Comments anger police commander

 By JUNIOR UKAHA

MOROBE rural police commander David Warap has described comments by provincial treasurer Andrew Namuesh against police in relation to the local level government election funding as “unacceptable”.

In a statement yesterday, Warap said: “I find it disturbing for the provincial treasurer to say we (police) should carry out our duties rather than ask for more funding when he does not even know how our 

operations during the LLG elections are going.”

Namuesh on Tuesday said commitments made by the provincial administration to police were already settled and police should not cry for more funds but do their work.

“His comment is unacceptable and he should apologise,” Warap said.

Warap said had the treasurer “simply picked up the phone” and informed the provincial police commander of the reasons behind the delay in payments, the matter would not have turned into an ugly situation.

Warap said the funds released on July 9 were for the allowances of policemen for 14 days.

“The size of the provincial landmass and the geographical features have caused logistical support to come at a heavy cost, especially when it comes to mobilising personnel and fuel to the outstations that are not accessible by road.”

He said to offset those costs, claims were submitted on July 10 to the treasury in Lae for payment out of the allocated K200,000.

“The Morobe police was not asking for more funds as claimed by the treasurer,” he said.

Warap said the cost was huge but quotations were supplied so that cheques could be raised and paid directly to service providers.

“We even stated that any funds that were left over will be later accessed if needed, and not for all the funds to be given to police at once,” Warap said.

He said all the arrangements were done with the knowledge that all funds would be accounted for and acquitted properly.