Suffering people deserve better

 LESS than two months after Lutheran Shipping ceased its century-old services to the coastal areas of Morobe, the people of that vast province are feeling the pinch of this most unfortunate decision.

Reports indicate that the Finschhafen, Kabwum-Wa­su and Tewae-Siassi districts on the north-eastern part of the Huon Peninsula are facing a critical shortage of basic store goods such as rice, canned food, cooking oil, soap, batteries and kerosene.

In some areas, trade store operators have closed their shops because stocks have run out, while cargo packed in Lae is still awaiting shipment to these districts

Kabwum dis­trict Works supervisor James Zariong said the prices of store goods have skyrocketed as a result of the lack of shipping services and other transport difficulties.

Zariong said in Kabwum, which now relies on small planes to airlift cargo, a 1kg of rice that normally cost K5 has doubled to K10. It is obvious that most businesses, people and public servants in these districts are getting desperate. Zariong even predicts it is likely that schools and health facilities will be shut down sooner or later and public servants repatriated to cities and towns until shipping services are restored. This situation was bound to occur and indeed grave concerns were expressed at the time Lutheran Shipping was about to be grounded for good.

The shipping company, popularly known as Luship, was owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea (ELCPNG), the second largest Christian denomination in the country boasting a membership of about 1.5 million.

The church, which owned Lutheran Shipping through its business arm Kambang Holdings, found itself in a dilemma after it decided to place the parent company in voluntary liquidation.  The decision to liquidate Kambang Holdings arose from the church council resolution alluded to in media reports.  Not surprisingly, the decision was met with stiff op­position from church members and politicians, including Morobe Governor Kelly Naru and his predecessor, Luther Wenge. The former governor’s elder brother, Giegere, is the current head bishop of the ELCPNG and therefore chairman of the council that resolved to do away with the pride of the church.

The church council certainly risked opposition and rebuke from its parish leaders and followers for the decision that is now severely affecting people in the outlying areas of Morobe as well as the neighbouring provinces of West New Britain and Madang.

Luship had served the church and especially the northern part of the country for a good part of a century until very recently when it began ‘sailing into turbulent waters’.

It is no secret though that the church’s business arm has been struggling financially and administratively for the past few years. Whether it was due to difficult economic conditions un­der which to profitably run a business such as Luship or inept management, Lutheran Shipping’s troubles be­gan surfacing when one by one its vessels became grounded or spent extended periods in dry dock.

What is apparent from the reported reaction by executives of at least 10 church parishes in the city of Lae is that the church council had failed to adequately explain the rationale for its decision.

Yes, it is makes commercial sense to dispose of assets of a struggling company to repay what it owes to creditors and pay shareholders and employees before it accumulates further debt. Accusations were hurled at the management of Kambang Holdings and Lutheran Shipping for running down the business.

At the height of the issue, Naru intervened with a rescue plan to restore shipping services to the districts.

However, the proposal by Naru and the districts, inclu­ding Huon Gulf, Nawaeb, Tewae-Siassi, Finschhafen and Kabwum, to form a new shipping service called Morobe Coast Shipping Services, is yet to get off the ground or rather sea. 

It is almost three months since the plan was first mooted by the good governor but little or nothing has been heard of it since. Is the rescue plan still in the pipeline and is a new shipping venture about to be launched? 

The suffering people of Morobe certainly hope so.