The students of UPNG today presented to government officials in parliament, a revised version of their previous petition on the K3 billion UBS loan today.
They have given the Prime Minister seven days to respond to their demands.
One of the demands was for the government to prioritize the UBS loan as its main agenda during the May Parliamentary Session. The students of UPNG, represented by the Student Representative Council, handed over the petition to Chief Secretary, Manasupe Zurenuoc, in a small ceremony today at Parliament House.
But before that, SRC President, Bobby Yupi, expressed dissatisfaction at Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, for not being present to receive this revised petition.
Sir Zurenuoc explained to the students why the Prime Minister was not able to make it to the presentation.
The students said their first petition to the Prime Minister last month to cancel the UBS loan, had not received a favorable response, prompting them to come up with a new one.
Despite the Prime Minister making public statements that the UBS loan was in order and was a good deal, UPNG students still say the economic implications of the loan would be detrimental to the country.
They now want the Prime Minister to respond to their petition through the media, with facts and figures, to sell back the shares to Oil Search, retrieve the money and repay the loan, and to make this topic an agenda of discussion during the May parliament sitting.
Chief Secretary, Sir Zurenuoc, while accepting the report, told the students the Prime Minister might not be able to respond within 7 days as demanded, however he said they would seek legal clarification on this matter before they make a response, as it is now a subject of investigation by the Ombudsman Commission
https://youtube.com/watch?v=BFkmWpqB7gk%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
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