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OBSERVATION REPORTON THE CALL-OUT OPERATION PORGERA
with
RECOMMENDATIONS
for the perusal of the
Enga Provincial Government
Others and the
Enga Provincial Administration
from
PeterMasi – IndependentObserver December2015.

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Executive summary
The call-out mission started in March/April of 2014. As
we are going past the 20th month of operation we see
success and this became more visible in September
2015. The illegal miners’ population has dropped
drastically to an average of 20 per day. And the
general law and order situation is under control. What
should be next on the agenda for the SOE Command
and other stake holders first being the Enga Provincial
Government and Administration is to strategise for a
governance phase to take place in the Porgera District,
where the district and local level capacity is re-built
and the community is coerced through those strategies
to take ownership of the mine related activities that
has caused illegal mining and brought about law and
order problems. The Enga Provincial Government and
Provincial Administration must become the owners of
the plans and proposals prepared by the Joint
Operation Committee and the SOE Command for
implementation into the next phase.

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areas to implement, build
and re-build and areas to
explore
Enga Provincial Government and
Administrationtotake intoaccount
NEC Decision, the existing laws,
regulations andpractices and
spearhead changes totake place.
 Implementation of the NEC
Decision of October 2014
which consist of 6 endorsed
activitiesnamely;proposal to
regulatetrading of gold in
Porgera District;small scale
mine training and small to
medium enterprisetraining;
SML landownersrelocation;
Porgera District
Administration
Strengthening;Tribal fights
stabilisation and lastly
awareness on the illegality of
mercury and dangersof the
use of mercury substance.
 Enga Provincial Government
to pass a provincial lawto
control gold trading in the
province. A proposal to make
the lawhas been with the
Enga Provincial
Administration since
March/April 2015. TheSOE
Command and the Joint
Committeehas done their
part. The PG/PA should do
their part now. It is
important to remember that
Mt. Kare operations(maybe
others too) will also benefit
from thisproposed law.
 The SML and LMP
communitiesarecarrying on
small-scalealluvial gold
mining to sustain their
existenceand they havebeen
doing this fromthe late40’s
to today. Some of themare
continuing thisbusiness by
going into the PJV mine-pit
and the surroundingsand
that is where the problem
started. Subsistence
goldmining continuesoutside
the company leases, but
government support for that
industry is not properly
controlled and recognised.
The enactment of the
Provincial Lawis theway to
assist and empower the

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community to stay away
from thePJV operationsand
to do their own mining.
 SML Body. Thoughts be given
to thiswith a view to
establish it as a sub-body to
the Porgela/Paiella LLG for
instance. Failureof Porgera
Paiella LLG is obvious. No
performancerecord fromthe
LLG under whose watch
illegal mining escalated. SML
body be established through
the existing LLG meeting
resolution and agreement
drawn out with the mine
operator to providelogistics
and up-keep of it, because
that is a way the body will
surviveat thisjuncture. This
body will concentrateon the
government of themining
community which includes
illegal mining, lawand order
and act as a front counter for
mining related complaints.
This concept be explored as
new and not to replaceany
similar functionsfromthe
mining operator but that
could be a possibility for the
future
 Whilst the enactment of the
Provincial Lawis on foot it
does not prevent the SOE
Command to pursue , with
the support and assistanceof
the Enga PG/PA the other
two (2) endorsed activities
namely; district
strengthening and tribal
stabilisation
 District strengthening. SOE
Command with collaboration
and serious support initiated
by the PA is to look into the
governancestructuresand
performancesof LLGs and
PDA and make correctionsto
institutional failuresand
investigateanomaliesthat
requirepoliceconcern and
attention.
 Individual agentsof the
institutionsmentioned above
are subjected to corrective
measures which include
investigation of any
institutional breachesor
other areas of criminal
incidences.

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 In tribal stabilisation the
roles of villagecourt officials
and peace mediatorsbe
scrutinized and workshopped
to officialsto observe each of
their powers of fines and
compensations. I believe
RestorativeJusticeInitiative
Association (RJIA) expertise
be engaged here. Part of the
process is to improvesystems
and guidelaw and order
sector in a controlled way.
One case although small, is
to design a legal ‘form’ and
thisis to be provided to
peace mediatorsas an “order
form “under the Inter Group-
Fighting Act. Right now
villagecourt formsare being
abused by peace mediators
to giveout orderson warring
parties.
 I have observed stagnancy in
district peacesettlement.
There exist personality issues
between key peace and good
order agents. Then there is a
case where one person is
heavily decorated by the
District;heis the Chairman of
Peace and Good Order, a
Councillor and hewears a
Barrick uniformevery
working day of theweek. I
believe thisis a silly and an
ineffectivearrangement
which is hurting thedistrict
in termsof timely attendance
to peace negotiations. This
matter has to be rectified.
I investigated thestatus of 3
(Aikena Nomali,
Upper/Lower Tokyala
&Yandan/Pandame) clan
fightsout of theother
outstanding district tribal
fightsand the trend is the
same ; conflict resolution isa
very slowbusiness but it does
not help when district
officialsadd to the natural
healing process their own
agenda of procrastination to
what should be seen as
urgent. What is outstanding
and urgent, only for the 3
conflictsI am reporting on
are the; Yakob Kulina (Yarik)
death; Hapkas Kili ( Upper
Tokyala ) death and over a
dozen deaths from the
Yandan Pandeme conflict.
 Permissive Occupancy.
Permissive occupancy status
is explored under theLand

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Act as a temporary measure
where selected former-land
owners of Wingima are given
the authority to build
temporary shelter and live
therein order to buffer out
illegal settlersfromother
partsof Porgera, Enga and
elsewhere. This concept be
supported and actioned as
the SOEOperationswind
down.
 Re-location. TheNEC
Decision requiresstakeholder
action to achievethis. This is
a hard one which thesame
stakeholdershave been
trying to implement for the
last 2 decades. I suggest that
two villagesbe focused on
first and any plansshould
begin with Ablaka and Yarik.
Selected Traditional dwellers
of Yarik be also considered
under thePermissive
Occupancy statusmentioned
above.
 Benefit Pay-out – Problem
1.The payments made to
Agentsto further pay their
clan members havebecome a
conduit for enormous abuse.
This method of payment has
to be reviewed.
 Benefit Pay-out – Problem
2.The problem here is the
abuse attached with the
Agent Amendment Form. The
YOKO GATE was forcefully
closed by members from an
aggrieving party on
6/11/2015 becauseof a
questionableAgent
Amendment Form. The
questionableconduct
appears to be fromclan
members who have
connection with theDistrict
officeand Barricks’
Community AffairsOffice.

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 National and Supreme Court
Ordersattained so far by
land owner groups to claim
and receivepayments is
killing-out thecustomary
practiceswhich is observed in
light of landownership rights
and land usage rights. This is
creating on-going conflicts. A
case in point led to the 6/11
Yoko gateincident. The
district beassisted by the
Provincial Administration to
undertakea reviewinto the
ownership and usage rights
of the SML and LMP
community who currently are
competing with each other to
claimand receivebenefits
using 1. The ‘Ipara
Investigation Report’, 2. The
National/SupremeCourt
Judgments and 3. The
ancestral application on
landownership rightsand use
(not entirely covered by the
land investigation report).
Long termpeace in the Porgera
Valley is achievable and illegal
mining can be managed if the
issues above are givensome
thought and actionedas it is or
in a revisedform. Strong District
Administrationandstrong
community control does not
have toinvolve hundreds of
policemenand women as long
as community leaders are
empowered, supported and
monitoredconsistently.

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Immediate Actions -RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Councillors inSML Area
There are four (4) councillors in the SML area. Two (2) of these
councillors namely Jim Yope and Sukul Tupia are also employed as
workers with PJV. This dual engagement is in breach of good practice
and the Organic Law on the Provincialand Local Level Government. The
answer here is for the authorities to investigate the truth of the matter
and give choices to the 2 councillors to choose the work they desire
because they cannothave both. This dual employment, I believe is a
contributing factor to lawless activities in the SML area because the local
governmentrepresentative are not providing consistentleadership in
the SML community including taking ownership of illegal mining
activities.
2. Porgera/PaielaLLG.
Itis my view that this local authority be subjected to official scrutiny.
Porgera Paiela LLG must be forced to come on board and work with the
SOECommand in this phasebecause that is the only way all parties can
establish a lasting impact on illegal mining and the overall law and order
situation. Similar scrutiny should extend to the Urban Council here. Enga
ProvincialAdministration should collaborate with the SOE Command and
begin an investigation into the council operation from2014 and 2015.
Any investigation should include prosecution of offenders if they were
breaches in the Organic Law on PLLG; e.g if there were no meetings held
then under which authority wereexpenditures made in 2014 and 2015?
This action is timely and it is healthy as it should improve council
performanceand their operation mustbe directed to take controlover
issues in illegal mining and attending to their duty in maintaining general
law and order in their council area.

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3. SML Office.
The SML communities have received the hardestof actions fromsecurity
forces in all call-out operations to date. Did they directly ask for it (police
OB does not supportSML communities are the major culprits going into
the mine pit) ; the answer is maybe but surely the answer is abovethem
in the institutions like the LLG, PDA, DA, PLoA and when these
authorities fail to live up to their responsibilities the SML communities
justbecome receivers of whatever treatment coming to them. Lessons
should be learnt by now during this 3rd
state of emergency in Porgera.
The four (4) councillors be fractured into action in this phaseto take
ownership of any activities around the mine in preparation for the future
after the call-out operations end.
4. Kairik Peace initiative.
Eno Nomali tribal conflict was in the Porgera Districtlist for a peace
negotiation settlement. Initially 18 people werekilled. While
negotiations took time new killings took place in July 2015. Councillor
Max Tupia Laro, Deputy Town Mayor of Paiam is trying to organisea
peace ceremony in December 2015 or thereafter. This peace ceremony
is between the Bipe tribe and Nomali in the Tipinini area. This initiative
would make an impact on the Eno – Nomali conflict, the travelling
public, governmentand company in the segment of the highway
between the Maip boom-gate, Kairik airportand Paiam Station. The
appropriatesupportand push fromthe Provincial Administration is
essential and that pressuremustbear upon the DistrictAdministration
to commit themselves and negotiate the other outstanding tribal
conflicts. There is urgency for this because, the preparation and conduct
of the National Elections is imminent and the elections have to be
carried out with mostof the conflicts resolved completely or partially.
5. Ablaka Community school
One of the benefits going to the SML community is the Ablaka
Community School, initially established in Ablaka village to cater for the
schoolchildren of Ablaka and Yarik villages. The schoolwas re-located to
Yarik due to erosion caused by the mining wastedump. The school
operated out of Yarik well until mid 2012. Theeducation authorities
closed the schoolin 2013 becauseof mismanagement of the school.

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Councillor Lucas of Ablaka told me that he is trying to re-open the
school, becausechildren from the villages have become part of the
population of illegal miners. The proceeds of illegal mining are spent on
drugs and alcohol, never a good prospectfor minors. The mining benefit
in terms of the provision of education to the children of Ablaka and Yarik
has broken down and only a few are actually benefiting. This on-going
problem has to be rectified. I believe also that police investigation is a
possibility because despite schoolclosure, the annualfund allocation to
the schoolhas not stopped.
6. Permissive Occupancy.
ProvincialAdministration mustbegin to explore the ‘permissive
occupancy ‘provision under the Land Act and in collaboration with
Barrick authoriseformer land owners of Wingima to moveinto area. This
is a temporary measureand this could providea solution to the problem
of illegal settlers and illegal mining.
7. B6, B7, B8 and B10.
These are disputed parcels of land with problems of claiming and
receiving benefits. B6 and B8 dispute led to the Yoko gate lock –down
(to 9.30 pm) on the 6th
of November. Pepeange versus Takopa. There is a
National CourtOrder, arising fromOS NO 509 of 1999 held by the
Takopa group. Other documents supporting the Pepeange group consist
of an ‘Agent Amendment Form’. Takopa claims the rightful group to get
paid whilst stating that the amendment formused by Pepeange is
fraudulent. I have provided the copies of these to the SOECommand
because I havea view that, there is collaboration going on between the
District OfficeStaff and the Community Affairs Officers of Barrick. This
action needs to be supported by the Provincial Administration and
Barrick Management because this is a matter of preserving the integrity
and reputation both for the Governmentand for the Company. Also,
such behaviour if not corrected give rise to community conflicts such as
the caseon 6/11/16 at the Yoko gate..

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8. Undertake Clan review. The ProvincialAdministration should
immediately appoint elderly people in the SML/LMP/other areas to
review ownership and usage rights of B6, B7, B8 and B10 - any outcome
should then be broughtbefore the courts to review the existing Court
Judgments. As this exercise is going on there may arisea situation where
a total 7 clan reviews needs to be conducted becauseof the growing
possibility of not knowing family tree and clan boundaries by the new
generation.

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Information &facts
 The SOE call-out began
operations after the
Governmentmade a decision
to engage members of the
Police and Defence Forces to
come to the Porgera Gold
Mine site and Porgera District
and take control of illegal
mining activities and to take
the necessary measures to
reduce the rise in law and
order problems.
 District governmentand
district administration
collapsed and the Nation
Governmentintervened
through the sending of the
call-out, not for the firsttime,
but for the 3rd
time! Porgera
Development Authority’s’
operational impact was not
clearly visible. Porgera
Landowner Associations’
existence became a subjectof
mistrustand on-going
competition between the
Porgera elites.
 Since March/April2015, the
SOECommand has changed
control once. The initial
Commander was Chief
Superintendent Norman
Kambo, and at the moment
Chief Superintendent Joe
Poma is in charge: he took
control of the call-out in
August2015.
 The call-out police and
soldiers were provided
human rights training at the
beginning of their call-out
duties here; duties
undertaken at 3 month
intervals per contingent.
Police Mobile Squads from
around the country and PIR
Regiments of Murray and
Moem Barracks were
deployed here during the
period – performing police
duties as special constables.
 Commander Kambo, his team
and the Joint Committee
represented by Charlie Imbu
soughtNEC endorsement and
were successfulwhen the
NEC made a decision ;

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Decision 300/2014 on the 9th
October 2014. This decision is
referred to earlier on and the
decision is for the good of the
gold mine operations and for
stronger district
administration in the Porgera
Valley for the long term.
 The general law order
situation improved during the
time of Commander Kambo
and the same is maintained
by his successor.
 IndependentObservers, Chief
Ila Geno, Peter Turner and
Peter Masi were engaged by
the State (through the Police
Commissioners Office) and
Barrick Niugini Ltd during the
startof the call-out to
observethe call-out
performances and to ensure
that PNG Laws and
international human rights
convention weretaken into
consideration as the call-out
team performed their daily
duties. Observation and
reporting also covered
community relationship
between the governmentand
the Porgera mine operator.
The illegal miner
numbers going into the
gold mine pit has
dropped fromnear
thousand each day to
about 20 -30 from
September 2015. The
following four (4)
impacts has
contributed to or is still
contributing to the
pleasing resultof the
call-out mission;-
1. The imposing of the curfew in
the Porgera Valley. The idea
to impose a curfew wasa
parting actof the former SOE
Command and carried out
effectively. This strategy
should have been imposed at
the beginning of the SOE
campaign
2. Illegal Miner dropped in
numbersto the average of 20-
30 per day were witnessed
from September 2015. The
relieving SOE Command is
commended for effective
police work.
3. The Paiam District Court
Magistrate also made a major
impact on the illegal mining
community. He instigated
changesto the penalty
regime on Summary
Offendersinto the mine
location and increased fines
on illegal minersthat were

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charged under the Mining
Act. Before imposing the
fines, the reviewed penalties
were widely publicised in the
respective languagesaround
Porgera. After thatno illegal
minerswere surprised when a
few of them were fined 3000
kina (Sept/Oct 15 report) and
in-default2-3 yearsin jail.
4. Restorative Justice Initiative
Association Efforts(RJIA).
Barrick started the restorative
initiative in order to dealwith,
and assist to restore the
potential of agenciessuch as
village courts, police,
magisterial and other district
services in the law and justice
sector area. The initiative has
become very popular in-
country and abroadand ithas
attracted donor agenciesto
Porgera because the potential
is there and the drivers of the
initiative not only performed
as expected, but have done
good marketing and the
initiative is an exportable
conceptto like communities
elsewhere. In Porgera the key
district personnelin
government, businessand
NGOs’ are receiving training
and this is an on-going
strategy. They are up-skilled
with new knowledge which is
opening up new
understanding in the
managementof institutions
they already are engaged
with or when they carry out
their duties they have to
integrate their roleswith
othersas they contribute and
participate in bringing back
law and order in the
communities. The RJIA is
doing a good job and the
impact by RJIA has
complimented the
performancesof the overall
SOE achievementin the
Porgera Valley.
RJI ( Barrick initiative) has
been operating for abouta
year now asRJIA which is an
Association in-cooperated
under IPA meaning its
existence and operation is
now independentof Barrick.

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Where does the buck starts and stops
The buck starts and stops with the Enga Provincial Governmentand Provincial
Administration. If the elected leaders and public servants cannotanswer the
question why Porgera Gold Mine site has so far being subjected to 3 call-out
operations then every leader passing the buck is a liar singularly or as a group.
For the reasons below:-
No observationof laws through example and not
facilitatingthe effective applicationof laws
Inadequatesupervision and control
Careless attitude on the administrationof gold mine
benefits
Leadership disunity
Inconsistent collaborationwith NationalGovernment in
promoting interest of the mining community
The SML educated elitesare not saints – they have
initiated,supported and tolerated disunity amongst
themselves and participatedin schemes that minimised
the effective administrationof mining benefits.

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the sins of the mine operator
Placer Dome from1989 and Barrick from2006 to the middle of 2015 are
not without faults. Itis a shortlist, but significant as it relates to
observation of country laws and maintaining relationship with all
stakeholders and more especially with the local land owners.
o Maintains an ineffective grievance mechanism. Complaints go
up and answers coming back arenot timely. Some complaints
never return with an answer even if the answer is no. Reasons
are not provided or options suggested when answers are
negative.
o Not great in round-tablediscussions. Westernised courtroomis
preferred.
o Failure in implementing re-settlement and/or re-location plans
were/are combined sins of governmentand mine operator
although the mine operator holds the balance of power.
o Human rights. Issues wereraised and mine operator did not
allow the law of the land to take its course. Its global reputation
is at stake.

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Report furnished in good faith for the sake of
Good Governance
and
Responsible Leadership.
comments are welcomed:
masi424@gmail.com

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