75 public servants quit to contest

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A TOTAL of 75 public servants registered under the Government’s Ascender payroll system have resigned from their positions to contest the General Election.
This is according to the office of the Minister for Public Service which added that this excluded those public servants who were employed by Government agencies not on the Ascender system.
The 75 public servants resigned before last Oct 28 as per the Public Service Management (amendment) Act (1995), the Department of Personnel Management (DPM) Circular Instruction No.27 of 2021, and the general orders, which required public servants to resign six months prior to the issue of writs.
Public Service Minister Joe Sungi said DPM was working with PNG Electoral Commission to monitor public servants who would contest the General Election following the amended Public Service Management (amendment) Act.
He said the 75 public servants who resigned had been removed from the payroll.
Sungi said the Public Service Management Act was clear and DPM would write to former public servants contesting this year’s elections who had resigned after Oct 28.
“DPM will tighten its recruitment and selection process to ensure public servants who have not followed due process to tender their resignations are not recruited back into public service,” he said.
DPM has a technical working group operating in consultation with the Electoral Commission and the Office of Registrar of Political Parties to monitor public servants.
The technical working group created a database for public servants who have resigned to contest the elections.
The group will work closely with EC to obtain the nomination list to ascertain those who may have resigned after Oct 28 deadline.