PNG Opposition calls for Sacking of Minister Tkatchenko following "Useless Primitive animals' Comment

 PNG OPPOSITION Leader Joseph Lelang is calling on the Prime Minister James Marape to decommission Foreign Affairs’ Minister Justin Tkatchenko over INSULTING remarks and lack of poor judgment shown during the trip to England to attend the coronation of King Charles III. 

Mr Lelang said while Papua New Guinea was expected to turn up as a member of the Commonwealth, the Opposition cannot remain silent on a trip that’s full of scandalous behavior of Minister Tkatchenko calling citizens who aired their concerns over this trip and his daughter's antics on Tiktok, as "primitive animals”.

“I am calling on the PM to sack the Foreign Affairs Minister, over his remarks that he made on ABC's Pacific Beat and also recently out on the ABC News. 

"We find the comments to be very insulting by a senior Minister to fellow citizens from the streets to the top of the office. The Prime Minister, you are a Papua New Guinean, the Governor General, you are a Papua New Guinean, I am a Papua New Guinean and all members of the Parliament and all office holders are Papua New Guineans. We are all Papua New Guinean’s. We are not animals and primitives. 

"Such comments used to describe us way back in the 1940s and 1950s, and the early part of the 1960's by the colonial rulers at the time. Racist and discriminatory laws were put in place and our people were treated and looked down upon as second-class citizens and when we got independence in 1975, we became an independent nation,” Mr Lelang said.

He said: "We are proud citizens of this beautiful country and we can no longer accept such insults from a senior Minister who came to our country, received Citizenship and made his way, through the good people of Moresby South to represent them in Parliament". 

Mr Lelang said his racist comments are very insulting and I am calling on the PM to sack him and to be referred to the Ombudsman Commission, for misconduct in Office and whether his daughter has the legal standing to represent the country alongside him with the Governor General and his spouse. 

He called on the PM to disclose the full details of how much was spent on this scandalous trip because the tax payers demand this - when people go and use tax payers` money to attend important events overseas, they have to account for it. 

Mr Lelang said the rest of the nation was suffering with high unemployment and soaring inflation, there a lot of basic services that have come to a standstill, a lot of Government offices even here at Parliament are affected by funding problems and yet, despite the cash flow issues we are facing, this is what we get in return for sacrificing.  

The Opposition Leader says this time we will not tolerate such nonsense anymore and while we demand accountability, it is in the nation's best interest for the Prime Minister to come out and admit exactly how much was spent, who attended and what they did when they were there. 

“The racist and derogatory remarks by the Foreign Affairs Minister describing those who raised concerns over this trip as primitive animals is insulting. We are not primitive animals Mr. Foreign Affairs Minister, and we will never be primitive animals.

"I am calling on the Prime Minister, you need to decommission this for insulting all Papua New Guineans and that is unacceptable,” Mr Lelang said.

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