Ex-soldiers accuse govt of by-passing processes

THE manual of personnel administration was flagrantly disregarded by the Department of Personnel Management in paying out retrenched servicemen, former soldiers in Lae said.
Ex-servicemen in Lae yesterday said the public service equivalent of the general orders was re-amended to suit the needs of the departments of Personnel Management, Defence and the Papua New Guinea Defe nce Force.
They were rebutting public notices co-signed by Attorney-General Ano Pala and Defence Minister Bob Dadae published last week which outlined the forms of payment to the different categories of ex-servicemen between 1982 and 2004.
The ex-servicemen who complained were retrenched from 2001.
  They said they recognised that the general orders and the manual of personnel administration contained protocols for managing human resources.
Ex-serviceman Major William Wareka said the MPA was amended while the retrenchment exercise of 2001-04 was underway.
He based his claim on NEC decision 213/2001which defined nine categories of payments.
Under the manual, the PNGDF had no retrenchment clause but weighed with a heavy and aging hierarchy, the government was forced to downsize.
It instituted a retrenchment exercise and made the necessary changes to the MPA.
NEC decision 213/2001 amended the MPA and outlined nine categories of payments, among them were a K50,000 housing and a K10,000 hardship allowance.
“I might add that of the 1,366 personnel, six had been paid the two allowances.”
He said he saw no reason why others were not paid.