The National Museum & Art Gallery needs qualified technical staff and is calling on the Department of Personnel Management to fast track the recruitment process.
The Director of the National Museum & Art Gallery, Dr Andrew Moutu has revealed that the Museum desperately needs qualified technical staff to run the institution.
He is calling on DPM to fast track recruitment to fill vital positions.
“The biggest challenge that we face at the museum has to be the employing of critical technical staff. We have not been able to employ an Anthropologist, I was the last anthropologist here in 2004 before I went to work in England.
“We have not been able to employ a Biologist, the last biologist was employed in 2001 and our conservator has just resigned,” said Dr Moutu.
He expressed his frustration at the lack of these critical staff and said the museum has not been able to fill qualified people for as long as 20 years and that is a serious downside to the work of museums.
“Getting the right kind of people to work has been a persistent problem for the museum for 20 years. That is a serious concern. Somewhere if there was a way to allow technical staff to be employed that would be a big bonus. Now, we have less than skeletons.
“We are hoping that the Department of Personnel Management come in our favour and support to allow us to employ technical experts in the fields of biology, archeology, anthropology, conservation and education to help us in our work.”
Dr Moutu also highlighted the need for storage spaces for the museums historical items such as the vehicle used by PNG’s first prime Minister, the Late Sir Michael Somare, including parts of planes and vehicles used in the war that are currently stored at the Murray Barracks.
“We are also hoping that our plight for permanent storerooms for our collections might come with resounding support from our government, we cannot be talking about our history and boasting our cultures if we do not invest in the cultural institutions that look after the stories.”
“We have found a lot of talk but no talk that settles with our objects. We deal with solid objects, in our specimens, in our archaeology and anthropology, in our contemporary art. We hold the touchstones of our history with solid objects and our words do not disappear as fast as they come out, like some people’s utterances.”