Jean Kekedo | |
|---|---|
 Kekedo in 2017 | |
| Born | Jean Lucilla Kekedo |
| Alma mater | University of South Australia |
| Occupation(s) | Civil servant and diplomat |
| Known for | High Commissioner to the United Kingdom |
Dame Jean Lucilla Kekedo DBE is a Papua New Guinean activist who has held senior roles in the country's public service, including that of Ombudsman and High commissioner to the United Kingdom.
After World War II, Jean Lucilla Kekedo's parents moved from Central Province to Kokoda in what is now Oro Province, with her father, Walter, being given the responsibility to prepare Kokoda for the arrival of Australian officers. Her mother, Mary Kekedo, established a school there, which had 200 children. Kekedo attended this school and later went to school in the provincial capital of Popondetta, where the students had to grow much of their own food. Like her two elder sisters, she won a scholarship to study in Australia, but turned this down in order to go to Rabaul High School in East New Britain. On leaving high school she was offered a scholarship to attend the University of Papua New Guinea but declined as she wanted to be a patrol officer or work in agriculture, both of which were barred to women. [1] [2]
In 1965, she was posted to Milne Bay Province as a welfare officer. There she worked with Alice Wedega (later Dame Alice Wedega), the first Papua New Guinean woman to sit in the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea. In 1968, Jean Kekedo was transferred back to Popondetta, where she was finally persuaded to go to university. Starting out her undergraduate studies at the University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby, she completed her degree at the South Australian Institute of Technology, now the University of South Australia. [1] [2]
At the time Kekedo graduated, before Papua New Guinea's Independence in 1975, there was a strong demand for new graduates to fill relatively senior positions. In 1973 she was appointed as head of Village Development and within six months she was made deputy head of the Prime Minister's Department, as a result of which she spent two months in Canberra after PNG's Independence, training with the Australian administration that supported the cabinet of prime minister Malcolm Fraser. [1]
In 1982, Kekedo became Papua New Guinea's ombudsman. In 1986, she declined the opportunity to serve a second term in this position because of the threats she was receiving. Intending to take a break from being a civil servant, she was then appointed by the minister, Nahau Rooney, without her knowledge, to be Secretary for Civil Aviation. Apparently, the decision was taken because Kekedo had a pilot's licence. Later, Kekedo became head of the Forestry Department, another position with which she found difficulties, because of corruption. In 2002 she was appointed PNG's High commissioner in London. According to her she would have preferred the vacant job as High commissioner to Fiji but the prime minister, Mekere Morauta, decided to send her to London after talking to her children. Her two sons expressed a preference for London because they wanted to see Manchester United play. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Since returning from London, Kekedo has held a variety of positions, both official and charitable. She was a member of the Council of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology from 2013 and appointed chancellor of that university in 2017. In 2021, she was made chair of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary police promotion and selection board, the first woman to hold this position. She is also chair of St. John Ambulance, a statutory charity. [5] [6] [7]
Kekedo was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2020 Birthday Honours. [8] [9] She became the third member of her family to be honoured in this way, after her mother, Dame Mary Kekedo, [10] and her elder sister, Dame Rosalina Kekedo. [11]
Kokoda is a station town in the Oro Province of Papua New Guinea. It is famous as the northern end of the Kokoda Track, site of the eponymous Kokoda Track campaign of World War II. In that campaign, it had strategic significance because it had the only airfield along the Track. In the decades preceding, it had been a foothills settlement near the gold fields.
Education in Papua New Guinea is managed through nineteen provinces and two district organisational units. It is tuition-free and attendance is not compulsory.
Sir Michael Thomas Somare was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the "father of the nation", he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the longest-serving prime minister, having been in office for 17 years over three separate terms: from 1975 to 1980; from 1982 to 1985; and from 2002 to 2011. His political career spanned from 1968 until his retirement in 2017. Besides serving as PM, he was minister of foreign affairs, leader of the opposition and governor of East Sepik Province.
Dame Carol Anne Kidu, also known as Carol, Lady Kidu, is an Australian-born Papua New Guinean politician.
Dame Alice Wedega, DBE was a Papuan politician, educator, peacemaker and conscientious objector.
The monarchy of Papua New Guinea is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of Papua New Guinea. The current Papua New Guinean monarch and head of state, since 8 September 2022, is King Charles III. As sovereign, he is the personal embodiment of the Papua New Guinean Crown. Although the person of the sovereign is equally shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled King of Papua New Guinea and, in this capacity, he and other members of the royal family undertake public and private functions domestically and abroad as representatives of Papua New Guinea. However, the King is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.
Allan S. M. Marat CBE is a Papua New Guinean politician. He served as Minister for Justice and Attorney General in Prime Minister Michael Somare's Cabinet from August 2007 to May 2010. In May 2010, he publicly stated that major mining projects in the country brought little benefit to local communities, workers or businesses. He also "questioned legislation affecting the Ombudsman Commission". Prime Minister Somare consequently asked him to resign immediately, which he did. As a consequence of his resignation, Marat informed the Prime Minister that his Melanesian Liberal Party would "cut ties" with the government. He was replaced as Attorney General and Justice Minister by Ano Pala.
Ano Pala, is a Papua New Guinean politician. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since 2007, representing the electorate of Rigo Open. He is Minister of Justice and Attorney-General in the government of Peter O'Neill.
Peter Charles Paire O'Neill is a Papua New Guinean politician who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2011 to 2019. He has been a Member of Parliament for Ialibu-Pangia since 2002. He was a former cabinet minister and the leader of the People's National Congress between 2006 and 2022. He resigned his position as prime minister to avoid a vote of no confidence, and he was succeeded by James Marape.
Chronox Manek was the Chief Ombudsman of Papua New Guinea from 2008 until September 2012. He hailed from Wambangan village, Boana District, in the Morobe Province and joined the Ombudsman Commission on 3 July 2008. He retired from his position in September 2012 due to declining health.
Akoka Doi, CMG is a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 1977 to 1992, representing the electorate of Ijivitari Open.
Winnie Anna Kiap is a Papua New Guinean former diplomat who served as the Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to the United Kingdom with accreditation to Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, South Africa, and Zimbabwe from 2011 to 2022. In 2022, she was a nominated as a candidate for Governor-General of Papua New Guinea.
Andrée Millar was an Australian botanist who played an important role in the development of the botanical gardens of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and published a book on the orchids of PNG. The orchids, Dendrobium Andrée Millar and Coryphopteris andreae, were named after her.
Dame Rosalina Violet Kekedo, better known as Rose Kekedo, was a leading educator in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the first woman to be chancellor of the University of Papua New Guinea.
Dame Mary Angela Kekedo DBE, BEM was a Papuan educator.
Joanne Clarkson is Deputy Commissioner of Police, one of the top three positions in the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary. She is the first woman to reach this level in the organization.
In 2019, at the age of 24, Raylance Mesa was the youngest winner of the Westpac Outstanding Woman Award (WOW) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for her work to help her island to adapt to climate change.
Justin Wayne Tkatchenko, is an Australian-born Papua New Guinean politician. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Papua New Guinea from 23 June 2022 to 12 May 2023.
Sir Philip Bouraga was a former police commissioner of Papua New Guinea (PNG) from 1979 to 1982, a member of the parliament of the country between 1982 and 1987, the minister of finance from 1982 to 1985, and the country's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1989.