Sir Julius: With hope comes challenges

 FORMER prime minister and governor of New Ireland Sir Julius Chan has challenged the newly-elected government to provide service to the people.

Sir Julius said the election of the new prime minister and the formation of the government had brought hope to the people after nine years.

He said there were so many things wrong with the ousted government which affected the people.

He said no one person could hold a country of almost seven million people to ransom and the decision by the parliamentarians was the right thing to do to save the country from bad governance.

Sir Julius said the formation of a government in which 50 members including ministers joined their back-benchers to cross the floor was a sign of trust and confidence in democracy.

“We have experienced democracy at work. For the first time in the political history of PNG, we have seen more than three quarters of the members crossing the floor to join hands with the opposition and change a government which they felt was not representing the ordinary people,’’ he said.

However, Sir Julius said it was a mammoth task for the new government to actually serve the people rather than just talking about it.