Contingent leads of the joint security personnel on operation in Porgera indicated that their efforts have been futile when the root causes of the law and order issues are not being addressed at the community level first.
“So many State of Emergencies (SOE) and call-outs have been declared for Wabag and Porgera, and this will continue if you (the local leaders and community representatives) do not organise yourselves.
“Porgera is now calm because of the presence of the defence force… If we have to leave Porgera and go, the same issue will continue.. To stop this, the onus is on all you leaders who are present here.
Your plans and actions will be enforced by us”, PNGDF Platoon Commander, Lieutenant Brandon Nema told the local leaders and participants at the forum.
Sharing similar sentiments, PPC Kakas told the leaders that they needed to unite and put aside self-interests and focus on addressing the law and order issue in the Valley.
“We will not declare SOEs all the time when the root causes are still there. So it is up to you all to take the responsibility.
“It is good to see you all come in unity to address the law and order issue. All community must corporate. It must have unity. I have to say that many of you have self-interests; looking for ways to benefit yourself in royalty, and positions, because of the packages and privileges such brings. So the focus is not given on the law and order situation in your local area. And you wait for the armies and police to come and ‘cover your sores”, PPC Kakas said.
He also said that while he was the PPC in 2014, he engaged with RJI to set up the community policing concept to improve law and order in the valley and this is now the opportunity to enforce that concept.
The forum started with presentations by various stakeholders on the impacts and challenges the law and order issues have had on their operations.
The community based groups being the Porgera Landowners Association (PLOA), Special Mine Lease (SML) and Lease for Mining Purposes (LMP) were given the opportunity to collectively develop action plans to address the lawlessness in the valley.
PLOA representative and LMP Chairman, Timothy Andambo said law and order has been an ongoing issue for the last 30 years.
He said people, including the local leaders have been running away from the issue because there was no unity to address the issue and now that leaders have come together to show unity, LMP will work with SML to find solutions.
“Going forward the landowners will take ownership of the problems that exist in the valley. If we don’t take ownership, nobody will come and solve our issues. So it is up to the leaders of the landowners, particularly from the SML and LMP, plus all the other landowners from Porgera to step-up and start facing the reality and start working collaboratively to fix our own issues. Otherwise nobody will solve our problems”, Mr Andambo said. 
