Two brand new police vehicles were handed over to the Gulf Provincial Police Commander Chief Inspector Jeffery Lemb today at the Southern Divisional Command Headquarter in Port Moresby.
Director Media, Chief Superintendent Dominic Kakas handed over the keys to the two vehicles on behalf of the Commissioner of Police David Manning. Mr Kakas said the vehicles were purchased under the Kina-for-Kina scheme initiated by Police Commissioner Manning to replace the aging police fleet of vehicles nationwide.
He said police in Gulf province have not been given new vehicles for a long time so the Police Commissioner arranged these vehicles under the kina-for-kina scheme for the Gulf Province.
Under the kina-for-kina scheme Commissioner Manning wanted to alleviate the logistical problems for police nationwide so the constabulary entered into the arrangements with various open and regional members whereby every kina they put in the constabulary reciprocated and purchased vehicles for their provinces and electorates. Similar arrangements were done for Namatanai Open, Madang Open, and the Northern Province.
He said for Gulf province, the Constabulary is still waiting for the governor or one of the open members to participate in the scheme.
“Gulf has a serious mobility issue so the Commissioner made these allocations and whatever assistance that comes later from the leaders will ensure the province will have more vehicles,” Mr Kakas said.
Chief Inspector Jeffery Lemb thanked Commissioner Manning for helping Gulf Police with the two new police vehicles in time for their pre-election operations.
Mr Lemb said the vehicles would help them carry out their pre-election operations effectively to prepare for a free, fair and safe 2022 election for the people of Gulf Province.
Meanwhile a hand-over-take-over parade is scheduled to take place on April 13 in Kerema, Gulf Province, where outgoing PPC Chief Inspector Maria Johns will hand over the command to Mr Lemb.
Mr Lemb said he will launch the pre-election security operations for the Gulf Province on April 20, 2022.