Toka dream coming true

Weekender

BY JEFFREY ELAPA
Motu-Koitabu elder, Sir Dadi Toka believes that it was God’s will and plan for him to be the only surviving pioneer interim council member of the Motu-Koitabu Assembly to see his son take over the leader of the indigenous people’s assembly.
Toka Senior, who is now 81 years old, was among the first interim council members to be elected into the first Motu-Koitabu Assembly after an act was passed by Parliament in 1991.
He said the nine other pioneers council members have all died but he was still around because God had a plan for him and his family and that was to witness one of the achievements of his family, the election and swearing-in of his son Dadi Toka Junior as the chairman of the Motu-Koitabu Assembly last month.
On Wednesday this week, Dadi Toka Junior Conducted his first MTA meeting at Pari village, where his ancestors originated.
The Motu-Koitabu Assembly is the only third tier government in the country to have its elections conducted as scheduled while the rest of the LLGs throughout PNG had their election deferred by the Government to 2019.
Dadi Toka Senior who witnessed the declaration of his son and his swearing in ceremony at the Hanuabada United Church on Oct 26) thanked God for the blessing and for giving him time to witness the occasion.
“It is through God’s plan that I’m alive for the past 81 years. I was one of the pioneer interim council members of the Motu-Koitabu Assembly when Parliament passed the Act in 1991.
“It is a special occasion for me to see my last born, Dadi Toka Junior, who is 41 years old, probably the youngest Motu-Koitabu leader to lead his people, something I did not achieve,” he said.
Sir Dadi who was knighted by the Queen at an investiture in England on Oct 29, 2010 said in an interview that the venue for the swearing in ceremony at the Hanuabada United Church was also appropriate and significant as this place was a historic place for his family.
His great grandfather, Mahuru Gaudi started the church when he first arrived in Hanuabada in 1882 as a young pastor, leaving his Koitabu village of Pari, in the Moresby North East electorate, also in the National Capital District.
Gaudi was among the first native to complete a year of pastoral training with the London Missionary Society and he was one of those first natives to be sent as a missionary to Hanuabada.
His father Toka got married to a Motu-Koitabuan woman from Elevela and he also got married to Geua Toua from the Gunina clan of Hanuabada and they had eight children and two grandchildren.
Being the only child in the family, his parents would not allow him to go out to boarding school like other children in the likes of Michael Somare (now Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare) who went to study in Sogeri.
He was regarded a mission boy, who grew and lived at the mission station at Hanuabada until he went out and worked as a native labourer from 1953.
Sir Dadi’s father, Toka Gaudi was one of the first native labourers also under the colonial Australian rule and he also followed his father’s footsteps when he was employed as a native clerk in the colonial administration.
Gaudi was also a village councillor of the Koitabu village of Hohohae in Hanuabada from 1962.
He believes that God had spared his life over those years to see one of his children, (Dadi Toka Junior) to become the chairman of the Motu-Koitabu Assembly, something he was not able to achieve since he was elected as an interim councillor of the Motu-Koita Interim Assembly and as interim commissioner of the National Capital District Interim Commission from 1991-1995.
The Motu-Koitabu Interim Assembly was enacted after a peaceful demonstration by the Motu-Koitabu people and that is when 10 council members were elected as interim councillors.
He said they then automatically became interim commissioners of the NCD interim commission and that consisted of the 10 Motu-Koitabu interim assembly members, five appointed members and the four elected members of NCD who then were Moresby North West MP Robert Suckling, Moresby North East MP David Unagi, Moresby South MP Albert Karo and NCD Regional MP Sir Hugo Berghuser.
However, he said the Motu-Koitabu Act of 1991 was repealed in 2007
Sir Dadi, who is well known as Lalokau Tauna, said he was proud that his son was be elected chairman of the Motu-Koitabu people’s representative house, the Motu-Koitabu Assembly who was officially sworn in at Hanuabada United Church, the very first church is great grandfather had built and served as a missionary and a place where his family members have lived for 137 years.
While a dreams to lead his people has now been accomplished by one of his children, his bigger vision is for his Motu-Koitabu people to be united to fight for what is rightfully theirs, after most of their land and resources have all been taken away in a growing metropolis and national capital.
With the election of his son as the chairman, his visions and dreams can now be realised but he wants Motu-Koitabu professionals to work together for a common cause.
“I want to see Motu-Koitabu professionals to be united and work with Toka Junior for the future of our people. The MKA is our mouthpiece and that must be utilised to pursue what has been taken from us.
“My last call or appeal to the professionals of Motu-Koitabu is that it is not the Motu-Koitabu elder system anymore but the Motu-Koitabu professionals (who will take the lead). The theme for this new chapter in the MKA is “Ta eda neng” in Motu, “Ova ni vani vera” in Koitabu and it’s our time in English.
“It is a time for change for the people and that must be done through one united voice,” Sir Dadi says.
“Although I was a council member, I still see that we the Motu-Koitabuans are never united. I am now 81 years old and as a Motu-Koitabuan elder, I want to leave my last words, and that is my appeal to the Motu-Koitabu professionals to work together and stand united, to stand together as one voice to pursue the rights of the people, particularly the issue of land.
“I’m always proud to be a Motu-Koitabuan. Lohia Samuel continues to rally behind Toka Junior and that is the kind of thing I want from the professionals, to work with Toka Junior for the good of our future generations,” he said.