Wabag village court officials get extra K50

 WABAG MP Robert Ganim became the first member in Enga to 

allocate funds to pay village court officials under his district expenditure budget.

He told more than 2,000 people who turned up to hear him announce his district development project plans in Wabag town last Friday that he had decided to pay village court officials in his district an additional K50 fortnightly to show his appreciation for the outstanding job they were doing in maintaining law and order.

He said besides other law enforcing bodies such as the police and higher courts, the village court officials were doing an equally important job 

but were not compensated properly for the service they rendered.

“Village court officials are doing a marvellous job in this province in upholding the rule of law. 

“But it is sad to see that they are not paid properly. 

“That is why my joint district planning and budget priority committee has decided to pay them an additional K50 monthly to show our appreciation,” he said.

A total of K67,167 from the K12 million district budget will be paid this week as the first quarter to more than 500 village court officials in Wabag, including Maramuni.

Since the village court system was introduced in the mid-1970s, the officials in Enga have been paid less than K25 monthly by the Department of Justice and Attorney-General until Governor Peter Ipatas decided in 1996 when he was elected into office to double the amount under his provincial budgetary allocations.

Ganim also presented a vehicle each to Kopen Secondary School, Surunki High School and PNG Power.

Wabag local level government council president Roy Kipalan and provincial law and order director Nelson Leia praised Ganim.

They said it was time other MPs in the province did the same as law and order was an important issue that needed close attention from the leaders.