Woman and Children should not be ignored.

By GOVERNOR GARY JUFFA, MP

Women and children are always the most vulnerable in any society where crime is an issue…either directly or indirectly…Tonight, in Popondetta, Oro Province, I was once more witness to this awful predicament, a predicament that is fast becoming the norm throughout our Papua New Guinea. In this instance, I was very much glad to have been able to prevent a terrible situation, perhaps save lives, avert injury. At about 12.30am, a stone crashed on the roof of the guesthouse I reside in, waking me up. Outside desperate voices called out “Hold up! Hold up! Help!” I ran out outside to see what the commotion was about, my officers were already moving, armed and responding to the call, apparently a family living in a house across the street were being attacked by a gang of near 15 criminals, armed with knives, homemade guns and other rudimentary weapons.

In a block of land where three homes were located, three families lived, public servants, ordinary folk. Women screamed, begging for help, hushed angry threatening voices, rapid gunfire from the staff as they approached to engage with the criminals. The criminals had snuffed out the lights and had surrounded a house of a recently widowed mother who clutched her daughters and sat praying, her father in law and mother in law who had come to bury their son last November and help their daughter in law pack up their belongings and transfer, prayed fervently, fearing the worst, they gathered around the children. If not for the iron grill, they criminals would certainly have entered and no doubt committed horrific acts.

The children, mainly female, toddlers and infants, cried, traumatized. The stone on our roof thrown by an alert youth who had seen the gang and had acted swiftly to alert us. As we approached swiftly, the gang retreated fleeing while pointing their guns and shouting abuse. A call to the Police who responded within 15 minutes, advising that the station had no vehicle and they were using the vehicle of another Unit. The family gathered and expressed their gratitude, relieved, but shaken. The children, their tears drying, stood wide-eyed but finally calm. One child noticed that their old pet rooster had been taken by the criminals and started to cry.

I had made a decision earlier that day not to leave for remote Kokoda, 4 hours’ drive up the mountains to check on flooding. I wondered what would have happened to this family, especially the children and women. I recognized the children who would run to the road from their yard every time I drove past and would scream my name out in their shrill voices.

This is not the first time I have intervened to save lives since my election. I believe it will not be my last. Crime has spread its nasty tentacles throughout Oro, feeding off the lack of Police resources, poor leadership and neglect of the Government. It has grown and is engorged on the blood of innocent victims, slithering through society, infecting whatever it touches, spurred on by a terrible concoction of cannabis, unemployment, illicit alcohol, despair, lack of opportunity and bitter apathy. Deteriorating infrastructure and diminishing government services throughout the province, spurs on ignorance as the people, make do with what little they have, brace themselves from the onslaught of crime and Government apathy.

As I complete this article, rapid gunfire breaks the night once more down the street. Police, often maligned, sometimes hated, unappreciated but on many occasions, saviours, protect the citizens...often critical, sometimes guilty , directly or indirectly...

The days I have spent walking and observing, speaking to the people, seeing their pain and suffering, hearing their cries and expressions of anger and hostility, exhaust me, the apparent lack of concern from those who are in authority for so long, overwhelming.

But, the promise of a better home for the children, cannot be ignored.

Here the victims, rescued stand relieved…in the attached photo taken tonight...almost victims. A cock crows as morning approaches. The children are no doubt asleep. Their nervous parents, perhaps awake and anxious.

What is their tomorrow and thereafter