By MIRIAM MALAWA
MINISTER for Internal Security, Peter Tsiamalili, MP today (Wednesday) has responded to concerns raised by residents facing eviction from the Games Village Barracks.
The residents, many of whom are family of retired police officers have raised concerns that the Government has failed to fulfill an obligation provide to them with long term housing.The families claimed that Prime Minister James Marape in 2021 has promised for a “Golden Handshake” which never eventuate. Chairman of the SP Games Village Police Retiree Golden Handshake Working Committee and a retired Chief Sergeant, Alban Duna, claims that the PM has directed Police Commission David Manning to act on the directives but that has never eventuated.
He said it was not fair to them as they have served their country well and called for the Government also to keep their promise. Last week, some of the families were ordered by serving police officers to vacant the houses and they are now calling on the government to intervene. The minister following queries by Sunday Bulletin said in a statement that while he has sympathy for those who face eviction, the issue needs to be seen within a broader context. “It is important to recognise that the Government has never made a blanket commitment to provide long term housing to retired police officers and their families. It is true that some years back Cabinet directed the National Housing Corporation to identify housing for serving police officers, there was no blanket guarantee that every single serving officer would be provided with a house,” he said.
Tsiamalili said that as minister he is committed to finding housing solutions for officers, but that management of any scheme must be based on merit and service to the organisation. “The RPNGC has a long history and has existed in various forms for more than 100 years. It is true that throughout that history, accommodation for officers has been an ongoing problem, a problem that continues to this day. The fact is that we currently have a large backlog of officers waiting for homes who continue to live in single room barracks,” he said. He outlined the Government’s intention to create a retirement programme where officers have an opportunity to own a home but said that the process will take time and will require significant resources.
“We can’t just simply give away homes as a “golden handshake”. We must first develop a policy and a framework that provides guidelines for the allocation of housing, based both on length of service and performance. We can’t create a precedent where we just hand out houses to anyone that asks,” he said.
Tsiamalili said that the new policy will look at factors such as length of service, with those that have shown commitment and demonstrated outstanding and unblemished service being considered for home ownership and other financial incentives outside of superannuation.
“As Minister it is my intention to create a performance-based culture. I am working with the Commissioner for police to put in place a range of reforms that reward outstanding performance”, he said.
He said that the RPNGC had already commenced the process of establishing a home ownership scheme and that land has been identified for use. “We need to finalise the parameters of the policy and seek approval from Cabinet. Once this has occurred, I will be able to provide further advice to both serving and retired members.”
