A police budget workshop is underway in Port Moresby for Provincial Police Commanders and their provincial administration officers.
The police planners are going through the workshop to adjust their budgets for this year.
When opening the workshop, acting Deputy Commissioner of Police and chief of administration, Joanne Clarkson, said the workshop is to assist the provincial police commands plan and utilise well their limited funds for the year.
She said the Constabulary was not given all the funds it requested in the 2020 budget allocation so must make do with what was given to them.
“We need to work within our desired budget. The government has given us less than what we have asked for and this meeting here is to readjust our spending in the implementation process. We have to strictly go by this,” she said during the opening of the budget workshop now underway at the Hideaway Hotel in Port Moresby.
She said the police budget for 2020 was K380 million which was by far better than the previous allocations. She said this budget allocation was derived from two previous budget workshops.
The workshop is attended by provincial and metropolitan commanders with their provincial administration officers from around the country. The police headquarters assistant commissioners and directors had theirs last year.
Clarkson said with the revised budget, they need to cut down some of their activity planning and make more realistic activities. She said they must also increase the level of compliance and all their planning must be in line with their work plan so that there is no unnecessary spending.
Two previous similar workshops have really helped them to put this year’s budget together and Clarkson commended them all for participating.
Police Finance and Administration Secretary Joseph Saleu said the 2020 budget was the best budget ever compared to previous years’. He said this is due to their budget presentation through their 2020 Activity Management Plan (AMP) last year.
The workshop was purposely to readjust and review their budget so that they worked on a revised budget to implement their action plan.
Meanwhile, Clarkson said there are a number of personnel who are not at work but are still getting paid. She said after this meeting, a complete manpower audit and cleansing exercise will be undertaken.
“There were about 1,148 personnel unattached last year but this number has been reduced down to 400. After this meeting, we should cleanse them completely and those who are not at a location will be put off the payroll system,” Clarkson added.
The workshop ends on Friday.
(PPC Gulf, Chief Inspector Mariah Johns, Budget Officer Laka Gimana and Lae Metropolitan Superintendent Administration Inspector Pauline Siaguru going through the budget papers)