Douglas Tomuriesa, Pope Francis and James Marape

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  Opposition Leader Douglas Tomuriesa said he is disappointed and embarrassed over the way His Holiness Pope Francis was treated by Prime Minister James Marape over the last three-days during the Papal visit, and the lack of courtesy and respect shown by the Prime Minister. He said the Prime Minister continuously declares PNG as a ‘Christian country’ and prides himself on being a religious individual but he was surprised when the Pope was continuously snubbed by the PM over the weekend since the Pope’s arrival on Friday. “The Pope is the head of the Catholic church, the largest Christian church in the world and he is also a head of state. “PNG not only being a Christian country, but a country that prides itself as a ‘friend to all, enemy to none’, the PM should be according the Pope with the highest level of respect,” Tomuriesa said. The Opposition Leader pointed out that on Friday, the Prime Minister did not welcome the Pope at the airport, a tradition he had accorded to many othe...
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Census deferred to 2024

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Main Stories

By LORRAINE JIMAL
THE national population and housing census has been deferred yet again – this time to 2024 – raising concern over its effect on the 2022 national election and national development programmes.
In a full-page newspaper advertisement yesterday, acting National Statistician John Igitoi blamed the current Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason behind the deferral.
“As a responsible State agency, we need to adhere and execute government measures and strategies in the interest of the nation impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
Former census director Bernard Kiele said yesterday that the census, which was to happen last year, was deferred to July this year. Now it has been deferred again to an unconfirmed date in 2024.
“For it to be delayed again is not right,” Kiele said.
He said a census was one of the most important government programmes to collect data for national planning purposes.
It is supposed to be carried out every 10 years. The last one was conducted in 2011.
Kiele said using the Covid-19 as an excuse for the postponement was wrong.
“Census is done by (officials) going to wards and numerate a household head or the responsible person,” he said.
“It is a one-on-one exercise.
“You can observe all the Covid-19 protocols without putting lives at risk.”
Kiele said the deferral would not help the 2022 general election which would be forced to use figures from the census 10 years ago.

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