Failure by police to respond to recent killings in the Goilala district of Central Province, prompted questions in parliament today.
Member for Goilala, Daniel Mona, questioned whether the Police department had operational funds for emergency operations. He also demanded an answer from Police Minister, Robert Atiyafa, as to why there was no police presence in remote districts.
A very frustrated Daniel Mona, during question time today, demanded the Police Minister to tell parliament why police are not responding to emergencies like the recent killing of a priest in his electorate.
Mona questioned why police were not upholding their duties in protecting the lives of people. The member told parliament that his district has exhausted up to K500, 000 of its development funds to fund police operations into Goilala. He further questioned why there was no police presence in remote parts of the country.
Minister Atiyafa, in his response, informed parliament that the Papua New Guinea Royal Constabulary was underfunded and the current manpower is not sufficient. The minister’s response did not go down well with the member for Nuku, Joseph Sungi, who raised a supplementary question.
Still not satisfied with the answers provided by minister Atiyafa, the member for Maprik John Simon gave a point of order, demanding the police minister to answer whether police had money to fund operations.
The police minister told the house that under the police modernization program, K275 million is to be expended over a 5 year period, which is not enough. And under this same program, PNG is expected to have over 6 thousand police men and women by 2017.
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