Morobe land mediators sworn in

ALL land mediators in the districts should be sworn-in under oath as required by law in order to be legally recognised, a Morobe government an official says.
Tony Ase, the national functions coordinator at the Morobe government and a member of provincial lands dispute committee, said this at the closing of a lands mediators induction ceremony last week in Bulolo.
Twenty-eight of the 33 inducted participants were officially sworn-in.
The induction ceremony initiated by the committee and saw the participants being updated with the latest knowledge and the updating of records from past years.
Ase said Morobe, with 33 local level government areas, should have 99 land mediators who should all be sworn-in.
The participants’ main concern is for the provincial government to raise their monthly allowance of K50 to K200, in line with a resolution agreed to by all Morobe district administrators during their conference earlier this year.
Ase said land mediation was an important practice in any development process and should be prioritised by the government.
“Land mediation is a noble job and land is a catalyst to development  there is no development, land mediation is a core business in LLGs apart from councillors and magistrates,” Ase said.
“Their job is very important as they pave the way for developments. The government is forgetting the fact that they are at the forefront of development,” he said.
Ase said there was a need to see younger men well versed with local knowledge and customary laws to replace the older men and for districts to meet their uniform and travel costs of land mediators.
The committee in Morobe comprises senior provincial magistrate Mark Selefkairu as chairman, Ase as representative of provincial administration, Awa Naiman and Tarasi Angori as representatives of provincial government and customary lands officer John Lucas as secretary.