Threat to shut down island’s hotel

YAREN – Landowners on Nauru are threatening to shut down a government-owned hotel on their land if the government continues to ignore their concerns.

The people of Meneng district were at the centre of this week’s protests over the exclusion of their two MPs from parliament for more than 13 months.

Squire Jeremiah and Sprent Dabwido are among a group of five who have been shut out of parliament since May last year.

A Meneng businessman, Lockley Denuga, says the landowners in the district are increasingly concerned at their lack of representation in the parliament and are now threatening to shut down government entities, such as the Meneng Hotel.

“So now because some of

their installations are on our land, we are going to use that as our next plan of action for our voice to be heard.

“During the protest they sacked a lot of our boys from work in a lot of the government entities like the Meneng Hotel.”

Denuga says they will want these people to be given their jobs back.

The Meneng is the main hotel on Nauru and accommodates the hundreds of Australians running the asylum seeker detention camps.