P.N.G. Ombudsman finds school inquiry false

Press, 26 November 1981, Page 26

P.N.G. Ombudsman finds school inquiry false

NZPA Port Moresby Papua New Guinea’s prestigious Ombudsman Commission has found that an Education Department Committee of Inquiry falsified evidence to exonerate a high school inspector accused of misconduct.

In its report tabled in Parliament, the Ombudsman said that the commission’s findings had been based on “the failure of certain officers to fulfil their professional responsibilities to the public and the children of this nation, and not because they may or may not be homosexual.” The Ombudsman said the complaint against the school ■nsnector was found to be

justified, and that when shown a draft of the report he resigned. The Ombudsman further recommended that the superintendent of operations in the Education Department’s National Institutions Division, Mr Dennis Donohoe, be dismissed.

In August, three expatriate teachers at Keravat National High School, East New Britain Province — a British couple, John and Elizabeth Medzela, and a New Zealand teacher, Marek Koscjeclecki — were dismissed by the Education Department after the Committee of Inquiry heard their complaints against an allegedly homoSPYlial <mhnnl incnontnr ond

their allegations of a homosexual “clique” in the department’s head office. About the time ■ the Ombudsman Commission showed its draft report to the inspector, who then resigned, the Mendzelas was offered their jobs back. Mr Koscjeclecki had already returned to New Zealand. The Ombudsman Commission said in its report that the earlier Committee of Inquiry’s conclusions had been “biased, dishonest, and untruthful.” The commission found that the committee had been intimidated by certain senior officers of the Education Department "friendly towards