CDI Visit to PNG


CDI Deputy Director, Quinton Clements, visited Papua New Guinea from 1 to 8 October 2006. The primary purpose of Mr Clements' visit was to discuss the possibility of CDI supporting a comprehensive induction program for Members of Parliament following national elections in June 2007. Accompanied by CDI program manager, Ms Daniela Capaccio, Mr Clements met with a range of constitutional officeholders, institutions, political parties and MPs, including the newly sworn-in Clerk of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea, Mr Don Pandan, and his staff; the Registrar of Political Parties, Mr Paul Bengo, and his deputy, Mr John Bishop; and the Secretary General of the governing National Alliance Party, Mr Stephen Pokawin, and the Party Secretary, Ms Joyce Grant. The proposal for a CDI sponsored MP induction program received enthusiastic support from all those Mr Clements spoke with.

Mr Clements also held discussions on current and future CDI sponsored research projects with Transparency International PNG, the National Research Institute (NRI), and a number of academics at the University of Papua New Guinea . In particular, Mr Clements discussed with NRI Director, Dr Thomas Webster, holding, in early 2007, a joint CDI-NRI symposium on the state of politics in Papua New Guinea five years on from the introduction of major political reforms, the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates and Limited Preferential Voting.

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