Awesa cites lack of respect for leaders

A MEMBER of Parliament yesterday condemned the perpetrators of separate attacks on Chief Ombudsman Chronox Manek in Port Moresby and Deputy Governor of Western Highlands province Benjamin Mul in his North Waghi Electorate.
Francis Awesa said yesterday that both incidents, while separate, were indicative of a dangerous trend developing in society where there was no longer any respect for the law or for leaders.
Mr Awesa said the shooting of Mr Manek outside his home evoked the ugly spectre of a Mafioso-type crime syndicate where officers of the law, judges and others were targeted to frighten them into dropping investigations against certain influential people with links to the criminal world.
He said this was an inevitable outcome in any country where corruption thrived.
“As corruption takes complete control of a society it will come out into the open and those few officers and institutions which stand against its advance will be taken down,” Mr Awesa said.
“The shooting of Mr Manek appears to be premeditated and organised and that can only mean one thing: In his job he is doing something that is getting close to uncovering some corrupt dealings of some big fish. If this is true, then PNG is in deep trouble.”
Attacks such as that perpetrated against Mr Manek and Mr Mul were indicative that respect for and trust in the law enforcement system had broken down completely.
This was further evidence, Mr Awesa said, of corruption becoming entrenched in all aspects of society from the village level up to Parliament.
“They attack leaders at will because they know they will get away with it,” he said.
Mr Awesa called for Government to introduce and pass the Anti-Corruption Act next year which would enable the Anti-Corruption Commission to come into operation to weed out corruption before it got out of hand.