PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Following a controversy over expenditures for the official national delegation to King Charles III’s Coronation, the foreign minister of Papua New Guinea has resigned.
Savannah Tkatchenko, who traveled with her father, Justin Tkatchenko, shared a video on TikTok of her first-class flight and Singapore shopping spree. He, on Wednesday, called her critics “primitive animals”. Such comments by Tkatchenko sparked protests on Friday in the capital Port Moresby outside Parliament House.
Papua New Guinea is a Commonwealth country in the Pacific with King Charles as its head of state. Tkatchenko said he “stood aside” after discussing with PM James Marape.
He continued adding that he wanted to make sure recent events did not affect planned state visits by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Vice President Joe Biden. He said, “I also want to ensure the truth in this matter should be cleared, and the lies and misinformation are corrected.”
The local newspaper Post-Courier reported that the nation criticized the Foreign Minister and his daughter for attending the CoronationCoronation of King Charles, with at least ten official members at the cost of almost $900,000.
Bill Toraso, the official spokesman for the government, also confirmed to the Reuters news agency that 10 of its staff member had visited London, alongside ten guests.
In the since-deleted video, Savannah recorded her visit to Singapore’s luxury fashion stores and her meal in the first-class lounge on her way to CoronationCoronation.
This prompted outrage in Papua New Guinea, where some said public money should have been spent on basic services. Tkatchenko slammed the critics of his daughter in an interview with Australia’s ABC.
He said that his daughter was traumatised by such primitive animals. Tkatchenko said, “I have called them primitive animals because they are.” Later, he apologised for his comments, which according to him, were completely taken into the wrong way”.
He said they were targeted only at individuals who had made vile and disgusting comments about his daughter, including violent and sexual threats.
James Marape, Prime Minister, asked Papua New Guineans to accept the apology of Tkatchenko, saying in a statement that he, too, was offended by the remarks. Tkatchenko’s resignation comes ahead of the two-day visit by Indian Prime Minister Modi to Papua New Guinea starting on 21 May and will coincide with Biden’s trip the next day.
According to the White House, President Biden will stop in Port Moresby after leaving the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Japan.
