Tonpi to ‘live with people’

By PETER WARI
UNITED Labour Party candidate Raphael Tonpi intends to keep his promise to live in the village with his people and fulfil their needs from there.
The retired primary school head teacher from the remote Kip village in the Mendi-Munihu electorate recalled his promise after he was declared the new MP last night ahead of better known candidates Issac Joseph and former MP and Works Minister Michael Nali.
He polled 48,486 votes and runner-up PNG Destiny Party candidate Joseph managed 43,903.
Tonpi reached the absolute majority, 46,195, after the 10th elimination of Independent candidate, Nali, at Momei Oval in Mendi.
Tonpi is chairman of the newly-established Lai Valley High School and said people needed the presence of their elected leaders in their villages to look into their needs.
He said elected MPs after the declaration often went to Port Moresby and lived there, visiting their electorates occasionally while people continued to complain of services.
He said he wanted to live in his electorate and improve government services.
“During my endorsement in May, I promised to live with my people and look into their needs in the presence of Bulolo MP Sam Basil Junior, United Labour Party leader Lekwa Gure, Markham MP and Deputy Speaker Koni Iguan,” he said.
“My wife escorted me for the declaration today.
“We and our children will live in the village with our people and distribute services equally to people living in the three local level governments (LLGs).”
Tonpi said he had contributed to improving and establishing schools, a health facility and churches in Lai Valley over the past years and had a vision to improve service delivery in the district.
He said for 46 years, elected Mendi-Munihu MPs were from Karinz and Upper Mendi LLGs and he was the first MP from Lai Valley and believes those candidates from the LLGs who contested the seat in the past years were happy.
“If past elected leaders did not distribute services fairly, I want to change this style,” he said.
“Of the 13 candidates that contested the seat, I won and people from the three LLGs are my people, I represent them and will be fair.”

Amuli retains Sohe seat

By HELEN TARAWA
INCUMBENT Sohe MP Henry Jons Amuli has retained his seat in a close race polling 8,461 votes.
Amuli was declared the member-elect for Sohe yesterday on the 42nd elimination after former member and People’s National Congress (PNC) candidate Delilah Gore’s 6,436 votes were distributed.
The runner-up was Paulinias Uhena with 7,265 votes.
Amuli had first contested in 2017 as an independent candidate.
He then joined the Melanesian Alliance Party and is currently a member of the Pangu Pati.
The two member-elects for Northern, who were declared earlier, were PNG Green party leader Richard Masere, who won the new Popondetta Open seat, while former Ijivitari MP, David Arore of National Alliance (NA) party won back the seat he lost in 2017.
Meanwhile, counting for the Northern regional seat is still continuing.
Incumbent Governor Gary Juffa is currently leading the count followed by Jean Parkop, Allan Messa and John Warrison.
After reaching the 36th exclusion, former acting chief Ombudsman Pheobe Sangetari’s votes were distributed.
There are 10 more candidates and elimination continues with a likely declaration today.

Basil Jnr steps into dad’s shoes

By REBECCA KUKU
NEWLY-elected Bulolo MP Sam Basil Jnr says he will take his father’s words with him when he walks into Parliament for the first time next week.
“My father used to say that age was just a number,” he said.
“A leader is a leader, because he was a very young man when he first entered the politics world.
“And I will stand on those words and hold those words when I walk into the first Parliament sitting next Tuesday.”
Basil Jnr, who is at Prime Minister James Marape’s Loloata Camp, said he was looking forward to serving the people in his electorate and the country with Pangu Pati and its coalition partners.
“I know that there has been many talks but we are intact and there is no division between the Highlanders and Morobe,” he said.
“And the United Labour Party (ULP) will remain with Pangu Pati going forward as when my father passed away, he was still on duty.
“He was not only the Wau-Bulolo MP and the Deputy Prime Minister but also the ULP party leader and they were a coalition partner to Pangu and so we will remain and continue that coalition with the Pangu Pati.”
Basil Jnr said he was ready to serve if given a ministerial portfolio but his first task as member for Bulolo was to continue where his father left off in building the district.
He said there were so many things his father started, so many projects that he completed but did not launch.
“So I will be looking at finishing what my father had started,” he said.
“And that is why, the first question I will raise in Parliament next Tuesday is to ask for the AUSAID K65 million Bulolo National Highway project,” he said.