Village leader, people uproot marijuana

 People living in the interior Waria communities, in Morobe, are growing marijuana, selling it and exchanging it for guns, a community leader says. 

Popoe and Owazi ward councillor Sep Gomena and peace officer Borowa Sapena with the help of villagers uprooted 86 marijuana plants from four gardens. 

He said the planters were known to the local people but they needed a police operation to catch them.

Most of the drugs are cultivated locally, while others are supplied from Garaina down to the Morobe coast. 

Gomena said this part of the area had been neglected for too long and had been without police presence to curtail law and order issues and at the same time instil confidence in communities.  

He said while K18,000 had been given for village court officials and peace officers in Morobe the local level council money had been misused by public servants.

“Our village court and peace officers, including land mediators, need training to enhance their skills and abilities to mediate cases as well as report writing,” Gomena said. 

“The national government in Waigani and provincial government in Lae think that we are okay here in the villages, thinking that public servants are on ground fulfilling what the government expected.

“But government officers at Morobe station never conduct monthly patrols into rural villages to identify socio-economy needs, including health and education needs of the people.

“I wonder what kind of public servants we have here in Morobe to serve people to fulfil government’s obligations or to serve their own interest and get paid for doing nothing?”