City residents unite to celebrate independence.
From the highlands, to the coast and to the islands throughout our beautiful land of a thousand tribes and 860 languages, Papua New Guineans proudly wore their red, black and gold, to celebrate the country’s 49th Independence Anniversary today.
In Port Moresby, the Capital City of Papua New Guinea, Unagi Oval came alive when thousands of city residents packed the oval to be a part of the NCD Governor’s Amazing Port Moresby 49th Independence Festival.
They wanted to be a part of the celebration to watch performances by live bands, cultural shows, police dog shows, PNG Defence Force Mock Battle Show, Bouncy Castle, SME Markets and comedy. To top it all, the highlight of the event was the annual independence message presented by the host himself, Governor Parkop.
In his keynote speech, Governor Parkop thanked everyone for their participating and for wearing the red, black and gold which he said shows the spirit of our people coming together as one people: “That’s the spirit of our people, that’s the attitude of our people which is our strength.”
He added that PNG is blessed with natural resources and the many cultures we have shows its strength, rich in diversity and in biodiversity. PNG we host seven per cent of the world’s biodiversity and one third of the world rainforest, the lungs of the world.
“That’s what makes us apart from the rest of the world. That’s why we should celebrate,” he noted and thanked everyone for attending the festival to celebrate the country’s 49th independence anniversary together.
“Thank you for your energy, thank you for your passion and thank you for caring for your country, thank you for your respect and honour and for paying homage to your country,” he told his people of Port Moresby.
“Our capital city represents a thousand tribe, 860 languages, so many cultures, songs, dances, stories and so many pathways. This is PNG, this is why we have to celebrate our country’s journey,” Governor Parkop added.
The Governor acknowledged and paid tribute to our ancient ancestors and leaders including late Grand Chief, Sir Michael Thomas Somare for their wisdom which saw the country gained independence on September 16th 1975 and united everyone together as one people, one nation and one country.
“God has blessed our land with so much wealth, lot of resources, lot of potentials. That’s why I am happy that you have come here to celebrate together. We are celebrating our country. We are celebrating our journey which is not an easy one,” he said.
He said since independence PNG has come a long way on this journey undergoing many challenges as a young nation, “tomorrow, we can only get better, stronger and more prosperous”.