Gaiwata offered money at road block, say police

POLICE have accused Morobe Deputy Governor Morokoi Gaiwata of offering cash to officers at a roadblock so that he could travel to Bulolo.
Gaiwata was stopped last Thursday at a police roadblock in Lae with his wife and two others in a vehicle he was driving.
Police officers at the roadblock reported that Gaiwata, who is president of the Waria LLG area, in Bulolo district, offered them cash, which they refused.
The roadblock, set up at the 9-Mile junction to Bulolo outside of Lae, was part of the paolice operation under the government’s “fighting zone” declaration in the city following the ethnic uprising in which Gaiwata was attacked.
The officers said that between 7pm and 8pm, they were doing routine checks on vehicles and became suspicious of Gaiwata’s vehicle which had stopped some distance from the roadblock.
They approached the vehicle and ordered everyone out. They asked for identification and checked the vehicle where they found unopened bottles of beer in the front.
A male passenger in the back was drunk and had an opened bottle of beer in his hand, police said.
Another man who Gaiwata named as his purchasing officer fled into the darkness.
Police reported that Gaiwata told them he was the deputy governor and that he was travelling back to Bulolo with his wife and the men.
When they refused the cash, they said Gaiwata changed his mind and returned to Lae.
Attempts to get a comment from Gaiwata were unsuccessful. Calls to his cell phone were not answered yesterday.
The police officers condemned his beha­viour, which they described as irresponsible.
The police officers said they were doing their best to uphold the law to promote peace in the community but some leaders were not helping.