Thousands of people have participated in a one-day strike in Papua New Guinea to protest against the purchase of a fleet of Maseratis by the government for next month’s Apec conference.
The protest was organised after it was revealed earlier this month that the government of the country in the south-west Pacific Ocean bought 40 luxury cars, and later three Bentleys, to ferry around dignities during the multilateral Apec leaders meeting in the capital Port Moresby.
Angry at the lavish spend, opposition MPs announced a national day of protest for Friday, calling for Papua New Guineans to boycott work for the day and stay home. Strikers reportedly included transport drivers and airport staff.
Bryan Kramer, MP for Madang, said the boycott was successful and there was “very little traffic on the road” during Port Moresby’s peak hour on Friday morning.
“For those who turned up to work only to find that many of your colleagues stayed home I would encourage you to ask your employer for half day off there is no point working when half the workforce stayed home,” he said.
Martyn Namorong, a well known PNG commentator and one of the protest organisers, said it “felt like Sunday” in Port Moresby.
In the north of the country, bus drivers refused to go to work in Wewak, and in Lae – PNG’s second largest city – many people avoided work and went to the city’s agriculture show.
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The boycott was supported by some unions, including the PNG Banks and Financial Institutions Workers Union.
“Taxpayers are… key stakeholders hence have a indisputable right to know how their contributions into the economy in terms of direct tax is being spent by the government,” said union president Killie Sapu.
However, president of the PNG Trade Union Congress distanced his organisation - the largest union in the country - from the boycott. John Paska said wages, housing, health and education were more pressing issues to protest than the Maseratis, and Apec was too important to risk it being “derailed”.
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Namorong said it was not a protest against the summit.
“It’s a protest against the corruption associated with the hosting of Apec. It’s not a protest against world leaders, it’s a protest against our own corrupt, unaccountable politicians,” he said.
Namorong said the fact the Maserati purchases were only revealed in a news report highlight the lack of transparency around government spending. “I think the people in the provinces are much angrier than people in Port Moresby,” he said.
“While I might complain about Apec and the corruption associated, I do enjoy the convenience of being on good roads [which have been built for the summit] but there are eight million Papua New Guineans out there who don’t get smooth roads, but all of us Papua New Guineans pay [taxes] and so eventually we’ll pay for the extravagance of Apec.”
The Rest of PNG is in deep shit while port Moresby city gets all the facelift & credit for being PNG.
— Moni Pes (@pes_moni) October 25, 2018
How sad for the people who live outside of pom and the struggles they/ we go through just to survive a day. #PNG #thoughts pic.twitter.com/jighvz2Ioi
As well as hosting Apec, the PNG government is also dealing with a devastating earthquake recovery, a nationwide medication shortage, a polio outbreak and worsening TB rates in addition to generally high rates of poverty.
Spending on Apec was already a lightning rod for anger among Papua New Guineans. After paying government debt and government wages, there is often very little left over for health, education and other services for the citizens of the country.
Police commissioner Gary Baki said people were free to stay home, but police would not tolerate protests or marches. He urged bus and taxi drivers to consider “what could possibly happen to their daily earnings should they choose not to operate”.
Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari said public servants must report to work.
“I do not want to see any public servants involved in this in any way, as this would be in breach of the Public Service Act and their employment conditions,” Lupari said.
“This nonsense is not a strike about an industrial issue, but a soapbox for self-serving politicians.”
Minister for Apec, Justin Tkatchenko, has repeatedly claimed all the luxury cars would all be bought – at price – by the “private sector” but he hasn’t provided any confirmation of any purchase commitments.