Top kiap, top admin

I WRITE to congratulate Bart Ipambonj, the newly appointed provincial administrator for Morobe. I believe the NEC has made the right decision to appoint a long-time public servant of Morobe.
He is a career kiap and a home-grown administrator.
We were the last lot of national kiaps recruited by the then Department of Provincial Affairs in 1983.
We were trained at Waigani’s Administrative College (ADCOL) and finished up at Yomba Northern regional training in Madang.
We were trained very well by department principal training officers Graham Tuck, Moa Posah, Tau Vali, Magistrate Paine and Dorothy Lusmore.
The lands study was handled by PNG’s renowned land tenure expert, the late Dr Andrew Lakau.
This cream of young kiaps were indeed the last lot to be thoroughly screened, recruited and trained by the Provincial Affairs Department.
There were about 25 of us who passed out and we were posted to all the provinces across the country.
Ipambonj was posted to Morobe to start his kiap career there.
I was posted to Chimbu to start my kiap career there.
Many from this group made top posts in the public service, notably Ipambonj (Morobe), Michael Kape (PA Milne Bay), with Steven Yakali (now died) making the position of Deputy Electoral Commissioner (Operations).
There are still many of them within the rank and file of the public and private sectors.
The appointment of Ipambonj is well received.
I believe that bringing back the kiap system with proper trainings and morality should be looked at again to bring back the trust and confidence in the public service, particularly the provincial administrations.

Yapi Akore
Kundiawa
Chimbu