Literature petition update: getting round the roadblock

By DANIEL KUMBON - PNG Attitude Blog

PORT MORESBY – Here’s a brief update about our bid to petition prime minister James Marape to promote literature in Papua New Guinea.

Since being in the national capital I have met with petition organisers Caroline Evari and Betty Wakia for the first time.

It appears that the petition had reached an anti-climax, if not a full stop.

Betty was told that prime minister James Marape was busy so she left it at that.

Caroline was given a quotation for over K8,000 by one of the national newspapers if the petition was to be published as an advertisement.

I felt both women may have approached the wrong people and, during our discussion, we resolved to try again to get the petition to Mr Marape.

I said that I would deal with trying to make an appointment to see the prime minister and also approach the two dailies to see if they will publish the petition without cost.

Caroline and Betty will seek to approach the Chinese Embassy to see if it can be of help to PNG’s struggling writers.

We will meet again this Saturday to see where we have reached.

We felt at least one Port Moresby-based writer, perhaps Jordan Dean, could make himself available if he had the time.

We thank the more than 300 PNG Attitude readers and other supporters of PNG literature who put their names on the petition.

We also thank Keith Jackson and Phil Fitzpatrick for their unwavering support in our cause.

Tenk yu tru.

Go to this link for more: https://www.pngattitude.com/2019/09/literature-petition-update-getting-round-the-roadblock.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter