Philemon says K2.5bil paid to public servants

Source: The National, Friday 27th 2012 THE government pays public servants K2.5 billion a year as salaries and wages, Public Service Minister Bart Philemon told parliament yesterday. And he said the main reason for the non-delivery of public service was because of too much political involvement. He said another reason was the lack of capacity in the public service. Philemon was res­ponding to questions from Tari-Pori MP and chairman of Hela Transitional Authority James Marape in parliament. Marape said public servants in the Southern Highland and Hela provinces were confused because most had not been confirmed to their substantive posts. He said positions had been advertised in 2008 but there were still no confirmed positions for public servants. “What is the maximum time it takes to fill public service positions?” He said another contributing factor was the position of the provincial administrator that had not been filled as yet and why the delay in the appointment of a permanent administrator. Marape said some public servants had left to work in the oil fields, mine sites and gas fields because of the attractive salaries there. He also claimed that most public servants in the province were getting paid for doing virtually nothing. “Can an investigation be conducted to ascertain the status quo of public service in the province?” Marape also brought up the issue of K7 housing allowance, asking whether that can be increased to K500 or K1,000 a fortnight.