NCDC must take over public transport

Editorial

A PMV bus driver is allegedly assaulted by a police officer and all operators decide to pull their buses off the road in protest, leaving thousands of Port Moresby’s commuters in chaos.
Such a situation would be inexcusable elsewhere in the world, but apparently, not in Port Moresby where it is pretty normal for bus operators and their drivers to go on strike at any opportunity when they have an issue with the police or any other government agency.
It causes a lot of inconvenience to people who rely on public transport, especially students and workers.
It was a sad sight yesterday to see hundreds of students, some of them in the middle of their grade 12 examinations, walking to and from school. They have no choice but to walk.
The implication of such action is that the bus operators and their drivers, knowing they provide an essential public service to many people, want to use it as a leverage to their grievances being addressed immediately by authorities.
This is despite being advised by the Transport Department of the proper and official channel to take up any grievances they may have – an effective and responsible way to resolve matters.
They ignored that channel. All public motor vehicle bus drivers and their crews staged another strike yesterday leaving hundreds of people stranded in the capital city.
Their complaint is the alleged assault on a bus driver by a police officer on Monday for blocking traffic. The fare collector on the bus claimed that the policeman dragged the driver out and assaulted him.
The incident was reported to police and under normal circumstances, we would expect police to investigate the matter and possibly lay charges. But that was not to be as word got around and soon enough, nearly all bus operators agreed to do the one thing they knew had always work for them – pull off their buses and make the people suffer.
There was no thought given to the welfare, convenience and safety of the workers and students.
No, the bus operators’ concern again is paramount.
While everyone abhors police brutality, which this case may likely end up as one, and the need to eradicate it completely, there is a proper process of reporting and investigation which should have been followed by the bus operators.
This week is crucial for the hundreds of grade 12 students sitting for their national examinations who need to get to examination halls on time and to be mentally ready for the tests.
Other students in the city’s schools also had to walk long distances through busy traffic to get to school and return home.
There are two issues here.
One is the recurring allegations of abuse of authority and brutality by the police. So must has been said and written about it.
Yet it continues.
Maybe the recent suggestion to raise the entry level of police recruits to tertiary education should be considered seriously and adopted quickly. It will raise the academic qualifications, and level of maturity, among the recruits thus raising the level of performance and approach to police work.
The police force needs to have the best possible people with the right kind of educational and psychological aptitude to carry out its mandate. The problem we have now at the constabulary is that there are too many people who have not been properly educated to handle trouble-makers, ask the right questions and refrain from beating offenders to submission.
Two, is the public transport system. The solution may lie in the complete overhaul of Port Moresby’s public transport system.
There have been too many instances when the people have been made to suffer a lot of inconvenience because the city’s transport system is dominated by individual operators.
The NCDC should now seriously look at taking over the public transport system so that these instances of holding the public to ransom must stop. The bus operators have been given too much leeway. The privilege must be taken away from them. The people have had enough.
Over to you Governor Parkop.