Police manhandle Papua New Guinea's Opposition Leader
An excavator demolishes the Paga Hill settlement in Port Moresby. Picture courtesy of Sam Moko
Papua New Guinea’s Opposition Leader Dame Carol Kidu was yesterday manhandled by policemen when she tried to stop the forced eviction of an impoverished Port Moresby community.
Sam Moko, a city resident who was taking pictures of the exercise, was also punched and his camera forcefully removed by policemen who accompanied the excavator that razed Port Moresby’s Paga Hill settlement.
“Police punched me, broke my camera’s mic and held my camera for 4 hours. I was covering the demolition of Paga settlement this morning. Thanks to Lady Carol Kidu for been there and speaking hard to the cops, who eventually gave my camera back. Very sad to (see) women and children rushing around while the excavator, under heavy presence of cops, push down their houses in front of them,” Mr Moko said on social media.
According to eyewitnesses Dame Carol, PNG’s sole woman MP in the 109-seat parliament, was at the scene yesterday to try to stop the forced removal of the settlement’s inhabitants. While there she saw a youth being beaten and in her attempt to protect him and his father ended up being manhandled.
The MP’s daughter Dobi in a posting on Facebook said her mother was trying to protect an old man: “Dame was protecting an old man from being beaten. They told her she was obstructing justice and two policemen held her by the arms and started dragging her. She told them to let her go as they were hurting her, only to be shouted at that she was resisting arrest. Dame told them she wasn’t and to arrest her, no need for manhandling. They kept on and wouldn’t”.
Dame Carol, who will retire from politics in July after 15 years as Moresby South MP, condemned the eviction when confirming the incident.
“No law in PNG supports what happened today (yesterday). It was not an eviction. It was a demolition and the company's so called relocation package is laughable. No land has been allocated for them. This does not only involve the so-called illegal settlers (in fact original Paga settlers were put there in colonial days by the traditional owners of the area and there are now fourth generation living there.) In my 15 years as MP I have always told the people that they would eventually have to be relocated but not like this,” she said on social media.
“The police were executing orders but they did not know the matter was being appealed. Many police were reasonable and when they left they were thanking me and saying they wished someone would be there if needed to fight for their families rights. A few police were inexcusably heavy-handed because the people were actually very restrained considering what was happening to them.”
Yesterday’s eviction exercise was halted after lawyers representing the affected settlers and residents as well as the National Museum and Art Gallery (NMAG) successfully obtained a court injunction, pending a determination by the National Court on the land’s legal owners and temporarily providing a reprieve for the affected inhabitants.
Artist impression of the Port Moresby Hilton Hotel on Paga Hill. Picture courtesy of Paga Hill Estate
The NMAG director Dr Andrew Moutu said Paga Hill is home to WWII artifacts and consequently warranted an intervention by his organization.
“The museum has claims because of historical remains left after the Second World War including 6 bunkers, 2 batteries; underground tunnels and a guard post. Under the War Surplus Materials Act enforced by the museum, all such historical remains belong absolutely to the state. We hope that by stepping into the Paga Hill saga our court case will not only provide a temporary relief to humanitarian concerns but also provide a catalyst for planning and coordinated action to safeguard our historical heritage throughout the country,” he said.
Last month Dame Carol appealed in parliament to the government’s National Housing Commission (NHC) to intervene and stop the sale of land on Paga Hill, as the title was allegedly obtained fraudulently. Parliament-elected Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, in response, asked his ministers for lands, police, housing and environment to take note and to respond to Dame Carol’s concerns.
Paga Hill overlooks Port Moresby’s central business district and while it is considered prime land, the area was initially gazetted by the government as a recreational area before being rezoned as a commercial lease (with a 99-year tenure) in 1995. According to information on Paga Hill Estate’s website, which holds itself out as the developer of the land, the area comprises 13.7 hectares and will be the site on which the Port Moresby Hilton Hotel will be built.
Yesterday’s incident has reignited debate on urbanisation in PNG with Dame Carol decrying the failure by the Somare and O’Neill governments to fund the PNG Urbanisation Policy, which is complete and awaiting funding and implementation.
“In 2000 I started the process of producing an Urbanization policy for PNG - after 10 years of really hard work that policy was completed but neither government has funded the policy. I believe the present PM will be launching the policy in Minj soon (I have been invited by the Office of Urbanisation which I established). He had nothing to do with the production of the policy but let's hope the next PM after elections will see the importance of budgeting for such an important policy,” she said.
Port Moresby has a number of settlements, most of them illegally established on state land and while being notorious as havens for criminals, are proving popular for PNG’s growing middle class who cannot afford the city’s exorbitant rental rates.