Leader calls for grog ban

By ELLEN TIAMU
A COMMUNITY leader in the Sialum compound and Boundary Road settlement wants leaders of the province to consider banning the sale of alcohol.
Wilson Kassa said the availability of alcohol, homebrew and illicit drugs there was contributing to lawlessness.
Kassa said often police were slow to respond to calls for help and hooligans in the area were doing as they pleased after drinking alcohol and smoking drugs.
He said community leaders, councillors and provincial authorities should look at the root causes of lawlessness in settlements and find ways to rectify them so lives could be improved.
Kassa said leaders were too busy talking about national and provincial matters and turning a blind eye to what was happening to the little people.
He said police were to blame because, many times, they knew the hotspots in Lae but failed to go there to monitor what was happening and arrest those who were drinking in public and being a nuisance.
He said the illegal sale of homebrew and alcohol was going on and no one seemed to care.