Vagrancy Act can work well with betel nut ban

 WHILE we all have own reasons to be for or against the betel nut ban brought in for the capital based on our own perspectives, I see it as the right way to keep Port Moresby free of rubbish.

 We have foreigners living and working here too and they do not want to live and work in a dirty, unhygienic and unsightly environment. 

Despite awareness campaigns and attempts by the NCD governor through posters, broadcasts and newspapers advising public to chew responsibly, people are still capitalising on the trade as if that is the only means of survival in PNG while pretending to be foreigners without homes.

Attempts using the police and city rangers to rid the trade have not worked.

So with respect to all those affected settlers and unemployed people, it is perhaps timely that the NCDC introduced a Vagrancy Act alongside the ban so all those unemployed or illiterate settlers can go back home instead of keeping them here and making them suffer under the betel nut ban. 

If this can be done, than I am pretty sure all problems associated with betel nuts including the urban drift can be minimised once and for all in the NCD. 

Once this is done, then we can to control and enforce other regulations in the city with the employed and educated settlers who can at least read, understand and follow simple rules and regulations. 

We are no longer an isolated community. We are part of the global community with Port Moresby the capital city, so drastic measures need to be taken for the good of the whole country in the long run. 

So I suggest that the government should support the NCDC’s move to ban betel nuts and further introduce a  Vagrancy Act to go along with the ban for the benefit of everyone.

Douglas Gilichibi

Port Moresby