No Clan to Feed: Why Enga Lost Its Outsider Commander

By Peter Parakisan

Sir John Pundari cannot bury his own father in Kompiam-Ambum. The old man lies in Port Moresby because the Member was chased off his ground. That is the measure of the man now moving police commanders around Enga ahead of 2027.

Chief Superintendent Steven Harris lasted about ten months as provincial police commander. He was sworn into the Royal PNG Constabulary, Australian, with no clan to feed. Commissioner David Manning sold that as the point: no provincial connection that could compromise him. Governor Sir Peter Ipatas had spent eight years getting that kind of officer into Wabag.

In late September the same Commissioner signed the paper that sent Harris to Kimbe and put Acting Superintendent Daniel Yangen in the chair. No reason was published. The Enga Provincial Assembly asked for the transfer to be revoked. Ipatas warned that the timing, with the general election already in sight, put a fragile peace at risk. The handover went ahead anyway.

The name on the directive is Manning’s. The pick is Pundari’s. Yangen is a local officer, a son of Enga, and that is why he is there. Harris would not take the bribe and would not bow. An independent commander who bans compensation, who turns up for arrests, who has no candidate to carry, is useless to a minister who has to manufacture his return. Pundari has to move early. A provincial police commander installed in 2026 is the commander who is still sitting in 2027, if nobody is allowed to ask why he was put there. Leave it until the writs and the transfer looks like what it is.

Pundari and Ipatas will stand together when the cameras are on. They have shared a party banner when it suited them. Off camera they have been rivals since Pundari left the open seat, tried to take the Enga provincial seat from Ipatas, and lost. Records show that loss in 2002, his only defeat. He came back to Kompiam-Ambum in 2007 and has held the title since. The public unity is a costume. The private contest is over who manages the province, and a commander who answers to neither of them spoils it. Harris answered to the oath. That was the problem.

The electoral record does not suggest he needs a quiet count to survive. He entered Parliament in 1992. The win was petitioned at once: Cornelius Kakale alleged irregularities at the Wabag count and pressure on electoral officials. A 1997 opponent alleged bribery and undue influence. In 2012 two runners-up filed disputed returns after a turnout of about 96 per cent. In 2022 Peter Yakos petitioned the declaration, and Pundari went to the Supreme Court to try to have the case thrown out. Petitions are not convictions. In his seat they are the ordinary afterlife of a victory. He has not had a clean election since the loss to Ipatas. He has had declarations.

A man who cannot take his father’s body home is telling the country he still owns the electorate. He owns the title. He does not own the land. The police portfolio, handed to him in January because he comes from the gun province, is how he intends to close that gap. Harris was ambushed near Yaltep in August on the way to a murder arrest and kept the job. He was moved only when the election clock started. The National’s editorial hunted for a reason the government would not give and landed on the line that this is politics: get the independent commander out so the election can be better managed. Then it lost its nerve.