Wagambie suspended

By ANTOINETTE POIVI and REBECCA KUKU
ASSISTANT Police Commissioner for Central and National Capital District Anthony Wagambie Jr has been suspended for 21 days.
Acting Police Commissioner Donald Yamasombi said this followed initial investigations by the police Internal Affairs Directorate (IAD) into events of last Wednesday.
“Acting on the advice of the IAD director, I have approved the suspension of the NCD/Central commander, in accordance with the requirements of the Police Act to facilitate a thorough and impartial investigation,” he said.
Yamasombi said he had to follow the correct administrative process in a transparent manner.
“He (Wagambie) will have the opportunity to provide further information to investigators as is required during this (disciplinary) process,” he said.
“This is the first of potentially several more suspensions with the way in which some police personnel conducted themselves during the mayhem.”
He said the people of Port Moresby and the country were expecting answers as to how the looting and destruction happened.
Yamasombi said the police force was a constitutionally designated disciplined force operating under the Police Act.
Disciplinary offences are clearly articulated in the legislation.
“As this is part of the ongoing investigation, there is not a lot further that can be said at this point, other than that the public deserves leadership from their police commanders and the personnel they manage,” Yamasombi said.
“We did not see this leadership last Wednesday when the NCD/Central command police abandoned their posts to attend strike meetings. And no discipline was imposed.”
He said police should not go on strike because they had a mandated role which required that they must put their duty first.
“There are other means to address industrial issues (which) were not followed last Wednesday and left the city vulnerable to mob criminal activities as we witnessed,” he said.
Yamasombi said at the heart of this problem was the leadership failure.
Wagambie in response said: “My conscience is clear, that I did all that I could. I tried my best to avoid the looting by getting my personnel back on duty. It was not a planned activity. No intelligence was picked up on this. It just happened.
“If it was planned by some elements from within the force or externally, then hopefully the investigation will reveal this.”
Wagambie said he and his senior officers tried their best to avert any strike action by police personnel.
“We went to Unagi Oval after learning of a gathering of police personnel raising issues regarding a pay cut or tax,” he said.
“We got the police association president to attend to this, and also the internal security minister voluntarily made his way there to address the personnel.
“And it was not just police from the NCD command but all other divisions and units too. There were also Correctional Service officers and members of the PNGDF, plus a few public servants.”