Manam issue

WE write in regards to the report on Tuesday’s The National suggesting for the Manam Islanders to move back to their volcanic island.
For goodness sake, some parts of the island are in total disaster and the volcano is still active and can’t hardly welcome the islanders back even thou it is their mother land.
There are available options for the islanders to resettle in the Bogia mainland and the groundwork has already been done.
The National Government has already endorsed the Madang Restoration Authority (MRA) Act, committing funds and appointing the MRA board and that’s fair enough.
Now the Madang provincial government, and the local Bogia MP Robert Naguri needs to come out clear on their path.
The resettlement must be on their top priority list because people have suffered long enough.
What are their immediate plans and budget for the resettlement exercise.
Do they have some available funds somewhere right now that they can immediately commit to the resettlement
exercise because, the authority cannot prolong with consideration of possible option any more but by now they should have a definite option for the resettlement.
The MRA board led by Ken Fairweather must not just sit back because there’s no available funding but come out clear with their plan, budget and timelines so that a clear road map is followed from the start to the end of the resettlement exercise.
There may be other interested sponsors/ parties, from within the country or abroad willing to assist but if there’s still no clear resettlement direction at this stage, they might just turn back.
For us the people, our only means to get our leaders and the authorities to task is the continuous expression of the our heartfelt concern through the open media or other available means because we have waited long enough and if this is not enough we’ll start to petition our leaders right at their office doors whether in Bogia, Madang or at the Parliament house in Waigani.
We call on all the elites of Bogia and those at the position to assist, regardless of your location to stand up for your people and do what you can to get our leaders and authorities to task so that our people must be resettled the sooner.
There’s millions of kina floating around in PNG so get our leaders to task out of their comfort zone.
Our islanders have waited and suffered long enough.

Jerry Ambali (BPN)