Wenge refuses to apologise to pilot Richard Leahy

By DAISY TANIOVA PAWA in The National

MOROBE Governor Luther Wenge has refused to apologise for his remarks against pilot Richard Leahy and said he does not regret having said them.
Mr Leahy was the pilot and owner of the Cessna 185 fixed wing aircraft that crashed on Dec 30 last year instantly killing a family of six passengers.
Mr Leahy miraculously survived the crash.
Mr Wenge, who is a relative of the victims, called for the deportation of Mr Leahy.
His comments were met by disgusted and angry readers who said the governor should withdraw his remarks as Mr Leahy had been providing a service which should have been provided by the government.
Mr Wenge said the public failed to understand the context of his outburst.
He said he had reacted in such a way because the accident could have been avoided.
He said the aircraft was old and never replaced and with the millions that Mr Leahy had been making he should have bought a new aircraft.
Mr Wenge said people’s lives were not marbles to play with, and, in the aircraft business, owners must go to all extremes to ensure that their aircrafts were safe for travel.
He has, however, expressed his gratitude to Mr Leahy for providing such a service when there was no other service provider.
Mr Wenge also refuted claims that he had promised to buy two aircrafts for the Kabwum districts.
He said he had never made such commitment and asked the people saying otherwise, to produce facts and figures suggesting he had.
Mr Wenge said in 2007 he had fought with the National Government to allocate K20 million for improvements of district roads.
He said up to last year K14 million has already been released to districts and the members of each district should take the initiative to improve and create road links between their districts