Sir Jerry against Lae city commission proposal

THE proposed Lae city commission currently before the National Executive Council (NEC) for consideration should be binned, former Morobe governor and senior statesman Sir Jerry Nalau has suggested.
Unlike Central province, the establishment of a city commission in Lae will be ineffective as far as service delivery went because its nine rural districts were not connected to Lae even though they relied on the city, Sir Jerry said.
He said because the Tutumang had not discussed the city commission status, the leaders and the people of Morobe did not really know the difference between the distribution and allocation of financial and political powers, which the proposed city commission would have compared with the Morobe provincial government.
He called on Governor Kelly Naru and the nine MPs from Morobe to use their numerical strength, boosted by three minis­ters, to renegotiate with Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and the NEC to revoke the submission, which he said was rushed through.
“Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Deputy Prime Minister Leo Dion are both down-to-earth leaders. If we knock on their doors, they will have time to listen to us.
“We have a point because that submission bypassed Tutumang, which is the only body where the people of Morobe can be consulted through the 33 LLG presidents and 10 national MPs,” he said.
“Central province is different because Port
Moresby is the capital city and, therefore deserves a city commission.
“We can’t afford to have Lae city commission because not all of Morobe’s district which rely on Lae as their ‘service station to refuel’ are connected to Lae yet.”
Sir Jerry called on Naru to meet with the Tutumang assembly and act quickly before the submission was accepted and passed by NEC.
It is understood the Tutumang is yet to have its first sitting under the new governor.