Governor raises concern over appointment by controller

MADANG Governor Peter Yama raised concern over a recent acting appointment of the provincial administrator by state of emergency (SOE) controller and Police Comm David Manning.
Yama raised those concerns in a letter to his fellow governors, seeking clarification on the appointment of Paul Ito Adam as acting administrator by Manning on April 10.
“This appointment is a gross abuse of the emergency powers by the SOE controller,” Yama said.
Comm Manning’s letter to Adam appointing him as acting provincial administrator stated that he (Manning) exercised his powers to appoint Adam under the emergency (general provisions) (Covid-19) to prevent the spread of or mitigate the effects of the virus.
“I fail to see how Adam’s appointment is related in any way, shape or form to prevent the spread of the virus in my province, Madang,” Yama said.
He said while Comm Manning could issue reasonable emergency orders under the Covid-19 SOE, he had overstepped his boundary by appointing the temporary acting provincial administrator which were detailed and involved himself as governor and Madang provincial executive council (PEC), Department of Personnel Management, Minister for Public Service, Public Service Commission (central agencies committee), and the National Executive Council (NEC) which was the appointing authority.
“The emergency controller must not be allowed to short-cut the proper process, which would set a bad precedent and create unnecessary confusion and dilemmas.”
Yama also urged Comm Manning to withdraw Adam’s appointment. Police Minister Bryan Kramer said Manning’s appointment of Adam was because the province did not have a provincial administrator.
“Governor Yama is clearly confused,” Kramer said.
“This issue was raised last week and cleared up which he is aware of.
“Under section 5 of the state of emergency general provisions Covid-19 Act 2020, the controller may appoint a person to be an authorised officer as a delegated controller at the provincial level.
“This officer maybe the provincial administrator, PPC (provincial police commander) or the chief executive officer of the provincial health authority.
“In this case, the controller appointed deputy administrator Paul Adam as the delegated authorised officer in Madang as there is no provincial administrator.
“The former acting provincial administrator’s term expired in Feb,” Kramer said.
“I was informed there was an error in the wording of the controller’s letter to Adam appointing him as acting PA.
“The controller acknowledged the error and has since corrected it.”