Party secretaries on grade 20 pay

National

General secretaries of political parties are paid on grade 20 positions in the public service, according to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission Determinations for 2015.
This means that taxpayers are paying more than K4000 each fortnight for the upkeep of each of these general-secretaries who only serve their party’s interests.
Party presidents receive a yearly stipend of K15,000 and a sitting allowance of K50 per day for attendance in party meetings, while treasurers receive a yearly stipend of K13,000 and a sitting allowance of K50 per day for attendance at party meetings.
This is on top of the K10,000 paid by the Government to each party for each of their MPs.
The issue of party general secretaries being paid on grade 20 in the public service was a contentious one at the beginning of this year before the general election.
Personnel Management Secretary John Kali was in the dark over who determined that general-secretaries of political parties be paid a public service Grade 20 salary of more than K4000 a fortnight.
“I don’t know who determined the classification of the political party general secretaries,” he said.
“But it would require a proper work value analysis through job evaluation.
“But on the face of it, they are over-classified and would require the approval of the Salaries and Conditions Monitoring Committee, which I preside over.
“I don’t recall approving such packages.”
Registrar of Political Parties Dr Alphonse Gelu said funds to pay political party officials came from the Government and were disbursed by the registry.
He said this had been the case since 2001 when the Organic Law on Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates came into being.
Gelu said PNG could be the only country in the world where the State was paying executives of political parties, which should be the responsibility of individual parties.