Census officials in ENB assured of pay

OFFICIALS who took part in last year’s national population and house census in East New Britain who have not received their allowances will eventually be paid, provincial census coordinator Komet Malari said.
Responding to complaints by officials from Pomio district that they still had not received their allowances, he clarified that the delay was with the Finance Department which had cancelled cash fund certificates just before the close of accounts last year.
He said recently, the department had issued a warrant for funds to be released by the provincial treasury office so the census office could have access to the funds.
The first batch of payment of allowances had been conducted in most areas in Kokopo, Rabaul and Gazelle.
Only a few LLGs in those three districts have yet to receive their allowances.
Malari said together with census officials in Pomio, they would be included in the second batch of payment, which would see K450,000 paid to officials as allowances.
He said the disgruntled officials must understand that they (census office) were only implementers and the delay was with funding from the Finance Department.
He said when the department had cancelled cash fund certificates, he had told district administrators and district census officers to relay that information to officials who had yet to receive their allowances.
“We are working on getting the funds out and I assure officials that they will be paid before the general election.”
He said ENB was not the only province experiencing this problem.