Sepik chief passes on

Tribute to Paramount Chief Eric Maiga Wangihau

EAST Sepik has lost a paramount chief, Eric Maiga Wangihau who passed on on Feb 19 at the age of 68.
Chief Wangihau was of a rare breed of great leaders to ever come from the district of Yangoru-Saussia in East Sepik. He was born on Sept 27, 1955, to the clan of Mombuk and to parents who spoke fluent Japanese since their community forged very good relationship with the Japanese soldiers during World War 2. He was raised and mentored by his father, who was a chief, to be a leader.
Chief Wangihau was customarily initiated as a tribal chief in his village at the age of 26. This initiation was witnessed by many tribal elders. As is the custom, for him to take on that chieftain role from his father, he was required to slaughter 70 pigs and distribute them along with other customary valuables to show his respect and appreciation for the faith and responsibility that was bestowed upon him by fellow tribal elders and chiefs who witnessed the transfer of the chieftain insignia of the cassowary head dress from his father’s head to his. That ceremony was his turning point; that was the initiation that transformed him from being an ordinary man into a leader for his people and that of the people of Yangoru-Saussia.
Chief Wangihau started school at the age of 10 at St Thomas Primary School in Yangoru. After completing Grade 3 in 1967 he went on to Wilaru Primary School where he did Grades 4 and 5 from 1968 to 1969. Between 1970 and 1972, he stayed back in the village to take care of his father who had fallen ill. In 1973, he accompanied an aunt to Rabaul where he enrolled at the Ulagunan Correspondence School to complete his primary education up to Grade 6. It was in East New Britain that he became more exposed to politics and the imminent change that was going to happen to Papua New Guinea pre-independence. He was in Rabaul when Papua New Guinea gained self-government in 1973.
The influence of the Mataugan Association and influence of the country’s early leaders such as Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare had a profound effect on young Wangihau. His leadership attributes and mindset appeared to have been shaped from his early years in Rabaul and later in Wewak.
In 1974, at the age of 19, Chief Wangihau took up a job as an assistant manager at the Escort Hotel in Rabaul. Whilst working there, he was given the opportunity to undergo training in hotel management over three years particularly at Kulau Lodge on the North Coast of East New Britain. This training gave him the exposure he needed to take up managerial responsibilities within the industry.
He worked until June of 1977 when he decided to return to Wewak at the age of 22. Upon arriving in Wewak, he took up a job offer to work as the assistant manager at Wewak Hotel for two years. However, whilst working at Wewak Hotel, as energetic as he was, he also held multiple jobs – he concurrently did similar work at the Windjammer Motel and also had a job at George Seeto in Wewak as a supervisor. His typical workday routine for these jobs from 1977 to 1979 was:
From 4am – 7:3am he would work at Windjammer Beach Motel
From 8am – 4pm he would work at George Seeto; and
From 5pm – 12am (midnight) he would work at the Wewak Hotel.
He also spent a great deal of time doing youth work in his church where he was the chairman of the Christian Youths in Wewak. Between 1979 and 1995, he held various positions both at the community, the district and at the provincial level.
In October of 1979 and at the insistence of the Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare (then Prime Minister), Chief Wangihau was nominated and was voted in as the village councilor for the villages of Sinongu/Mombuk in the Yangoru Council at the age of 24. Held this position from 1979 to 1982 when he resigned.
Whilst a councilor he was also elected to the board of Yangoru High School, a position he held for 30 years from 1979 to 2009 whilst also holding similar positions at St Thomas Community School until 1985. Being a strong mouthpiece and advocate for cocoa farmers he was also a member of the Sepik Cocoa Association from 1981 to 1985 whilst holding onto the position of Yangoru Youth Coordinator under the National Youth Movement Programme.
When the national Youth Movement Programme was established in Papua New Guinea he was also appointed as a Community Youth Coordinator and was the leader of choice for the Kindam Youth Group and was a member of the Kindam String Band.
As part of the youth movement, he was very active in organising social activities, spiritual programmes and community-based projects aimed at addressing social issues that were confronting communities. Through the youth movement, he was given an opportunity to undergo further training. In 1982 he did a one-year certificate course in business management delivered by the University of Technology and also did a six-months leadership course at YMCA in Lae. The following year, he was also chosen to attend a three-month sports leadership course at the National Sports Institute in Goroka.
From then on there was no turning back as his work experiences and leadership training both through the Youth Movement Program and the church prepared him well.
The different experiences, training and exposure gained from being a member of the various groupings within the province prepared him well to offer his services at a higher level in terms of politics. In 1984, at the age of 29, he contested and was elected to the position of president of the Yangoru Council, a position he held from 1984 to 1992. In 1992, he contested the provincial government elections and was elected to the provincial assembly where he was appointed as Minister for Provincial and Local Level Government in the East Sepik Provincial Government.
During his reign as a member of the Provincial Assembly he did hold on to different positions within the provincial government. Perhaps the most prominent position ever held by Chief Wangihau was the position of acting premier. He stayed on as a member until the provincial government system was dismantled in 1995.
Despite leaving behind an active role in politics after 1995, he continued to contribute productively for the betterment of rural farmers, for the people, and for the community in several different roles. In 1997, he was nominated a member of the National Agricultural Research Institute board which he actively served until 2002. He was also the chairman of the East and West Sepik Growers Association where he served on until 2011 to advocate on behalf of the rural farmers. Also in his village, he took up the chairmanship of the Easton Primary School, a school he worked hard with the support of missionaries to establish to cater for the educational needs of the children from the villages of Pachen, Howi, Sinogu, Waimana and Singu Pangu along the fringes of the Prince Alexander Range.
Many children who passed through this school have now graduated from universities and colleges across the country. In 2011, he was appointed to be a leader of the Sepik Council of Chiefs, a role and challenge he freely accepted at the Mirigini Haus in Port Moresby in early 2010 to pursue the Will of Mandate by the people of East Sepik and in particular to honour the mandate given to the Grand Chief.
Despite its lack of financial base, he truly led by example at the front when leadership was needed in the province. In September 2018, he was appointed as the public relations officer by the contractor on the Sepik Highway Rehabilitation Project by HBS (PNG) Limited where he handled most liaison work on behalf of the company on the Sepik Highway, Haripmo Cocoa Farm and also other district-based projects until June 2021.
Chief Wangihau was instrumental in the construction of the Sepik Highway from Wewak to Maprik. With his immense local knowledge of the area, villages, people, and culture, he was able to map out the areas of each village. During the time of those project, HBS employed 580 locals along the highway to help during its construction ensuring the employment was shared through all the villages and locals along the road.
He also oversaw community liaison work with the villages of Urehembi, Tangori, and Tuonumbu where HBS was involved as a contractor to the Yangoru-Saussia District Development Authority to upgrade roadside markets and was the main contact point between HBS and the DDA in supporting the contractors built the new Wingei High School and a good number of community obligation assistance to different communities. He also managed and resolved issues which arose because of accidents at Wamayan, Baimuru, Passam and even at the gravel pit sites at Hagama and Baimuru.
His special leadership ability was well treasured by the company as a very useful and productive staff member of the company during his term of employment with the community as a public relations officer. The company was impressed by his performance, so he was taken to Madang to continue his PR work on the Madang Airport Redevelopment programme until work was completed in December 2021 when the company demobilised.
Chief Wangihau passed on while living in his beautiful nestle hamlet by a river in a place where he named Struggle Valley. He believed that nothing was free, and that men had to toil the soil to live a comfortable life.
His unique attributes as a leader to his family, clan, village, people of the Prince Alexander Range and Yangoru-Saussia will long be remembered. He was a one of a kind.
Article and picture supplied by the Officer of the Minister for International Trade and Investment, and Yangoru-Saussia MP Richard Maru