PM urges people to be vocal about violence

By JUNIOR UKAHA
PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill has urged people to speak up against violence in their communities.
O’Neill said this in light of recent incidents involving people being tortured and killed over sorcery allegations, and violent acts against vulnerable groups.
He was in Lae, Morobe, yesterday to witness the graduation of 36 students at the Martin Luther Seminary.
O’Neill said he never witnessed or heard of sorcery-related killings while growing up in his village in Pangia, Southern Highlands.
He never saw men beating up their wives and mothers.
“I don’t know about you, but I did not see these things when growing up in my village some 40 to 50 years ago,” O’Neill said.
“We cannot just simply be by-standers in this.
“When we see that something is wrong, we must speak up.
“What is happening today is that when the police go to investigate, the tribe decides to take control of the situation protecting those people committing vicious violence against other citizens.
“The tribe says it’s okay, we will pay compensation.
“It has now come to a stage where we will have to legalise the process of paying compensation so that it does not overtake the judicial system in our country.
“We are protecting murderers and people who are very violent because we believe they are our family and members of our tribe.”