Minister keen on upgrading Menyamya rural lockup

MINISTER for Correctional Services Chris Yer Nangoi wants to repair and upgrade the Menyamya rural lockup in Morobe to enable local police to detain suspects.
Nangoi told the people of Menyamya during his recent visit to the district that the rural lockup was among other 89 rural cellblocks under 22 CS institutions in the country.
The only functional rural lockup in Morobe is at Gagidu Station in Finschhafen.
The Menyamya cell has been closed for almost 20 years.
“In my term as CS minister, Menyamya rural lockup will be one of the first cells I will give a new lease of life to to make police work easier to arrest and detain suspects causing law and order issues in communities,” Nangoi said.
He said that the geographical location of Menyamya posed various challenges in terms of road accessibility and delivery of socio-economy activities.
“Menyamya is akin to my Karkar Island with almost 85,000 people and our rural lockup is yet to be activated,” he said.
“It is too expensive to transport the suspects to Madang while the rural lockup is yet to be reactivated and the suspects are set free without being detained and they continue to cause trouble, disturbing peace in communities,” Nangoi said.
He said he was determined to repair and upgrade rundown Correctional Services infrastructures and advised acting Correctional Services commissioner Stephen Pokanis that Menyamya lockup would be resurrected before the end of the year.