The Calculated Assault on PNG’s Institutions Ahead of 2027 Who is Really Pulling the Strings?

by PAUL L. KEBAIJA

With the 2027 National General Election only months away, the battle for the Prime Minister’s chair is already ugly. Two credible contenders stand out: Morobe Governor and Our Party leader Rainbo Paita, whose provincial base makes him a genuine threat, and Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso, the loyal lieutenant James Marape has leaned on since day one. Marape owes Rosso. If anything happens to the Prime Minister, Rosso is the constitutional and political heir apparent.

Yet both men now find themselves under sustained institutional pressure. Governor Paita faces ongoing ICAC scrutiny. DPM Rosso is fighting a live Ombudsman Commission investigation into his leadership disclosures an inquiry the National Court recently refused to halt. These are not random coincidences. They form a pattern.

On 11 May 2026 the Ombudsman Commission, under Chief Ombudsman Richard Pagen, used its reserve powers to refer Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika to the National Executive Council over alleged misconduct. This extraordinary move came after the Acting Public Prosecutor found insufficient evidence for a Leadership Tribunal. The timing is impossible to ignore. By escalating the matter to Cabinet, the Commission has handed the executive a direct lever over the head of the judiciary. The next logical step in such a script is the elevation of Deputy Chief Justice Ambeng Kandakasi a judge with documented professional proximity to URP interests as the new Chief Justice.

Simultaneously, the Ombudsman’s pursuit of DPM Rosso keeps the most obvious successor “busy with allegations,” draining his political oxygen at the precise moment he should be consolidating support. The same institution that is aggressively targeting the Chief Justice and the Deputy Prime Minister has shown curious selectivity elsewhere. This is not the behaviour of an independent watchdog. It is the behaviour of a captured instrument.

The man widely suspected of orchestrating this quiet war is United Resources Party leader William Duma. Duma is no ordinary politician. He is a cold, calculating operator with a long record of king-making and king-breaking. He speaks softly, smiles easily, and possesses the rare political IQ to make people believe whatever narrative he is selling at the time. His public denials of involvement in the controversial Dei by-election where his relative Desmond Kipa ultimately prevailed after a chaotic count that first favoured Sam Koim were classic Duma: calm, plausible, and later undermined by events on the ground.

Right now a highly sensitive investigation is examining selective enforcement and possible political direction of the Ombudsman Commission. Reports indicate Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika has already written to the Australian Federal Police and ICAC seeking an independent examination of Commissioner Pagen’s conduct. When those findings surface and they will the country will finally see which politicians have been giving quiet orders to the Commission.

PNG’s constitutional guardrails are being systematically tested. The separation of powers is under direct assault. An Ombudsman that refers the Chief Justice to Cabinet while simultaneously hounding the Deputy Prime Minister is not protecting the Leadership Code; it is weaponising it. The goal is simple: weaken or eliminate every plausible alternative so that when Pangu’s numbers falter after 2027, only one man is left standing in the smoke.

William Duma has spent years positioning himself as the indispensable broker. The current campaign against Paita, Rosso and the Chief Justice looks like the final phase of that long game. PNG has already gone to the dogs under this style of politics. The only question left is whether the public will recognise the snake before it completes its strike.