Govt owes us K160mil: Police

By HELEN TARAWA
POLICE officers claim they are owed services allowances of up to K160 million.
Police Association of PNG officials said as per the enterprise-based agreement, officers nationwide were owed allowances for services rendered.
Association president Lowa Tambua said the allowances included shifts backdated to 2010, insurance and Apec allowances of K300 per officer.
“We are aware that the K200 per officer was paid but the K300 promised by the Government hasn’t been paid. We were told that the allowances would be paid in two weeks but that hasn’t been done. This is the last week,” Tambua said.
He said another issue was the shift on-call for police officers backdated to 2010 amounting to K90mil.
“We will also be addressing the non-payment of insurance of K2.7 million,” Tambua said.
“The Government past and present has been gambling on the patience of everyone and it’s time to stop.
“The police union says enough is enough.”
Association general secretary Clement Kanau said the issues had been raised with Police Commissioner Gari Baki, Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari, and Treasury Secretary Dairi Vele.
In response, Baki said yesterday he would not comment until he saw the union statement.
Lupari and Vele did not respond to messages.
“The vote for the next course of action remains with the (3000) members of the police association throughout the country,” Kanau said.
“It’s very worrying because breaching of agreements amounts to industrial action.
“These allowances are spelled out in the signed enterprise agreement with the government.”