by Kevin Pamba
Highlands MPs must unite
The Highlands region has the highest
number of members in Parliament. There are 39 of them. The
Highlands MPs are not known for unity and cooperation on matters
of mutual benefit to their region.
Instead, the region’s political leadership tends to reflect the
tribal and ethnic divisions. One case in point in the division
is the fact that each of the five Highlands provinces went to
the 2007 polls with a minimum of one political party and a party
leader each.
Eastern Highlands had Bire Kimisopa at the helm of United Party;
Simbu had Stars Alliance Party led by its founder Clement Waine;
National Party with Joe Mek Teine as
president; and Yumi Reform Party with Peter Kamis as the leader.
Western Highlands had People’s Democratic Movement led by Paias
Wingti and Country Party under Jamie Maxtone-Graham.
Enga had People’s Party with Peter Ipatas at the helm.
Southern Highlands had Hami Yawari as founder and leader of
Conservative Party and Anderson Agiru as founder of United
Resources Party.
Aug 13 will go down in history as an exceptional time when a
majority of the Highlands MPs came together in unison in the
National Alliance-led coalition and helped form the new
government.
Only eight MPs from the region did not vote for the Prime
Minister, hence they are now members of the 21-man Opposition.
Apart from the Highlands Members from NA and its pre-election
coalition partners, the others moved to the Kokopo camp to be
“in government” as in the words of vocal Anglimp Souths Waghi
MP, Mr Maxtone-Graham on FM 100 the night before he flew to
Kokopo with fellow Country Party MP Jim Nomane (Chuave). Mr
Graham and Mr Nomane have since allowed their party to merge
with Pangu Pati.
It seems the majority of the Highlands MPs spoke in unity “to be
in government” not as a group but as individuals and in the
small factions they were in when they flew to Kokopo.
One can but hope that majority of the Highlands MPs who are in
the government would use this opportunity to fight for the
collective welfare and development of the region besides their
individual electorate.
Among all the challenges, what stare the 39 Highlands MPs in the
face are the ceaseless law and order problems. They are a major
concern for the region and that continues to stick out like a
sore thumb. It stands in the way of progress in the region.
How the Highlands MPs respond to one seemingly isolated criminal
act that grabbed the nation’s attention in Togoba in the Western
Highlands province early this month provides an insight into how
the leaders from the region will react to regional concerns
in the course of the Eighth
National Parliament and beyond.
None of the 39 MPs condemned the blatant criminal attack on the
truck of East West Transport, along the Highlands Highway at
Togoba.
The alleged perpetrators were reportedly local villagers
disappointed with the result of the Western Highlands regional
seat. What has the election result got to do with the truck of a
trucking company going about its normal business?
No Highlands MP stood up to utter a word against yet another
example of the ongoing criminal attack on businesses in the
region. Maybe it was too sensitive a political issue that the
leaders instead left the matter in the hands of law enforcement
agencies.
East West Transport is among trucking companies and other
businesses that continue to suffer at the hands of lawless
Highlanders who have no regard for the rule of law and common
sense.
Trucking firms continue bear the brunt of lawlessness in the
Papua New Guinea’s most populous region.
Not a week or month pass by without a truck being attacked. Some
day, somewhere in the Highlands, a trucking company has its
truck held up, stripped, burnt, cargo looted and driver
attacked. The criminal attacks on trucks are an ongoing dilemma
that the trucking companies take the risk factor into the costs
of operation.
The Highlands MPs know the continuous attack on trucks, the
lifeline of the region ferrying imports in and exports out via
the port in Lae. They know that without these trucks, the
Highlands’ economy would collapse and normal life would be
affected.
The political leaders also know keeping law and order is a major
issue in the region.
The wanton destruction to a truck that costs tens of thousands
of kina to buy and operate is not only a matter for East West,
police and WHP.
As much as it is a matter for those immediately concerned, it is
reflective of the lawlessness that continually haunt the
Highlands region.
This region is often associated with lawlessness. The world
knows this.
The silence of the 39 Highlands MPs over another criminal attack
on an innocent truck belonging to a major trucking company that
has served the region through thick and thin is deafening.
It also reflects how responsive the Highlands political leaders
can be on issues of mutual interest to the region that is the
economic the nation’s economic base.
Some major national and regional concerns presently confront the
Highlands. They require the collective attention of the 39 MPs.
These include crime, tribal warfare, drugs-for-guns trade,
proliferation of illegal guns, unemployment, continuous
migration of Highlanders to coastal towns, population increase
and resultant land shortage, and a HIV/AIDS situation on the
verge of exploding into a major crisis.
The 39 Highlands MPs can no longer act as extensions of tribal
or ethnic leadership or representatives of their electorate and
province only. Their provinces are landlocked and linked by one
road – the Highlands Highway. What happens in one province has a
contagious or copycat effect on the next.
The 39 Highlands MPs, irrespective of their position in
Parliament, must unite to address the major issues affecting
their region. It is in the mutual interest of their region and
the nation.
