What now? Putting the spotlight on the K500 buai spot fine

By Busa Jeremiah Wenogo

(Note: Buai and betelnut will be used interchangeably in this article)

Port Moresby residents are now warned not to chew buai in public places as the city commission imposes the K500 spot fine. As of today (1^st August 2016) the spot-fine will come into effect, ironically just in time for the FIFA Under 20 World Cup to be staged here in Port Moresby. It seems a trend is developing where the city commission toughens up on the sale and consumption of betelnut when a major event is about to take place in the city. We have seen this last year with the city hosting the 2015 Pacific Games so I expect this will be the case when the 2018 APEC summit gets underway here in Port Moresby. If this is so then I expect more gloom to follow the majority of informal economy city residents. I am saying informal economy in general because the imposition of the Buai Ban has had a wide spread impact on the sector as a whole.

In my blog here I analysed the impact the ban had on producers, suppliers, middle men and retailers. The ban forced people to resort to illegal means to earn income often at the expense of poor farmers back in the villages, particularly along the Hiritano Highway of the Central Province. In Port Moresby the ban gave rise to a thriving “middle men” business most of whom used the law to their advantage. The imposition of the K500 spot fine against chewers means that the war against buai will come to its complete cycle.

When the Buai Ban came into effect last year a mother was ran over by a vechicle when fleeing from the pursuing buai enforcers. The picture of her child sitting next to her lifeless body which was laying on the side of the road captured on the front page of one daily news paper was heart wrenching. Her death was tragic yet it heralded the beginning of the ugly and I might add fatal side of the ban. No one was immune to the ban including the Motu Koitabu villages. The death of a Hanuabada man and several injuries sustained by the villagers are remnants of the harrowing impact of the ban, another tragic story. As early as last week a youth from Tari in Hela province was shot dead by police when he was alleged to have smuggled betelnut bags into the city in his vechicle. Since then his relative can be seen marching up and down the street in Erima with a wheel burrow seeking donations from the public allegedly to repatriate the body back to the village and a “laplap” placard demanding retribution from the government. 

The commission itself needs to also make it clear whether it is imposing a “total ban” on the sale and consumption of betelnut or only “restricting” its sale and consumption to designated areas within the city. Betelnut trade in spite of the ban is thriving in all parts of the city and at times in full view of the public including the buai enforcers. Even the engagement of Police to enforce the ban has been controversial. Police officers are afterall constitutional office holders who are tasked to enforce the law and deal with criminal issues as per the Criminal Code and the Summary Offences Act. The sale of betelnut is in no way a criminal activity and therefore the engagement of the Police is unlawful. The only way to warrant or justify their engagement will be to declare “buai” an illegal crop much like the marijuana. This would then mean that its harvest, production, supply and consumption are illegal. Without such declaration the engagement of police is simply unlawful. The only reason why police was involved was to effect arrest as per the Arrest Act yet this is unlawful as well when Buai is not an illegal crop. NCDC being the municipal authority should only effect its laws and that includes Buai Ban by setting up inspectors to ensure those laws are adhered to. Infact if history is any indication of how effective NCDC’s partnership with Police has been under this ban then the rampant report of police aided smuggling and police barracks flushed with betelnut should disqualify any further partnership of this nature. 

The National Government at certain point needs to intervene to ensure the ban is not “draconian” in nature.  This is because the sale and consumption of betelnut in Port Moresby affects every Papua New Guinean regardless of one’s socio-economic status, cultural background, ethnicity and religious affiliation. Port Moresby is a multi-cultural city and the ban has already claimed lives. If left unchecked it could claim more lives. Secondly, the economic and social loss of imposing the ban is humongous. It deliberately goes against the national government’s efforts to stimulate the SME Sector. Let’s be fair dinkum here the term “green gold” is not given to buai for nothing. Just about most potential SMEs engaged in the urban informal economy are betelnut traders. This means that betelnut is responsible for sustaining the needs of the bulk of Port Moresby’s residents and generating income that is crucial for keeping the formal enterprises such as retail shops, financial institutions and transport in business.

Credit to NCDC the city municipal authority does have a plan to support cottage industry in the city but I don’t know whether that includes betelnut. The cottage industry initiative in NCDC will not work if does not include Buai because the reality is that the informal economy in Port Moresby and other major center is dominated by Buai trade. In saying that there is huge potential in the vegetables and fresh produce area of the sector but land in Port Moresby is becoming scarce to fully support the Port Moresby based farmers to develop this sector and ease the burden of cost experienced by most city residents. The cost of living in most urban centres such as Port Moresby is unbearable that most working class households are engaged in small scale informal economic activities such as Buai sale to supplement their formal income. In essence formal sector is heavily depended on the buai trade.

Above all the imposition of the Buai ban is an abuse of human rights. At the height of its implementation the public was subjected to unnecessary random checks. Most times the rangers’ conduct was hilarious and uncalled for as they carried out their roles in a misguided manner often at the disgust of the public. Now that the K500 spot fine is being effected the public should remain vigilant to avoid opportunists who may disguise themselves as buai rangers to take advantage of the hefty fine. NCDC on its part should ensure that its rangers should be readily and easily identifiable by the public to minimize such occurrence. Otherwise the K500 fine will be unleashing another paradox from the Pendora’s Box.