Landowners urged govt to honour commitment

LANDOWNERS from the Aporo’Urri Resource Owner Association are calling on the national government to honour a commitment they made 14 years ago.
Aporo’Urri Resource Owner Association chairman Paul Yawe, his executives and affected landowner representatives from Moran to Kutubu want to know when the government will honour that commitment.
Yawe is appealing to the government to hear their plea and pay out some of their long outstanding payments.
Some of the associations that are affected are Namo Aporo Landowners Association, Foe Landowners Association, Gobe Landowners Association, Moran Landowners Association (PDL 5 and PDL 6).
“You (government) came to me to sign and I signed and we gave you our land and oil and after all these years, there is no proper development, services and benefits to my people,” he said.
“We are still living in sago thatched houses. I am appealing to the state to listen to the cries of the little people because they have suffered for far too long,” he said.
Aporo’Urri Resource Owner Association secretary Douglas Fayiabe said the poor landowners had been neglected and it was time the government gave what was rightfully theirs.
 “You can say Southern Highlands is a multi-billion kina province but where can the landowners fit in the billion kina.
“We were offered the Kutubu agreement and the government was happy for us to sign and since then, that agreement has been the same … it has never been reviewed.”
Fayiabe said the state must be fair in sharing the resources and the landowners must get the
maximum benefits as was the practice in other countries.