The Prime Minister has declared a State of Emergency in the city of Port Moresby to give time for the city to recover and also investigations to be conducted in what had happened that led to the riots yesterday.
Prime Minister James Marape said the recommendation put forth by the National Security Advisory Committee and the National Security Council was to have a 14 day period for the SOE.
The Deputy Police Commissioner Operations Donald Yamasobi has been made Controller of the SOE and pushed to Acting Police Commissioner while Deputy Commissioner Sam Kua has been made Yamasobi’s second.
Police Commissioner David Manning has been suspended for the while they SOE period runs.
This PM said that this will allow for investigations into what had happened with the officers involved in the stop work protest and deal with them.
He said these officers didn’t follow protocol to air their issues, instead opted to go on a stop work, which directly led to the riots.
Also, the secretaries for Department of Finance, Personnel Management and Treasury are suspended to allow for investigations.
He also said Yamasobi will be looking into how to get in food and fuel for the city residence, which is now part of the TOR for the SOE.