Rufina Peter

Governor Peter says an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture is currently being reviewed and updated.

“As soon as that is finalized, it will be signed between myself as Governor and the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture,” said Peter.

She adds that, “Infrastructure to develop and enhance the tourism sector will be discussed separately. For now focus will be put on the music and entertainment industry in Central Province and how it can contribute to tourism.”

Over the weekend, Governor Rufina Peter visited Boteka in Ward 3 and Siraka in the Vanapa Brown Local Level Government, Hiri Koiari District. She was accompanied by LLG Council President Wayne Iorive along with councillors from the respective wards.

Boteka is located on the outskirts of Port Moresby, past the Catholic Church-owned Nazareth at the turn-off before Laloki Bridge. Established in the late 1950’s this area is home to now three hundred families who have slowly migrated out of the area due to lack of the most basic services.

Central Province Governor, Rufina Peter when delivering her independence message last week, says the Central Provincial Government has allocated funding in this year’s budget to renovate police housing at Tapini and Bereina stations.

She said the Central Provincial Government is looking to embark on a training program for reserve police personnel.

This, the Governor believes will cut down on the cost of maintaining and building housing.

A father of six and teacher from Chimbu Province who has been living, working and serving in the Central Province for the past eight years has thanked Central Province Governor Rufina Peter for the initiative.

Anton Waruo began teaching in 1996 after leaving Holy Trinity Teachers College in Mount Hagen. He began his career in Chimbu where he taught for 19 years. In 2016, he was assigned to the Central Province to Vanapa along the Hiritano Highway. Waruo has been teaching in various schools throughout the province since then.  

The Government of India through its embassy in Port Moresby supports this endeavor.

In a joint press conference at the Central Provincial headquarters in Port Moresby, Central Province Governor Rufina Peter highlighted that education is a key priority in her plans for the province.

Central Governor Rufina Peter presented a cheque of K500,000 to the Registrar-General, Noel Mobiha, of the Papua New Guinea Civil and Identity Registry (PNGCIR), for the rollout of registrations for NID.

Governor Peter said: “We want to make sure that with connect PNG coming in, it’s a priority for me to make sure that my people have IDs to say that we are Central, going out you are Central. We need to control the gateways and for us this is really important.”

He made this statement after attending to a peace reconciliation ceremony in the district recently.

“Goilala is the only district that has absence of law enforcement agencies in the district that includes, police, correctional service and magisterial service.

“In recent times we only do bandage solution and this must change in the nature of addressing law and order issues.

“Goilala is a remote district that we all know and it is about time we all stake holders take responsibility in addressing the issue,’’ Aia said.

Appointed members of the committee were Provincial Administrator Francis Koaba and Provincial Finance Manager (PFM) Walis Imbal, who were sworn in by Provincial Legal Officer Moses Elkui. Witnesses included Members of Parliament from Rigo, Abau, Goilala, Kairuku and Hiri, who were sworn in, in December 2022. 

Governor Peter told the JPP&BPC members that the role that they will play is very important because in terms of fair representation and distribution of funds that will come in under Provincial Support Improvement (PSIP) is important.

Attending court for disputed returns has set the governor back six-seven months in service delivery.

An elated Governor Peter said, “Yesterday was a day of victory for the people of Central Province a decision had to be made and it was made yesterday, this is because its 6-7 months of going through the court proceedings and that is a long time for work actual development work.”

She acknowledged former governor and election petitioner Robert Agarobe for practicing his democratic right to dispute the election results.

This was stated during the Provincial Government Dedication Service held on 30^th of January, 2023.

“We need to reflect on ourselves, we need to look at how and where we went wrong. Because it’s not just bureaucracy or government it’s also our people in communities. This is something we need to look at as an agenda preparing ourselves for 2025. I will leave that with the Churches on how do we do repentance moving forward,” she stated.