Sir Michael visits New Ireland

IT was a sentimental visit for Papua New Guinea’s first prime minister Sir Michael Somare to New Ireland for the opening of the province’s legislative assembly building yesterday.
Sir Michael attended the opening of the assembly which fell on Independence Day anniversary and spoke of his years as a child and a young school teacher just starting out his teaching career at the Utu Secondary School which back then was known as Utu Intermediate School.
“Something I remember about Utu, is the rain trees and the waves on the beach-front, but more importantly, it was during those formative years of my short teaching experience that I learned the virtues of leadership to lead Papua New Guinea in later years,” he said.
Sir Michael also took the time to remember the early years of politics with New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan.
“I worked with Sir Julius to establish the foundations and pillars of our country, and I can tell you that we worked very hard.”