Public servants walk off work in protest

PUBLIC servants within the Madang provincial administration walked off their job  yesterday after an executive of the Public Employees’ Association (PEA) was allegedly abducted and assaulted.
On Monday this week, the provincial mining coordinator and Momase region PEA executive member, John Bivi, was alleged to have been abducted and assaulted by disgruntled landowners of Kurumbukari, the location of the multi-million kina Ramu nickel and cobalt mine in the Usino-Bundi electorate in Madang province.
The alleged incident took place after the election of the Kurumbukari landowners’ association executives on Monday this week where former chairman David Tigapu was elected while the current faction of the executives led by chairman Toby Bare, his deputy Moses Kumura and treasurer Eddy Utu were absent.
The irate public servants walked off from their duties to petition the provincial government and police to address the issue.
This is the fourth such protests and sit-in strikes so far this years while the latest was two days ago when more than 92 nurses protested to have their 30% shift and DMA allowances paid while the other two were the  law and order protest by the DWU students and the noisy landowners’ protest to petition the government over the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone issues.
As of yesterday afternoon senior public servants met with the police to petition them to investigate and apprehend those responsible for the assault and alleged detention of the officer.