20 Mar 2003

PNG students reportedly used in asset sale drive

3:47 pm on 20 March 2003

It has been revealed that University of Papua New Guinea students were hired by the Privatisation Commission in 2001 to promote the state assets sale programme on campus during the anti-privatisation protests.

The Post Courier reports that the chief architect of the privatisation policy and former chair of the commission, Ben Micah, revealed this at the PNGBC sale enquiry.

Mr Micah had been asked why two employees of the commission drew a cash cheque valued at nearly 4-thousand US dollars.

Mr Micah said the commission had needed cash because a lot of money was spent on public relations, including hiring people to monitor anti-privatisation protests.

Two students and a member of the public were killed during a protest in June 2001 in Port Moresby.