POLICE STRIKE WAS PREPLANNED AND TIMED – POLYE

The Police strike in NCD that caused deaths and brought Port Moresby into standstill on January 10 was “preplanned” and “timed”, according to a senior Cabinet Minister.
Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Minister, Don Pomb Polye said: “The timing of the police strike, looting, murders, and destruction of business raises many eye brows.
“It is very difficult for the neutral fence sitter to believe if the ” black Wednesday situation” was actually ordinary caused by an alleged tax issue. It is very difficult for one to convince another if the police were addressing a genuine tax issue at a time when the grace period for a vote of no confidence was expiring in January this year.
“Where is common-sense for the nation to believe that the tax issue was a genuine issue when the police resorted to an uncivilised act that incited the occurrence of a black Wednesday when the VONC was just around the bend?
“Most PNGeans may be illiterate but are not fools.! They question the timing, the method police used , the looting of mainly a common group of companies, the burning of shops, the deaths by arson and killings, and also the organised manner in which such incidents happened.
“Other questions raised are, why didn’t other public servants join in? Why didn’t the police wait to check if the same tax issue was experienced a second fortnight of the year? If they detected a pay cut on Wednesday, did their union check if all police nationwide were affected?
“All these questions show that the police or their union failed to address the issue properly.
“Any decent PNGean will see that the Police reacted ad-hoc, foolishly, improperly. It only implies that the police strike, the looting, the murders, the destruction to businesses, the loss of economy, and the use of naive youths that demonstrated moral decay …have a strong CONNECTION to a possible vote of no confidence at the end of January 2024,” Polye said.
The State of Emergency (SoE) which stemmed from the Jan 10 mayhem officially lapsed today. However, Prime Minister James Marape announced yesterday a full Commission of Inquiry has been launched for full and detailed investigations into the affairs of the RPNGC. The CoI will be headed by a judge from the National and Supreme Courts.
He said Police Commissioner David Manning been reinstated after preliminary investigations cleared him of any wrong doing on his part in the Jan 10 havoc.
Manning has been tasked to facilitate the CoI.
DPM Secretary, Ms. Taies Sansan has also been instated while Treasury and Finance Secretaries remain suspended for their part in the payroll glitch and dependants tax rebates.