LOCATED on the Island of Motupore, outside Port Moresby, nests a house of significance-the Constitutional House.
This is the house; the fathers of this nation worked in and drafted the first constitution of Papua New Guinea. But today it remains abandon and without any significance.
Our founding leaders of this nation escaped Port Moresby from the hustle and bustle colonial rule in those latter part of the 60’s era. They camped in on the Island to formulate the constitution – the road to attaining self-independence from the Australian colonial administration.
Those leaders were the group of students, mostly from the UPNG Administration College, known as the ‘Bully Beef Club’ that were advocating early independence for our country in the colonial era.
This group of elites headed by the late Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, which the country is now in mourning has made enormous strides to unite the 1,000 tribes and over 850 languages of a country we call Papua New Guinea.
Late Sir Michael’s leadership in leading the like-minded group at that time with late Bernard Narakobi, late Sir Maori Kiki and late Tore Lokoloko among others, slept, ate and worked in that small shore-side building formulating the country’s first constitution.
Today, the building is forgotten, abandon and desolated on the shore-side. Perhaps, if it was a living being, it would have spoken its mind to those that visit the island. One of our scribes recently visited the island and his heart sank after sighting the deteriorating plight of the structure. He plunged into deep thoughts and God only knew what he was thinking about.
A 17-year old student Tabitha Henry from Eastern Highlands who attends Juha College -TVET Secondary also raised her concerns for the government to renovate this dilapidated iconic structure that is rich with history.
We also share similar sentiments that this house should become the landmark for modern PNG history.
It is this building that gave birth to the constitution of our country, hence the privileges we enjoy as a nation today.
Therefore, the government needs to consider the significance of this building and allocate funds to renovate the once important building of all time, back to its glory days.
The building was restored by UPNG’s Natural & Physical Science Dept in 2000 for displaying archeological and biological findings. However, due to financial constraints, it remains abandoned and is slowly but swiftly wearing off against time and weather.