Depts must know laws: Retiree

THERE is a need for Government agencies to know the laws which they come under and how to operate within them, a retiring public servant with a decade’s experience on the subject says.
Lois Stanley, who is retiring as the director for the drafts and advisory division with the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission (CLRC), said: “There is a huge need to educate those agencies, with some of them hardly being able to understand the laws they administer until someone from CLRC explains to them in the simplest form.”
Stanley, a lawyer by profession, was instrumental in assisting in the reforming and updating more than 70 laws of different Government agencies and private sector organisations to ensure the laws are effective and efficient in their implementation. She was speaking last week at a farewell luncheon for herself and fellow retiree, Daniel Naio, who was the official driver for the secretary.
Both had reached the public service legal retirement age of 65 years after serving the Commission for 10 years respectively since 2012.
In thanking them for their service to CLRC and the country, secretary Dr Mange Matui singled out their commitment, dedication, single-mindedness and punctuality to work, as life lessons for the younger staff to emulate.
“You still have a lot to contribute to your families, communities and the country, using your God-given talents and the skills, knowledge and experience you have gained,” he said.
In their parting words, the retirees thanked the State and CLRC management for the opportunity to serve the country particularly alongside fellow Papua New Guineans.
Prior to their engagement at Constitutional and Law Reform Commission, Stanley worked as a secretary and later, a law lecturer at the school of law at the University of Papua New Guinea while Naio served as a member of the PNG Defence Force.