LLG leaders claim they’ve been unpaid since 2002

By YVONNE HAIP
LOCAL level government presidents in Southern Highlands are frustrated because they have not been paid for almost a decade.
The 32 presidents said since 2002, they had not received any payment and called on Governor Anderson Agiru, acting provincial administrator William Powi, and relevant authorities to explain the reason.
The presidents claimed that during a provincial executive council meeting in Mendi last Friday with Agiru, they had asked for their pay.
Awi Pori LLG president Ailo Arapa said Agiru shifted the blame to Powi, saying he was not responsible for such issues.
Frustrated by that response, the presidents refused to attend the rest of the meeting, which was held to elect an administrator and treasurer and walked out of the board room, he claimed.
Arapa said the presidents were now in the dark over who was responsible for paying them and claimed they were owed more than K6 million.
He said the presidents were now giving Agiru and Powi a week to respond to them or they would not attend PEC meetings or have a say in the provincial budget this year.
He called on Powi and Agiru to set aside their differences and work together for the sake of the people.
Attempts to get comments from Powi were unsuccessful. But one of his deputies, Dr Bravy Koensong, said payments had been made to the councillors last October.
He said more than K1 million was paid to the presidents although it was not the administration’s duty to do so.
He said the provincial and local level government affairs department, which was responsible for this, made money available to the provincial adviser for payments.
Koensong said Powi had no authority to make such payments as the PEC, of which Agiru was chairman, authorised them.
“If the presidents think we owe them some money, that money is unbudgeted for in the 2012 budget and the presidents must file a separate submission for it, and it is up to the governor to accommodate it in the budget,” he said.
The presidents said if they did not receive the payments in due course, they would visit the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to air their grievances.