THE Chief of Defence Force Rear Admiral Philip Polewara has directed for 110 names to be removed from the force’s payroll.
Those names arefor personnel who are onofficial records as AWOL (Absent without leave), deceased or discharged; however, their names are still on the PNGDF payroll and they are still receiving fortnightly salaries from the government.
“Those names will be deleted from the system and payments effectively ceased,” Rear Admiral Polewara said.
This payroll anomaly came to light during the course of investigations into the PNGDF payroll; an exercise that has continued since last year following pay discrepancies experienced by members of the force.
Rear Admiral Polewara said more issues in the payroll would come to light and would be resolved as the work on the pay system progresses.
“Service Personnel Payroll is an important aspect of the force’s management that involves counterparts from the Public Service, especially the Department of Defence and the Department of Finance. Hence, PNGDF is accordingly working with the departments to ensure these matters are addressed,” Rear Admiral Polewara said.
“Other payroll issues identified during the course of the investigations will be addressed unit by unit through the commanding officers. Furthermore, should any member of the force be found intentionally allowing ghost names to be on the payroll, they will be severely dealt with.”
Meanwhile, the Chief of Defence Force has stated that there will no longer be any re-enlistments.
“PNGDF will now strictly bring in personnel through the recruitment process and will no longer entertain re -enlistment of former members who expressesinterest to come back,” he said.
“If directorates and units identify that there is a need for a specialist, they will follow due process so that PNGDF will write to the particular person offering a slot in the force.”
Rear Admiral Polewara said recruitment and personnel management was a focus area of the PNGDF because it was the process through which a quality defence force could be built on.
“I am very intentional in bringing in quality people and looking after them so that they can contribute to building a defence force that we as leaders dream off or a stronger future and a force our people deserve,” he said.
