Act amendments on church done, will be presented to Palt

National

By LULU MAGINDE
THE Government says amendments have been made to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea Act (1991) and will be presented in Parliament next week by Tewae-Siassi MP Dr Kobby Bomareo.
The previous government had thrown out the Act without the knowledge of the church in 2014, which was why the head bishop and members of the church, wanted to see the original Act restored.
Speaking at an event at the synod on Wednesday, Attorney-General of Papua New Guinea Dr Eric Kwa explained that because churches were recognised as non-governmental organisations by the state, it all depended on the efforts of the individual members to raise church matters in government.
“The original act is in Parliament, he (Bomareo) was asked by the church to present the amendments next week, in his position as the vice-minister for National Planning,” Kwa said.
Bomareo has been in talks with the Government for some time now and appealing to MPs to support the amendments of the act.
Kwa urged MPs present at the synod on Wednesday to support their churches and that Bomareo would be in passing the amended act.
He said although he was in a government department, he could not do anything as he only dealt with law reforms.