EIGHT officers from the Defence Ministry are being investigated for allegations of paying themselves Annual Recreation Leave (ARL) and leaving other PNGDF members out.
Minister for Defence Dr Billy Joseph confirmed the allegations were being investigated as well as the conduct of the soldiers last Friday.
“Again, the ugly head of ill-discipline in our force has shown up at Murray Barracks. We have set process in place to deal with issues in PNGDF,” the Minister said.
In relation to the entitlements of the soldiers and allowances, the Minister said, “warrants were released late to defence and PFMA shut down for the festive period and just opened this week so they are working on getting soldiers allowances and entitlements paid.”
Minister was not happy with the actions of the soldiers saying “PNGDF will not be a place for ill-disciplined and unprofessional people who resort to violence and mob behaviour.”
Minister Joseph also stressed the importance of Government releasing funding immediately after an emergency call out is issued. “Otherwise,we will have to seriously consider withdrawing all soldiers on call outs to prevent such incidents,” he said.
Minister Joseph further reminded soldiers that in 1990; soldiers who were fighting in Bougainville received only K30-40 per day allowances.
“This has significantly increased to K150-200/day and the risks are quite low. As long as base salaries are not affected; the allowances will still be paid so there is no need to express frustration by assaulting civilian staff or destroying properties. It will only get them into trouble,” the minister said.
One year on from Black Wednesday, and the fears of any uprising was on the minds of everyone after allegations of soldiers protesting at Murray Barracks went viral on social media platforms across Port Moresby last Friday January 10th.
However,all the allegations were extinguished as the soldiers did not do anything but protest quietly at Murray Barracks.
Their protest last Friday morning was over outstanding annual recreation leave (ARL) entitlements for some of the soldiers.
The aggrieved soldiers gathered at the Murray Barracks after they heard that some of their colleagues in Department of Defence got their ARL and they didn’t.The soldiers dispersed after voicing their grievances.
