FRANK KOLMA in a three-part series tells of the suffering that these men, widows and their families face as they wait.

THEY came from all parts and discarding the pull of kin and tribe bonded as one long before the fires of Independence flared in the hearts of PNG’s political fathers.
Strong, disciplined, and loyal, these were the men of the Royal Pacific Islands Regiment, once described by Hong Kong’s elite Gurka to be among the best jungle fighters of the world. They inherited a proud and colorful history from the days of the Papuan Infantry Battalion in the Second World War.
At Independence they became the PNG Defence Force, charged by the Constitution to guard the young nation against external threats, to protect its land and maritime boundaries and the resources therein, and assist the civilian forces in times of national emergencies from natural disasters and civil strife.
Eight years after Independence, on September 7, 1983 the National Executive Council, under the chairmanship of Sir Michael Thomas Somare at its meeting 37/83 and its Decision 149/83, endorsed the manpower ceiling of the Defence Force be set at 3050.
This decision set in train a major redundancy exercise which repercussions echo to this moment and from indications may well remain into the foreseeable future.
Court orders in 1990 to have the ex-servicemen (as they have come to be called) paid first K9.975 million to one group of 188 and later K32.136 million to a later group of 782, have been stalled for a staggering 18 years.
Tragically, over 25 of the first group of 188 have died including their principle court representative, Jack Wagambie without ever seeing their money.
Of the second group of 782 (later revised to 671) over 100 have died. Most are in their 50s and 60s and are dead without record, dying or unemployed. Their off springs constitute two generations who along with their parents and grand parents in some instances have been waiting in vain for this pay out for faithful service rendered in the name of Queen and country.
Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, under whose chairmanship the redundancy order was first given in 1983 took up the ex-servicemen’s case on December 6, 2005 when he wrote to then Minister for Finance and Treasury directing that the outstanding amounts owing be paid.
The relevant part of Sir Michael’ letter reads: “Considering the age-group these beneficiaries are in now, coupled with the fact that some have already passed away while others are still awaiting for their call. I consider this request as genuine which needs your immediate attention in paying our former servicemen their full entitlements.
“Based on the above and on humanitarian grounds, you are advised to kindly direct the Department of Treasury to secure the funding to settle this outstanding claim in full.”
No such thing happened. On the advise of the Attorney General this Prime Ministerial direction, which had the backing (in writing) of the ministers for Defence Hon. Mathew Gubac, Vice Minister Assisting the Prime Minister, Hon. Martin Aini, Vice Minister for Finance and Treasury Hon. Robert Kopaol, was ignored out of hand.
A full year later on December 6, 2007 a Cabinet Submission sponsored by the Prime Minister raised this issue again.
In this submission the following noteworthy arguments were raised:
Further delay would create conflict between the Government and the ex-servicemen, “a situation that may result in undesirable consequences”;
The Government must be seen to be doing something positive to settle individual or collective claims by the ex-servicemen concerned consistent with court orders and the Prime Minister’s directive;
The Government must accept that these ex-servicemen who are entitled to their retrenchment benefits have served their country well and with distinction and many have died already;
“The threshold question for this Government to consider is whether we as a Government who have been elected by the people of this country for the people of this country are being fair to our people who include these ex-servicemen?”; and
The amount to be paid to the ex-servicemen should not be an impediment to us considering their legitimate claim because at the end of the day the money remains in this country and the state can recoup it through taxes.
The Prime Minister recommended to Cabinet that money be made available in the 2008 budget under a separate expense account for the exclusive purpose of settling the ex-servicemen’s retrenchment claims under a special vote authority in the Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council.
The Attorney General was to confirm the eligibility of the ex-servicemen and the amounts calculated noting that benefits were due in 1989 and to make the necessary adjustments to account for inflation and monetary value fluctuations and the Secretary for Finance was directed to identify such monies as could be found for this express purpose.
Still the procrastination continues, the dying continues and three weeks ago Defence Minister, Bob Dadae proposed a Commission of Inquiry into this affair, further frustrating the ex-servicemen.
Below is a history of the drawn out affair:
In 1983 the PNGDF was over 4,000 strong. It was a strong, well trained, well disciplined and cohesive fighting force under the command of its first post-Independence Commander Brigadier General Ted Diro. Already it had convincingly displayed its planning, operational, logistical and fighting ability by successfully quelling a secessionist uprising many hundreds of miles from PNG shores on the Vanuatu island of Espirito Santo with a single loss of life, in the process gaining Independence for the Melanesian nation in 1981.
The official reason for the September 1983 Cabinet direction was “high costs” although privately soldiers held the equally plausible believe that the young state, only eight years into Independence and already having faced two motions of no confidence on the floor of Parliament and a major inquiry into corruption in high places in government, might go the way of many new African nations and face a military coup d’Ètat.
The down sizing would have been to remove that threat early in the game. Whatever the real reasons, a massive redundancy exercise began to trim back the PNGDF numbers.
Between 1983 and 1989 1,111 serving soldiers were released from the force with basic severance pay as allowed for in the PNG Defence Force Act but which was far inferior to that of their civilian public service colleagues.
While implementing the decision Defence authorities refused to pay retrenchment benefits equal to those payable to other public servants. To those who enquired the standard reply was: “There is no retrenchment in the PNG Defence Force.”
Discharged soldiers, aggrieved over the huge disparity in their discharge entitlements from those of other public servants decided to take the Commander and Defence Secretary to court and did so under Originating Summons No. 58 of 1989 seeking legal interpretation.
In the same year Justice Brown ordered retrenchment benefits to be paid to ex-servicemen. On November 26, 1990 the National Court ordered an audit to be conducted by the departments of Defence and Personnel Management to verify eligibility of ex-servicemen benefits as per the criteria set by the Court in Justice Brown’s decision.
Audit was conducted in February 1993 and completed in June 1993 which qualified 188 out of a total number of 1,111 ex-servicemen.
On August 11, 1993 the Wingti Cabinet made Decision no. 129/93 approving further payments to be made of the outstanding amount to the 188 ex-serviceman in 1994. It also directed the Department of Finance and Defence to carry out further audits on any other claims which might be brought out under the retrenchment exercise individually through the court process.
Pursuant to NEC 129/93 further audit was conducted and a further group of 782 qualified ex-servicemen were added to the 188 which brought the total number of qualified ex-servicemen to 970.
Ex-serviceman claim today that this audit list was only made known to them in 2004 which enabled them through their lawyers Loani Henao Lawyers to obtain a court order of 20th October 2004 to reinforce the judgment of the National Court in 1990.
The matter has been further complicated by a multitude of lawyers who have been engaged by different factions of the ex-servicemen.
One law firm acting for the 188 filed for and obtained a consent order to get a payout of K2.5 million out of the K9.9 million, accepting this amount in full and final settlement of their claim. The ex-servicemen now claim they were not party to this consent order nor did they approve of it and argue that they would have been made to forgo K7 million, that being the balance of what is legally due them in the process.
The other 782 have had representation by Dirua, Kemaken, Kubak and Henao lawyers.
On October 24th the National Court set aside the K32,135,560 awarded to the 782 after the Attorney General through Posman Kua Aisi lawyers successfully reviewed the claims and the number of claimants and reduced hem to around 671 and in turn reduced the amount being claimed to about K16,268,606.
Prime Minister Sir Michael’s submission of December 6, 2007 now offers a financial commitment of K22 million for settlement - K8 million is deemed to be owing to the 188 while K16 million is also deemed to be due and owing to about 671 ex-servicemen from the revised list of 782 as of the court decision of October 24, 2004.


 

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