Teacher loses life due to bad roads

THE recent sentiments by Martha Bare, the headmistress of Yandera Primary School in Bundi, Madang, regarding the untimely death of one of her teachers partly due to impassable road conditions should not be ignored.
On behalf of the silent majority of the Gende (Bundi), I wish to condemn the perpetrators for the senseless murder of Samuel Gandine, a teacher in charge at the Yandera Primary School.
We have lost a valuable member of society to animals.
An investigation should be conducted into this barbaric murder and those responsible should be brought to justice.
People should not lose their lives for choosing to travel through better roads because the ones in place are unusable.
Gandine lost his life while travelling with his wife to Bundi from Madang town.
They preferred the easier route from Goroka to Chimbu, then the Usino-to-Brahman route to avoid the deteriorating road conditions leading up to Bundi.
Teachers like the late Gandine have to experience tough conditions while executing their noble duties.
Sadly, he has paid the price of a loyal servant while on duty.
You are a hero, my mamia, I salute you!
After 45 years of independence, we are still having unfixed, bad, deteriorating and nightmarish road conditions.
It is hard to imagine a district that hosts some of the biggest revenue-earners in the country such as Ramu Agri Industry, Ramu Nickel Mine and soon to be Yandera Copper/Molybdenum Mine are still lagging behind in socioeconomic development.
Perhaps, the death of this young teacher is a wakeup call to the governments of Madang and Usino-Bundi to come together and find solutions to address this issue.
Is the Gembogl-Mondia Pass-Bundi-Usino Road one of the national highways in the country?
And if it is then has it been considered the Government’s Link PNG road network initiative?
We appeal to the Madang government and the Usino Bundi development authority to negotiate with stakeholders and resource developers in the district and fix the road in Bundi local level government once and for all.

John Mangua Yoga
Port Moresby