Rural dwellers getting an unfair deal

IT is troubling to know that police officers are reluctant to live and work in remote areas, especially along the border.
Border security is an essential component of national security.
It is more than just restricting territorial access through immigration reform.
It also protects states against illegal movement of drugs, weapons and contraband.
Border controls are measures taken by a country to monitor or regulate its borders.
They are put in place to control the movement of people, animals and goods in and out of a country.
Specialised government agencies are usually created to perform border controls.
Such agencies may perform various functions such as customs, immigration, security, quarantine, beside other functions.
Official designations, jurisdictions and the command structures of these agencies vary considerably.
Sadly, this is not happening in Western’s North Fly which is said to be an entry point for illegal guns and drugs along the Papua New Guinea-Australia-Indonesia borders and the Highlands region.
The North Fly police commander said officers were not willing to live and work there or take their families there because of the areas lack government services such as health and education.
There is a house for police officers that was built by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2008 for officers can look after West Papua refugees but no officer has gone to take up the post.
About 80 per cent of Papua New Guinea’s population live in rural areas, where access to basic services such as healthcare and education are limited.
Health centres and schools are often cut off from supply chains for months.
Physical isolation is a major challenge for the government in expanding access to and maintaining basic social services.
Just like police officers, those who are to provide health and education services do not want to live and work in rural areas for many reasons, like safety, poor roas, lack of equipment and materials to carry out their duties and the list goes on.
While the recent investment in infrastructure has made PNG compare favourably with other developing countries, access to many social services is still poor mainly because the road system is poorly maintained and frequently inaccessible during and after heavy rain.
Given the remoteness and rugged terrain of PNG, poor access by roads may be one of the main causes of the government’s poor record in the delivery of education, health and other public goods and services.
If roads are poor and travel time is long, the cost of attending school or seeking healthcare may be ridiculously
high.
Poor road access also means poor access to health and educational services.
In PNG, the main challenge would be the long distances that have to be travelled by service users and providers.
If the Government wants to have officers on the ground — be it police, teachers or health workers — providing service for the rural population, it must improve the planning and funding of the maintenance of the national highway network and develop a national infrastructure strategy to strengthen PNG’s freight and logistics systems.
Only then will goovernment officers be comfortable to live and work in rural areas and have their family with them.