earthquake in Moresby

Meanwhile, there was another earthquake in Moresby

From ROBERT LANGDON, in Port Moresby One of Papua-New Guinea’s newest political parties, the Pangu Pati, which was formed with much publicity several months ago, was showing signs of coming apart at the seams at the end of August.

THE party’s primary aim is to work for the territory’s eventual inde pendence. Originally it had four co chairmen. Now it has only three. Co chairman number four was expelled from the party on August 26 in a move that seemed like a cross be tween comic opera and deadly in trigue in the Kremlin.

Co-chairman number four was Port Moresby trade union leader Oala Oala Rama, who visited Aus tralia in July to deliver the Evatt Memorial Lecture at Sydney Univer sity. Oala apparently embarrassed his fellow Panguinians over something he said in Sydney, but it is not cer tain what.

But Why?

A Press statement on his expulsion issued by two other Pangu co chairmen, M. Somare and J. K.

Nombri, simply said that Oala had been expelled for, first, making public statements contrary to party policy; second, failing to rectify or correct his statements, and, third, failing to attend meetings of the party’s central executive following the statements he had made.

Oala himself, in a statement issued after his expulsion, was more explicit.

He seemed to think he had put his foot in it for claiming that indepen dence for the territory could be as close as 1970, and for stating that the present assembly was weak, be cause there was no understanding of the Westminster type system.

Oala said he had expected to be disciplined after his return from Syd ney for some of the things he had said, but as “no one was willing to call a meeting” of the party’s execu tive he concluded that no one wanted him in the party. Excuses given for not holding an executive meeting, Oala said, were that the three European members, Barry Holloway, Toni Voutas and Cecil Abel were away and a meeting could not be held without them.

Oala said he had lost faith in the party anyway, and had sent in his resignation the day before his expul

sion. He claimed that despite its pre tensions, Pangu was a white man’s party, and that real control remained with Holloway, Voutas and Abel, although they made out they had no ambitions for control of the leader ship.

Oala said, “While I accept the ex pulsion I cannot help feeling that the meeting at which the decision was taken was not a proper one, having two of its co-chairmen (myself and Vin Tobaining) absent, as well as the organising secretary, Albert Mauri Kiki, and Thomas Tobunbun”.

Mauri Kiki claimed in a Press in terview that Oala had made no effort to seek or attend the executive meet ing. He added that incidents such as the Oala affair were only to be ex pected when people were seeking power (an obsessional word with Kiki) so perhaps Pangu’s three co chairmen will be reduced to two, then one in time.

Anyway, who ever heard of a poli tical party with three co-chairmen that got anywhere?