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a
"•Ml
Momis
The Deputy Chairman of the Constitu*
tional Planning Committee, F a tii e r John
Momis, has replied strongly to an attack on
the committee.
He said the present power structure is an
abuse of parliamentary democracy.
He warned that unless things change there may
be milifary coups, strikes and other violent action
by the people.
Fr Momis was speaking on the National Broadcasting
Commission program Contact in reply to a statement' issued
last week by the Minister for Natural Resources, Mr
Jephcott. ' . J- : :
Mr Jephcott accused.
the CPC of
racist attitudes * because
of their citizenship
recommendations.
He said there
was a" "power hungry
base in the CPC
which can see a
means of. usurping
power which is currently
in the executive".:
' . .
Fr Momis said that
according to thfe CPC
recom mendations,
there had to be a redistribution
of power
between Cabinet and •
Parliament. .
"We believe," he said,
"this is the only way
to have real parliamentary
democracy."
He said - that people
could say parliamen-
tary . democracy . was
being" abused now.
Many people he said
were using the system
to dominate the. country
and unfortunately
all these decisions
were not being made
by.black people.
Fr Momis; said out-.
side interests were
using black people to
promote . their own
interests.
He said the leadership
today was mediocre
and • people in
authority were very
reluctant to give up
some of their powers.
Fr ' Momis warned',
that unless .the masses
through the backbench
Members of
Parliament were given
a mor e effective role
in governing the country
then to them Par"
liament would be ineffective..
He said they could
then resort to military
coups or strikes.
Fr Momis said the
present power structure
was imbalanced
and dominated by outside
people and influences.
He. said that unless
people stopped
"preaching pious platitudes"
and faced
reality the masses
would continue to be
dominated by a few
elite groups.
He said that if the
s i t u a t ion continued
Papua New Guinea
had a very poor future!
Fr Momis accused
Mr Jephcott of freak-
ing the confidentiality
of Cabinet-CPC talks.
He said Mr Jephcott
had ignored several
key proposals oh citizenship
put forward
^by the CPC some time
ago.
He said Cabinet had
had for six Weeks, proposals
from the committee
which stated
categorically that the
• distinction between
the children of a Papua
New Guinean
woman and an expatriate
man and those
of . a Papua New Guinean
man and an expatriate
woman had
been dropped.
• Turn to Page 3

PNG SYSTEM ABUSING DEMOCRACY

SAYS, Fr MOMIS

• From Page 1
He said the committee
had also proposed
- that mixed-race people
with" at least two
indigenous? grandparents
and who .had never
taken out foreign
citizenship or right of
residency in Australia
were . automati c a 11 y
eligible for citizenship.
••/•'•• He said that those
who had taken foreign
citizenship would be
given precedence over
most other foreign nationals
in the: number
of years residency required
for citizenship.
Special provision
had been made for
those people of mixed
descent who had two
indigenous grandparents
and a foreign cit-
. Izenship, yet had always
' Identified with
an indigenous Papua
New Guinean com-

munity and had never,
accepted a*iy- : benefits
or evercised any rights
of their foreign citizenship;
Fr Momis said most
mixed - race people
would automatically
qualify for citizenship.
!
In a statement released
yesterday, Fr
Momis said that the
CPC recommende d'
that non-citizens employed
. in the public
service: or private enterprise
should be able
to apply for- registration
as intending citizens.
He said ' they would
have to be employed
on the same rates of
pay and conditions as
those who automatically;
qualified for citizenship.
'
"Once registered,"
he said, "they would
have protection from
being localised.

"However, they
would not have the
same rights to promotion
as do Papua New
Guinean * citizens."
Fr Momis said that
the coffee buying laws
recently passed by the
House ; specifically discriminated
against expatriates
and in favor
of the people of this
country on . what
amounted to a racial
basis.
He said the Lands
Acquisition Bill, introduced
by the Government
in the House last
February was specific
cally designed to advance
the interests, of
those who had at least
three grandpa r e n t s
who were born in Papua
New Guinea and

were members of a
tribe, clan, or other
customary group.
"The com mitt.ee
fully supports the
Government in its efforts
to promote the
•welfare of our indigenous
people, and redress
some of the injustices
which our
people have suffered
.during the colonial
era," he said;
Fr Momis said that
the Government's localisation
program also
affected those mixedrace
people who had
taken out Australian
citizenship and were
receiving salaries and
allowance , more than
-double those indigenous
Papua New Gul-neans
received.

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