Provide affordable housing for people

Letters

THIS week, we saw the forceful eviction of squatter settlers at Garden Hills in Port Moresby.
Many of these settlers have been living in that settlement for many generations.
They are mostly informally employed.
Most are low to medium income earners who cannot afford the rising cost of housing in Papua New Guinea.
As the excavator, backed by policemen, barged into Garden Hills, many stood by helplessly and with tears in their eyes.
They watched in pain as their homes transformed into ruins.
Forced evictions are becoming frequent in many urban centres in Papua New Guinea.
It is high time for the Government to exercise its powers to strike a balance between court-ordered evictions and squatter settler rights.
In the Garden Hills case, the policemen were executing a court order by forcefully evicting these settlers.
The landowner may have an overwhelming right to the property, but sadly, there is much to be desired in the present situation.
The landowner claims that a reasonable amount of time of over two years had been given to the settlers to clear out and make way for development.
Interestingly, while implementing the orders constitutional breaches may occur.
For example; in this case, the manner in which the eviction was conducted may have breached, amongst others, these important provisions of the Constitution such as Sections 37(1), 41(a), 44 and 53.
In essence, all persons are afforded the full protection of the law and should not be oppressed or harshly treated.
Any arbitrary search and entry of premises should be endorsed by law and no persons should be unjustly deprived of their properties.
That is open for lawyers to debate.
Importantly, past and present governments have miserably failed to recognise the plight of its citizens to provide affordable housing, which is widely recognised under international human rights laws as an important human development agenda.
The Government should provide a clear national housing policy to accommodate its taxpayers.
Otherwise, forget about take back PNG when legislations and policies are effectively selling PNG out.

Jethro Kasse,
Raintree Waigani Campus