John Giheno, (1949 – 20 March 2017) was a

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

politician and government minister. Giheno served as acting

Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea The prime minister of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea () is Papua New Guinea's head of government, elected by the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea, National Parliament and formally appointed by the Governor-General of Papua New ...

from 27 March until 2 June 1997, following the resignation of then Prime Minister

Julius Chan Sir Julius Chan (29 August 1939 – 30 January 2025) was a Papua New Guinean politician who served as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1980 to 1982 and from 1994 to 1997. He was Member of Parliament for New Ireland Province, having won t ...

. Prime Minister Julius Chan resigned on 27 March 1997, following a scandal regarding the hiring of foreign

mercenaries A mercenary is a private individual who joins an War, armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rath ...

to fight rebels on the island of Bougainville. The use of mercenaries by the Chan government resulted in a

Papua New Guinea Defence Force The Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Papua New Guinea. It originated from the Australian Army land forces of the territory of Papua New Guinea before independence, coming into bei ...

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military or a crew) to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, ...

codenamed 'Operasen Rausim Kwik' and riots in Bougainville. Chan stated that he resigned to preserve peace in Papua New Guinea. The Cabinet chose John Giheno, who was serving as the

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

and

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

Minister at the time, as acting Prime Minister until new elections could be held. Giheno served as Prime Minister as a caretaker until new elections could be held in June 1997. Sixteen government ministers in the Chan government, including both Giheno and Chan, lost their seats in Parliament in the June 1997 general election. In the 1996 New Years Honours List he was appointed a

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(CMG).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giheno, John 1949 births 2017 deaths Prime ministers of Papua New Guinea Government ministers of Papua New Guinea Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea People's Progress Party politicians Ministers for foreign affairs of Papua New Guinea