Tambua promises economic empowerment, service delivery

A CAMPAIGN on economic empowerment and delivering services to the people is what newly-elected Goroka MP Aiye Tambua’s election victory was based on, Prime Minister James Marape said when receiving him in Port Moresby yesterday.
Tambua, who stood on the Pangu Pati ticket, said although he would have less than two years in office, he would do his best to serve his people.
He thanked his fellow candidates, including the three women, who had contested the Goroka by-election last month.
Marape welcomed Tambua, saying his victory was a sign that the people of Goroka wanted to be economically independent.
“Pangu campaigned for economic independence and economic liberation for Goroka as well as PNG, we want to give fullest independence to the citizens and to our country,” he said.
“We have land that is blessed with abundant resources, whether it is in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, minerals and petroleum, tourism and culture, we believe that our country and the people have every potential to have money in their pockets, and Pangu Pati went with that simple message.”
Tambua, who was welcomed by family, friends, supporters and party members at the Tropicair terminal at Jackson Airport yesterday, said his aim would be to ensure his people had services such as Goroka’s water supply that had ongoing issues which affected the town and the district.
Meanwhile, Pangu Pati president Patrick Pundau said Tambua’s election win had signalled a resurgence of the party in the Highlands.
He said the party was aiming to do well in 2022.
He said Tambua was a second generation Pangu member, his uncle, the late Bebes Korowaro, also served as Goroka MP in the 1970s and 1980s. “This victory is no coincidence,” he said.
“The victory is not only for Pangu.
“It is for Goroka as much as it is for the rest of Papua New Guinea.”