Kramer explains appointment

By Police Minister Bryan Kramer on his Facebook page
ON Dec 6, the Cabinet appointed David Manning as the 17th Commissioner of Police (COP) .
There had been a number of postings in social media claiming that the appointment was flawed, politically motivated and even corrupt.
While I confirmed Manning’s appointment in a post on Dec 9, no explanation was provided to explain the appointment.
The position of COP became vacant in July 2019 following the revocation of Gary Baki’s acting appointment by the Cabinet.
Department of Personnel Management advertised the position in both a national gazettal and two daily newspapers.
There were 18 applicants and six were short listed and submitted to the Public Services Commission (PSC) that carried out a full assessment of the applicants based on merit.
The six short listed applicants were David Manning, Sylvester Kalaut, Phillip Mitna, Anton Billie, Fred Yakasa and Mathew Damaru
Following PSC’s assessment, three of the six were shortlisted. They were Kalaut (29 points), Yakasa (29 points) and Manning (26 points).
The PSC assessment is to ensure that the applicants meet the minimum requirements provided under the regulations.
Which one of the short listed candidates get appointed is the sole prerogative of the Cabinet.
On Dec 6, the appointment of COP was made in the joint-Cabinet submission by myself and Public Service Minister Soroi Eoe.
As Police Minister, I tabled the submission providing a brief background on the process and shortlist of applicants submitted by PSC.
Following the submission , the Prime Minister (James Marape) called for comments from Cabinet members.
Each member was afforded the opportunity to give their views and recommendations on each of the shortlisted candidates.
Manning secured the majority support of the Cabinet and was subsequently appointed as COP.
So, what was the difference between Kalaut, Yakasa and Manning based on the merit-based system?
Both Kalaut and Yakasa possessed a tertiary education (Bachelor’s Degree in Law).
Does the regulations state a COP must possess a tertiary education? Short answer is “No”.
Of the 17 persons appointed as COP since Independence, only one possessed a tertiary qualification – the 9th COP Peter Agilo (1997-1999) who also held a degree in law.
This confirms in the long tradition of the police force, a tertiary education is by no means a mandatory requirement and why should it be?
Manning’s appointment was supported for the following reasons:
l AT the time of the appointment, he had served as both the acting Deputy Commissioner as well as acting Commissioner;
l AS a serving member of the force, he had served for more than 22 years; and
l WHILE he did not possess a tertiary degree, he possessed extensive special operational and project experience.
With the police force facing major discipline, command and control issues, I felt he was best placed to address the issues.
Now there are baseless accusations suggesting that Manning’s appointment was based on the claim that we were childhood friends and even in-laws.
These delusional allegations were made by a Paul Amatio and even Madang Governor Peter Yama.
While Yama is protected by parliamentary privilege, Amatio was silly enough to publish these claims on social media.
The details of his claims were raised by the police executive and my response was that he be picked up and brought in for questioning to afford him the opportunity to show cause as to why he should not be formally charged or sued for making defamatory imputations.
In other words, afford him the opportunity to issue a formal apology for being foolish enough to wrongly accuse a person occupying the office of Commissioner of Police and seen to be causing defection within the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary.