Speech by Prime Minister O'neill
Today is an important day for our Government but for officials of Village Courts throughout Papua New Guinea. Today we celebrate a historical milestone , one whereby our government formally rewards and recognises our village court officials across the nation for their tireless work to bring about justice and to maintain law and order at our community levels. From Independence to the today – paid or unpaid depending on individual provincial circumstances -- village court officials continued to provide their services diligently towards nation building in the law and justice sector at the community level. From today onwards they will be paid an allowance - not a salary - as reward and recognition for their voluntary service in serving their respective communities as Village Court officials. Their allowance will increase through the new policy introduced by the Government. I am proud to announce today that our government has put in place a dedicated payroll system for Village Court Officials. This system is based on the ALESCO system, which has become the standard system across the whole of government. Through this system allowances of village court officials will be paid directly to their bank account. They will no longer have to travel miles to provincial and district centres to collect their allowances as they have been doing in the past. I would like to thank the Departments of Justice and the Attorney General, Finance, Personnel Management and Treasury, as well as the Provinces, NCD and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, for their effort and dedication to achieving this important milestone. Of course there will be initial setbacks and difficulties as we begin implementing the system but you can be rest assured that our government is committed to meeting and resolving them as they arise. Our government looks our provincial and local level governments to actively play their responsibilities for the administration of Village Courts and the management of Village Court officials. The implementation of the Village Courts payroll system will be phased. At the initial stage, seven Village Court officials from each village court area will be entered onto the payroll this year with the remaining 3 or 4 officials next year. There are currently 1,600 Village Courts with 17,000 officials and by the time it is completed - it will become one of the largest single payrolls in the country. I understand the selection of the initial seven officials has been competed which will include NCD and Autonomous Region of Bougainville. This will include Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Village Court Clerk, Magistrates and Peace Officers. The selection is also gender sensitive, whereby at least one of the seven officials will be female. Officials in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville will receive allowance through the new payroll system by June this year. While this is being put in place, every province will still receive their allowances through the National Government Goods and Services grant released to provincial and local level Governments as Village Court Allowances Grant. These grants will be continued in 2014 along with Village Courts Function Grants, which stand at K8.2 million. This will be more than sufficient to also to cater for Village Court Officials and Land Mediators. It is up to the Provinces to determine how and at what rate they will make the payments. Our government is determined to ensure that no official is left out of what they are rightfully entitled to. Our government is also reviewing the allowances paid to another special group of people who dedicate their service to the country. These are Land Mediators, appointed under the Land Disputes Settlement Act, who play a pivotal role in resolving disputes over land ownership and use of customary land. They also deserve an increase in their allowance, and when Government does make the decision, they too will be included in a centralised payroll. Having made those brief remarks, it is now my pleasant duty to hereby officially launch the Village Courts Payrol Comments are closed.
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