Prime Minister Peter O’Neill is disappointed with the actions of some members of the police force that led to the death of a young man from his electorate over the weekend.
Investigations are underway both by the police Internal Investigation Unit and NCD police as apparently it involved NCDC police.
“The role of police is to mediate and resolve conflicts in a peaceful manner, and we are seeing situations where this is not the case.
“We appreciate the work of police who are doing their best to maintain peace and order in our communities.
“But there are a few Police that are not using reasonable means to address challenges they face and they jump into situations where they are trigger happy.
“We need to isolate these people and bring back confidence in our police force.
“We will get to the bottom of this matter and the Minister for Police will make a statement.”
The young man died after a developer who has purchased a piece of land tried to forcefully remove the settlers with the use of police.
Prime Minister O’Neill said while the Government welcomes development, developers must respect the people who live on the piece of land they purchase.
He said they have community obligations and must exercise it well.
He further said the Lands Department and NCDC must also take responsibility in resettling people when the land they occupy is sold to developers.
Member for Anglimp South Wahgi, Joe Koim raised a supplementary question asking the Government to come up with policies that would empower local people by settling them permanently on the lands they occupy.
O’Neill in response said a trial program has already started in partnership with the Member for Moresby North East to survey and issues land titles to settlers at Eight-Mile and this program will continue to see how best the program can be extended to the rest of the city and the country.