Following a request from the Social Media Activist Groups, the Opposition Leader Hon. Belden Namah met with them in a Parliament conference room for a Social Media Conference where he received their petition addressed to the Prime Minister.
This follows the Media Statement by the NCD Metropolitan Police Commander, Andy Bawa’s refusal to allow the public forum debate with invitations sent to the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader, where the latter of the two leaders accepted the invitation to be present. The public forum debate was initiated by these Anti-Corruption Social media Groups in an attempt to involve the leaders and the public in an active debate with questions and answers in real time, though closely monitored and articulated by the social media group leaders who are actually admins to the various Anti-Corruption Social Media groups. In yesterday’s meeting with the Opposition Leader the group leaders that turned up were as follows; 1. Noel Anjo from PEOPLES POWER MOVEMENT 2. Russell Mome from NATIONAL AWARENESS FRONT 3. Charlie Gilichibi from PNG NEWS 4. John Endemongo Kua from NATIONAL AFFAIRS COUNCIL 5. Martin Namarong a professional Political Journalist who has his own blog site. 6. John Pora Schmidt activist in the fight against corruption 7. Nathan Ponjel activist in the fight against corruption and blogger 8. Nick Laki a fervent supporter of the Leader against Corruption who heads his own Social Media Group and Blog. The Opposition Leader started off the meeting by apologizing to the group at the table for not meeting with them earlier and proceeded by kindly asking them to introduce themselves. The Hon. Member for Vanimo Green then thanked them for attending and boldly stated that there must be the Freedom of Speech and described himself as someone who is happy to take on criticism for any wrong decision he may make. He then expressed his disappointment at how the Mainstream Media is being suppressed what with the current situation of corruption being rife in the country. He pointed out how he was unable to get coverage in the local dailies; Post Courier and The National, with outright refusal on the side of the papers to even run paid adverts. The Leader then reflected on the fact that the radio stations were government owned and run and now Prime Minister is understood to be allegedly trying to infiltrate and buy shares in the Television Stations. With the Prime Minister putting his hands into every Mainstream Media organizations, there will be no freedom of expression and no freedom of speech. This is why the Opposition Leader always hits a brick wall when it comes to getting coverage for his stories. Further on he also expressed his willingness to vigorously oppose any attempts by the government to legislate the social media, which he implied the action bordered on that of a communist government. Which brought him back to how the police handled the letter from Noel Anjo to arrange and lead peaceful protest and Public Forum debate with the presence of both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader. In describing the act of the government via the police in halting the public forum he said. “It is like a scabies dog being pushed against the wall where when pushed to its limit, it will bite”, Therefore it is a must government address the public on issues of National importance and also allow for peaceful protest when they are requested; also in the case of these anti-corruption groups, the government must also make time available to receive petitions and just be open to criticism. Outspoken activist Noel Anjo remarked yesterday to the Opposition Leader that several attempts of obtaining an audience with the Prime Minister to present the petition had fallen through, the recent attempt being the failed Public Forum Debate which to the understanding of the activists, would be due to the influence of the Prime Minister on the Police as he is still the acting Police Minister. Therefore due to those failed attempts, they have now resorted to presenting it to the Opposition Leader so he can present it on their behalf as they, “Believe and trust in the Opposition Leader to present the Petition to the Prime Minister”. While presenting it they said they were speaking on behalf of the people of Papua New Guinea with them being admins and representatives of different organizations on the Social Media the biggest News Group being the PNG NEWs page boasting 45,558 members and still growing the next biggest group being Sharptalk with members at this time being 15,212. During the meeting, Charlie Gilichibi, admin of PNG NEWs page, informed the Opposition Leader of the group’s next step which they are intent on taking if the Prime Minister refuses to comply or agree on the 30 issues they have outlined in the petition. The next step being that they will call for the biggest Sit-In Protest comprising of at least 10,000 willing persons from the public at the Jack Pidik Park and will send a challenge to the police to arrest them all since their first call for a peaceful public forum with the leaders was taken out of context and halted by the police. They invited Mr. Namah to join when that time comes and they informed the Leader that they had the support of Oro Governor, Hon. Garry Juffa. The Opposition Leader replied by assuring the group that they had his utmost support. The rest of the meeting was then taken over by the activists who relayed their concerns to the Leader regarding corruption; they also shared and outlined their facts gathered in their personal researches done in their support in the fight against corruption in the country. There was obviously the feeling of exhilaration in the room as the group were elated at the presence of the Opposition Leader himself, and not a second or third person, present to receive their petition and also to discuss matters of National importance and their own opinions on alternatives any leader of the day can take to tackle corruption which is now rife in the nation. John Endemongo Kua leader of National Affairs Council remarked that social media is now the medium of the day what with information now being in the palm of your hand; but there is also the responsibility we as citizens and leaders must take when disseminating news to the public. Also present was known blogger and Political specialist journalist Martyn Namarong who gave his opinion on how social media news posting should be carried out without inciting the wrong impression or negative reaction from the public. He was backed by Nick Laki, also another blogger and anti-corruption activist, who supported the Opposition leader’s move to social media in news coverage and contributed, along with other known social media user, Nathan Ponjel, ideas in boosting mass coverage to the public. Toward the end of the meeting, the Opposition Leader once again thanked the group and acknowledged their combined efforts in fighting corruption. He further encouraged them to share information to the public as the people need to know what is going on. The Leader explained to them that the modus operandi he operates on is simply ‘Expose, Depose and Dispose’. He also reminded them that he based his belief on “What God can do, and that God sees the heart and not the numbers”. The Prime Minister’s strategy is clearly to deflect and divert attention from national issues raised that implicate him. But the Opposition Leader stressed that he will not sleep until all who are involved in corrupt dealings and fraud are arrested. And when all avenues have been exhausted, then he will seek the assistance of the Australian Federal Police but for now he wants to have faith in the PNG Police to do their constitutional duties. At the conclusion of the meeting the Opposition Leader closed the meeting with a word of prayer. Comments are closed.
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