Police minister defends role

POLICE Minister John Boito has urged Nawaeb MP Timothy Bonga not to mislead the people on matters regarding the police force.
Boito said this after Bonga told the media he was the legitimate Police Minister.
Boito said Bonga should not hold himself out as Police Minister because all the MPs appointed as ministers in the Somare camp had been dismissed and that authority was contained in the National Gazette G376 issued on Dec 14.
“In that same gazettal notice, Peter O’Neill was appointed Prime Minister and Belden Namah was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and I was appointed Police Minister,” Boito said in a media conference at police headquarters yesterday.
“As Minister of Police, I have been operating with Commissioner Tom Kulunga at police headquarters – not in a hotel room or somewhere secluded and secretive,” he said.
Boito urged the media not give credence to Bonga and Chief Supt Fred Yakasa who he claimed were illegally holding their respective offices.
He said the Falcon jet saga, which caused a political tiff between Waigani and Jakarta, was being handled at the political level and Nawaeb MP “Bonga should not throw mud unnecessarily at Kulunga”.
“Bonga’s accusations at Kulunga for purportedly allowing police to stage an assembly outside the Indonesian embassy in Port Moresby is uncalled for,” Boito said.