an upset it should be from new comer Thaddus T. Haiva. We will know in the next few days.

Guari President Seat Count 7 and progressive total as follows;

1. Balai Patrick – 990
2. Mathew Poia – 370
3. Thaddus T. Haiva – 200
4. John Kiar – 175
5. Steven T. Javoi – 165

Tapini LLG has also gone into 4th Elimination rounds and as at 4:10pm, we had this following standings for the top 5.

1. Michael Moro – 761
2. Keleto Kope – 583
3. Allan Kaurupu – 379
4. John Anamala – 319
5. Buni Morua – 319

Woitape LLG is now effectively into finalizing Ward 8 and will most likely complete Ward 9 tomorrow and head straight into Presidential Seat counts there after.

More interesting days ahead as we see the race heats up with elimination processes kicking into gear for Tapini and Guari LLG.

Sources:
1. Tony Avaut @ Tapini Station.
2. Raphael Aita & Jimmy Gulolo @ Woitape Station
3. Peter Yaria @ Tolukuma Gold Mine site.

COUNCIL ELECTION UPDATE VII.

TAPINI LOCAL LEVEL COUNCIL GOVERNMENT

TAPINI LLG Presidential standings after counts 9 & 10.

1. Michael Moro – 761
2. Keleto Kope – 577
3. Anthony Onne – 402
4. Allan Kaurupu – 378
5. Buni Morua – 316

This is the tally after counts 9 & 10 elimination progress.

GUARI LOCAL LEVEL GOVERNMENT
Guari LLG has completed its Council Wards counting and has declared all their councilors to date. It is highly likely Presidential counting will kick off tomorrow.

WOITAPE LOCAL LEVEL GOVERNMENT
Woitape LLG has gone as far as Ward 5. And tomorrow will see them start with Ward 6. With the population figures available, they should see them complete all wards and head into Presidential come Thursday.

DECLARATIONS FOR TAPINI LLG

So Far, all Tapini Local Level Government Council Wards are been declared.

The final list [unofficial] as it stands.

COUNCIL ELECTIONS UPDATE II.

Council Elections Tally Updates – Goilala District

TAPINI LLG
Counting for Council Wards as now gone into Day II. Declarations thus far are in the attached file.

GUARI LLG
Two Teams have reached Tapini Station awaiting another two Teams which were supposed to be picked up by Chopper organized by MP Mona. But could not because the teams have started walking.
They should be in Tapini later this evening. For counting to start for Guari LLG.

WOITAPE LLG.
TGM Mine sites has the elections in progress, hosted by Team 4. Once they are finished they will head of to Woitape.
The rest of the team – 8 in total – have reached Woitape and are now awaiting logistical requirements – counting materials – to reach them for Counting to start.

Source:
1. Casmiro Maia & Solomon Aita @ Tapini,
2. Allan Fasi and Jimmy Gulolo @ Woitape Station.

Time: 1:30pm. Date: 24th July 2013.

National Council Elections Update – GOILALA DISTRICT

Sleepy Station of Tapini in the Goilala District, of Central Province.

With Council Elections across Papua New Guinea nearly completion, Goilala District Council Elections has gone smoothly and trouble free.

Apart from the late start to the elections, everything else has followed suit peacefully.

WOITAPE Local Level Government.

Nearly all polling teams have returned to Woitape as of yesterday afternoon – Monday 22 July 2013.
Only Team 1  has reached Woitape over the Remembrance Day.

Team 4 is currently conducting polling in Tolukuma Gold Mine site should wind down today and head to Woitape for counting to start there after.

TAPINI Local Level Government
Tapini LLG wards all completed their polling over the weekend and are now at Tapini station. Counting has started as of Monday 22nd July.

A couple of wards had their declarations done already.

Tapini Local Level Government Council Ward Declaration.

Ward 3 – Sopu – Mr. Loius Tuam,
Ward 4 – Aiwara – Mr Andrew Kopa
Ward 6 – Jova Loloipa – Mr Mathew Kosia

GUARI Local Level Government.
It is understood Guari LLG will have their counting conducted at Tapini station as well.

We will try and get as much information as we can for everyone’s benefit.

Sources:
1. Casmiro Maia & Solomon Aita @ Tapini
2. Allan Fasi & Kaita Linus @ Woitape.

GRAUN BLO USAIT – EX-KIAP NETWORK FORUM

By way of not changing the subject, being “should Australians interfer in PNG affairs?”, I note that there is a pitiful article in the Post Courier about the decline of Woitape, with the Officer in Charge apparently gone walk-about, decline of the Local Government Council to “nil” and general dissillusionment of the locals.

It reiterates what has been reported by other ex-Kiaps on this site. I grew to like the people of Woitape and can see no reason for the present government of PNG to betray them in this manner.I quote the article hereunder:
Woes of Woitape

Woitape is cradled in a mountain-surrounded valley of crisp greenness, where vegetables grow without chemicals and the people live at peace. Not all that rare in rural Papua New Guinea, but Woitape is a part of the Goilala District of the Central Province and it is in a slump. The woes of Woitape are easily traced. The trail, many say, leads to the leadership of the district. “Our leaders are all down in Moresby,’’ agree many of the residents of Woitape station. “None of them comes back here, they all wait down at Konedobu to get money from the Government.’’

Woitape is not Telefomin or Balimo, in some far-flung corner of our massive nation. It is 25 minutes flight from Moresbyby an Airlines of PNG Twin Otter. Some locals walk into Port Moresby from there if they can’t afford the K253 one-way airfare. But Woitape might as well be next door to Telefomin for all the good it does.

The station is a sleepy hollow. Former Defence Force signaller Greg Gulolo is from Tanapai, a village 50 kilometres from Woitape. When he was a boy, the four-wheel-drive vehicles of the agriculture and patrol officers at Woitape could make it to Tanapai. Today, if any vehicle was still ticking over at the station, it would only go a kilometre or two down the track to the Fatima Catholic mission. The station has vehicles, but all are out of action. One tractor is stripped and stranded in the grass on the edge of a garden of corn. Another has been retrieved by former high school teacher Maria Mark and husband Augustine, who run the only trade store on the station. They have it under a corrugated iron roof, waiting in the hope a mechanic can be found to fix it. Until a few years ago, that would not have been a problem, for there was a Works Department workshop on the station.

Like so much of the government presence at Woitape, it has disappeared. The government officer in charge has not been there for months. Locals say there is no effective show by agriculture and other departments. The health centre has only low-key medical aides and all serious cases have to be airlifted out to Port Moresby. The vocational centre has been closed and abandoned for years. The admired mini-hydro power plant which was constructed a decade ago with European Union money has not operated, locals estimate, for four years. They can’t say for sure what the problem is.

A villager is still paid to be the hydro caretaker and lives in a permanent house next to the hydro plant, which is about five kilometres from the station. The good old days for station residents, of free power 24 hours a day, are long gone. Goilala people have an unenviable reputation in the nearby capital city. Goilala and crime are synonymous in the minds of many. But back at home in the hills, life for the villagers and the occasional visitor is calm, friendly and peaceful. Guests at the Woitape Lodge, formerly known as the Owen Stanley Lodge, however attest to the open-hearted welcome they get from the Goilala people. Visitors usually go on guided tours of nearby villages.

Other more adventurous ones go climbing in the mountains, including the Mt Edward Albert peak of . . . Feet. Their comments in the lodge’s visitors book reflect their sheer delight at their experiences. Greg Gulolo and Maria Mark, as well as more shy locals, agree that the Woitape Local Level Government is virtually non-existent.

The common supinity of the people allows dictators to rule unfettered, in my view. Why should I be so supine? Would it make any difference?
Norm the cynical old fart.

National Councile Elections 2013 – Goilala District

As the nation goes to the polls to elect their Local Level Government representatives, Woitape Local Level Government has towed the line and have this aspiring leaders raise their hands to vy for the respective seats.

40 candidates have nominated to contest the Woitape LLG Presidential candidate seat, while the 9 wards have averaged at least 16 minimum, with the lowest been wards one and two in the Chirime Valley… who have 3 candidates each for their respective wards.

Out of the male dominated pool of candidates, Maria Mak, the incumbent LLG President recontests the Presidency while Celestine Ovai has nominated to contest in Ward 4.

It is interesting days ahead as we prepared to go to the polls come the weekend.

35,000 years Ago – Thomas EME

Thank God that I was born a Goilala, am still a Goilala and will die a Goilala. Now to some history to tell you why I’m so proud of my roots.

The first inhabitants of PNG were hunters and food gatherers who came from South-east Asia. They were dark skinned and negroid in appearance. They probably migrated when the seas were lower than at present and the climate was colder. The first migrations may have started 50,000 years ago and by 30,000 years ago they had found their way into the uplands of the island. Today these early inhabitants are known as the Goilalas who settled in the Kosipe valley of the Goilala District of Central Province. While the Goilalas settled down in Kosipe, the rest of the immigrants continued into South-eastern Australia and Tasmania. Professor Howells of Harvard University makes a suggestion that the Melanesians are ‘Tasmanians’ who belonged to the earliest phase of migration into PNG and the Australian continent, and that the last Melanesians on the Australian continent were those in Tasmania who were tragically wiped out by the first fatal impact of Europeans. Their long presence over this huge area allowed differentiation locally by habitat, and peripheral contact with others. The very strong evidence to support this view comes from Kosipe where the early Goilalas settled in this beautiful and fertile valley and cultivated the high altitude pandanus (karuka). To this day the high altitude karuka is only cultivated in Goilala although it was recently introduced into Wau by the Goilalas who went and settled there during the gold rush. With the warming climate, melting ice and rising seas, Tasmania and PNG were separated from Australia by the sea.

The non-negroid Australians, the Aborigines, may have constituted a second migration; they did not touch the southern shores of PNG in their South-eastward migration into the Australian continent and did not occupy the island of Tasmania.

By 10,000 years ago Melanesian people had spread into central New Guinea, and recent studies by Pamela Swadling and Kevin Kaidoga suggest that 9,000 years ago they may have been amongst the world’s first gardeners. The migration patterns of the Melanesians were undoubtedly complex; the extension of the people to the islands east of New Guinea probably began more than 10,000 years ago and was complete about 1,000 years ago.

The question that still bothers me is whether the rest of the Melanesians that settled in other parts of PNG were descendants of the early Goilalas or were descendants of Melanesians from more recent migrations into PNG. There are also Polynesians in parts of PNG, especially along the coast and the islands. When did their ancestors arrive in PNG?

In my view the early Goilalas made their way into Kosipe and rest of Goilala and settled there and cultivated the pandanus which was already there when they arrived. The rest of the Melanesians arrived later and settled into other parts of PNG. The Polynesians were the more recent arrivals.

The uniqueness of the history and existence of the Goilalas is centered around the high altitude pandanus. If this type of karuka was also found in other high altitude areas of mainland PNG then we could connect ourselves to these people. So far none. Goilalas are unique and the ONLY known to date, original inhabitants of PNG.

Goilalas, isn’t that something to be proud of? It is time we rise and take our rightful place in this country. The Goilala Dream is all about rising up and making a difference for Goilala and the rest of PNG. GFI is The Foundation for the Goilala Dream. Our ancestors have stood the test of time in PNG. GFI will follow in their foot steps to persevere and realize The Goilala Dream. The Goilala Dream is every Goilalas’ dream. Remember that and propel yourselves to excel in your endeavors, knowing that you will be doing your part to realize The Goilala Dream.

Long Live The Goilala Dream!