University students urge MPs to address land dispute issues

By JAMIE HARO
THE Central Students’ Union (CSU) from the University of Papua New Guinea are appealing to their MP to address land dispute issues following a weekend incident in Baruni, a student representative says.
UPNG student representative council vice-president Hulbert Maleva said the incident between Engans and locals from Baruni in the Motu-Koitabu areas was a serious issue that needed to be addressed at a national level.
“As traditional custodians of the land here in NCD and Central, we are appealing for our MPs including the Motu-Koitabu board chairman to take a collective approach to this situation,” he said.
Maleva said the situation was a result of negligence pertaining to selling pieces of land that needed addressing. “We need to address this issue and not further escalate it, instead encourage the right authorities to take the land into their hands so that no more violence is committed.”
Additionally, CSU president Joshua Kupu said: “Our elders deserve to be respected on their own land despite the fact that they sell land.”
Kupu said behaving violently would only make matters worse between parties involved, therefore, he urged their leaders to address the land issues at provincial and national levels.
As for Central, students from the Motu-Koita area will need to conduct more awareness back at home to advocate and educate their relatives on the importance of land and the responsibility over customary lands, he said.
“We will take into consideration to go back to our villages and educate our people not to sell our customary land unnecessarily,” he said.
“This way we’ll avoid more problems occurring in the near future.”
Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) for NCD/Central Anthony Wagambie Jnr said recent killings regarding land disputes near Baruni were handled by the Crime and Investigation Division (CID) Homicide.