Minister Tomscoll accused of not intervening in NAQIA disarray

PORT MORESBY: Opposition Leader Don Pomb Polye has accused the Agriculture and Livestock Minister Tommy Tomscoll of giving ‘deaf ears into allegations of corrupt practice’ within an agency, which reports directly to him.

Mr Polye said the allegation of corruption practice against the National Agriculture Quarantine Inspection Authority’s managing director Joel Alu had thrown the agency into disarray.

He said Mr Alu had cast fear into several employees within the agency with his crusade on sacking those, who have reported his alleged corruption practices to police and the Ombudsman Commission.

He has urged the MD to clear his name in the courts and refrain from intimidating his employees, saying such acts would only ‘throw the agency into disarray’.

“Why has the minister gone into hiding while someone, who has been arrested on counts of corruption, is doing all these non-sense?”

“NAQIA plays an important role in protecting the country’s flora and fauna and that the actions of one person just cannot stall its operation,” he said.

The Opposition Leader has blasted the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and his government for the delay in enacting the Whistle Blowers protection law.

Upon receiving reports of false pretense and impersonation against Mr Alu, the Opposition Leader Don Polye, who has been in the fore-front in fighting corruption, has called on police to investigate him.

Polye has reiterated condemning the sacking and bashing of a driver who had exposed alleged corruption practice within NAQIA