Police must uphold legal process

 FOUR weeks ago Papua New Guinea was the toast of the global energy sector when the first shipment of 80,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas left on the Spirit of Hela for Japan.

The launching of the first LNG cargo on May 15 was a historic occasion for the country and in the words of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, “puts PNG on the world stage as a country that can work with foreign investors to deliver projects on time”.

Indeed, global investors and project developers like ExxonMobil are upbeat about PNG’s great potential.

“The PNG LNG Project demonstrates to the world exactly what Papua New Guinea is capable of,” Peter Graham, managing director of ExxonMobil PNG Ltd, the local subsidiary of the global energy giant, said.

While ExxonMobil will not have changed its stance following this week’s political turmoil, potential foreign investors and financiers may be feeling somewhat jittery about PNG as an investment destination. 

Who can blame them for feeling that way?

The attempted arrest of Prime Minister O’Neill and its subsequent fallout is enough to convince any potential foreign investor that PNG is a politically unstable country in the same vein as a banana republic.

A well-respected senior government minister concludes that this week’s events have done irreparable damage to our country’s image.

He blames certain members of the Royal PNG Constabulary hierarchy for mounting a mutiny against the Prime Minister by attempting to arrest him over an allegation. 

“Certain members of the police hierarchy failed to follow due process of the law and treated the country’s chief executive as a mere criminal.”

We agree with the senior minister that police must follow the proper legal processes when dealing with political leadership, especially the Prime Minister.

In this case, the police acted on a letter from Task Force Sweep chairman Sam Koim, which implicated O’Neill in the Paul Paraka Lawyers case. 

Koim had said in his letter to then Police Commissioner Sir Toami Kulunga that Australian forensic tests confirmed O’Neill had signed the letter that approved payment of K71.8 million to Paraka Lawyers.

Nonetheless, the police hierarchy should have followed due process by first interviewing the Prime Minister to find out whether there was sufficient evidence to charge him. 

Only then can he be arrested and a warrant of arrest issued if he fails to answer to his charge or charges.

It is obvious the police hierarchy jumped the gun and attempted to arrest O’Neill on Monday without a charge. 

The arrest warrant was issued on Thursday last week.

One cannot blame the Prime Minister for taking refuge at his office in Parliament while his lawyers sought a court injunction to stop his arrest.

The police hierarchy seems to have acted above the law and attempted to arrest O’Neill on a mere allegation. 

Somehow, they didn’t learn from the lesson of last Friday when Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika sentenced Kulunga to seven months imprisonment for deliberately disobeying a court order to reinstate suspended Assistant Police Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki.

Moreover, the police hierarchy used the same trick on Vaki when they attempted to arrest him on Wednesday for “perverting the cause of justice”.

Vaki, who was appointed by the National Executive Council on Tuesday as the new police commissioner, remained unperturbed by their antics and took control of the force yesterday.

Interestingly, the police action in preventing Vaki from assuming his new role could also amount to contempt of court.

Vaki is an experienced and disciplined career policeman who was appointed by the National Executive Council, which has given its reasons for their choice of top cop. 

All rank and file members of the police force must respect cabinet’s decision.

However, if certain senior officers do not accept Vaki as their new police commissioner then they should resign with honour and dignity.

Police officers must be seen to be protecting the country’s laws and legal processes but if they think otherwise, then they have no place in the constabulary.