Crime Wave
pp. 14-15 · Read in the full issue
Cover Story
ON April 30, while Prime Minister Paias Wingti was outlining his government’s measures to fight crime, armed men robbed pay officers outside Morauta House in Port Moresby. Wingti’s office is on the top floor of the five-storey building and the money stolen
IN the month of April alone, two university students a male and a female, a PNG defence force soldier and two civilians were slain in cold blood in Port Moresby, several women were publicly stripped and molested at a market and in a shopping centre in Port Moresby; a night club, several houses, trade stores and a bus were set ablaze in retaliation for two of these killings; in the Highlands relatives of one of the killed university students went on a rampage causing severe damage to banks, offices and shops; also in the Highlands a large multi-million kina government adminis tration complex was set on fire; eleven people were killed in a week of tribal fighting between two tribes near Mount Hagen; and in major centres armed robberies continued.
And these were only those reported in the media, Gloom set in on a country which should otherwise be enjoying good busi ness investment, especially with its min
ing and petroleum boom.
The safety of the general public was a great risk; womenfolk feared going out shopping and on market trips or even to take children to school; investors whose taxes the country relies on for development funds were worried about their businesses; and the govern ment passed bills for its law and order campaign and Papua New Guinea’s
image overseas.
By coincidence, the Asian Develop ment Bank released a report that month warning Papua New Guinea’s economy would suffer greatly unless law and order problems were solved. It predicted in its 1993 outlook total investment would drop by 25 per cent.
[?]as wages for staff of the Prime Minister’s Department.
Such is the irony and serious ess of the crime situation in Papua New Guinea. Almost [?]ery second day in preceding weeks there had been murders, apes, sexual harassment of women, armed robberies, tribal [?]ghts and acts of general
violence and wanton destruction of property. These have led to a growing concern among citizens that law and order are on the verge of collapse and stong measures must be put in place to safeguard the lives and property of the majority of citizens.