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Sports |
Review public servants’ salaries
I REFER to “Debt trap” (Sept 20)
where the Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari said more than 60,000
public servants are living on “borrowed money”.
However, he failed to address the root cause of the problem and
did not provided solutions or alternatives to the people
concerned, leaving them with no hope of settling their debts.
There is more to what the chief secretary has pointed out.
A majority of public servants in PNG do not have three meals per
day simply because they cannot afford a K7 takeaway lunch box.
During lunch hour, a lowly paid public servant can only afford
to buy a betelnut to chew simply because he cannot afford a
plate of food in a tucker shop.
Most Government departments and statutory bodies in PNG are
structured in a way that those who are paid high wages, remain
“highly paid” while those who are paid low wages, remain “lowly
paid”.
I know there are public servants who have been paid the same
salary for many years without any upgrade. I know this for a
fact because I have been a public servant since 1986.
So Lupari, do you expect the 60,000 lowly paid public servants
to sit in their offices to do their work or spent a lot of time
outside their work places chasing new loans or looking for food
to feed their families?
It’s about time the public service salary structure is revised
to reflect the ever increasing cost of living and the changing
economy of the country.
PNG public servant
Via email
 
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