By SHEILA LASIBORI
THERE are reportedly no records on how many people are actually employed and engaged in the relief operations in Oro province.
These records are also expected to date back prior to last Nov 22 when State of Emergency (SoE) controller Col Vagi Oala took office in Popondetta.
This means those people who were engaged to provide their time and efforts from the time destruction struck on Nov 14 up to Nov 22 may not be paid, “simply because of no records”.
Col Oala also hoped to see Police Commissioner Gari Baki on the allowances of police on deployment in Popondetta under the SoE, after funds under the SoE had been reportedly used to pay for police allowances.
The Defence Force personnel have had no problems on their part regarding allowances.
There are also no records of the staff from Nov 22 onwards, reportedly raising concerns on who actually engaged the people as workers and who was responsible for proper record keeping so that payments could be made accordingly.
Col Oala, who is currently in Port Moresby, said he had been bombarded with the problem of no proper record keeping by certain authorities and officers in Popondetta, which reportedly led to media reports on workers seeking their payments.
Col Oala has been especially concerned with the non-availability of time sheets and roll call of those engaged.
“We do not know who these people are ... because of the lack of records,” he said.
“What we have done is we have asked them to provide us with the list of workers, the inventories of the things they were procured with and the vehicles they hired.”
He added that it took about three weeks for these items to be tendered at the SoE office.
“In all honesty they (the workers) may have genuine grievances but there are no records. When I do my acquittals, I will be held responsible on how the funding has been spent,” Col Oala said.
“As long as they can justify it (by records) then we can pay them.”
Col Oala is also trying to see officers from the Department of Personnel Management regarding clarification on the conditions of the Public Servants General Orders under such situations as the SoE.
“I have no control over their normal pay being processed but once they start talking about allowances, then that’s where my responsibility is,” he said, adding those people who work and live in Popondetta town are not eligible but those who travelled in from other parts of the province.