Parkop urges POM residents to take pride in the capital city and change

PORT Moresby should take pride in its status as Papua New Guinea’s capital city by transforming and setting itself up as the role model for the rest of the country.
NCD Governor Powes Parkop last Friday urged city residents to start the transformation and take pride of their police services, basic service deliveries, management of these services, in schools, residents’ behaviours, state of the markets, toilets and other infrastructures because this country needs role models.
Mr Parkop, speaking at the Red Ribbon launch for World AIDS Day at Gordon Secondary School, told the gathering of students that the mindset and attitudes of the people was what could make Port Moresby a city to be proud of.
He said one of the things that needed to change was the way the residents dress.
“Our people dress in plain and dark coloured clothes because they want to be seen as underachievers. They don’t want to dress better to be good looking and smart,” he said. 
“This mindset is a reflection of what is going on in that person’s mind, which in this country is normal but affects us.”
Mr Parkop said this was a bad attitude that needed to be changed to show that Port Moresby had the potential to be the capital city that could uplift and inspire the country.
He challenged everyone to be overachievers as he did his part by working hard to change the physical face of the city. 
“We are the capital, what goes on here is copied elsewhere, if it is good it is copied, if it is bad, it is still copied. So that’s why Port Moresby needs to change and be better.”
He said with the NCD provincial AIDS committee’s initiative to include schools in the fight against HIV/AIDS, he hoped this would also be copied in other provinces so that the messages were kept alive and “we do not become complacent”.
Mr Parkop stressed that creative ideas like these would go a long way in helping stop the spread of the virus, because this was a battle that needed to be won.