Government failed to equip police, says Wenge

National, Normal
Source:

The National – Tuesday, June 14, 2011

By GABRIEL LAHOC
THE national government has got its priority wrong by failing to equip the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary and seriously developing it into a formidable force, Morobe Governor Luther Wenge said.
Wenge said in the aftermath of the destruction in the attack by Morobeans led by Kabwums against Western Highlands settlers in the Back Road area in Lae, Morobe.
The attack has seen the people and innocent victims calling on the authorities and Morobe leaders to help them in any way possible.
“It’s not the job of Wenge to deal with these people, especially criminals in settlements.
“It is the job of the Royal PNG  Constabulary.
“You cannot ask me to be a policeman.
“I am not trained and their constitutional duty.
“And that duty was never delegated to any other person,” Wenge said.
The failure by the Lae police to control the mobs was the result of a shortage of trained officers and logistical support, metropolitan commander Supt Nema Mondiai said.
Mondiai accompanied Wenge last weekend to respond to the expulsion petition presented by the Kabwums.
Concerned citizens of Morobe were worried that the increasing demand for police presence in hot spots and mining and petroleum development sites around PNG would result in a total breakdown of law and order.
The affected Western Highlands community in Lae will meet and petition Wenge today, exactly a week after the murder of a Kabwum youth, which triggered the senseless retaliatory attack.