Landowners hurt by unfair dealings

THE recently concluded regional land summit in Madang revealed many cases of exploitation by foreign-owned companies.
It was sad to see so many landowners being emotional after many years of exploitation by developers who used cunning ways to get away with benefits from resources on local people’s land, leaving the landowners with minimal progress in economic and social development.
The landowners were visibly frustrated.
The negative practices of foreign companies can also be found in mining, forestry, fishing and, more recently, power generation.
The Government should look at legislative changes in the current Land or ILG Act to:

• Provide grievance redress mechanisms that landowners can use to review MOAs to address unfair treatment in benefit-sharing. The Fairness of Transactions Act 1993 and the courts can be used but they are too costly for many landowners.
• Ensure all new ILG certificates are monitored and capacity building of ILG administration undertaken to ensure the long-term sustainability of ILG activities.

The Government should heed these concerns before people take matters into their own hands.

Concerned Ples Man
Bulolo, Morobe