Disgruntled Landowners shut down Butuka Academy in Port Moresby
The Butuka Academy in the Moresby South Electorate in the National Capital District has been forced to shut this morning by angry Kira Kira landowners.
The landowners are aggrieved that their children have not been given any priority for enrolment at the newest school in the country which accommodates studies from elementary all the way up to secondary.
The landowners are calling for an audience with officials from the Education Department as well as the prime minister.
A local, Hoge Rabura told NBC News this morning that all their land have been taken up freely by the government over the years for development purposes, and it is only proper that they be compensated through their children, from this last major piece of land that hosts the Butuka Academy.
"Many of our land have been given away for schools like Bavaroko, Port Moresby International School, even where the hospital (POM General Hospital) is built, the medical faculty (UPNG School of Medicine), Kaugere Primary School, Kilakila Primary School, Kilakila Secondary School and we have not benefited out of all these.
"And this Butuka is the last one and is the best school in PNG and here we are. Our children are sitting outside the gates everyday for the last 3-4 weeks.
"That is why we're here.
"We want to see the minister for education Nick Kuman or his secretary Dr. Uke Kombra, or even the prime minister.
"This is the city where the indigenous people of Motu-Koitabu own the land.
"We Koita people, Kirakira people own this land," Rabura said.
NBC News/ PNG Today
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