By Yiep Joseph
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Gen. Abraham Manyuat announced plans to standardize salary payments within the police force, ensuring all members, including those undergoing training, receive consistent pay.
The announcement came on Thursday during a handover ceremony from the UN to the Election Security Committee.
Currently, police trainees face financial hardship due to inconsistent or absent salary payments, a situation exacerbated by delays in civil servants and organized forces’ pay.
While acknowledging the delays, IGP Manyuat emphasized his commitment to including trainees in the police payroll system.
This initiative aims to ensure equitable compensation for all police personnel as the parties continue implementing the peace agreement.
“Everybody who is in the field (training), will join the police and I already wrote a draft to Finance so that they are given a salary like any policeman,” he said.
“If we are getting a salary, we get it together; if we do not have salaries, then we stay together; nobody will blame anyone,” he added.
The IGP reiterated his commitment to ensure that the police under training are handed over to the commissioner as one body tasked with the protection of the people and their property.
“Now I am after bringing the forces (police), and already I said this in many functions that the trainees from IO or other organized forces who are in the field are going to be handed over to our commissioners so that they are integrated,” he said.
“So from now on, my role is to make sure that the rest of the NCOs and men who are in the field are joining the police, and then we bring the second phase in the field,” he added.
He called on the police commissioners in the states and administrative areas to select people who are able to manage police work among those being trained.
“Select those who are capable and young. I knew that there are people who are very old among those people. Even in our forces, we have those who are very old. We examine them, and we take those who are very strong to monitor the election,” he said.
Recently, some of the state-graduated police forces underwent refresher training aimed at empowering them in their role of protecting civilians and their property.