Francis Mulungu Potape (born 16 June 1972) was the Governor for

Hela Province Hela is a province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Tari. The province covers an area of 10,498 km², and there are 249,449 inhabitants (2011 census figures). Hela province officially came into being on 17 May 2012, comprising t ...

. He was appointed by the Hela Provincial Assembly after the death of the sitting governor,

Anderson Agiru Anderson Pawa Agiru (died 28 April 2016) was a Papua New Guinean politician. He was the Governor of Southern Highlands Province from 1997 to 2002 and 2007 to 2012 and the Governor of Hela Province from its creation in 2012 until his death. His po ...

. Potape was Petroleum and Energy Minister of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. He was first elected Member of Parliament for Komo-Margarima Open in 2008 and was appointed Minister of Petroleum and Energy in June 2011. His ministerial appointment was rescinded under the disbanding of the

Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 26 February 2021) 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 lo ...

government in August 2011, but Potape was reinstated as Minister of Petroleum and Energy in December 2011, replacing then Minister,

William Duma William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

. Potape has a master's degree in Engineering.

Controversies

2007 Parliamentary Election

In September 2007, former Member of Parliament, Aluago Alfred Kaiabe, challenged Potape’s election as the Member of Parliament for the Komo Magarima Open Seat in the 2007 National Election. The National Court of Justice ruled, in May 2008, that there had been 4,882 votes illegally cast for Potape in his election and that as a consequence, the election for the Komo Magarima Open Seat was void and that Potape was not elected. Potape was subsequently re-elected as the Member for Komo-Margarima, for the United Resources Party, in a December 2008 by-election.

2011 Fraud Allegations

Potape was arrested and charged by the government appointed Investigation Task Force Sweep, on one count of conspiracy to defraud the State and another count of misappropriation in November 2011. The charges relate to payments of PGK60,000 personally paid to Potape by the Komo Magarima District while he was chairman of the Joint District Planning and Budget Priority Committee. The sitting allowance payments were found to be in excess of those approved by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission. He subsequently released a statement criticising the Peter O'Neill government for paying PGK70 million to a hand-picked number of landowners.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potape, Francis Living people 1972 births Governors of Hela Province Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea