Caption: Gifts for the PM and Paru Aihi given by children
from Tubuseria
By MATTHEW VARI
PEOPLE’s National Congress (PNC)
have shown their support for Kairuku-Hiri candidate and PNC member Paru Aihi,
last weekend at Tubuseria Village in the Central Province.
A contingent of PNC MPs led by
the leader and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill made the trip to the village to
bolter support for the former member who lost his seat when the Court of
Disputed Returns threw out his election win last year.
Prime Minister O’Neill while
highlighting the reasons to the by-election taking place also reaffirmed the
ruling party and government’s support of Mr Aihi.
“The elections are supposed to be
in 2017, but unfortunately we have a system here which allows disputes, which
has gone before the courts and now we are here,” he said.
“We are not here because Paru did
something wrong and that is why he was told to go back to the elections, but
are here because many candidates felt that there were some influences to voters
and as a result of that we needed to go back to the elections.”
“Today you see a lot of members
of parliament who are members of our party are here supporting him because we
believe in him- simply because he is a leader with a lot of personal integrity
himself, and he is a God fearing leader.”
“But I want to say this very
clearly that Paru Aihi has got the support of the Peoples National Congress.”
He told the villagers that good
governance would only only come about only when they elected good leaders, they
would have a good government with good policies.
The PM also attributed the many
successes of the Government to the caliber of member it had in its ranks,
highlighting the contributions of the former member to many of government’s
policies, especially the free education policy, which Aihi was at helm of as
Minister for Education.
“My appeal to you is that today’s
vote that we are going to take in this electorate is not only about
Kairuku-Hiri, but it’s also about PNC Party,” he said.
“It is also about our government,
and in your own mind whether you feel that we are doing the right thing for the
country.”
“What has our government done?
When we went to the elections we talked about free education and for two years
in 2012 and 2013, we were able to make sure that free education has gone
through to 2014 where we have put in another K700 million into free education.”
“That has come about because Aihi
as minister for Education has been able to work hard to make sure that your
child and my child gets educated.”
In his remarks the Kairuku-Hiri
candidate reaffirmed his commitment to see out the free education policy being
implemented.
“The Education Ministry that I
last held and let me tell you that should I get back in that ministry, and I want
to get back in that Ministry- I will ensure that the free education policy will
continue to be rolled out.”
There was broad support from all
areas in the district present at the rally with representation from Mekeo, Kairuku
, Koiari, and West Hiri groups.
“You can see that we have support
right across the electorate, which is the biggest in the Central Province- with
over 10,00 square kilometers,” he said.
“There is only three and a half
years to go and believe me, I have the experience, I have the connections, and
I know that we will take care of the results you are looking for.”
“I sincerely ask everyone in Tubuseria
to consider this Party, which is the ruling party and already has 49 members of
parliament, with the second largest party only having 14 members of parliament.”
He hoped that with their support
he would become the 50th Member the party had in parliament.
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