By MICHELLE AUAMOROMORO in Wewak, ESP
FINSCHHAFEN Open MP, Hon. Raibo Paita thanked his people for the landslide win to retain his Finschhafen Open seat in Morobe.
Paita, a Pangu Party candidate who won with 23, 504 votes, over absolute majority of 16, 121 pushed the number of Pangu members to 9.
He arrived in Wewak yesterday where Pangu Party and its coalition partners are camping to form the next government.
“Firstly, I want to thank God for giving me the tenure to serve my people in Finschhafen,” said Paita while addressing the media in a press conference yesterday after arrival in Wewak.
“We all have our challenges, and I have my own challenges in my district, but I came through and I am honored to be serving my people for the next five years in whichever capacity that He (God) had called me to serve.
“I thank the 23, 504 people who voted for me and I will try my best to ensure that their mandate and their trust in me as the elected representative on the floor, I give my best, and the rest I hope that God can be in my tenure,” he said.
Paita thanked Pangu Party for endorsing him in the last election (2017) and this year’s election too.
He also thanked the Marape-led government for the continuous support in programs like the Connect PNG that had seen roads being connected to some places in his district.
“Those work showed our people that we can do more and we must be given a second tenure, or second chance.
“…that has seen me coming back in big numbers and I am really honored to represent them (his people) on the floor of parliament,” he said.
Paita also added that he was honored to be joining his colleagues at the Wewak camp to form the government once again after the national general election.
“I look forward to meeting the like-minded individuals who are going to join us in this camp, and I will work closely with all our colleague members here.
“I hope government can come on board as soon as possible once the counting is done and we can all work to stitch together a new government going forward and give the best for people in the next five years.”
