Freedom of movement (section 52) is a fundamental human right but is qualified in our jurisdiction under section 38 of our Constituition. This qualification as stipulated in section 38 is subject to some restrictions and these are clearly articulated in section 38 amongst which, are public safety and order. Now these restrictions can only be imposed through parliament under special circumstances like a State of Emergency etc. Doing it without the parliament’s approval is illegal.
This event in Vanimo is a “watershed moment” in the short history of our nation when people decided to usurp the powers of Parliament and must not be taken lightly. This is a first of its kind. This event has transpired because people have risen to take preemptive and precautionary measures to protect themselves in a gross, uncivil and illegitimate way. Do we blame the people? Yes we do because they have taken law into their own hands because they feel the government and institutions of state will no longer protect their lives and properties and they, unlike the rest including leaders, can see the unprecedented rise in law and order issues and are distressed, very anxious, and afraid. They have now taken a precautionary but somewhat discriminatory and a much more unsavoury way to address this. This precedent maybe quite detrimental to our national unity and goodwill but when desperation sets in, unprecedented measures will be taken as demonstrated by these people.
I hear Governor Bird’s lamentations of unfair wealth distribution and rightly so. But, where are all the Ministers from the coast? They in fact, make up the entire Senior Economic Ministerial Portfolios in cabinet! Why should we blame PM Marape as he’s just one man amongst all these heavy weights from the coast? The last thing we would want is blaming the failures of our system on the ordinary people and taking it out on them. Such draconian discriminatory public measures incited by the good governor of WSP will only destroy our fragile union. Maybe, it’s about time the leaders in Cabinet should rise up and call for a more equitable distribution of the nation’s wealth! Maybe, they should demand more drastic measures to be taken in the fight against this law and order mess! Maybe, they should grow some balls and call a spade a spade and declare that PNG is in a “Law and Order Crisis” and declare a nationwide SOE. We can then vindicate our people in Vanimo for their stance and start curtailing all qualified rights such as the freedom of movement and deal with this mess that we’re in. Supporting illegal and divisive measures like this will only destroy our nation and its fragile union. One wrong doesn’t right another!
If the leaders fail, the people will always rise when they see overt injustice and take law into their own hands as in this case in point and a myriad of other grotesque examples we see daily in social media everyday! At the end of the day, the ordinary and innocent people will suffer as a result for our government’s failure. The majority of the highlanders are civilized and peace loving! The Governor of West Sepik who is in government should ask the Government to be more pragmatic and address these issues instead of fomenting regionalism and discriminatory segregation that may have devastating spillover effects in other parts of our country. Have we run out of ideas to resort to these low, cheap and despicable measures? It’s in times of crisis that the people must see the true essence and strength of Government!
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