Sam Basil

Sam Basil (born 16 November 1969) is a Papua New Guinean politician. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since 2007, representing the electorate of Bulolo Open. An outspoken member of the opposition during Michael Somare's government, he served as Minister for National Planning in the first ten months of Peter O'Neill's government, before returning to opposition after the 2012 election. He has been Deputy Opposition Leader since 2012 and the leader of the Pangu Party since 2014. Prior to joining Pangu, he was deputy leader of the People's Progress Party (2007-2011) and deputy leader of the Papua New Guinea Party (2011-2014).

Basil was educated at Bumayong Lutheran Secondary School and was a businessman prior to entering politics, where he was managing director of seafood and aquaculture company BSJ Fishing and Trading. He was also a board member of the Morobe Fisheries Management Authority. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the People's Progress Party at the 2002 election.

He was elected to the National Parliament at the 2007 election for the People's Progress Party, and immediately became its deputy leader, with the party in the opposition. Key issues in his first term were the improvement of district roads, managing issues associated with the Wafi and Hidden Valley mining projects, and occasional ethnic unrest. In 2009, Basil was involved in a deal which saw the people of Bulolo District assigned a half share of the provincial government's share of the Morobe Mining Joint Venture.

In December 2009, he claimed the National Parliament building was unfit for occupation and should be condemned. He was a member of the Public Accounts Committee when it reported, in the same month, that only five out of nearly 1000 government agencies had met accountability and transparency requirements, describing it as a "sign of a failed state" and threatening to resign from the committee if prosecutions were not initiated against those who had misused funds. In July 2010, Prime Minister Michael Somare told Basil during a parliamentary no-confidence vote "if you were outside I would kill you", which received wide media attention.

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