Kwa clarifies issues during church meet

By BRADLEY MARIORI in BOANA
DEPARTMENT of Justice and Attorney-General secretary Dr Eric Kwa clarified a number of issues raised during the 32nd Evangelical Lutheran of PNG synod in Boana, Morobe, yesterday.
Among them were an amendment to the constitution to declare PNG a Christian country, PNG’s stance on West Papua, HELP student loan scheme, the death penalty and law and order issues affecting the country.
Kwa said the amendment of the constitution to declare PNG a Christian country was before the National Executive Council (NEC).
He said the West Papua issue which many Papua New Guineans blamed the government for turning a blind eye to was addressed by the foreign affairs minister but it didn’t go down well with many people.
“We are working on PNG’s position on West Papua which was an agenda that was raised on Monday and I want to clear you on that,” he said.
Kwa said the death penalty would not be imposed until Papua New Guineans’ views were obtained on what they thought about it.
“Thirteen men are now ready to die. The Government had made a decision last year not to implement the death penalty yet,” he said.
“This year, we will go around the country collecting views from the people whether the death penalty should be imposed.
“We have to get everyone’s view, everyone’s view first and then we’ll tell the government what the result is and whether to implement the death penalty or not.”