Defence force pay still not fixed

ACTING Chief of the PNG Defence Force commodore Philip Polewara says work is being done with the
Finance Department to address ongoing payroll issues affecting the salaries of servicemen and women.
Polewara said this after disgruntled soldiers protested over continuous deductions in their fortnightly pay over the recent months at Murray Barracks in Port Moresby.
He said this ongoing issue was affecting the majority of the defence force from “the top-down”, with those at the lower ranks feeling the brunt of the deduction and severely affecting their performance.
“We are working with the Finance Department to sort out the issues but it is still recurring,” he said.
Polewara said he met with Chief Secretary Ivan Pomaleu yesterday to discuss the matter to try to have it resolved by Pay 10.
Last month, this paper reported that Polewara also directed for the 2022 back-pay to be implemented when individual pay for all servicemen and women was corrected.
He said the implementation of back-pay could not be made possible if there were shortfalls and discrepancies in the payroll system.
“In the process of correcting pay period six, we discovered that there were few service personnel who had some discrepancies in their pay during pay period five,” he said.
He said their team at the Department of Defence would continue to work with the Finance Department to rectify the payroll issue.
In March, Prime Minister James Marape said a special pay run was done for PNGDF personnel affected by an earlier salary payment discrepancy.
He explained that the discrepancy was not because of a system glitch or money matter but rather the Department of Defence did not input the pay record updates.
During that time, Defence Minister Dr Billy Joseph said the PNGDF was a disciplined institution and stressed that there was a proper chain of command to air out grievances to address such issues.
“We must remember that we are not a civilian organisation with a workers union that has rights to protest,” Joseph said.