Landowner wants case heard in hometown

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Tuesday July 31st, 2012

A FORMER councillor representing the Kofoufa clan of Mondo village in Eastern Highlands, wants his court case regarding ownership of Mt Kerigomna to be heard in Goroka.
Others, who had lodged their claims and had their cases heard at the Kundiawa District Court, Chimbu, had their cases dismissed.
Kofoufa representative Kono Fegoni said he wanted all matters relating to the ownership of Mt Kerigomna, or Kerekomina as it is known to his clan, be transferred to Goroka to be heard as the disputed land was located in the Eastern Highlands province, not in Kundiawa or Chimbu.
The disputed piece of land is 7.5 acres where Mt Kerigomna is situated and on which the Telikom repeater stations are located.
The land was sold to the state by a Kamane Korido, who hailed from Mondo and Ottokane clans in the Pireku villages of Eastern Highlands, in September 1966.
However, in a patrilineal society, the people of Kofoufa clan want the land titles and any royalty payments made to them and not to Ottokane clan, who are the defendants in this case.
Korido’s mother came from the Kofoufa clan and said to have had no right to own or sell the land.