Teacher tells pollies not to involve Rotarians

A TEACHER has warned two local leaders not to involve Rotary Australia in their political row.
James Okti, a primary school teacher and former headmaster of Nondugl Primary School in Jiwaka, said North Waghi MP Benjamin Mul and Frank Goi, manager of the PNG Rotary Jiwaka project, should leave Rotary Australia alone in their political row.
Okti said when he was the headmaster at Nondgul,  he wrote the proposal for the projects in the area which required the involvement of Rotary Australia – and Mul and Goi had nothing to do with it.
He said Goi arranged to bring the Rotarians into the electorate when he was at the Newcastle University in Australia.
“Frank made an arrangement to bring them here. We, including Mul,  assisted them in other ways we can. The Rotarians’ presence here is not a one-man’s job,” Okti said.
The Rotarians since their arrival in 2009 started to identify areas which lacked public service in the electorate.
The first shipment of school materials arrived in 2010 from Australia – including laptops.
Rotary Australia also carried out maintenance work on some of the run-down infrastructure including the Nondugl health centre.
Mul and Goi recently claimed that they were instrumental in bringing Rotary Australia to carry out the projects in the electorate.
Okti said Rotary Australia was providing worthwhile services to the people of Jiwaka and urged Goi and Mul to educate their people not to use the services provided for their own political benefit.
Goi is understood to be after Mul’s parliamentary seat.