By GINNAH MINI
Member for Sinasina-Yongamulg, Kerenga Kua has raised questions to the Attorney General over the salaries of village magistrates so that the Department of Justice and Attorney General (DJAG) continues to pay their salaries.
Mr. Kua noted that in 2014 the cabinet has made a decision that the first seven village magistrates’ salaries will be paid by DJAG, as some village courts can have up to 11 magistrates.
“In that same NEC (National Executive Council) decision, the Attorney General said that they will pay the first seven magistrates and anything above seven, each district that has village court will have to pay,” Mr. Kua said.
Mr. Kua said that in his district, they have 11 magistrates- seven of which are paid by DJAG while the other four are paid by the district which has been the case since 2014.
He added that DJAG secretary has said that districts will now have to pay the magistrates, which is not right because districts have always formulated their budgets according to the 2014 NEC decision.
He questioned if the Attorney General can look into this matter and if DJAG can continue to pay magistrate’s salaries and also be up to date with their salaries.
“In that same NEC decision they said that councillors, peace mediators and land mediators will be paid fortnightly by the government, but they are saying that councils have not received their pays for a long time,” Mr. Kua said.
Mr. Kua asked the Attorney General to keep on paying their salaries and make sure that DJAG continues to pay them in the future.
In response, Attorney General, Pila Niningi, said that he will get a proper report of the reason they are not getting paid and advised the parliament later as this is an important matter.