Don’t sell your land, says Lae clan leader

A CLAN leader in Morobe province has spoken out against landowners in the city who have been engaged in the sale of customary land to business houses and outsiders.
Clan leader and Bosolum and Sankwep Kawa clan spokesman, Pongi Karok, called on the 14 clans of Kamkumung and Butibam to refrain from selling land until the final outcome of the Lae city land case at the National Court.
Mr Pongi said in a statement that due to the influx of migrants into settlements, law and order problems were also on the rise.
“Some people had been entertaining these migrants, and thus, allowing them to purchase land cheaply,” he said.
Mr Karok said the breeding ground for criminal elements and the main causes of law and order problems in the city were triggered  by the creation of a new settlement by those who sold their land.
A National Court order issued last March 9 restrained the Ahi people from holding themselves out as landowners of Lae city land, whilst pending the determination of the matter by the Land Titles Commission.
The court also ordered that the provincial government and its administration be restrained from dealing with, negotiating or giving an opportunity to the Ahi people and any other party of groups calling themselves owners of the Lae city land, Mr Karok said.