Morobe village courts get a boost

JUSTICE

By JACINTA COHLEE
MENYAMYA’S Kokai Village Court is the pilot project of the Morobe law and justice sector to revitalise village court houses in the province.
It is under the policy of the Department of Justice and Attorney General (DJAG) to revive the village court system in the decade (2020-2030) as a crime prevention strategy. The project is also long-awaited recognition and support for village court officials and land mediators because they are the ones dealing with real issues of law and order daily in their communities.
The provincial law and justice sector is taking charge of this under the Village Courts and Land Mediation (VLCM) programme to complete the village court house.
In 2018, during a provincial senior management team meeting in Bulolo, three districts, namely Menyamya, Kabwum and Tewae-Siassi were identified as districts with a high rate of law and order issues including rape, murder, arson, sorcery, drugs, incest and others.
In an effort to address law and order problems, the provincial law and justice sector with support from AusAID visited those three districts and identified key areas of improvement and infrastructure building is one of them.
During the visit, Kome Local Level Government (LLG) in Menyamya was seen as a hotspot for offences like incest, rape and murder. The construction of Kokai village court house was an intervention to address the high level of crime in the area.

Trip to Kome
It was on a beautiful cloudy day that we left Lae at around 11am and were travelling on a bumpy road towards Bulolo.
We arrived at around 4pm, rested for about 30 minutes and hopped in the vehicle and were headed towards Menyamya. We were travelling on the newly upgraded Menyamya road admiring the tall green pine trees as the sun’s rays were gazing through them plantation forest when it made its exit behind the mountains.
It was just the beginning of the trip, and we had a long road awaiting us. We had not even crossed the Bulolo and Menyamya border yet, but we were already tired because of the four-hour drive from Lae up to Bulolo.
Tired and hiding away from the cold and peeping through the dark glass of the vehicle, I could see the rugged mountains of the district overlapping and facing each other.
It is one of the highlands district of Morobe, but it is stunningly picturesque because of its mountain terrain and the mixture of vegetation with fog floating above it making it look like the clouds were just above our heads.
We made a stop to stretch ourselves because we had a long journey awaiting. We walked out of the car only to be greeted by the cold, so we had to go back into the car quickly.
We made another stop at Cold Mountain and this was to tie the event banner. My colleagues and I decided to stay back in the car and watch the staff from the provincial law and justice office walk around the cold. Actually, they were enjoying it.
After Cold Mountain, I slept throughout the last hours of the trip to Menyamya station, which we reached at around 10pm.
We were the last to arrive at the station, at Aule’s Guest House. It is owned by a local and had sheltered many travelers going into the district.
Deputy administrator, social services, Robin Bazinuc and his counterpart in charge of corporate services, Miring Singoling, provincial human resource executive manager, Kusak Meluk, representatives from the police, PNGDF and Correctional Services were there as well to witness the launching.
We slept at the station, but the event was going to be at Kome LLG, which is about another hour and a half drive to the area.
Meluk offered us (the media) a drive to the event location and it was on a Thursday morning when children were going to school; locals going to their gardens as we passed by them.
The people were so welcoming, they waved at us shouting ‘good morning’ and giving us shy smiles as we drove past them.
It was a tiring trip because of the distance and the cold due to the high altitude of the district where the road wove around beneath the mountains which you had to drive zigzagging through. But it was all worth it. Despite the headache and backache, I was honoured to be part of the team to witness the launching of K200, 000 Kokai Village Court house.
The Australian government, through its Justice Services and Stability for Development (JSS4D), provided K150, 000, while the provincial government funded chipped in the balance of the project cost under the 2020-30 policy and strategy of the DJAG.
Provincial deputy administrator Robin Bazinuc highlighted during the event that the district was identified as one of the hotspots for law and order issues in 2018, along with Tewae-Siassi and Kabwum.
“The court house will be a catalyst for further development in all our rural districts and today’s launching will be the start of a 100-miles to go. At the provincial level, we embrace the national policy of establishing village courts.”
According to the deputy director for village courts and land mediations, Chris Kenya, it is a pilot project that in line with DJAG’s village court policy and strategy to rebuild and refurbish village court houses.
The village court house was named Hurrel Hall after former colonial administrator Llyod Hurrel (1917-2012) who was appointed in 1950 as the first district officer for Menyamya. He built and opened Menyamya station between 1950 and 1952.
His son, Don, who was born in Wau in 1954, served in Bougainville, Eastern Highlands, Southern Highlands and Morobe as a police officer.
He later served as programme advisor to Morobe between 2014 and 2022 and his last project was Kokai Village Court.
It was Don’s last project and the first village court house to be built with Australia’s support of Morobe, Hence, Hurrel Hall.