Expansive payroll a good move

 IN the early days of the village court system, a magistrate in a particular highlands jurisdiction charged a bird with disturbing the court for twittering during a session.

Actually he charged the bird and since he could not catch the bird and deliver his pronouncement, he charged the tree upon which the bird rested. 

And since he also could not punish the tree, he finally charged and fined the man who planted the tree.

It was a popular decision, notwithstanding the adultery matter that brought it about, and served some sort of a precedent, not in law but in a logical flow of decision making.

The excitement has died down since those heady days of a new concept being introduced at the village level but the magistrates have carried on stoically, week in and week out, hearing cases and making decisions on matters ranging from murder and rape to family squabbles over land.

There is no separate family court, no land court, no separate magistrates for civil suits or criminal cases.

They all come before the village court magistrate and he hears them all. 

In more serious matters though, a number of magistrates drawn from surrounding village jurisdictions are called in to hear the matter.

There are no village holding  cells, no jails. 

All matters will be decided to the satisfaction of all parties.

In  most instances,  hefty fines and heftier compensation as penalties for those found guilty are the only deterrents available to the village court magistrate and he uses them often and at his absolute discretion.

In a typical village setting, the ward councillor is the politician. 

He attends LLG meetings and comes back with policies, rules and regulations that are passed at the LLG chamber. 

It is he or she who ensures that these policies, rules and regulations are made known to the people and then followed. 

He is the first person to arbitrate if any rules have been violated. 

If a matter cannot be agreed to  with the councillor, it moves into the precinct of the village court.

Peace officers play the role of village constables, rounding up complainant and suspect and herding both to the village court on appointed days of the week for hearings.

This has been going on throughout the country ever since the concept was introduced in the 1980s. 

In the early days when the responsibility was held with Waigani, a monthly allowance was paid to all the magistrates and peace officers.

Then the responsibility was transferred to the provinces.

 It is uncertain whether the payments has been kept up or made more regular.

Last week, Cabinet, in its wisdom, deliberated on a submission from the Inter-Government Relations Minister and drew all the hardworking village-based government workers into the government payroll system.

It is a massive undertaking which the Prime Minister anticipates will take up K100 million annually.

It will also add 30,000 workers to the government payroll. 

This will boost the number of people on the government’s books to over 100,000.

If this was an election year, the prime minister would gallop back into power, riding on a tremendous sense of goodwill. 

It is not. But this move is long overdue. 

These people, untrained and whose efforts have gone unappreciated for decades, need to be compensated.

They need to be brought into the government fold.

It is also fitting and consistent with the general theme of the O’Neill administration to concentrate resources in the provinces and the rural sector where the bulk of the people are.

That is the good bit. 

The not so good bit is the implementation aspect.

Identifying the real magistrates and peace officers, gazetting them, getting their names on the payroll and ensuring they get their dues on time and consistently will be a very difficult task – made nightmarish by a government payroll system that remains absurdly porous.

Still, this will mean another K100 million will be pumped straight into the pockets of people operating in villages, lifting their living standards and through them, those of others they influence. 

It means more village enterprises, including those who bring produce to markets, will see bigger profits.

It is a direct intervention at a crucial and needy level.

It deserves all the praise and accolades that we are certain will be flowing in from all quarters.