TUESDAY’s front page Post-Courier headline, ‘Buai thrives’ would have had Governor Powes Parkop demanding answers from his police reservists.
Since the day it was introduced, the buai ban has divided public opinion. Already it has claimed several lives and led to countless cases of harassment by the city rangers.
Furthermore, the public is well aware of betel nut bags by the truckload being smuggled into the city with the assistance of officers who have been entrusted with the responsibility of imposing the ban.
To add insult to injury, law enforcers have been seen supplying confiscated buai to their families there have been complaints about it being sold freely in police barracks.
To be blunt, the buai ban has turned law enforcers into criminals. Apart from defeating the intentions of the ban, their actions have been nothing short of appalling.
It is obvious that the police reservists and their comrades are profiteering big time. They have been relentless in chasing down every opportunity, even unfortunate mothers peddling items other than buai on the streets.
Every one of Port Moresby’s vendors has been victimised by the imposition of the ban and criminal elements, now robbing bags of buai from growers, have elbowed their way into a very lucrative trade.
A couple of nights ago I was amazed to hear a story on the NBC radio news of youths along the Hiritano Highway dressed in police uniforms who stole 100 bags of betel nut from producers on the way from villages in the Kairuku and Mekeo area.
The Central provincial police commander has vowed to track down and prosecute those involved. However, the burning question concerns how the robbers were able to secure the police uniforms. Until it’s proven the uniforms were stolen, all fingers are pointed at the police.
The Post-Courier shed light on what has developed into a cartel composed of producers, law enforcers, transporters and buyers.
While the city authority has pumped in millions of kina to rid Port Moresby off the infamous “green addictive” and its disgusting red stains, the supply chain of betel nut has not been broken.
Instead the ban has facilitated a tenfold increase in the price of buai which has more than compensated producers for their perseverance. If buai was deemed to be a lucrative commodity prior to the ban then the situation since can only be described as insidious.
A trade that was once worth hundreds of thousands is now a multi-million kina industry. The Post-Courier article estimated that about K500,000 changes hands every day. That’s nearly K200 million a year.
The buai ban has grown in contention as time has gone by and the ugly side of it came to the forefront of public attention. There is a widespread outcry for it to be reviewed or done away with altogether.
Some segments of the public have questioned whether the imposition of the ban has been justified given that it was introduced mainly to clean up the city. If cleaning the city was the objective, it is said, then surely other alternatives can be explored at lower cost than the imposition of the ban.
And while the ban is in full swing, the betel nut trade is very visible in the city. Buai is seen being sold openly in public places making a total mockery of the law.
Sadly the buai ban has turned into a cat and mouse game. Every time the commission steps up its fight to enforce the ban at the expense of taxpayers’ money, it makes little if any progress. Already millions of kina has been channeled into its implementation.
As much as Governor Parkop would like to get to the bottom of this issue, it is imperative that he explain to the public what he intends to do next.
The idea of buying patrol boats for the rangers will only incur more money. A lot more.
All eyes are on the Governor and the Commission to see what strategies they plan to undertake to break the systematic corruption that the ban has enabled.
Failure to do that could see millions spent encouraging lawlessness with little or nothing done to address the core issues.
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