Bryan Kramer

The teachers’ plight was raised by Madang MP Bryan Kramer in parliament last week.

The teaching sector is one of the largest in the country.

In 2016 the government promised the 57,000 teachers in the country a 3 percent pay increment in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

2 years have passed and the issue remains stagnant.

Kramer, directing his question to Education Minister Nick Kuman and Minister for Treasury, Charles Abel, demanded definite answers if these increments were budgeted for and confirm when the increments will be paid.

Kramer said prior to the extension, he had drafted proper applications for filing in court.

He was to file the proper proceeding on Wednesday afternoon, intending to seek a further stay application this morning.

However with the decision to extend yesterday, there was no longer an urgency in the matter.

The second issue he was intending to do was file a Supreme Court reference.

Following talks that the Government will ban Facebook, he has indicated that he will challenge the decision if it comes to reality.

He says he will do the same for any Government decision that breaches the constitution.  

“There’s some talk about the Government considering a policy to ban Facebook. Any decision the Government makes I intend to review. And if I find that it’s in breach of our constitution or the rights of the people or certain interests of the people then I intend to file proceedings to stop it.”

He says 80 percent of the populace who live in the rural areas are burdened with the cost to travel into the city for such exercise, something he will be challenging in court.

With 80,000 subscribers in his electorate who are yet to register their SIM cards, he also says it will be difficult to impose such a responsibility with him.  

“I’m happy to sit down with NICTA and suggest some solutions in relation to SIM registration. But we have to be practical, we are not a developed country,” Kramer says.

According to the Madang Open Member Bryan Kramer, the body of the teacher has been repatriated back to Ialibu courtesy of the Madang authority and the Madang provincial government.

For now the focus will be on the burial of the four Madang youth that were killed.

The member says that the bodies of the youth are currently at the morgue undergoing autopsies following directions from the coroner’s office.

The bodies will be released back to the families and after a month, following removal of the Hauskrai’s, a memorial will be arranged to acknowledge their deaths.

He said when the issue came to light, he made his inquiries into the matter after it was raised in the media and parliament.

“The Governor for NCD challenged me to report the matter to Fraud and to the Ombudsman Commission so I acted on that challenge, and I am here today to formally lay a complaint with the Director for Fraud.”

He handed a letter of complaint along with all supporting documents over to the Director of the National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate, Matthew Damaru.

This included a Hansard from parliament detailing the debate on the issue.

“I will deal with the situation in finding out the cause behind the deaths of the four youth, and also to acknowledge those who were killed,” he stated.

Four youth were allegedly killed by police during the Madang unrest, which started with an April 7 confrontation at Four-Mile market.

Madang MP Bryan Kramer says most of the law and order issues can be attributed to the fact that most of the trouble makers and drifters from neighbouring provinces have taken refuge in the town area.

“Madang now has become one of the crime capitals of the country, simply because every trouble maker has come to Madang.”

The Member says he intends to work with the Local level Government council and start to carry out social mapping of all Madang land and in terms of settlements, understand who the troublemakers are and ensure that they are evicted from the province.

The 28-year-old teacher was decapitated on April 3.

This incident ignited a series of events that led to another four deaths and an uprising in Madang which lasted for over three days.

Member for Madang, Bryan Kramer, says according to reports gathered, the late Sam Gawi was targeted.

As of 3pm yesterday (April 13), water was restored to Madang residents, including the hospital.

The water supply was affected following the unrest over the death of a Ialibu teacher in Madang.

Acting Madang Provincial Administrator John Bivi told Loop PNG that opportunists vandalised the water supply station at Panin village during the unrest on Saturday (April 7).