Samarai-Murua appoints new authority chairman

Papua
Source:
The National, Monday July 18th, 2016

After two years of suffering, Samarai-Murua district can now pick up the pieces and make amends for a better tomorrow, MP Gordon Wesley says.
He said this during a small ceremony where he took on the role as the chairman of the District Development Authority.
Wesley was handed the role by the former acting chairman Kuli Ben in Port Moresby last Thursday during a handover ceremony.
Ben, who is also the president of Losuia LLG and a current member of the DDA served as acting chairman for the past two years after Wesley was ousted by the National Court in 2014, after an election petition case. Following Wesley’s ousting, members of the DDA convened a meeting and elected Ben to be the acting chairman so that he could call meetings for the joint district budget priority committee and order to make budget approvals for the district.
This was done using certain clauses within the DDA Act.
Wesley was sworn in as chairman recently after winning back his seat in a by-election.
When handing over the role, Ben wished Wesley well in his endeavours to deliver services for Samarai-Murua. Wesley thanked Ben for his services by keeping the district functioning during his absence. Wesley said there was no time to waste to alleviate the sufferings of his people who have gone through two natural disasters – first the cyclone Ita in 2014, and the recent El-Nino drought.
“I want to assure my people that I will do my best as the DDA chairman so that we see tangible services on the ground.”
Wesley said government services were non-existent during his absence and it might take some time to revive the district and therefore called for patience and understanding from his people. The handover ceremony was witnessed by the district chief executive officer Hayden Abraham.