Take a look at that child above: in theory he could have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, if his father owned the land that is now Port Moresby.
Instead, he lives in a slum. Literally living on top of shit.
WHY?
Because the model of development that Papua New Guinea blindly follows is meant to disenfranchise indigenous people and serve the interests of those who came to colonize this land.
Today of course we don’t have the former colonizers but neo-colonisation exists in its various forms. The model of development we currrently follow is based on the template of suppressing indigenous people and subjecting them to colonial rule.
Imagine if a model of development recognized indigenous land rights without exceptions and the Hanuabadans simply collected rent on customary land they owned in Port Moresby. That kid above wouldn’t be living in a ghetto.
Instead, what the current model of development does is it creates the enabling mechanisms for the owners of Capital to exploit indigenous people. I guess the World Bank and Asian Development Bank call it Private Sector Development and Public Private Partnerships.
Lets take a look at another example, Limoa Holdings and Sepik Oil Palm Ltd. Limoa holdings is the landowner company that owns the lease to Portion 144C, Turubu SABL. But since they’ve converted their land to an SABL, they now own only 20% of a company [Sepik Oil Palm Ltd] that has rights to that land for 99 years. So they went from having 100% land rights to being only 20% all because they used the current model of development to try and bring development to their place. Basically they had no Capital so they went to bed with a Capitalist who had Capital to ensure he had a majority stake in the land.
As I‘ve mentioned earlier, this model of development is in favour of the exploiters, not the exploited.
I could go on citing various examples but I guess you get the point: this model of development creates the enabling mechanisms for Vampire Capitalism to thrive while the people of Papua New Guinea get screwed on Rabaul Queen, at Tumbi, on Airlines PNG, along th Fly River, along the Watut, in Bougainville, etc…
Martyn
ReplyDeleteThink theres some thing wrong with the the big picture.
95% of land in PNG belongs to land owners.
This has not provided any economic benifit to them.
Simple fact is that the cause of PNG's problems?
I hope you're not a Papua New Guinean writing that comment coz then you can be excused for being ignorant.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, you're wrong in saying 95% of land belongs to "land owners" by which I assume you mean customary landowners. With the recent theft of over 5.2 million ha of land under Special Purpose Agriculture Business Lease (SABLs) that figure stands at about 86% of land being customary land.
Secondly, you say the land has not provided economic benefit to them. Once again you are wrong. Land is social security that the State does not provide. Land is what provides money for school fees. Land is where betelnut and other cash crops are grown. These economic benefits are not accounted for by the Formal Economy therefore there is a wrongful assumption that there is no economic benefit.
The simple fact is that customary land ownership is what prevents food riots and Arab Springs. Customary land ownership has ensured that indigenous people survive independently with very little handouts from the State.
The PNG government does not have to issue food stamps or DOLE payments because people have land to survive on. These are some of the many economic benefits that foreigners and Papua New Guineans colonized by western education fail to recognize.
The bottom line is that Our Papua New Guinean Ways are what keep us going. The Constitution of Papua New Guinean Recognizes these Papua New Guinean Ways in its National Goals and Directive Principles. The Constitution of Papua New Guinea therefore safeguards customary land
I don't like your views on tradition (customery) Land, speaking of my right as a legimate land owners child with documentation to proof dating back to 1800s our tubunas in Regards to the Land of Port Moresby, we have received nothing from the govt for using our land,except excuses after another, and lots of red tapes to go through the legal systems, yet going no-where. Pay this and pay that, and works not done, what happen to geting word done first before geting paid, Such a louse legal system. With no resourse and how in the hell is the PNG govt going to pay for using our land, for example the International Jackson Airport, My family own it, My father late Joe Gabutu was dealing with the DCA, even with the PM, signed an aggreement that every contracts will be first available to the Land owner, and right after his passing, the govt looked the other way, I called this injustice, where's our incentives, resourse which the govt must compensate for still using our land for the their own benefit. and not the rightful owner, Money talks in PNG Society. The Govt is doing nothing, unresolve land issues, if I had my way, I would put a natl court order against the PnG Govt, inregards to criminally operating the 7 mile airport.
ReplyDeleteby the way, @ previous blogger, there is not land owners in Hanuabada, pari and Vabukori, they are settlers, Late Madi Geita and Joe Gabutu (Dubara clan) are the descendance of the Koitabu people, coming from the Sogeri before any settler came to port moresby. They are the right owners. If you want proof I'd be happy to direct you to my family, now residing at Taurama Road (VADA VADA), child of Late Madi Geita son Mika Madi and Late Joe Gabutu's family, Kila Joe Gabutu, Gabutu Joe Gabutu, Rabbie Joe Gabutu, our mother Geita Gabutu who is the daughter of the Late Madi Geita.