Village court agents owed K5m

National

By DOROTHY MARK
Madang will need almost K5 million to pay for allowances for more than 300 village court officials backdated to 2015.
Provincial village court officer Ailai Valaunia said four officers —  two peace officers and two magistrates — in 92 village courts were told to quit because there was no money to pay them.
He said the 368 officials were to have been catered for under the provincial government payroll but that did not happen because there were no funds available.
Valaunia said many of those told not to continue their duties were forced to continue because of pressure from their communities.
He said village court magistrates were supposed to receive a K374 monthly allowance and K336 for peace officers.
Dofun village court magistrate Casper Kandamali challenged the Madang government to seriously consider the importance of their duties at community level.
“We deal directly with the people to control law-and-order problems inside our communities but we are not recognised,” he said.
Valaunia said he hoped the provincial government included the outstanding allowances in next year’s budget.