Hold city rangers accountable

 ALLEGATIONS of harassment of innocent people suspected of smuggling betel nuts into Port Moresby by the National Capital District Commission’s city rangers continues to be a major cause for concern.

The city rangers are unemployed young men from the NCD settlements who have been engaged by City Hall to enforce the total ban on betel nut sales in the nation’s capital.

Under Governor Powes Parkop’s master plan to beau­tify the nation’s capital, they have been engaged as casual workers to help rid the city of betel nut vendors and trash.

Before the ban, the city ran­gers targeted residents and other people within NCD but extended their enforcement activities to include rural people travelling into the city when the ban came into effect in January.

Their performance has been woeful, to say the least, and the mounting criticisms and allegations of harassment of innocent people highlight an urgent need for the NCDC to either rein in or disband them.

Seemingly, what started as a genuine initiative is turning into a disaster for the NCD Governor, who has been under all sorts of pressure over the betel nut ban.

Amid constant criticisms by certain sectors of the NCD community and recent concerns by Central and Gulf leaders about the lack of consultation on the ban, the last thing that Parkop needs is a bunch of unruly settlers who think they are authorised to terrorise people suspected of smuggling betel nut into the city.

Many villagers from Gulf and Central provinces travelling into the NCD to sell their fresh produce and other foodstuff claim they are being victimised by this indisciplined force.

Recently, a group of people from Gulf threatened city rangers manning the checkpoint at Laloki on the city outskirts with black magic following claims of constant harassment, theft and insulting behaviour.

One of the aggrieved men from Malalaua claimed that when they arrived at the checkpoint that evening, a city ranger ripped open the zipper of his bag thinking it contained betel nuts and took K2500 and his mobile phone. “The city rangers are continuously harassing us and we are sick and tired. I will use puripuri (sorcery) to punish those who are responsible for the loss of my K2500,” he said.

Another Malalaua man called on the NCD Commission to discipline the city rangers after he lost all his sago and fresh produce during a thorough check by city rangers at Laloki.

As well, he alleged that policemen at the checkpoint allowed the city rangers to forcefully dump his garden produce as he watched helplessly. 

“We respect the betel nut ban put in place by Governor Parkop and will continue to respect it but why are we being treated like criminals. What laws have we broken? We cannot do anything because the policemen laugh and swear at us and allow the city rangers to mistreat us.”

The man warned that his villagers would use sorcery to kill the city rangers at the checkpoint as they have had enough of this mistreatment.

The latest allegation of harassment by NCDC buai ban unit members comes from eyewitnesses, including The National’s senior news reporter Malum Nalu, who witnessed a fatal road accident at Hohola on Tuesday.

Reports indicated the victim, a street vendor, was fleeing from policemen when she ran onto the road and was struck by a vehicle. 

However, Nalu said the elderly woman from Goilala was running away from the “buai rangers” when she was hit and died on the spot.

The Hohola tragedy was widely publicised through the social and mainstream media and even got the attention of Police Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki, who was attending the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police conference in Auckland, New Zealand.

Vaki has ordered an immediate investigation into the incident.

We stand by our journalist’s account of the tragedy and urge Parkop and the NCDC to reconsider the use of brute force to harass members of the public.

The people of the capital city are being by victimised by hooligans masquerading as rangers. 

Moreover, City Hall should not continue to condone the unruly behaviour of city rangers and take immediate measures to discipline or disband the city rangers.