14 councillors locked up

By ELIAS LARI
FOURTEEN councillors in Southern Highlands were locked up last Thursday at the Mendi police cell after they attacked a district administrator.
They had accused him of misusing funds belonging to a local level government.
The councillors from the Lai Valley LLG in Mendi were angry over the alleged misuse of about K200,000 earmarked for their LLG.
They accused the Mendi district administrator, Lai LLG council president and the LLG chief executive
officer for having something to do with the missing
funds.
A community leader from Lai Valley who refused to be named said the councillors were frustrated that the LLG had not seen much changes in the past four years.
They got word that the funds had been channeled elsewhere.
He said when they met the district administrator in Mendi town, they took out their frustration on him.
The administrator is believed to have been injured during the attack.
Acting provincial police commander Chief Insp Sipron Papoto confirmed that the district administrator was attacked and the councillors had been locked-up.
Papoto said the case
would be properly investigated.
He said taking the law into their own hands was not the way to solve problems.
Papoto said police were on alert during the Christmas and New Year holidays and warned the public not to cause trouble or break the law.
The councillors said they were fed up with corrupt practices in public offices.