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The Porgera Gold Story - Enga's heartbeat

Sam Yockopua

16th July 2020

Stars align in a thousand years. Lightning does not strike the same place twice. And miracles do happen. You will drive through the red light 9 out of 10 times, but that 10th time, you will get it, you will regret why you took risks all the time when others waited for their turns to go.

Just like how criminals & terrorists forcefully blindfold, disable, torture and ridicule their victims in their own safe premises, Porgerans have become the living testament to the loot of their blessed land for 30 years. You don't need to go further than a few meters walk out of the gold mine gate to Yokolama, Kulapi, Pandadaka, Anawe, Yarik, or Apalaka and you for yourself how these SML landowners have lived and continue to squatter in slums and ghettos.

The magnitude of insanity, lunacy, hypocrisy and idiocrasy planted deeply to the roots by exploitive foreigners have completely denatured and transformed the livelihoods of the Porgerans. There is no evidence to suggest these natives play host to one of the biggest mines in the world. In fact, they had no idea on this record. Naming places like Mungulep, Lukulama, Yanjakale, and Kaimanda are too far, distant to bright lights of Alipis or Suyan Camps. Yuyane in Lower Porgera is literally impassable and the inhabitants live in complete darkness, only some 20 kilometers downstream. Lutheran and SDA Missionaries established stations there with beautiful landscapes and electricity in the 70s and 80s, however, the cultish shift into the rich gold harvest plagued them for good only seen through their good memories.

The 99% plus of the Porgera landowners have waited, waited, and waited for that lucky break after 30 years of torture, pain, and suffering. Because any avenue they sought for compensations, resettlements, recognition, and dispute settlement have fallen into deaf ears. Their only hope was to wait, wait for that right day when the stars will align!

The much observant developers quickly learnt the art of trickery onto the need to when, how, who, where, and why to manipulate, bribe, and bulldoze their way around. Key influential landowners were put on their payroll. They went to the extent of funding the last bullet to keep them on the job to protect them in return. They knew that employing divide and rule technique would significantly play pivotal in aiding their advancement, much to the dismay of the debilitated rightful owners.

Over 30 years, these foreigners became the masters and kings, that they would accept nothing but only what they demanded as primed over the years of fast learning. They positioned well-paid lawyers, advisors, contractors, technocrats and even more landowners to safeguard their loot at all costs, even go the extent of dying on the job. They ensured key Government Agencies made decisions to their favor, tamed with swollen wallets having learnt that it was the new trend PNG was quickly evolving. They made sure that the paper trails were well covered in layers, in the event they haunted them. Every susceptible politician was put on payroll well ahead of time preemptively to make decisions to suit them.

They made more cash and made more gold from what they found. They underestimated the contents of the rich minerals down beneath. In fact, they did not foresee that nature only put little at the top and more at the bottom to deceive these perpetrators. They then were mesmerized that the more deeper and further they went, the more high-grade gold they found. While they were trying to reorientate and reorganize themselves for more feast, the wisdom of time caught up with them. The obvious knee-jerk response was to continue using those tricks, intimidate or run propaganda campaigns, knowing all too well that they have lost them all.

Akin to the stars that align once in a thousand years, leadership at the top level had changed miraculously. Not by coincidence or chance but by nature, the Special Mining Lease (SML) too had come to its termination at around the same time. Like-minded learned individuals started partnering up simultaneously, aimed with one objective. The long-awaited landowners started seeing light at the end of the tunnel, they have never seen such for 30 long years. They started migrating towards the source of light, as individuals, then partnering up, then smaller groups and now they have come to the light collectively having nearly 99% of them, yes, them.

During pig killing, typically in Enga, the pig receives a blow to the head. The pig falls to the ground, throws the hands and feet around vigorously and uncontrollably, the pig knowing that it will die anyway, it still gives that last fight. You have to wait patiently to make sure that the pig is truly dead before putting it on the fire and slaughtering it, because if you are not careful or rush things, you may end up being victimized.

Similarly, the decision has been already done by the Government that owns the Lease. Let the process go on (let the pig die properly) before the next necessary step is undertaken. The bulk of the legitimate owners have suffered for 30 years, therefore, sacrificing for a few more days or weeks should never be a problem.

The Developer(s) still have a chance to learn from the past mistakes, realize the wrongdoings, participate in understandings and undertakings on how best things can be rectified from here on. You may be given a chance to correct your mistakes and given another golden chance to gain further. But, thinking that your usual typical tricks will give you a better edge, you have to think again. It will never be the same again. Never. Remember, you are dealing with Engans and Helas, the baddest people to deal with.

In Enga, when a daughter is taken by a man and that arrangements have been made for customary obligations of certain bride price over a specified time frame, and that it does not eventuate, the woman is taken back by the family. The man who has ignored her beauty and worth is suddenly awakened of the potential permanent loss. He learns from his mistakes and changes his behavior, promises not to do wrongdoings. He commits himself, puts even higher bride price and marries her because he wants her so much. And he is fully aware that there are other men who want to marry her too with even higher bride price and lining up as competitors to take over.

It is no turning back now. Because in Porgera, we will initiate to take back Porgera to Take back PNG. The rest of Enga must align now, just like those stars that align in a thousand years. PNG too must align.

We will live now and go, but Porgera and its blessed gold will be here, not only tomorrow but beyond.

To Porgera, Cheers!!!

Doc

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