21/03/2026
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PNG government recently passed the vagrancy Act. They may help bring some order to our towns and cities. But letβs be honest, this is only treating the symptoms and not the real problem.
Our people are not moving into places like Port Moresby, Lae or the emerging cities like Mt Hagen, Madang and Goroka NOT because they want to loiter. They are moving because life in the rural areas is becoming HARDER and HARDER to sustain. Iv had the opportunity to travel to some of the rural parts of PNG and seen that the issues they have are Schools without teachers and teaching materials, clinics without health workers and medicine, and communities without roads. Futher basic infrastructure for Telecom and electricity nogad olgeta. 50 years on and some of our rural stations or outposts should have had roads by now. So how do we expect people to stay??
If farmers cannot get their coffee, copra, Cocoa or fresh produce to the market, how do they earn a living? If basic services are missing, how do families survive?
The real solution is not just controlling movement. Itβs investing in our rural communities. Build roads. Staff and equip our schools, Equip and staff our health centers. Increase Support to agriculture and local businesses. When people can thrive where they are, they wonβt need to leave.
Until then, we are only putting a band-aid on a much deeper issue.
Goroka Farmer π
Osborne Soso