Fairweather calls on Govt to support Manam authority

By SAMUEL BARIASI
NEW Manam Restoration Authority (MRA) chairman Dr Boga Soni Figa should be given enough funding to initiate actual resettlement of the Manam people in Bogia, former MRA chairman Ken Fairweather says.
“I am happy that the National Executive Council (NEC) has appointed Dr Figa as he is a great man,” Fairweather told The National. “Unless they give Dr Figa substantial money to operate, there is no point appointing him as MRA chairman.”
Fairweather resigned in January this year citing a lack of support from the Government.
“K20 million was allocated to MRA in the 2019 budget but we got only K3 million in the 2020 budget.
“We have to resettle 15,000 people and what can we do with that?”
He said the K3 million funding MRA received was used to build a road at the proposed resettlement site, paying the police to stop clashes between Manam islanders and landowners on the mainland, and recruit MRA staff.
Dr Figa, who holds a PhD in environment and fisheries biology, had been engaged as an environmental consultant with the Usino-Bundi district, Morobe provincial government, and Wafi-Golpu Mining joint venture partners since 2017.
He was a project manager for MRA’s resettlement since July 2013 and has 25 years of experience in the mining industry and working with the Government in areas of environment, health and safety, sustainable community development, and project management.
Figa was responsible for MRA’s project documentation, proposals, feasibility studies, management, and development work into the new resettlement site.