The law and order situation in the capital city of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Port Moresby is a cause for concern for everyone and it’s high time that the authorities move to seriously address this matter right away.
The Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry (POMCCI) President, Mr. Rio Fiocco, said incidents like what transpired this morning at Koki, is just one of many such incidents that occur in the city and its not only affecting the public, but the business community as well and with it, impacting the services that are provided by businesses to the public.
“Our members are very concerned with what is happening and this morning at Koki with the shops there, it’s clearly a break down in law and order,” said the president.
“It’s clear to all of us that we need more police posts in the city and they (Police officers) need to be better trained and quick to respond.”
Mr. Fiocco went on to say that if such issues of great magnitude like riots and ethnic clashes are allowed to continue because police are unable to stop them, then business houses would stand to suffer in the long run.
“Of course, if they (Businesses) are forced to shut because of law and order issues, then they will obviously cannot trade and do business and that means they’ll have to lay off employees.”
“On a longer term basis, what it means is that the shoppers are reluctant to go to these shops to shop, nobody is going to go shop in those areas.”
He said the incident at Koki this morning was unfortunate but if police has responded earlier with the proper facilities stop it, the situation would not have not gone out of hand and the public and shops in the area would not have been affected as well.