Barker: Police has lost its independence

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, November 10, 2013 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

DIRECTOR for the Institute of National Affairs (INA) Paul Barker, made the comments during the forum on the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) draft bill, last week at the National Research Institute, in Port Moresby.

The Director stated that the police in the country was not different from what it was at the time of independence in terms of its size- serving a population of over seven million from what it once was at three million.

He said that the police had lost a fair amount of its independence- that the constitutional office holder of the Commissioner was such that when he takes a position against views that are not popular, he has an early retirement policy.

“We have a history of retiring police commissioners, some of them older and other quite young.”

“Here we have an independent constitutional office holder, and then we have no respect for that position, and also estranging the force of resources also,” he said.

Barker said that the experiences of the concept of ICACs practiced around the world were mixed.

He pointed out that the concept worked well in environments (countries) that have huge respect for law and order.

“If you do not have that basic respect, it makes it quite difficult to work.”

“For ICAC to be effective, it needs to be allocated resources in terms of human resource, financial resource, legislative powers and backing, and independence.”

He added that in order to stop corruption from happening was to make the public aware as much as possible of what the budget allocations are, and what the laws of the land are- how they are forfeited when corrupt practices are happening, and knowing what they are right down to the community level.