Marape gives law and order priority

 FINANCE Minister and Tari-Pori MP James Marape has given priority to law and order in Hela.

He gave the keys to three 10-seater vehicles to Hela provincial police commander Jimmy Onopia last Wednesday and pledged to give K300,000 to buy firearms soon.

The three vehicles were given to the Hela Task Force, MS10 and to the Tari police station respectively.

Marape said police in Hela would receive special incentives in recognition for their hard work to minimise law and order problems in the PNG LNG project province. 

He said officers who died while serving the people of Hela would be given K100,000 in compensation.

“I want Hela to be at peace, and the special incentives are to make police work harder to deal with the law and order problems we have in our province,” he said. 

“A memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed by the police before their work begins.” 

Marape said he was ready to strengthen law and order in the province so that services would not be hindered.

“Many projects will be coming up in the Tari-Pori district and law and order problems have always become an obstacle to effectively deliver these important projects.

“A minority group cannot always become a nuisance to interrupt the services which the good people are trying to enjoy, police will deal with you accordingly,” he said.

Marape said this was the beginning and more would be done to strengthen law and order in the province.

Accepting the keys to the vehicles, Onopia said police in Hela had been facing transport problems for many years and the new vehicles were important to strengthen their work.

“The vehicles have been purchased from the taxpayers’ money and police seen using the vehicles not for police work will be dealt accordingly,” he said.