TAXI STORY: THE BEST LAND TAKEN BY FOREIGNERS?

TODAY again, I flagged down a cab to get quickly to the workplace. 

As we were coming up the freeway from the Big Rooster Erima roundabout and were turning into the road that runs by the Gordon Police Station, the driver said when looking over to the drain the big buildings on the left, over the drain: “All the best land in the city has been taken by foreigners. But us, Papua New Guineans, what’s left for us?”

He continued:  “Even the tuck shops and big shops are taken up by foreigners while the locals are left with nothing.”

I said: “Many Papua New Guineans cannot run businesses because the ‘wantok’ system often runs down the initiatives as when relatives come and ask for free handouts.”

I said it was also possible that capable people did not have the start-up capital to get their businesses off the ground.”