Identify landowners properly, mediator urges Govt

By ELIAS LARI
THE Government, through the Lands Department, should identify genuine landowners in any land deal because many issues are surfacing about ownership, a land mediator says.
Baiyer land mediator from Western Highlands Kei Rumba said issues over land ownership led to tribal fighting and killings, especially in the Highlands.
He said in order to put any land issue to rest, the Government should make sure genuine landowners were correctly identified.
Rumba raised the concern after receiving reports that some unknown people were trying to claim ownership of state land at Ruti in Baiyer without consulting genuine landowners. He said this was one of the reports he received and had publicly told the “fake” group not to interfere over Ruti because that could cause problems.
Rumba said as a long-serving land mediator who spent almost his entire life dealing with land issues, he knew that Ruti land belonged to the Epi, Krup and Kopen tribes.