OUR education sector seems fated to be embroiled in never-ending turmoil. Last Friday came the news that long-serving Education Minister Michael Laimo must stand aside from his seat of Bougainville South following an appeal from close national election runner-up Steven Kami.
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MR Laimo’s winning margin was always a matter for discussion and debate; finally just 17 votes separated the sitting Member and his challenger. Further interest was added by the parties the two men represented – Michael Laimo is a National Party member while Steven Kami stood for Bart Philemon’s New Generation.
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THE voters of the electorate and the officers and staff of the Education Department now must wait the outcome of a court-ordered recount in 30 days. Results aside, we can only hope that politically the department does not become a rudderless ship in the interim.
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GOOD morning to you. The early history of PNG is dotted with ad-hoc decisions taken to solve immediate problems. Some of those decisions stayed firmly in place and had an on-going effect upon our country. One such was supposedly made by Sir Hubert Murray, who reportedly became tired of territorial wrangling between the missions; taking a pencil he subdivided a map into religious spheres of influence.
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THE existing major missions followed instructions. The result has been a fascinating patchwork of names associated with the nationality of the missionaries. Early Catholic and Lutheran influence was strongly German, so the northern part of the country produced many a young Herman, Ludwig, Helmut and Otto; Frieda, Anna, Emily and Rachel became their female companions.
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SIMILARLY, Milne Bay and Oro provinces, strongly Anglican in influence, produced a remarkable amalgam of ancient Saxon names and a bushel of contemporary name adaptations of writers and statesmen. Alfred you might expect, but Alfric also appeared; Bede and Edgar and even Edric occurred, while we recall a good friend whose first names were Rudyard Kipling and another who glories in Rob Roy.
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THE ladies of the area were not to be outdone; we have met Dorcas, Philswide, Frideswide, Hilda and Freya. Many of those names remain current – one of our more colourful colonial legacies. Cheers!
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- Dee Nesenolis