Blood is thicker than water?

 News that matter in Papua New Guinea

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Blood is thicker than water?

(GE22-related death toll to date - 8)

PORT MORESBY: They say blood is thicker than water but that is not so for a pair of siblings as far as the quest for political power is concerned.

The pair of brothers, on opposing sides of the political divide in Southern Highlands General Election 2022 (GE22), quarreled over the construction of a grandstand for a rally and one of them was stabbed to death.

Southern Highlands commander Superintendent Daniel Yangen said police had arrested and charged the brother with murder.

GE22-related violence, deaths and killings are fast rising in Papua New Guineans’ quest for political power heats up in the run-up to polling from July 2 to 22.

To date, the following GE22-related violence and deaths have been reported (with many gone unreported):

Ø MAY 26 – Two men were shot dead in a clash between supporters of two political parties in Morobe’s Huon Gulf;

Ø MAY 27 – Okapa MP and Energy Minister Saki Okapa and his supporters were attacked, five vehicles burnt;

Ø JUNE 2 - Assassination attempt on Southern region candidate Philemon Embel (People’s National Congress) who was shot at while he was in a moving vehicle;

Ø JUNE 2 – A middle-aged man died after he fell off a vehicle overloaded with political campaign supporters in a rally in Wau;

Ø JUNE 4 – Two brothers, on opposite sides of the political divide, quarreled over the construction of a rally grandstand and one of them was stabbed to death;

Ø JUNE 5 – Enga’s Kompiam-Ambun elections returning officer Beto Pokola was shot and injured in an ambush by gunmen;

Ø JUNE 5 – Four men were killed in volleyball competition, organised by a GE22 candidate, row in East Sepik’s Menga village4 in Wewak town;

Ø JUNE 7 – Mt Hagen political supporters, protesting against the appointment of electoral officials, sneaked onto the Kagamuga International Airport in the dark and poured oil on the tarmac, forcing the closure of the airport;

   The GE22-related death toll reported to date is eight.

    PNG Cyber Monitor is reproducing below the news break and a few news  updates on Papua New Guinea’s GE22 as reported by The National:

Brother stabbed

June 8, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By PETER WARI
GENERAL election violence is on the rise, so as the death toll with one more recorded in Southern Highlands from an argument between two brothers over a grandstand to host political rally, police say.
Acting provincial police commander Chief Superintendent Daniel Yangen told The National that one of the brothers wanted the grandstand to be built for their respective political party in Ialibu-Pangia.
He did not specify which candidate the deceased supported but confirmed that the cause of death was from a loss of blood from being stabbed multiple times.
Chief Supt Yangen said the accused had been charged and was currently in custody while the killing was being investigated.
Last week, Morobe police confirmed two men were shot dead in a clash between supporters of two political parties. A middle-aged man died after he fell off a vehicle overloaded with political supporters in Wau last Thursday.
Two murder attempts have also been reported out from the Highlands, one in Southern Highlands where a regional candidate (Philemon Embel) escaped an assassination attempt last week. Another on the weekend in Enga where election manager Anthon Imau was ambushed by two gunmen.
Meanwhile, Yangen said police were investigating the theft of two police firearms last month that were allegedly sold to civilians.
He said officers were residing at a guesthouse at Sumia junction in the Lower Mendi local level government, Imbonggu, when the suspects broke into their room and stole the guns. Yangen said a suspect had been detained but they had not reported it to his office, instead, the suspect was alleged to have been tied up and driven around Mendi town and forced to identify others who sold the weapons and the buyer.
“My office did not receive any reports of the incident,” he said.
“When the firearms were stolen, the matter was not reported, but instead the officers kept it to themselves and made their own arrest.
“The father of the suspect reported the matter and that enabled us to intervene to save the suspect.
“The suspect’s rights were deprived and the CID are also investigating the officers involved.”
Yangen said one of the guns had been sold to a buyer from Southern Highlands while the other was sold to an outsider.


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