Port Moresby City residents are skeptical at the news of the recently declared betelnut free zone in Boroko’s Central Business Hub in Port Moresby by the National Capital District Commission. The ban entails an absolute zero tolerance for the selling, buying, chewing, spitting and littering of betelnut in the area and hefty penalties for noncompliance and or community service ranging from 2 to 6 hours and even imprisonment. Considering past bans, many city residents are now raising concerns of the effectiveness of this new betelnut ban. Mr. Robinson Leka, who commutes regularly through the Boroko CBD, said the betelnut ban will not be effective at all. “Given that there are a lot of loiters in the Boroko CBD, there is bound to be a lot of rubbish created from betelnut.” Mr. Leka went onto to compare the Downtown CBD with that of Boroko, explaining that there are more working people compared to loiters in the area, attributing to less sale and rubbish from the consumption of betelnut. “Instead of putting a complete ban on betelnut, they should at least set up a designated area, where people can go and sell and chew betelnut.” Another resident, Mr. Kevin Rau, who runs his own tourism SME, also questioned the effectiveness of this new betelnut ban. “I don’t think it will be effective in the long run. People struggle to survive, and they will continue to sell buai, as long as there are people that want to chew.” Mr Rau also pointed out that the authorities that are enforcing this new betelnut ban, need to also abide by the new rules. “The Police Officers that are enforcing this new betelnut ban need to set a good example and not chew while they are on duty and in a public place.” He also added that the government needs to work to create alternative means of employment for people, so they don’t have to resort to selling betelnut. PNGHAUSBUNG also spoke to a couple of betelnut vendors, and they shared the same skepticism about the effectiveness of this new betelnut ban in Boroko CBD. “Mipla lukim disla nius lo pepa na mipla toktok namel lo mipla yet na mipla tok osem, disla sam sumtin ol laik wokim bifo, eno wok gud, na nau too, em bai nonap wok.“ (We read in the newspaper about this new betelnut ban and we agreed amongst ourselves, that this same thing has been done before and it didn’t work well so we don’t think it is going to work out well, this time.” Many also expressed that the betelnut ban would make it hard for them to find money to feed their families, as the sale of betelnut was the only way in which they could earn quick money for their daily needs. The NCD Governor Powes Parkop said the betelnut ban in the Boroko CBD was effective immediately and after a trial period, considering it was a success, would then be carried out and enforced in other CBDs in the city. Here is a vox pop of what some city residents had to add on to the comments stated above in an interview with PNG HAUSBUNG. [audio mp3="https://pnghausbung.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/VIEWS-ON-BUAI-BAN.mp3"][/audio]