[1][2] He was appointed by the Hela Provincial Assembly after the death of the sitting governor, Anderson Agiru.
He was first elected Member of Parliament for Komo-Margarima Open in 2008 and was appointed Minister of Petroleum and Energy in June 2011.
[5] Potape was subsequently re-elected as the Member for Komo-Margarima, for the United Resources Party, in a December 2008 by-election.
The sitting allowance payments were found to be in excess of those approved by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
[7] He subsequently released a statement criticising the Peter O'Neill government for paying PGK70 million to a hand-picked number of landowners.