Petitioners condemn management of province

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday 08th December 2011

By ELLEN TIAMU
A GROUP of Morobeans have condemned the financial management of the provincial government and the failure by  politicians to support Ahi landowners and local people start businesses.
Police Minister John Boito and Planning and Monitoring Minister Sam Basil flew from Port Moresby on Monday to receive the petition from a group of Morobeans at NARI’s Bubia station.
The petitioners, consisting of Morobean students and former politicians, said the provincial government and Lae City Authority had failed in the past 10 years to see that law and order was becoming a problem and deal with it.
They said the use of fire power on Morobeans who were trying to voice their concerns had further frustrated the people, especially when local people were trying to fix what the government and police had failed to do in the first place.
Their petition called for the provincial government to be suspended and a caretaker administration be appointed to address law and order in the city.
It called for the Lae urban local level government and Lord Mayor to be suspended and a caretaker administration appointed.
They want an independent auditor to be appointed to audit their financial records.
The petition called for illegal settlers living on state and customary land in Lae and the surrounding areas to be evicted and repatriated immediately by the government to their provinces of origin.
The petition called for all alcohol outlets to be outlawed except at hotels and restaurants and that the Vagrancy Act be immediately implemented in Morobe.
It calls for Lae metropolitan commander Supt Nema Mondiai to be replaced by an officer from a non-highlands province and that Peter Guinness remain as provincial police commander.
The petition calls on the national government to compensate for the deaths of Morobeans who died during the unrest and asked that the police operation be called off within 14 days of it being handed over.
Boito and Basil said the prime minister would be seeking an audience with all nine Morobe MPs and would be making a reply soon.