Duma condemns Western Highlanders’ drinking attitude

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
Many people in Western Highlands do not know how to drink alcohol responsibly, Hagen Open MP and Minister for Petroleum and Energy, William Duma says.
He said drinking irresponsibly caused many social problems in communities and Mt Hagen city was no different.
He made the comment last Thursday after presenting K500,000 to the Mt Hagen city authority.
Duma said he did not know why a small city like Mt Hagen had so many licenced liquor outlets.
He said there was no control mechanism on sales.
“People drink like nobody’s business and do not control the amount of alcohol they take and create all sorts of problems in the city,” he said.
Duma said if people drank responsibly, they would not create problems and would respect public property, other people and the business community in the city.
He said the government, city authority and business houses provided vital services, “but people seem to have no respect when they are under the influence of alcohol”.
He said unless the people changed the way they drank alcohol and respected public facilities and business houses, “the service they provide will not last a very long time”.
Duma said people simply had the wrong attitude in the city and other districts in the province.
He said when people went into the city they did not care where they threw their rubbish even though bins were provided in sections of the city.
He said people behaved like they were in their villages and threw rubbish everywhere.
Duma challenged community leaders and educated people in every community to take responsibility to educate their people.
Meanwhile, deputy governor Wai Rapa said because of law and order problems in the city many business houses had already left the province.
He said many business houses now operated in fear and that was not good for the city.
Rapa said locals especially, the Jika and Moges, “must respect the city and look after it”.
He said locals must make the environment conducive for investors to develop their area and create more employment opportunities.
Rapa said many locals put up poorly designed buildings in the city without getting approval from the provincial physical planning board.
He said people must follow proper procedures and get approval from the concerned authorities before putting up any building.