Author:
PC
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Date Posted: Mon, May 28 2007, 11:16:16am
What kind of public servant and potential MP is this?
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News - Monday 28th May , 2007
Candidate still a public servant
A CANDIDATE is still working for a Government department contrary to Department of Personnel Management directives that public servants aspiring for public office resign six months before a general election.
Solo Pittard Pitta, currently the Office of Rural Development (ORD) regional manager for Highlands, is among 35 candidates vying for the Lagaip-Porgera open seat in Enga Province.
He was in his Waigani office when contacted by the Post-Courier on Friday to confirm if he was still a public servant.
“I am not responsible to the Post-Courier but the (Public Service) General Orders is very clear, I am only assisting while waiting for my finish pay. I have sought clearance from the Electoral Commission (and) I know what I am doing,” Mr Pitta said.
The Department of Personnel Management (DPM) in a circular to all government departments warned public servants to resign by October 31 2006 if they planned to contest.
The Ombudsman Commission echoed similar sentiments in January, though targeting chief executives and board members of statutory organisations, some of them public servants who sit on boards as ex-officio members.
“Compelling resignation prior to elections ensures that officers remain committed to the service prior to and during elections rather than conducting campaigns from government offices. It also prevents other candidates getting the impression of government sponsorship or support of such candidate when they are allowed to continue to occupy public office,” the commission said.
Mr Pitta urged this newspaper not to write a story on the issue and warned that he would be personally offended if his name was published.
“You can generalise but I don’t want to see my name in the Post-Courier,” he said.
http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20070528/mohome.htm
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