Address By
M T SOMARE GCL GCMG CH CF KStJ
Prime Minister
AT THE CS GRADUATION PARADE
[Bomana CS College, Monday 12 May 2008]Acknowledgements
It gives me great pleasure to be here today to celebrate with you the graduation of 114 men and women who will be members of the Correctional Service (CS) of Papua New Guinea.
Since 1957 when the service was established, the correctional service has taken care of Papua New Guinean men and women that our courts have decided could not live among us in society.
Your job as correctional service officers has often been a thankless one and I take the opportunity to commend the hardworking men and women in the service that serve the community well by taking care of our people that are in prisons throughout our country.
Human beings, regardless of whether they are prisoners, have basic human rights and it is important that in the course of your career you carry out your duties with dignity and respect.
I note that you have 27 women among the 114 that are graduating today. While the number of women in prison is lower than men there are still a good number of women in our prisons.
You have an important job of not just keeping them behind bars but looking after their wellbeing and security while they are in prison and in your care.
Being removed from their relatives and loved ones is punishment enough, it is not for you to judge them again but to afford care and respect.
At independence, PNG was looking at manpower and opportunities were available to all Papua New Guineans, men and women to join the public service not just as ordinary officers but also head of departments.
There was a lull in the late 80s and 90s and I am pleased to say that today under this government we have once again recognised the value of our human resources and are showing no gender bias.
We have today the secretary for the Internal Revenue Commission, the Secretary for Justice, the Secretary to Cabinet, the Secretary for Public Service and Secretary of the MRA that are all women.
So ladies and the 87 gentlemen that are graduating today, work hard and take pride in your job. You never know where your hard work can take you.
Considerable changes have taken place over the 60 year history of the correctional services in PNG. The rural lock ups no longer exist and centralised institutions have now emerged in our major towns around the country.
From its humble beginnings when it was part of the Justice and Attorney General’s Department, CIS is now a department of its own.
I know that capacity in many departments including the correctional services is low.
However I encourage the commissioner and his officers to bring forward in the form of submissions to Cabinet, constructive ideas on how we can improve the service and better the working and living conditions of your officers.
The government has allocated money for housing for the public service. With the revenue that we have been able to capture I hope that correctional service officers will also be able to take out loans and build their own houses.
As minister for public service said last week, the government will gradually move away from providing housing to public servants. We have seen that at retirement public servants do not have homes to go to and are still living on government property.
I encourage the Commissioner to work closely with the minister in planning how to improve not only your living conditions but also improving prisons around the country.
You are the ones that can tell us what needs to be fixed. Do not wait for the Minister. Help yourselves by writing recommendations that the Minister can take to Cabinet.
I take this opportunity to thank our donor partners especially the Australian Government for its support and assistance to the Correctional Services over many, many years.
When we took office in 2002 we took on the reforms of the previous government in downsizing the public service to rationalise costs. It became apparent that capacity is a real problem and a reason for the limitation in government services.
As in the Department of CIS it is important that we review all departments and increase funds where necessary to improve service delivery.
Finally, Minister, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I return to the graduates today and congratulate you on your graduation today and wish you every success in your career.
May God bless you all.
Thank you.
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