Toni: Lae should learn from PoM

LAE should learn from Port Moresby’s mistake and not let someone from outside represent them, new MP Loujaya Toni says.Following her victory for the Lae open seat and voices of numerous support from around the country, Toni said it was only appropriate that someone from Ahi, traditional landowners of Lae city, retained the seat.She said this was so they did not become like the Motu-Koita people of Central.
Motu-Koita people are traditional landowners on which Port Moresby stands.
Toni said the Motu-Koita people were struggling to retain their identity with unresolved issues over land payments and their leaders were not doing much to help.
She said Lae representatives should know the issues affecting Ahi people and take ownership and responsibility for them. “I am a nationalist but we have to be mindful that we are people who are attached to our land.“Na samting blong yu bai yu lukautim, narapla bai ino inap lukautim (whatever is yours, you’ll look after, someone from outside won’t).”
Toni said an example of leaders not caring about Lae was during the ethnic clash between Morobeans and Highlanders last November when no-one took responsibility and Lae was declared a fighting zone in order for police to quell the situation.
She pointed out that a Lae leader should work for all its residents, settlers, the employed, unemployed and Morobeans alike.
She also outlined plans to make Ahi people skilled and employable so that they did not remain spectators on their land.Toni said while skilled people came into Lae to work or find jobs, Ahi people took for granted that they would remain landowners but much of their land was now owned by others.
She said education was a way of bettering the Ahi people and she would look at making scholarships possible for more Ahi children.