MP ‘flashes’ K100 notes

By ZACHERY PER
CHIMBU Governor Fr John Garia allegedly used his wallet, filled with K100 notes, to attack a mechanic in Goroka, Eastern Highlands, on Wednesday
night.
Garia had reportedly gone to mechanic John Babka’s premises to retrieve one of his vehicles.
But, when Babka asked for
the settlement of an invoice he gave Garia for the maintenance of the vehicle, the governor reacted aggressively.
“You want money, here is the money and, if you want some more, the money bag is in the car,” Garia said as he pulled out his wallet and slammed it on Babka’s head, eyewitnesses said.
Eyewitnesses John Taul, Paul Auwo and Manua James said K100 notes spilled out of Garia’s wallet and scattered around him.
“Out of respect for him, as a mandated leader, I urged onlookers and witnesses to collect his money, including identification, passport photo and other valuable items and returned them to him,” Babka said.
Garia insisted that Babka take the vehicle to the Goroka police station despite not having settled the maintenance bills, which had remained outstanding for six months.
Babka had been given the vehicle by one of Garia’s staff in June to carry out maintenance. But, when an invoice was given to him, Garia refused to settle the bill and asked for the vehicle to be returned to him.
Garia was reported to have tried numerous times to take the vehicle from Babka without settling the bill, but without success.
He then approached Babka on Wednesday and hit him on the head with his wallet.
Garia then got help from Eastern Highlands provincial police commander Augustine Wampe, settled part of the bill and took the vehicle to his (Garia’s) Arabica Coffee estate.
When contacted, Garia confirmed approaching Babka, taking out his wallet and telling him “if you want money, the money is in the wallet”.
He said Babka had been using the vehicle for personal runs while he had been working on it.
Garia maintained that part of the bill would not be settled because of that.
Wampe urged Garia to allow proper procedures to take their course and not to incite opportunists to take advantage of the situation.
He appealed to the two men to respect the rule of law and to stop taking the law into their own hands.
In September, one of Garia’s five-door 10-seater vehicles was burnt to ashes in Gembogl, Chimbu, during the 36th Independence anniversary celebrations.
Kundiawa-Gembogl MP Tobias Kulang led the people of Gembogl to gather cash, foodstuff and live pigs to reconcile with Garia several weeks later.