Where is the respect for the court?

 DURING the hearing of an application by the State on Monday that challenged a court order reinstating Joel Luma as Works Secretary, Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia urged the concerned parties to show commonsense and professionalism in resolving the dispute.

Sir Salamo, sitting as a one-member Supreme Court bench, had told State lawyers that under the Supreme Court rules he could only issue directions for the matter to be heard by a full Supreme Court.

He then adjourned the case to today when he is expected to give directions for a three-member Supreme Court bench to hear the State’s application.

In urging commonsense and professionalism, the chief justice may have envisaged a worst-case scenario in which Luma may forcefully enter the Works Department headquarters at Boroko or the Personnel Management Department offices in Waigani to serve the interim orders made by Justice Colin Makail in the Supreme Court last Thursday.

And that’s exactly what happened yesterday morning when Luma fronted up at the Works headquarters with truckloads of renegade policemen and tried to use force to serve the court orders and regain control of the department.

During the ensuing chaos, which resembled a police raid, Works Department officers and staff members were harassed and insulted by the rogue cops. A senior Works officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told of the terror that started at about 10am and briefly engulfed the normally peaceful environment at the 4-Mile premises. 

“It was totally unbecoming of the former Works secretary to bring truckloads of policemen to storm our offices and terrorise our staff. This dispute only concerns the Works secretary’s position and not the rest of us,” he said.

Incidentally, our senior news reporter Malum Nalu was caught in the crossfire when he dropped in to interview a consultant about another story.

Nalu reported that terrified staff fled as fully-armed policemen took control of the premises. “They left shortly, when finding that Works Secretary David Wereh was not there, but the reign of terror continued as a private security company Pacific Corporate Security Services, was called in to man the gates with no one allowed in.”

Nalu and consultant Daniel Nere were harassed by the security guards, threatened and their mobile phones stolen when they went to check on the situation.

Fortunately, no one was hurt or injured but department staff and others who witnessed the incident will long remember this act of terror by policemen who have a duty to the State to protect its subjects and assets. Those rogue cops could not have behaved like terrorists unless they were coerced into doing so. And Joel Luma has a lot to answer for their actions.

What gives him the right to enter state premises with an unauthorised police contingent and proceed to terrorise government workers just to serve interim orders of the Supreme Court on the current secretary? Isn’t there a sensible and professional way of doing this?

For a start, Secretary We­reh is not a party to Luma’s dispute with the National Executive Council, which sacked him (Luma) as Works secretary on November 29, 2013. The court orders should be served on Personnel Ma­nagement Secretary John Kali, who represents the NEC and State in this case. Obviously, Sir Salamo’s advice on Monday went unheeded by Luma who seems determined to do whatever it takes to regain control of the Works Department regardless of the pending appeal by the State.

Such an attitude and behaviour is unbecoming of a former departmental head who has just been reinstated by the Supreme Court.

If Luma is to claim what is rightfully his position in the Works department, he should prove to the staff and his critics that the NEC had wrongfully terminated his employment.

By using force and terror tactics to gain entry to the Works offices, Luma has shown that he is only pursuing his personal interests and not the department’s.

In will be interesting to hear what Sir Salamo e has to say today when the matter returns to court for his directions to be given.