Ward recorders in Madang call for better pay

By LARRY ANDREW
WARD recorders in Usino local-level government in Usino-Bundi, Madang, say updating population data is a big task and their pay is insufficient.
The LLG has 34 wards – Bundi LLG 24 and Gama LLG 16 apiece.
Usino has the biggest population with a land mass stretching from Begesin to Ramu Sugar.
Spokesman Menox Samuri told The National that ward recorders had been doing a lot of work to update population data.
Some of the recorders had been working for 20 years without pay.
Samuri said ward recorders had been doing a good work in their communities for the last five years and should be properly remunerated.
He said they wanted to be paid their backdated salaries before the 2019 LLG election.
“We have been doing a lot over the years to update the population data but what concerns us is our salary,” Samuri said.
“We have families and commit our time to provide records of the communities in our electorate, however, we had been underpaid for our work.
“If our salaries are not backdated, we want to stress that we recorders will not do any work.
“We will not do any work within the time frame leading up the elections if we are not paid our backdated salaries.”
Samuri said the recorders had been paid K520 at the end of last year.
“The K520 paid to us recorders is underpayment and does not meet the requirements of the work we have done over the last five years,” he said.
Samuri said the recorders should be getting K200 but this had not been done over the last five years.