Belden Namah

Namah originates from Vanimo near the border of Indonesia.[2] He joined the military and graduated from Australia's Royal Military College Duntroon. He received training for a Special Forces Unit (SFU). During the Sandline affair he played a major role as one of the five PNG Defence Force officers who captured Tom Spicer, the leader of the mercenaries. The Sandline company of mercenaries were hired by the PNG government to recapture the Panguna mine on Bougainville island and quell the insurrection there.[3] The SFU refused to collaborate with the mercenaries and this refusal was crucial in the failure of the intervention by mercenaries to come off.[4] Namah and his companions were afterwards sentenced to six years imprisonment for mutiny despite a political outcome vindicating Namah and the SFU.[5][6][7][8] Namah was paroled in 2003 and pardoned in 2005.[9] Julius Chan was Prime Minister at the time and declared in his memoirs in 2018 to have no regrets of his handling of the affair.[10]

In 2007, he entered Parliament as a member of the National Alliance Party and became minister of Forestry and Natural Resources in the Somare-Temu cabinet.[11] In 2010, he resigned from the Cabinet and joined Mekere Morauta and the Papua New Guinea Party. Namah became a major participant in opposition leading to the overthrow of the Somare government. Namah subsequently became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Forestry and National Resources in the O'Neill-Namah cabinet during the PNG Constitutional Crisis from 2011 to 2012. Namah retained his seat in the 2012, 2017 and 2022 elections. He lost his Cabinet post after the 2012 election, becoming Opposition Leader from 2012 to 2014.

After he was deposed as Leader of the Opposition in 2014, he tried to become Governor of his home province, Sandaun Province. This post was vacant because the election of Amkat Mai was nullified and could be filled by another MP in the province. Namah proclaimed to be interim Governor and mobilised support among local politicians, which was challenged by the provincial administration. The dispute was revolved through a by-election for Governor in April 2015, which Namah later withdrew from. Amkat Mai's appeal against disqualification was successful and he was returned as Governor.[12][13][14] In April 2018, Namah was dismissed from office by the Leadership tribunal.[15] Namah was soon readmitted as a Member of Parliament in July 2018.[16] In the meantime, Namah appealed to the National Court against the decision of the Leadership Tribunal. The National Court confirmed to stay his expulsion as long as his appeal against the decision of the Leadership tribunal was under consideration.

Namah became de facto leader of the opposition where he fronted two initiatives to seize power. First, he challenged the succession of O'Neill by James Marape in court, which he lost.[17] Secondly, he led a campaign to mount a vote of no confidence to replace Marape with Patrick Pruaitch. This attempt failed after the opposition camp split between Pruaitch and Sam Basil. The supporters of Sam Basil returned to government alongside Pruaitch, but Namath remained in the opposition.[18] Namah proceeded again with an attempt to mount a vote of no confidence and backed Peter O'Neill as Prime Minister.[19] In 2022, Namah announced he would leave the opposition and join the government benches. He was appointed in September 2022 as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Parliament Committee.[20]

Namah was Minister of Forestry and Natural Resources when the possibility for Special Agricultural Business Licenses (SABL) was legislated, which offers light regulation if a community makes an agreement with the logger. In this case the logger is expected to return money to the community with the intention to enable sustainable economic activity in the area. SABL are meant to facilitate logging concessions and use the proceeds to stimulate economic and social development that will last after the concession is exhausted. There are widespread accusations that these licenses are window-dressing for parasitic logging operations.[38] Such accusations have also been made against the Bewani SABL.[39] The National newspaper, which is owned by Malaysian logging company Rimbunan Hijau, published an article claiming that the project was not in control of landowners but was owned by Bewani Oil Palm Plantation Limited (BOPPL). The paper had to retract accusations that BOPPL had not invested in projects benefiting the communities and that the majority of landowners did not support the project. It also had to withdraw the accusation that the projects were mostly about logging. The area had been logged before and is covered with secondary vegetation. It also had to retract any doubt on the legality of the project beyond saying that certain matters are before the courts.

Production had started in 2018 but faced issues in 2020 when Indonesian workers did not turn up due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. National workers were therefore less important than claimed before. Namah portrays Bewani SBL and POPPL as independent from him, but he presented himself then as part of the management of POPPL.[40] Namah is frequently associated with Malaysian business interests. Malaysian logging interests also appeared in a story about the interception of the government's Falcon jet by Indonesian fighter jets. The PNG government plane was on a journey from Sabah to Port Moresby and had onboard not only Belden Namah and other PNG politicians but also Malaysian loggers and US$250 million in cash.[41][42]

When Namah became Deputy Prime Minister in 2011 he declared that any government he might lead would aim to provide free universal education (noting that education was "a right guaranteed under the constitution"), healthcare, and to "fix the law and order problem in this country". In that regard, discipline would be instilled by compelling prospective students to undergo a two-year military service before entering university. There would be support for Papua New Guinean scientists working on climate change. He also said he supported the Somare government's bill on introducing reserved seats for women in Parliament.[43]

During his time in opposition he increasingly promoted himself as a pro-business candidate. In the run up to the 2022 election he advocated for the privatisation of state enterprises. Instead of government involvement in resource projects, he wanted landowners and local businesses to be involved. He proposed a massive agricultural expansion through plantation agriculture and extensive outgrow schemes for small farmers. He claimed that the PNG economy was import-driven and that he wanted to turn that around to an export-driven economy.[44]

Belden Namah is a Seventh Day Adventist.[45] He is married with children. He enjoys sports, especially rugby league.[46]