Court declares board members’ appointment to be proper

A COURT has ruled that Aken Puluku and three others were properly appointed as board members of the Porgera local level government Special Purposes Development Authority .
National Court judge Justice Hitelai Polume-Kiele said the meeting conducted on April 7 this year to appoint the board was conducted in accordance with the procedures prescribed under the Organic Law on provincial and local level government processes.
She also found that the appointment of Puluku, Mande Kaima, Jones Pawe and Henry Lara as board members was valid under the constitution of the authority.
Puluku and the other plaintiffs had sought declaratory orders that their election on April 7 was valid.
The authority was established on Nov 12, 1998, for the benefit of its Porgera Special Mining Lease Landowners.
It manages the Porgera SML Landowners’ Trust Account, Porgera Special Mining Lease Young Adult Account, Porgera SML Children’s
Trust and the Porgera Special Mining Leases’ landowners.
The authority is the conduit for the flow of benefits to the Special Mining Lease landowners.