City peace maker passes on

By ALPHONSE BARIAS
James Balwa Mu, tribal leader, former soldier and businessman, held steadfast to maintaining peace throughout his life.
And he worked at ensuring such peace with a zeal very few have.
Peace has been the driving force of his life until the moment of his passing at the Port Moresby General Hospital on Sept 17 this year.
Mu was born in 1958 in Garibagural village in Gumine, Chimbu. He attended Gumine Community School and completed Grade 6 in 1970 and joined the PNG Defence Force in 1971. He served only a short while and resigned in 1974.
Elder brother Jeff Kobila said Mu left the army without letting him know and returned to Kundiawa. He went to and from Port Moresby after that in that period managed to take his parents to Port Moresby.
He also joined the PNG Correctional Services and served for a short while. He worked for some time as wholesale manager with the Collins and Leahy Ltd, one of Goroka’s biggest retail and wholesale operations then. That was when Kobila met him again in Goroka, around 1987/8.
“He was a humble man with an open heart and associated with people from all around the country. He also looked after so many children apart from his own four,” Kobila says.
“He always wanted peace, he was a peace maker who promoted peace through mediation in the typical village style of dispute resolution. He loved people from all walks of life.”
His efforts have been acknowledged both by the National Capital District Commission and the metropolitan police force.
In fact, says Kobila, Mu was able to step in and defuse some of the most volatile and tense stand-offs between different ethnic groups that could have erupted into all-out war.
He assumed the role of mediator and worked with others in various suburbs and settlements around the city to quell tensions brewing.
When his work was widely acknowledge and accepted, he was made the chairman of the NCD Mediation Committee, a volunteer organisation basically which is recognised by the city government and the police force.
“Police sometimes let him to ease tensions and mediate before their stepped in to arrest offenders where necessary or facilitate further dispute resolution,” Kobila said.
His death is a blow to peace keeping in the city.
His work and personality have drawn many people to him and since the haus krai was set up following his death, people have been calling in to give food and spend time with the family.
Two prominent Port Moresby residents who are members of Mu’s Egeku tribe of Gumine are Stanley Alphonse, CEO of PNG Ports Corporation Ltd and Henry Mokono, CEO of Port Moresby’s water utility, Eda Ranu.
Sons Moses Elkui and Jeffrey Mu said their father was not only a well-known peace mediator in Port Moresby, he also had very strong ties to his village and would travel occasionally there to be with his people. His death therefore has shocked tribesmen living away from home and those in the village.
Pending confirmation of arrangements, the body will be flown to Lae on Oct 10 then taken up the highway to Goroka where tribesmen and relatives living there would pay their final respects before he is taken home to Gumine.