THE GREAT PNG HOME OWNERSHIP SCHEME BY THE O’STEAL GOVERNMENT (PART 1)

(L-R) BSP CEO Robin Flemming,Trade Minister Richard Maru and PM O'neill

The O’ Steal Government has done it again, with one of their scheming plans to steal from the people of Papua New Guinea. The First Home Ownership Scheme (FHOS) a partnership with a leading commercial bank in PNG has seen K200 million of taxpayer’s money being given to the bank to facilitate this scheme. This was done after an agreement was signed on the 3rd of September 2014. The scheme intends to provide an avenue whereby ordinary Papua New Guineans can acquire homes in urban areas. On the cover of it, the scheme seems too good to be true however looking at it realistically it is most likely that 0.01% of the population will get about 1% of that money allocated for the scheme before it is scraped. The reasons why I say a minority will benefit and will only get a tiny slice of this is because; Firstly, the terms of the scheme as provided on the banks website provides that a person as to be; 1. A PNG Citizen 2. A first home buyer 3. Be an employee of the private sector or public service 4. Provide 10% equity 5. Minimum of K200,000 Maximum of K400,000 Statistics would show that most Papua New Guineans are in the average to low income earning range as such either are living in settlements, village (within or close to the city) or with relatives that own homes. There income can only cater for sustaining their daily living needs. Apart from other obligations such as school fees, medical fees, bride price and other needs, it is usually financed through loans. With all money being depleted through this, how then can you expect a PNG citizen who has no home and earns a meagre income that can hardly sustain him to acquire such loan? Simple mathematics would equate the 10 % equity that a person has to provide upfront before he/she can be considered for the loan to be at K20,000 if a person who is thinking of getting the minimum amount allowable or K40,000 for the maximum amount. In reality, not to many people may utilize this scheme. Thus, the question we ask now is that whom was this scheme intended for? Secondly, the government as been embroiled in so much scandal and as survived all scandals because of it having the money power. Its policy of providing homes to Papua New Guineans is a tactful and cunning scheme devised to steal cleverly from the people again to finance their plans of remaining in power and stealing more from the people. Thirdly, Papua New Guineans have had enough of this stealers and it is envisaged that the coming elections will see the removal of power from the stealers who currently are in control. There removal would mean the scraping of this policy. Thus, the question we ask is, what will happen to the K200 million? BSP says “Through the support of the National Government steps are being taken to establish a long-term deposit base which addresses liquidity and market risks associated with long-term lending such as housing finance.” Bull crap is what I can say. See Part 2 next week