by TEDDY KOROBOL
The PNG Unity Games have become a national disgrace under Southern Highlands Governor William Powi, exposing what critics describe as a textbook case of corruption, mismanagement, and outright betrayal of public trust. Awarded hosting rights years ago with great fanfare, the event once known as the PNG Games has been deferred at least seven times due to chronic infrastructure failures, security breakdowns, and repeated excuses that mask deeper rot. By May 2026 the National Executive Council finally pulled the plug again, shifting the 2026 edition to Port Moresby and pushing Southern Highlands’ turn potentially to 2028. Taxpayers have watched helplessly as hundreds of millions of kina vanished into empty stadiums and broken promises.
On 27 May 2026, Karimui-Nomane MP Francis Alua stood in Parliament and demanded answers from Sports Minister Kinoka Hotune Feo. How much money exactly had been funnelled to the Southern Highlands Provincial Government? And would any of it be repaid if the games were kicked further down the road past the 2027 election? Feo’s response was telling: a full investigation into every contract, every payment, and every arrangement is now underway. The NEC has ordered an independent technical and financial audit of all PNG Unity Games projects in the province. It will scrutinise contractor performance, infrastructure quality, financial acquittals, procurement processes, and whether the people of Papua New Guinea received any value for their money after years of delays.
In late 2024 Governor Powi personally handed over more than K20 million to lead contractors for major sporting facilities. Another K30 million was released specifically for the flagship Oiyarep Stadium and related works. Provincial statements admit contractors and service providers received over K50 million in total, while broader claims put the figure in the hundreds of millions across national and provincial budgets. Yet the venues remain incomplete or dangerously substandard. Oiyarep Stadium, the centrepiece of the entire plan, sits unfinished and below national standards. Accommodation, water, sanitation, and safety issues plague the site. Other facilities like Muruk Stadium lag far behind schedule. Athletes, officials, and ordinary citizens have been robbed of what should have been a proud moment of national unity.
Worse still are the serious allegations of self-dealing and fund diversion. Former Host Organising Committee Chairman Sape Molumi, owner of Construct Oceanic Limited, allegedly secured contracts worth between K70 million and K100 million for the Oiyarep Stadium project built on land linked to his own village, raising glaring conflict-of-interest questions. Internal documents reveal that of the K30 million earmarked for the stadium, only K10 million reached the contractor while K20 million was diverted to other activities, including Host Organising Committee operations. Construct Oceanic now claims outstanding payments of more than K48 million for work supposedly completed. Reports also surfaced that K5 million paid to Gravity Construction for works at Western Pacific University produced nothing more than basic foundations. Contractors walked off sites over unpaid bills while others pocketed large advances and delivered almost nothing. Public frustration has boiled over on social media, with many openly calling the entire saga a scam engineered to milk public funds.
Governor Powi has defended the spending, insisting the money supported broader infrastructure upgrades including schools, police facilities, and generators, and that some long-term community benefits were achieved. He labels critics “political pests” and claims the provincial government acted transparently. Yet the pattern is hard to ignore. Powi, in office since 2012, has faced repeated accusations of misappropriation and questionable contracts throughout his tenure. While some older cases were dismissed, the sheer scale of the Unity Games failure millions disbursed, venues unfinished, event cancelled has triggered fresh calls for an Ombudsman Commission probe and a full ministerial inquiry.
William Powi’s legacy may be remembered not for development, but for one of the most expensive and embarrassing sporting debacles in the nation’s history. Transparency on every payment is now the bare minimum the people demand.
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