Pay #26 not in yet for public servants

National, Normal
Source:

By ALISON ANIS

PUBLIC servants in Papua New Guinea may celebrate New Year differently tomorrow because their pay has not been processed yesterday due to technical problems within the Government’s payroll system.
A senior public servant with the Government confirmed this yesterday saying the situation could apply to all the public servants right across the country.
The public servant, who requested anonymity, reported that notices were sent out to Government departments and statutory bodies including provincial headquarters yesterday, advising them of the delay in payments due to the technical error in the payroll system.
A notice posted at the main entrance of Morauta Haus yesterday read: “Due to technical problems pay #26/2009 will be delayed till further notice.”
The notice was from the management and had yesterday’s date on it.
The Finance Department’s information communication and technology division (ICTD), who are responsible for processing pay slips for public servants and government payrolls, were at work yesterday at Morauta Haus when The National visited them.
Manager for payroll operations Sivin Yolamba confirmed they had some technical problems but refused to comment further adding that Finance secretary, Gabriel Yer was the one to clarify the cause of the problem.
Mr Yer is believed to be out of the country and an attempt to get comments from his deputy and assistant secretary was unsuccessful.
Sources from the police headquarters in Konedobu, the Justice, Education, and Health departments, the Electoral Commission including the statutory bodies said they had not received their pay when contacted.
“We do not know why our pay has not been processed.
“All of us including everyone in the whole public service are still waiting,” a staff from the police headquarters in Konedobu reported.
Another public servant working with the Department of Personnel Management reported that the blackout which occurred on Tuesday may have caused the system to crash resulting in the failure to activate payments for public servants on time.
“Every public servant in the country are in the same boat because all payments are processed under the same payroll system,” he said, adding that the Finance and Personnel Management departments were working around the clock to fix the problem.
BSP, when contacted yesterday, said they had calls from public servants all over the country enquiring why their pay did not go in yesterday.
“We have asked them to check with their pay roll unit to see where the delay was,” an officer from the bank confirmed.