The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) is ready to deliver a safer and secure 2022 National General Elections despite manpower and resource issues.
This was the general 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 at the Gateway Hotel in Port Moresby from November 29 to December 3.
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. He said they have very experienced senior officers who had taken part in previous elections so they are confident that they will deliver in 2022.
He said the officers have also been running elections including major operations and so are confident of delivering a safe and secure 2022 National General Election for the people of PNG.
Mr Wagambie said that 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.
Mr 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 they needed a massive awareness campaign to be carried out to ensure they establish community trust and confidence as well as establishing contacts with the people at the community level. He said awareness is really important especially in the highland’s provinces.
Mr Tondop was confident that the security agencies will deliver a free, safe and corruption free 2022 national general election if they could get the pre-election operations done on time.
Mr Tondop said 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.