Court orders former ICA officer to be kept on payroll

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By KARO JESSE
THE Waigani National Court has ordered that former deputy chief immigration officer Stanis Hulahau in the compliance and enforcement division of Immigration and Citizenship Authority (ICA) to be kept on the payroll despite having his appointment revoked by the acting Chief Migration Officer (a/CMO).
Justice David Cannings made the orders yesterday after Hulahau’s lawyer Michael Koimo sought an interim injunction over the decision of a/CMO Robert Kennedy.
Justice Cannings refused to grant the injunction on Kennedy’s decision but ordered ICA not to remove Hulahau from the payroll and not evict him from the institutional house he resided.
Justice Cannings upheld the submission from opposing lawyer Harrison White from the office of the Solicitor General, that granting the interim injunction would only affect the operations of the ICA at this time when it was dealing with controlling movement of people in and out of the country due to the coronavirus pandemic.
White further submitted that Kennedy’s decision was in existence and it was better to maintain it.
Hulahau submitted that his appointment was revoked amid serving a three-year contract approved by former chief immigration officer Solomon Kantha that would expire on July 9, 2021.
Hulahau submitted that Kantha had appointed him on a later date in an ICA organisation restructure.
On Sept 30, 2019, Hulahau was reappointed to the position.
On Dec 20, 2019, Kennedy, issued a letter to Hulahau advising him of the revocation of his appointment.
Kennedy, after 14 days of taking office as a/CMO on Dec 23, in a circular No: 101/2019, advertised four deputy chief migration officer positions which included Hulahau’s position as deputy chief migration officer – compliance and enforcement division.
Kennedy went ahead and made appointment on Feb 17 for the positions of the deputies despite being advised by the Department of Personnel Management secretary Taies Sansan on Jan 7, 2020, that there were no vacancies in the positions.
Hulahau is claiming that there were serious issues for consideration in interim orders sought.
The interim orders will return on May 4 for review.

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