The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) says it is ready to deliver a safer and secure 2022 National General Elections, despite manpower and resource issues.
This was the conclusion made by the various divisional and Provincial Police Commanders when they presented the overview of their supplementary orders to the Police Commissioner’s General Orders at the national election security planning conference. The conference was held in Port Moresby recently.
The NCD/Central Commander Assistant Commissioner, Anthony Wagambie Jr said during his presentation that the constabulary is prepared and ready to deliver the 2022 National General Election with experienced senior officers, who have taken part in previous elections.
He said the officers also have experience running elections and major operations and he is confident in their abilities.
“Despite the preparations, the constabulary would still face problems with logistics, manpower, and funding. He said these resources are very important for major operations such as the national elections.”
Wagambie however reassured the senior police officers as well as the nation that they would still deliver despite the challenges.
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Highlands Eastern Command, Joseph Tondop raised similar concerns and said an awareness campaign was needed to ensure they establish community trust and confidence with the local community.
He said this is especially in the Highlands provinces.
Tondop was confident that the security agencies would deliver a free, safe and corruption free 2022 election if they could get the pre-election operations done on time.
“We are four months away from the issue of writs and urgently require funding to be made available on time to start to prepare and deliver their pre-election campaigns. He however said that with or without resources they would still conduct the awareness campaign and run the election security operations.”