Sir Puka and Abau district

I REFER to the correspondent who penned the letter ‘Sir Puka challenged’ in The National on Friday, April 27.
The author Au Thaoanama is typical of Sir Puka’s critics, often outdated and getting their facts wrong.
The Prime Minister explained last year that not all districts would get their full allocation of K10 million. In fact, they only got K2 million last year.
This year up to March, all districts still did not receive any funding because the Government had to focus on the damage caused by the earthquake in the Highlands region.
It’s not rocket science to understand why approved projects are not funded.
The writer complains about the condition of the Kore Road which is located in Rigo, not in Abau.
However, the Abau MP and the Abau district administration have on numerous occasions spent money on this road, because Abau people use this road to access their villages.
I’m from the Aroma Coast and I see my relatives go up and down the highway every day.
There have been occasions, especially during bad weather in recent months, when travelling has been difficult but they have never been cut off for weeks or months or even for years which was the situation before Sir Puka entered Parliament.
What the people of PNG do not know is that Sir Puka has built access roads into areas where people do their gardens.
I think it is about time that the people of Abau stop complaining about their MP and for a change do some hard work themselves.
They should be bringing down truckloads of garden produce to market in the city instead of complaining about projects.
People from the Highlands bring their garden produce by road to Lae and ship it to Port Moresby for sale in our city markets.
That can take up to three weeks, yet we are only three hours away. All we do is rely on Government handouts for school fees, church and sporting activities.
Just recently, I visited Koki Market and asked a number of sellers where they were from.
All were from Cloudy Bay and none from the Aroma Coast.
I think it’s about time Sir Puka shifts his focus to Cloudy Bay in this term of Parliament where people depend on the land more than Government contracts.

Abau Grower