The issues of unemployment and law and order needs a holistic approach by various sectors of the economy to address.
Prime Minister James Marape made mention of this in Parliament today when responding to questions from the Opposition Leader during question time.
Marape said the matter of the vagrancy act enforcement, law enforcement and creating employment for the people, especially youths, comes back to the justice section, police and the government through its relevant departments to work together to address.
He said the government is working on this through the current upgrading of the Judiciary system with the restructuring going on, and the engagement of more judges from overseas. This to improve the justice system so it works effectively in dealing with law breakers and their rehabilitation.
For the police, PM Marape said the police and the Minister for Justice have been tasked to relook the vagrancy act and how it can be implemented going forward so to control the increased migration of people from rural to urban centers, which is the cause of increased settlements and crime in cities and towns.
For employment, Marape said his government since taking office in 2019, has put in initiatives and programs in the SME sector, agriculture sector and resource sector to create employment for Papua New Guineans.
“All of these has to be looked at in totality, the population is at 10million and poses a major challenge,” said the PM.
He added that the law and justice sector is not functioning effectively and is the reason behind the poor state of law and order seen over the past years; however, his government continues to work towards addressing it.
Meanwhile, the PM said he will be giving a full statement on what his government is doing regarding rural urban drift, unemployment, law and order and the vagrancy act on a later parliament sitting date.