Sir Bob declares Covid-19 pandemic
By REBECCA KUKU
GOVERNOR-General Grand Chief Sir Bob Dadae yesterday declared the Covid-19 a pandemic, to allow the National Pandemic Act 2020 approved by Parliament last Friday to come into effect.
Deputy State Solicitor (International Law) Fredrick Tamarua said the new legislation was done to protect Papua New Guineans but did not infringe on their rights.
“We (the team of lawyers he led to draft the legislation) were given the challenge to come up with a legislative framework that would allow authorities to continue enforcing measures to protect the people from the Covid-19 when the state of emergency ended,” he said.
He said the National Pandemic Act did not take away the constitutional rights of the people.
“It is an ordinary act of parliament, like for example, when you are arrested by the police, your rights are taken away during the period of your arrest,” he said.
Tamarua said it was necessary to declare the pandemic so that the new law could become effective.
“It will only be lifted once the pandemic ends and an official declaration is made,” he said.
Sir Bob declared Police Commissioner David Manning as the National Pandemic Controller and acting Health Secretary Pasion Dakulala as his deputy.
There are now more than eight million people infected with the Covid-19, with the death toll increasing to more than four million globally.
4 comments
Authorities making blind decisions without any local scientific evidences whatsoever being released from research/studies conducted within the country as to how the virus has and would affect Papua New Guineans to justify taking such acts.
This unreasonable declaration will sure to affect many more people’s lives far more worse than the actual threat of Covid-19 over the past several months in PNG. While big countries who were worst affected but have managed to flatten the curve in no of new infections, deaths and recovered and thus have reduced their national pandemic alert level to almost zero or very ‘minor’ restrictions. Meanwhile back in PNG, some self proclaimed overnite experts or scientists in Global Pandemic research centre at Waigani think it’s OK to hold everyone in PNG including Corporate businesses, SMEs, ordinary informal sector and general public at ransom for whatever the real reason may be only God would know too well..
How can it be a National Pandemic when no single soul had been proven to have died or there isn’t a multitude of patients being hospitalized all over the country with severe illnesses as a result of Covid-19 outbreak. It’s ridiculously seem more and more obvious now to be a deadset SCAMMER to give themselves authority to rob the nation while our hands are tied at our back. Give people chance to speak up also from all sectors so you can listen to whatever they have to say before making such selfish scam-like decisions that will only benefit a handful of people while the rest of the country suffer in silence.
CK, I applaud your comments. Further expert ideas should have been sought from very intellctual PNGeans prior to drafting of legislations and declaring C19 a pandemic in PNG.
I concur with you Chris. Giaman sik blo yupela bagarapim sindaun blo ol manmeri lo PNG. There is only one thing that needs to be done and that is to stop/scan foreigners entering the country.
Giaman sik blo yupela bagarapim sindaun blo ol manmeri lo PNG. There is only one thing that needs to be done and that is to stop/scan foreigners entering the country.
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