Police personnel experienced pay deductions in pay one of 2024 which caused them to go on strike and eventually leads to chaos in the nation’s capital on the 10th of January and further escalated to other parts of the country, will now be resolved in the next pay period.
Prime Minister James Marape set up an investigation team to look into the matter, while suspending higher ranking officers in the Police, Finance, Treasury, and the Department of Personal Management. Also appoints a new Acting Police Commissioner Donald Yamasombi as David Manning was suspended.
As investigation unfolds, the issue has been rectified by the RPNGC management and Police pay has been corrected in the Department of Finance systems, with no unwarranted deductions to occur in pay two of 2024.
The Acting Police Commissioner Donald Yamasombi has engaged with the Department of Finance to ensure that police pay is back to normal from pay two of 2024, and reimbursements are to be made in pay three of 2024.
Acting Police Commissioner said the mistake was made by the overall government finance system and should never have occurred. However, technical limitations in the Finance Department pay system mean that the reimbursement cannot take place until pay three.
“Firstly, I can confirm that the deductions made in error last week, that average K63 per police member depending on individual circumstances, will be paid in pay three,” Mr Yamasombi said.
“This mistake should not have happened, but when we put it into perspective this Government does the right thing by police through increasing pay and benefits, and even back-paying millions of Kina to personnel that they were owed.
The Acting Commissioner made the point that under the leadership of Commissioner David Manning, and with the strong support of the Marape-Rosso Government, police salaries are high than ever before and even outstanding allowances from a decade ago have now been paid.
