Two widows and their children were among other Papua New Guinean squatters who had to dismantle their homes as the eviction exercise started at portion 2157 at Nine-Mile’s Bush Wara this week.

Agnes Kamak, 52, from Jiwaka’s South Waghi, and Jen Emeke, from Enga’s Wapenamanda, said they had lived and raised their children in the area for the past 10 years since the death of their husbands.

Kamak, who was employed as a cleaner with the Health Department, said she did not know where her family would go to seek refuge and rebuild their lives after they were evicted on Thursday.

“My two sons, daughter and I slept in the open last night [Wednesday] after we dismantled our home because we did not want the earthmoving machines to destroy our housing materials today [Thursday],” she said.

Kamak said she saved the money while working as a cleaner in various companies and bought a piece of land for K10,000 (NZ$4200) in 2013 from a man claiming to be from Koiari and a customary landowner.

“My late husband and I bought this piece of land with the little savings I earned as a cleaner,” she said.

“My second son is currently doing Grade 12 at Gerehu Secondary School and I do not want this situation to disrupt his studies.”

12 years in Bush Wara
She said she could not bring her family back home to Jiwaka as she had lived and built her life in Bush Wara for almost 12 years.

Emeke, who also worked as a cleaner, said she bought the piece of land for K10,000 and has lived with her two children in the area since 2016.

“After my husband passed away, my two children and I moved here and build our home,” Emeke said.

On March 12, the National Court granted leave to Nambawan Super Limited (NSL) to issue writs of possession to all illegal settlers residing within portions 2156, 2157 and 2159 at 9-Mile’s Bush Wara.

At the same time, it granted a 120-day grace period for the settlers to voluntarily vacate the land portions.

Most squatters had moved out during the 120-day grace period granted by the National Court for the settlers to voluntarily vacate the land.

The National witnessed the remaining squatters voluntarily pulling down the remaining structures of their homes and properties as earthmoving machines started clearing the area yesterday.

5400 squatters
It is understood that a survey conducted two years ago revealed that the total population squatting on the NSL land was about 5400 with 900 houses.

Acting commander of NCD and Central Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Peter Guinness said he was pleased with both the police and squatters who worked together to see that the first day of eviction went smoothly.

He said there was no confrontation and the first day of eviction was carried out peacefully.

Assistant Commissioner Guinness said settlers who were still removing their properties were given time to do so while the machines moved to other locations.

“I want to thank my police officers and also the sheriff officers for a well-coordinated awareness programme that led to a peaceful first day of eviction.

“The public must understand that police presence on-site during the awareness and actual eviction was to execute the court order now in place.

“We have families there, too, but we have no choice but to execute our mandated duties.

“The 120-day grace period was enough time for everyone to move out as per the court order,” Guinness said.

Awareness for the eviction exercise started three years ago.

Kelvin Joe and Gynnie Kero are reporters for PNG’s The National. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Sixty-year-old Funki Uin continues his struggle in vain in Papua New Guinea as he tries to follow up over his late brother, Jhuke Uin’s, savings parked in a major national retirement fund since he died in 2019.

He has been repeatedly visiting the branch of Nambawan Super Limited (NSL) and the Public Curator’s office for the last two years since brother did not name any next of kin to inherit his life savings when he died.

The worrying fact in this story is that Funki’s plight could be experienced by the families of more than 161,500 other members who do not have a single listed beneficiary for their superannuation savings at both major funds of Nambawan Super (65,000 members) and Nasfund (96,532).

The PNG Post-Courier followed up with the Mt Hagen Public Curators office which responded stating that the superfunds must make the process easy for relatives of their members to have access to their savings.

This is not easy due to the current legal regime governing both the funds and the release of such unclaimed money in the country.

Continuous attempts to get comments from the Public Curator in Port Moresby were unsuccessful.

Uin claims he has followed proper procedures to apply for he funds of his late brother, who was a career public servant with the Southern Highlands provincial government, with no favourable response.

Governed by law
Both Nasfund and NSL stated in their responses to the Post-Courier that they were governed under the Superannuation Act 2022.

Nasfund chief executive officer Rajeev Sharma said: “Our policies and procedures are derived from the Superannuation Act which governs all superfunds (trustees), fund administrators, investment managers and stakeholders.

“As a trustee, our requirements and processes are aligned to both the Superannuation Act and the Prudential Standards to safeguard the entitlements of all members and their beneficiaries.

“As standard procedure, registered beneficiary(s) of the deceased member whose information were provided by the member whilst being an active contributor will have access to information and service.

“A beneficiary of a deceased member must ensure to provide key requirements such as the Medical Certificate of Death, Warrant to Bury, and a confirmation of employment from the most recent employer of the deceased member as verification.

“Beneficiaries are also required to provide identification (ie. valid ID or verification documents) to prove their validity.”

NSL chief executive officer Paul Sayer said: “One of the major challenges we face is that many of our members have not provided a list of their nominated beneficiaries.

Outdated information
“Or if they have, it is outdated, incomplete or has family members left out which often leads to a longer withdrawal process for beneficiaries.

“When a member without any listed beneficiaries passes away, the fund is tasked with identifying the correct people to whom the late member’s entitlements should go.

“The withdrawal process in these instances is extended to include additional verification requirements for each individual that presents themselves.

“They must provide proof of identification and proof of relation to the late member.

“The unlisted beneficiaries are also required to provide additional documents for this verification process which are then reviewed and processed by NSL before releasing the entitlements.”

Both Nasfund and NSL have encouraged their members to update their details with their respective funds.

Dale Luma and Pearson Kolo are PNG Post-Courier journalists. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz