Manning to stay as boss

By REBECCA KUKU
APPROVAL has been given for David Manning to serve another four years as commissioner of police.
Prime Minister James Marape made the announcement in Parliament yesterday.
He said although the appointment process was not yet complete, approval to renew Manning’s term had been given “and the contract will be signed”.
Manning’s current term expires tomorrow. Marape was responding to questions by Opposition Leader Joseph Lelang relating to Manning’s term expiring.
“Recommendation was done by the minister at a law and justice sector meeting for his (Manning) term to be extended, and the parliamentary committee on appointments presided over it and also made the same recommendations.

During his four-year term, it has not been easy years. Look at some of the things he has done, we have had 300 police personnel dismissed on disciplinary issues, there has been a restructure, with regional and provincial police empowered and given the support to carry out their jobs.”

“These recommendations were brought to the National Executive Council by Public Service, and the cabinet also presided over it and endorsed it.
“The current police commissioner (Manning) has ticked off on all the requirements that needed to be ticked off, so the process is in place for Manning to be reappointed for a second term,” he said.
Marape said since independence, many police commissioners served one to three years only.
“We have had 18 police commissioners since 1975, out of that 18, only two police commissioners served their full four-year terms – Gari Baki and Sam Inguba.”
But with the lack of stability, ill-discipline has entered the police force over the last 48 years because there was no steady leadership.
“And so in this context, in light of the leadership crop we have right now, we felt that continuity and stability were important,” he said.
Marape said being a police commissioner was not just about putting out fires in tribal fight hotspots, it was much bigger.
“It’s about running an efficient police force, dealing with corruption and every other thing that a commissioner does,”
“During his four-year term, it has not been easy years. Look at some of the things he has done, we have had 300 police personnel dismissed on disciplinary issues, there has been a restructure, with regional and provincial police empowered and given the support to carry out their jobs.
“And we are now working to sign a new security deal with Australia and that will mean more training and capacity building for the force,” he said.
Marape said the government was not sleeping and was working to ensure that the law and order sector, especially police, was given the support to empower them to take care of the country with regards to law and order.