Compensation and shifting thoughts

Words and pictures By JAMES GUMUNO
THE payment of compensation to settle disputes and wrongdoings has been a culture in some Melanesian communities for a long time.
In the Papua New Guinea highlands, compensation and bride price payments are usually done at the time of the year when there is a lot of money around. This is usually between April and June when the coffee season is in full swing.
Every member of the community participates in these ceremonies at some point and must part, not only with cash, but also garden crops, goods from the shop, pigs and cattle. Some of these events can take years to prepare for.
During this period of general election campaigning, the demand for livestock has gone up markedly, making bride price more expensive. For example, in the highlands, the price of one large pig alone has increased from K4000 to K6000, so you can imagine what several of those will cost.
In one such case last Wednesday, a compensation payment ceremony was held in Mt Hagen between people from Laiagam district in Enga and Palga in Hagen Central to deal with the death of a young girl.
Six-year-old Dalcy Daniel, from Togoba village, was killed when she was struck by a car as she was walking on the side of the road early last month.  The vehicle was owned by a man from Laiagam called Henry Moses.
Dalcy’s people from Palga who live along the Togoba section of the road towards Enga, understood the death to be an accident and didn’t take revenge on other Engans using the road – a form of payback system commonly used in parts of the country.
The Palga leaders maintained control of their people and urged them to maintain order and respect people’s rights to use the road.
This is rare and a breakaway from the norm where retaliation and payback happen as soon as a death occurs.
Usually, if someone from Enga had caused a death, the relatives and tribesmen of the deceased would automatically attack any person from Engan, regardless of the district he or she came from. But for the Togoba people, the move away from avenging the death clearly demonstrated a shift in mindset.
Henry Moses knew the gravity of the situation and understood that he needed to do something quickly in the form of compensation to the girls’ relatives and clanspeople.
The peace offering is not only for himself but for his people in Enga too so they may be able to continue to safely pass through Togoba on their way to Mt Hagen and further on to Lae and Madang.
Last week, 17 days after the accident, Henry and his people paid Dalcy’s relatives K45,000 and 41 pigs.
Palga community leader Tam Pera accepted the compensation payment and said that an accident was an unexpected thing and may happen at any time without warning.
It was possible that the peace offering would not have been accepted and if that had happened then the feeling of animosity and hostility would have remained.
Moses thanked them for accepting his offering and commended the relatives of the deceased and the Palga tribesmen for promoting peace. He said the actions of the Palga tribesmen were an example for others to follow.
Police task force commander Inspector Moses Kalandi, who was at the meeting, commended the two parties for resolving the matter amicably.