Papua New Guinea House of Bishops urges calm amidst political protests and strikes seeking ouster of the prime minister

The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea has issued a call to prayer and calm amidst rising political tensions in the Pacific nation. The PNG parliament will entertain a no-confidence motion this week in the government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill. Last week the country’s Supreme Court ordered parliament to reconvene to hear the motion after the prime minister prorogued the meeting. It held a special sitting on 15 July 2016 to table a motion for the vote, and two parties left the governing coalition to join the opposition. The vote comes as pilots and dockworkers grounded flights and shut ports, demanding the Prime Minister step down over corruption allegations. The Bishops of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea released a statement calling on “all political leaders, public servants and others who are implicated, to be responsibly honest in the current political climate, because dishonesty will bring severe destruction to our nation.” They urged an end to political violence and called upon “those Union leaders, Student leaders, Political leaders who are responding to the current situation to be honest and be sure that what they are doing is in the best interests of the common people, so that children and students do not become the victims of reactions to crises for self-centred motives. We ask all Christians to earnestly pray for God’s wisdom to be revealed in this situation,” the bishops said in a statement released under the signature of the Most Rev. Clyde Igara, Archbishop of Papua New Guinea. (picture)