{"id":4654,"date":"2026-02-12T10:11:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T10:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/?p=4654"},"modified":"2026-02-12T22:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T22:53:14","slug":"past-governments-failed-to-address-urban-drift-reverend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/2026\/02\/12\/past-governments-failed-to-address-urban-drift-reverend\/","title":{"rendered":"Past governments failed to address urban drift: Reverend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PAST governments failed to address the urban drift issue and squatter settlements in urban areas, according to Body of Christ chairman Rev Joseph Walters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUrban drift and (squatter) settlements will continue to be a problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe sooner people in authority (take) remedial actions, the better it will be for our people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe must respect the fact that we are dealing with human lives \u2013 citizens who have rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLet\u2019s not take advantage of powers entrusted in us to deal with citizens in an inhumane way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said there must be advanced planning for relocation in eviction cases \u2013 something National Capital District Governor and town mayors in provinces must consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Walters made the statement following evictions at the Two-Mile Hill and Works compound in Port Moresby recently.<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"211\" height=\"239\" src=\"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/images-2-3.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4655 size-full\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe issue of urban drift and settlements is not confined to Port Moresby but in all urban centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cInconsiderate and heavy-handed tactics without due care and respect to citizen\u2019s lives can amount to human rights violation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Body of Christ deputy chairman Michael Wilson said those evicted had become a burden to churches as well when evictions were carried out during the school term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, Walters appealed to those looking for land in the city to return to their villages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll the things you look for in town and cities are in the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGo back and use the land and trust the good Lord to help you do well in life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PAST governments failed to address the urban drift issue and squatter settlements in urban areas, according to Body of Christ chairman Rev Joseph Walters. \u201cUrban drift and (squatter) settlements will continue to be a problem,\u201d he said. \u201cThe sooner people in authority (take) remedial actions, the better it will be for our people. \u201cWe must [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65,70,138,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-agriculture-livelihood-grants","category-life-style","category-u-k-news","category-security-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4657,"href":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions\/4657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grants.zimadtech.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}