Probe into burning of houses by officers

 POLICE are investigating an incident that ended in several houses being burnt and one vehicle destroyed at Paiam village in Enga last week, provincial police commander George Kakas said.

Preliminary findings revealed that the incident started in the police barracks involving children of officers in the barracks. 

Adults later joined in to support their children,. which led to the assault of an officer by a member of the Kuringin tribe, Kakas said.

He could not give an exact account of the police involvement in the incident on Feb 1 because he was receiving different stories of the incident and they needed to be investigated.

He sent officers to gather information on the incident and said some houses and a vehicle were destroyed. “For now, I will be putting in a full investigation and then I’ll take further actions,” he said.

Kakas said police were to  follow appropriate protocols and procedures in executing the law.

One of the victims, Angela Ereman, said policemen arrived at 4am and took them by surprise. They were held at gunpoint while the police allegedly burnt properties, gardens and killed animals.

Another victim, Winnie Nanze, said they had lost everything because they were forced out of their houses without being able to save anything from the fire. 

A senior police officer who did not want to be named said the police operation was done after someone from the Kungurin tribe punched a senior police officer living at the Paiam Police Barracks. 

But Kungurin tribe spokesman Tonny Lemboiya told a public gathering at the Paiam Police Station last week that it was the police who destroyed the properties.