Christopher Karaiye

Christopher Karaiye is a Papua New Guinean lawyer, economist and author. He was born on the 27th July 1980 at Nagop village, Ialibu (Imbonggu), Southern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. At birth he was named "Tendako" (which literally means in the Imbonggu dialect, "one" or "peace"). Both his illiterate parents lived largely on subsistence farming. After his father, Morgeniye Kema Yawaiye, died on the 18th October 1984, his mother, Pilembo Kema Karaiye, took him and his siblings to her village, Popuril (Kume), also in Ialibu (Imbonggu). They reside there.

Chris holds Bachelor of Laws with Honours, Bachelor of Business and Management with Honours (economics major), and Bachelor of Economics degrees from the University of Papua New Guinea. He won several prestigious awards as a student.

He worked as an economist for a year (2005-2006) at the Papua New Guinea Department of Treasury. He also taught undergraduate subjects in law, economics, banking and finance for over 11 years at the University of Papua New Guinea (2004 & 2006-2010 & 2013) and Divine Word University (2011-2012 & 2015-2016).

He practices law since 2011. He founded a Law Firm, Morgens Lawyers, on 11 January 2018 and is based in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. He advocates in the District Court, National Court and Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea. He was the counsel assisting in a number of prominent and controversial cases between 2014 and 2017, when he worked as the legal officer for the former Investigation Task Force Sweep - a Papua New Guinean government's inter-agency anti-corruption body. This entity was later abolished by the government and replaced it with the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

Mr. Karaiye authored the book, "Administrative Law and Judicial Review in Papua New Guinea (2019)" and was published by Notion Press, Chennai, India. He also co-authored a law textbook entitled "Legal Systems of the Pacific: Introducing Sixteen Gems (2021)" edited by Professor Jennifer Corrin (University of Queensland, Australia) and Emeritus Professor Tony Angelo (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) .The book was pubished by Intersentia Publishing, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Mr. Karaiye also presented various papers in International Conferences including the prestigious Melbourne Forum 2021: Constitution Building in Asia and the Pacific, Session 3: Constitutional frameworks for international investment - PNG as a case study hosted by the University of Melbourne, Australia. He also presented (via webinar) a paper on PNG's Climate Change Legal Framework at the Masterclass series for Parliamentarians in the Pacific: Building back better by supporting women, peace and security, UNDP, 11 November 2021.