Chronox Manek (died 1 October 2012) was the Chief Ombudsman 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 ...

from 2008 until September 2012. He hailed from Wambangan village, Boana District, in the

Morobe Province Morobe Province is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands P ...

and joined the

Ombudsman Commission An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

on 3 July 2008. He retired from his position in September 2012 due to declining health. Manek survived a 2009 assassination attempt in which he was shot in the arm by four assailants.

Biography

Manek was originally from Wambangan village in the

Boana District ''Boana'' is a genus of frogs in the family Hylidae. They are commonly known as gladiator frogs, gladiator treefrogs or Wagler Neotropical treefrogs. These frogs are distributed in the tropical Central and South America from Nicaragua to Arge ...

. He held a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of ...

from the

University of Papua New Guinea The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is a university located in Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea. It was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired ...

, as well as a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from

Melbourne Law School Melbourne Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of the University of Melbourne. Located in Carlton, Victoria, Melbourne Law School is Australia's oldest law school, and offers Juris Doctor, J.D., Master of Laws, LL.M, Doctor of P ...

, Australia. In 1999, Manek was appointed to the position of Public Solicitor of

. In 2001, he was appointed

Public Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

and also served as co-Chairman of the

International Association of Prosecutors The International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) is a global non-governmental organisation of prosecutors, established by the United Nations in 1995, Vienna. It has 183 organizational members from 177 countries, and individual members. The IAP ...

World Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark; Director of Asia Crime Prevention and Foundation; Director on the International Ombudsman Institute; Vice-Chairman of the Pacific Ombudsman Alliance and he was elected as an Executive Committee Member of the

International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities The International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) is an independent and non-political anti-corruption organization established at its inaugural Annual Conference and General Meeting held in Beijing, China in October 2006. The ...

(

IAACA The International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) is an independent and non-political anti-corruption organization established at its inaugural Annual Conference and General Meeting held in Beijing, China in October 2006. The ...

). Manek investigated charges of corruption by public figures, including former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Sir

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 ...

, and as such, was the target of attacks against him. In December 2009, he was met with gun fire from attackers when returning home, and narrowly escaped death after being shot. Politicians, including the coalition government led by Prime Minister Sir

, had tried to rein in the powers of Manek’s state corruption watchdog, by introducing legal amendments in a bill named the Maladina Bill, designed to undermine the

. In May 2010, over 7500 citizens peacefully protested in the streets of

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

against the controversial draft law. Manek left his position due to illness in September 2012. He died after a lengthy illness on 1 October 2012.

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

Papua New Guinea called his death a great loss for the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manek, Chronox 2012 deaths Chief Ombudsmen of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinean lawyers Melbourne Law School alumni University of Papua New Guinea alumni Shooting survivors People from Morobe Province Year of birth missing