Resident: Church failed to consider our welfare

By JIMMY KALEBE
A LONG time resident of Malahang in Lae, Morobe, says the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea (ELCPNG) should have considered all facts affecting settlers before commencing its eviction.
Damien Kafur, whose home and property worth more than K1 million, began pulling it down on Monday. Kafur said the 10 commercial settlers in front of the road were genuine and had been contributing to serving the community and the local economy.
“We have on numerous occasions tried to strike a deal with the Lutheran Church to sign an agreement with them to lease the land, rent it or to buy it off but the church never give us a chance when the eviction started on Sunday,” he said.
He said those who were affected by the National Court-sanctioned eviction exercise on portion 354 Milinch of Malahang, Fourmil of Huon, Lae, were third parties to the exercise. He said they were caught between the interests of first party (ELCPNG) and the second party (landowner) to this portion of land.
Kafur said church and landowners were only concerned about their own issues at discussions and meetings.
“None of them had time over the years to talk about our (tenants’) welfare,” he said.
Kafur said the church needed to take some responsibility for allowing development to take place when it knew it was their land.
The Lutheran Church was declared owner of portion 354 by a National Court decision on March 25 and a court order for eviction was also handed down, giving four months to settlers to move out.
ELCPNG general secretary Bernard Kaisom said the church extended the time by another four months to give time for students to complete their education.