Morobe in state of mourning

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday 2nd May 2013

 MOROBE is in a state of mourning following the upsurge in crime, particularly the recent killings in and around Lae city, Governor Kelly Naru says.

He was referring to the mass breakout of 49 prisoners at Buimo jail last month followed by the killing of a seminary student and the alleged rape, torture and killing of a woman in Lae.

Last weekend a young mother was killed at 9-Mile and on Monday a young man was stabbed to death at 11-Mile.

The issue related to death of seminary student Kewa Michael was the main agenda during debate in the Tutumang (provincial assembly) yesterday.

“Death of Michael provoked indigenous Morobeans to protest and prompted the provincial lands transport board to tighten up its monitoring and coordination policy with 60-40 split basis on PMV operations,” Naru told assembly members, including MPs from the province.

He described it as “unscrupulous and a mess” providing inefficient and ineffective service, short-circuiting routes stealing from citizenry.

“The rundown buses have holes through its body structures that one could sit inside the bus, see through the gravel underneath and sniff all the dusts coming up through the holes coupled with unhygienic improperly dressed drivers and crews; and there’s no time to entertain them,” he said.