Evictions should follow process, says Kaupa

By JACKLYN SIRIAS
ALL Housing Commission evictions should follow due and legal process, says Minister for Housing and Urbanisation John Kaupa.
He told The National following the eviction of Chris Lelang, 53, fand his family at 5-Mile in Port Moresby last Thursday.
The family claimed they were forced out of the house illegally by a National Housing Corporation (NHC) officer.
“If people are suspecting illegal eviction, they should get the name of whoever that is doing the eviction so we can deal with them,” Kaupa said.
He said there were normally two types of evictions.
“Illegal eviction is eviction, about people forcefully removing tenants without further notice. That happens because people with vested interest do that without the consent of NHC,” Kaupa said.
He said proper evictions were done by NHC when the tenants had arrears and did not pay up quickly.
“When you have arrears, the NHC will give you three notices but if you do not adhere to it, NHC will come and evict you under due process and that is proper because there is no freelancing in this country.”
Kaupa said if even NHC officers had not followed due processes to do eviction, then that would be illegal as well.
Meanwhile, National Capital District Metropolitan Superintendent Perou N’Dranou said his office did not have the authority to make evictions.
“We only implement court orders as the process begins with NHC, then to the courts and once the court issues orders we go along with NHC officers to make sure the order is implemented,” he said.
N’Dranou said his office did not and would never authorise any illegal eviction – unless there was a court order in place.