The customary indigenous co-owner of the Porgera Gold Mine, Karipe was one of the community representatives with the Canadian mining company Barrick Gold.[2] In response to violence within his community, he donated five tires to the local police to replace the used tires on their vehicles.[3]
In the 2022 legislative election, Karipe was an independent candidate for the newly created constituency of Porgera-Paiela. Shortly before election day, his personal property was destroyed by armed men from a neighboring community. However, he was still victorious on the platform of restoring security and order to his constituency, and he joined the Pangu Party shortly after entering Parliament.[4][5]
Speaking in Parliament after his election, Karipe announced that the intense violence made it difficult to reopen the Porgera Gold Mine and obtained funds allocated for maintaining order in Porgera.[6] He used his parliamentary funds to pay the tuition fees of students in his constituency,[7] as well as to contribute to maintaining order.[8]
The Porgera mine was partially nationalized at the end of 2022, with the Papua New Guinean government owning 36%, the indigenous community owning 15%, and Barrick Gold owning 49%.[9]
Suffering from stomach cancer, Maso Karipe frequently travelled to Australia beginning October 2022.[10] He died in Brisbane on 7 November 2023.[11]