Power to the People

Electricity had been provided gratis to the township of Kiunga by the mining company for years (since before my placement started anyway). This was not due to largess on the mining company's part, they had tried various systems of revenue collection over the years but none have worked.

While I was there as the Diocesan HR Manager, an entirely new tack was taken to the introduction of paid power. Rather than trying to do it on their own, the mining company would hand over management of the power plant in phases to a quasi-government concern - Western Power (WP), who will take over the maintenance of the generators and associated equipment, as well as billing and revenue collection.

The transition from free to paid power was not going to be an easy one for the mission - the problem was the mission's electrical grid. Prior to ‘town power’ from the mining company, the mission ran its own generator and the electrical grid supplied by that generator was something that grew through expediency rather than forethought; power to a new building, be it a staff house or new Diocesan office, was simply jumpered from the building nearest it. To make matters worse, there was no documentation to reflect all of this, and the electrician concerned had resigned. So, when ‘town power’ came, the simplest way to electrify the mission was to simply connect it into the mission’s electrical grid at the generator end. Power was then free, so no one fussed about it.

I acted as the mission's liason with WP to help untangle the web, and facilitate the introduction of paid power into the mission. During my preliminary discussions with WP, the manager in charge of the project agreed, that to separate the post-paid metered billing for Diocesan operations from WP’s prepaid system (using ‘Raitpower’ meters) for staff houses, there would be a need to dismantle and rewire part of the present grid to accommodate this. We agreed to simplify matters by confirming the layout of our present grid and subsequently working with WP staff as to the most cost effective way to connect power to all buildings to fulfill the requirements. At that same meeting, the matter of the unduly high rates being charged was brought up. The rates were higher than what was charged in the other provinces and was high even by Australian standards, strongly hinting that perhaps a review of their billing structure was in order. He assured me that they were in the process of doing so. I left the meeting filled with hope.

Nothing is as simple as that in PNG, I was warned. The naysayers were right. And what transpired could very well point to the cause of previous failures...

The layout of the mission’s present electrical grid was established and a schematic of the connections drawn out. WP was informed that we were now ready for further discussions. That was when things started going awry.

From out of the blue, a team from Western Power appeared at the doorsteps of the mission one fine day and wanted to install pre-paid meters (Raitpower) within the Diocese. Immediately. I informed him that we have entered into discussions with WP and were in the process of working out a plan for the electrification of the mission buildings. So there must have been a lapse in communication at their end and he should call the manager I was dealing with to clear up the matter. But he was not interested, that he has his work order to carry out and he intends to fulfill it. I asked to see the work order so that I could find out who was responsible for this and get to the bottom of it. He did not have it with him, or so he says. I asked for his WP identification and someone I could speak to in WP. None was forthcoming, he obviously thought he was an authority onto himself. Under the circumstances, I told him I could not let him commence work until I cleared this up. I was told in no uncertain terms that I was ‘interfering’ with his work, but I refused to budge and refereed him to the person I had my preliminary discussions with, and that I would be getting in touch with the same person.

He drove off in a huff with his crew. Not too long after, I was alerted by one of the administrative assistants in the office: the WP crew was at her house (a staff house at the fringes of the mission land) and was insistent on installing Raitpower meters there. I promptly drove up to them and told them to reinstate everything to the way it was and leave. I made it clear that I will only allow them to return when the matter of billing, rates and installation schedules have been finalised.

They left. But returned half an hour later with the police, who ordered our workers to allow them to ‘do their work’ or face the consequences, and I was also warned not to interfere…

It came to light that the mission was not the only aggrieved party. The WP team, seemingly with carte blanch authority from the police that followed them, went on a rampage intimidating residents while they installed their meters, unperturbed by any property damage they inflicted on house owners, or the theft of existing meters they openly engaged in under the watchful eyes of the police.

Evidently, enough was enough. For not too long after the Raitpower storm, a public protest was organised. The actions of WP opened a can of worms for not only WP but the Fly River Provincial Government (FRPG). Many questions were now being raised, not only over the highhandedness of WP, but also the seeming colusion on the government’s part in the whole debacle. On 18 July 2011, over 2,000 people staged a peaceful protest march through the township of Kiunga, Western Province, PNG. The march ended at the FRPG office where a petition was presented to the representative of the FRPG. My kudos to the organisers of the march, their constant warnings and crowd marshaling throughout the entire demonstration kept it orderly and peaceful. Thanks to them, the dire warnings that it would degenerate into a riot and looting spree did not materialise.

FRPG subsequently met with the organisers of the march. I was there representing the interest of the Mission, and I was dismayed; not only were the grieviences outlined in the petition not addressed, but the organisers were continually spoken down to. They were constantly being told of the ‘need’ for the charges; the need to recoup the use of royalty payments received from the mining company to pay for diesel needed for the generators. The organisers were not willing to take it lying down, and told representatives of the FRPG that they had a week to indicate how they would address grieviences in the petition and left the meeting.

The reply that followed from FRPG was a short response that that just reiterated FRPG’s original stance. This in turn prompted a reply from the organisers of the protest, a reply that clearly stated the position of the protest organisers and the people they represent.

There was no reply from the FRPG after that. The organisers then issued an appeal to the Governor to resolve the matter. The silence from the administrators of the province was deafening. It was subsequently heard through the grapevine that the Governer was ‘too busy’ to look into it. Strange, I thought, that the wellbeing of his constituents did not take priority in his ‘busy’ schedule. Especially in this case as the abuse of power, theft, trespassing, property damage and intimidation were being perpetrated by the police and an entity with governmental ties.

Though all might seem quiet on the front, I was warned not to be lulled into a state of complacency or indolence; you just don’t know from where the next salvo is coming from, and it will come, I was warned. And come it did. In the form of WP staff, or those who claim to be officials of WP – I was never presented with proper identification, showing bills that indicated the mission owed astronomical sums for electricity. Strangely, the bills were presented on plain paper, with consumption figures taken off power meters that do not exist! The intention behind these personally presented bills were clear in some cases as it was hinted not too subtly that the amount was ‘negotiable’. Ignoring these bills or dispatching them to the wastebasket became routine after a while.

There were also other short lived episodes where various officials dropped by the office wanting to discuss ‘plans’ to electrify the mission buildings, but most left after I made them aware of the mission’s stance – we just want transparency and accountability in the whole process; document everything in black and white so there would be no misunderstanding down the road.

And status quo it remained till the end of my placement. The mission was still not paying for power on the day I left.

P.S. When I returned nine months later, to help clear up a few loose ends for the Diocese, the mission was still not paying for power…