Robert Atiyafa (born 12 June 1959) is a

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

n politician. A former Premier of

Eastern Highlands Province Eastern Highlands is a highlands province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Goroka. The province covers an area of 11,157 km², and has a population of 579,825 (2011 census). The province shares a common administrative boundary w ...

under the former provincial government system, he has been a member of the

National Parliament of Papua New Guinea The National Parliament of Papua New Guinea is the unicameral national legislature in Papua New Guinea. It was created in 1964 as the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea but gained its current name after the nation was granted independence ...

since 2012, representing Henganofi Open, first as an independent and then later for the People's National Congress. He has been Minister for Police in the government of

Peter O'Neill Peter Charles Paire O'Neill (born 13 February 1965) is a Papua New Guinean politician who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2011 to 2019. From 2002 until the present he served as Member of Parliament for Ialibu-Pan ...

since February 2014. Atiyafa was educated at the Finintugu Lutheran Primary School, Rongo Primary School and Asaroka Lutheran High School in the

and

Kerevat National High School Kerevat National High School, also known as the Kerevat School of Excellence, is a government high school in the East New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) that takes admissions from throughout PNG for Grades 11 and 12. It was founded ...

East New Britain Province East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely d ...

, before graduating from the

University of Papua New Guinea The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is a university located in Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea. It was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired ...

in political science. Prior to entering politics, he was a teacher at Henganofi High School, a public servant for the Eastern Highlands Provincial Government and council manager for the Henganofi Local Level Government Council. He was elected to the former Eastern Highlands Provincial Assembly for the Kafetina constituency in 1991, and was Premier of

from 1991 to 1994. Following the 1995 abolition of decentralised provincial government, he was deputy governor of the province from 1995 to 1997. He was elected to the National Parliament as an independent at the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

on his fifth attempt. He had previously been defeated in the Henganofi seat at the 1997, 2002 and 2007 elections, on the last occasion for the National Party. He immediately caused some controversy by proposing a bill that would ban commissions of inquiry and tribunals in what a major newspaper described as "an attempt to legalise official corruption". In February 2014, Atiyafa, who had by now joined the governing People's National Congress, was appointed Minister for Police. His government has faced a number of challenges in the police portfolio: in May 2015, Police Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki was sacked over concerns about declining standards and

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...

, and in August 2015 he directed police to refrain from carrying firearms in public wherever possible. He supported the involvement of Australian advisors in training Papua New Guinean police and advocated for the recruitment of officers from overseas in on-the-ground roles accountable to Papua New Guinean law, while expressing cynicism about previous arrangements involving the deployment of foreign police. During the 2016 student protests against the O'Neill government, he denied international media reports that demonstrators had been shot by police and stated that protestors preventing students from returning to class were "obstructing the rule of law and open to arrest and prosecution".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atiyafa, Robert Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea Living people People's National Congress (Papua New Guinea) politicians Government ministers of Papua New Guinea University of Papua New Guinea alumni 1959 births