BASIC SIMPLE SENTENCE STRUCTURES

The key to a successful phonics program is to lock in a program of basic simple sentence English. Then students can move ahead quickly with a systematic mastery of structures and not just words.

Words are important. I have watched teachers taking elementary students through spellings. Students chanted the spelling even tense by tense. They even read of the words in sentences.

But the big picture of the structures of English was missing. This made a ceiling to what could be achieved without a basic English structure course to be integrated by the teacher. Phonics should take students through to polished writing up to Grade 12.

So our course in the Eriku elementary school is pleasing the teachers, students and parents in that students are being taken through the basic structures pattern by pattern. Each pattern is designed for chanting and clapping. 

The initial aim is to teach patterns based on simple sentence how, when, where and why. Today the elementary students listened, read, chanted and clapped through where - when structures.

Where

I went to town

He walked away from the house.

He went into the house.
He walked around the house.
He sailed around the world.

She walked across the road.

Soldiers marched along the road.

He swam across the river.

They fell on to the floor.
He fell upon his knees and prayed to God.
He prayed unto the Lord.
Look into my eyes.
He was under the influence of drugs.
He looked across the room.
She looked out from beneath the blanket.

He started walking towards the house.

She looked through the window.

He walked between the two trees.

They sat among the trees.

Birds flew above/over the house.

He worked among the people of Papua.

They jumped on to the floor.
He drove his car outside the speed limit.
Drive within the speed limit.

He gave money to me.

They took the money from me

He sat beside me

The money was donated to the school.

The house was built for us.

The water level was below the mark.
It should be above the mark.

The ship sailed over/across the seas.
He escaped from the prison.

They swam in the river.
They dived into the river.
They swam under the water.

They sat in a boat on the river.

They sat by/beside the river


When

Come at 8 am on Friday.
Do not come before that time.
I will not be at the house after 9.00 am.
We will work from 9 am to 11 am.
Stay until the afternoon.
He watched TV while I cooked the food.
I will go to town during the week.
I will be happy when you come.
You will be sick for up to a week.
You will be in hospital for over a month.
He will be out of hospital in less than a week.
He stayed for under two weeks.
As he opened the door, the dog rushed in.


Verbs

Open the door.
Cook the food.
Buy some meat.
Check the water level.
Polish the floor.
Write a story.
Sing a song.
Enter the house.
Look at me.
Open your eyes
Buy the food
Cross the river.
Wait for me.
Do it again.
Buy more food.
Ask me again
Read the book.
Talk to him.
Walk to town
Find the chickens
Ask him again.
Wait for me.
Come with me.
Help your mother.
Go by boat
Buy a book today.
Close the door.
Open the window.
Clean the house.
Shut your eyes.
Sit over there.

You may think these patterns are very simple. But these demand a detailed understanding by children of basics. The students are 8 years old and most only begun to learn English from the start of last year. 

At this early stage there is no rapid expansion of vocabulary until the basic patterns are mastered.  Students should focus on one target at a time which at this moment is words within basic patterns. As the basic patterns are mastered, the difficulty of words will increase.

It has been a good week at the elementary school at Eriku. Every student in the 6 elementary grades and teachers have been clapping and chanting patterns. Patterns below are in weak-strong rhythm.

I go
I go
I go to town
I go to town
We go
We go.
We will go with you
We will go with you.
We will buy some food for you
We will buy some food for you
Do you want to buy some food?
Do you want to buy some food?
Don't go
Don't go
Don't go into the house
Don't go into the house
Don't go with him
Don't go with him
I will go
I will go
I should come
I should come
I can come
I can come
I want to come
I want to come
I want to come with you
I want to come with you
I would like to come with him
I would like to come with him
Would you like to come?
Would you like to come?
Yes. I would like to come
Yes. I would like to come
I think that I will come
I think that I will come
I think that I would like to come
I think that I would like to come

Some students listened to the next class through the wall and chanted patterns with them !! Teachers said that the standard of English has lifted in 5 days. Teachers can see a panorama of English patterns starting to unfold before their eyes.

I gave a chart to one teacher freshly written in felt pen. She came back complaining that one sentence was not in rhythm. That was true. My mistake.  I did the chart again.

The students giving me trouble are those in grade 1. Nothing seems to be too difficult. Today we did a story on sharks the predators of the ocean with chanting Q &A patterns. Not too difficult.

My only worry is that some students will race far ahead in literacy and drop into boredom on moving to primary school. They may finish their elementary school work two grades ahead. I am starting to give Q & A stories based on biology.

TEACHERS NEED THE SAME PHONIC EXERCISES

I have to revise my view on phonics in Papua New Guinea after visiting an elementary school in Lae and seeing the splendid work being done in the grade 1 class with students who have started school one and a half years ago.

The preparatory grades were struggling with words and spelling but had only been at school since the start of this year. They enjoyed the rhythmic chanting of sentences.

But the grade 1 class had a teacher experienced in teaching phonics and had given lists of similar words - heel, steel, feel, wheel, keel  (The keel of the boat was made of steel) and then given lists of sentences containing the words just as we have done with Dr Seuss type silly sentences (The fat cat sat on the small rat in the tall hat)

Students then read out all sentences from the wall charts. The words in the sentences were reasonably complex fo grade 1. 

But the students knew over 100 sentences from wall charts. But they did not speak in rhythm. All sentences were made up of strong stresses. Papua New Guinea students have no idea of weak-strong stress. It is all strong-strong-strong.

Still they knew the sentences off by heart. They found my patterns very easy which is making me go back home to design sequences that will challenge this grade 1 class. Does this mean they can read books with ease? Perhaps.

My only criticism or perhaps suggestion for improvement would be that the sentences form part of a sequence across all sentences to teach students the structure of English sentences. 

In the grade 1 class, the wall sentences had no system and would not prepare students for the next phase of combining simple sentences into complex sentences. I see a challenge here.

But still the students in this class would be far ahead of the students in the past struggling with vernacular and not English.

The curriculum for the phonics is going to be fluid as some students appear to be racing ahead supported by their teachers who are drilling the new patterns. 

The format will be as follows: (1) structure patterns ( I go I go I go to town I go to town), (2) spelling supported by sentences (steel, heel, feel - I feel pain in my heel) (3) silly sentences ( It was sunny and I saw a funny bunny. It was a very funny bunny. The bunny was very funny) (4) grammar structures ( He gave money .... me. He took money .....me. They sat in a boat ......the river. They swam ....... the river. They sat ....... the river).

I am told that many students race far ahead in phonics to the point they have the skill of students two grades ahead. Some students have been placed in higher grades and excelled at higher levels. But there is more to learning than just phonics.

I am finding that there are grade 2 students who will easily master the higher Mastery Writing skills within a year or two . Phonics must open the door to a systematic mastery of English patterns. 

It is not just an end in itself that goes for 2 years at the start of a child's education. The rhythm of language is valid to the end of schooling. All successful novelists and journalists know that their writing has to have elegance and beauty that comes from skill in sweet phonics.  Please click:

WRITE SWEET ENGLISH

Phonics is the starting point for elegant, beautiful and professional writing. I strive to write in sweet english even on this blog. I write a paragraph and then read to myself to make sure that the rhythm is regular and sweet.

PHONICS FOR ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (2)

Oracle Equipments12 May 2016 at 22:37

Thank you for taking the time to publish this information very useful! I've been looking for books of this nature for a way too long. I'm just glad that I found yours. Looking forward for your next post. Thanks :)

Elementary to Grade 3 - simple sentence phonics in simple structures. Grade 4 - Grade 12 - simple to complex sentences in all sentence structures.

Elementary grade students learn to speak English in simple sentences. English is the official language in Papua New Guinea. For most students it is a foreign language and must be taught as a foreign language.

Most phonics programs in PNG are limited in teaching students to speak and read English. I saw a program today that focused on vowels, consonants and words. How on earth will students learn simple English? It is useful but stops short of promoting English as a foreign language.

I hope that teachers have tried the patterns in Report on Phonics as a Foreign Language (1) below. Did you have the elementary students chant each pattern twice in rhythm?

It would be good if both teachers and students chant and clap to the rhythm as they go through each sentence. Sentences are based on X/ weak strong stress. 

These patterns will take students through the systematic structures of English over weeks to come. These patterns can be on a loop and be chanted from the start again when the sequence is finished.

It is expected that the phonics will be completed with 120 sets of chanting patterns for elementary grades. Once they can read all these patterns, they can be regarded as able to read. Teachers should have the patterns on a brown paper flip chart to be chanted daily pattern by pattern. Chant and clap.

Phonics in church schools can take patterns from Scripture. There is beautiful phonic rhythm in the Bible;

Psalm 23:  The Lord is my shepherd  x/xx/x  I shall not want x/x/
Psalm 96:  Sing unto the Lord a new song. x/xx/xx/  Sing unto the Lord all the earth x/xx/xx/
        
Elementary phonics focuses on simple sentences. At higher grades we call this baby talk. At higher grades, students practise the skills of combining simple sentences into complex sentences. Baby sentences are not to be used exclusively by the higher grades.

I opened the door. I went inside. I put a letter on the table.

I opened the door, went inside and put a letter on the table.
Opening the door, I went inside and put a letter on the table

I looked out the window. I saw a ship. It was on the sea.

I looked out the window and saw a ship on the sea.
Looking out the window. I saw a ship on the sea.

He was an old man. He had a walking stick. He had a long white beard.

He was an old man with a walking stick and a long white beard.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining. The birds were singing.

It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and birds singing.

I looked out the window. I had a broad smile. I watched the boys. They
were sitting under the tree. They were eating their lunch. They were 
talking to the girls.

Looking out the window with a broad smile, I watched the boys sitting 
under the tree, eating their lunch and talking to the girls.

But let us now continue with the elementary simple sentence school chanting patterns. Students love to chant and clap the patterns in class. I am going around conducting demonstration lessons in elementary schools. 

The general view of teachers is that this program is superior in the nation. Other programs simply focus on words. Students chant patterns and learn quickly. It is all designed in weak-strong-weak-strong stress.

I will go
I will go
I will go to town
I will go to town
I will go with you
I will go with you
I will go to buy some food
I will go to buy some food
I will go into the house
I will go into the house
I will go swim in the sea
I will go swim in the sea
I will go with my friend
I will go with my friend
I will go with two of my friends
I will go with two of my friends

Will you go? 
Will you go?
Will you go with me?
Will you go with me?
Will you go to town?
Will you go to town?
Will you go to town with me?
Will you wait?
Will you wait for me?
Will you wait for me?
Will you wait in town?
Will you wait in town?
Will you come back at 4 pm
Will you come back at 4 pm?
Will you come by bus?
Will you come by bus?

I am going
I am going
I am going to town
I am going to town
I am going with you
I am going with you
I am going to buy some food
I am going to buy some food
I am going to swim
I am going to swim
I am going to watch TV
I am going to watch TV
I am going to eat some food
I am going to eat some food

Do you want to come?
Do you want to come?
Do you want to come with me?
Do you want to come with me?
Do you want to go?
Do you want to go?
Do you want to go to town?
Do you want to go to town?
Do you want a cup of milk?
Do you want a cup of milk?
Do you want to sit?
Do you want to sit?
Do you want to sit with me?
Do you want to sit with me?

I think that I will go to town.
I think that I will go to town.
I think that I will stay in town
I think that I will stay in town.
I think that you should come.
I think that you should come.
I think that you should come with me
I think that you should come with me
I think that we should go to town.
I think that we should go to town.
I think that you should come back again
I think that you should come back again.

I would like to buy some food
I would like to buy some food
I would like to talk to you
I would like to talk to you
I would like to open the door
I would like to open the door
I would like to shut the door.
I would like to stay with you
I would like to stay with you
I would like to eat some food
I would like to eat some food.

Tom

My name is Tom. I am in grade 1. I go to school in Lae.
I go with my sister. School is a long way away. We go 
back home in the afternoon.

1. What is his name?
2. What grade is he in?
3. Where does he go to school?
4. Who takes him to school?
5. Is school a long way away?
6. When do they go back home?

Mary

My name is Mary. I live in a village near Lae. I am 9 years old.
I do not go to school. My parents do not have money for school
fees. School is far away. I help my mother each day.

1. What is her name?
2. Where does she live?
3. How old is she?
4. Does Mary go to school ?
5. Why doe she not go to school?
6. Is school near the village?
7. What does Mary do each day?

Students in elementary grades will respond to the simple rhythm of these patterns particularly if the teacher has placed these on a brown paper flip chart. These can be chanted daily until known thoroughly.

These exercises will take young children through the sequence of simple sentence patterns that make up the English language. 

A problem in many phonics programs is that the designer had no idea of the sequence of simple sentence patterns. Phonics is more than just teaching words particularly when students are learning English as a foreign language.

Bruce Copeland BA BEdSt
Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Cambridge)
Tutor in Tok Pisin - RAAF School of Languages Pt Cook Melbourne

PHONICS FOR ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (1)

Our phonics program is developing quickly as Papua New Guinea schools embrace our work and ask for more. The program is to teach children to listen, speak, read and write in English as a foreign language,

The nation has to rely on an American program that takes no account of the fact that so many PNG children do not speak English. Already a phonics program has been put on our blog that focuses on Dr Seuss type silly sentences. Please click:

papua new guinea can live healthy - family positive living - aids holistics

familypositiveliving.blogspot.com/2016/04/papua-new-guinea-can-live-healthy.htm

Apr 28, 2016 .. MASTERY PHONICS FOR ELEMENTARY GRADES 

But that is only part of the story. PNG children need to learn more than just words. They need the structures of English as a foreign language. They learn the rhythmic structures that show how sentences are put together.

Small children will chant patterns that help them to memorize rhythm and music of English. Once memorized never forgotten. I still remember bush poems told to me by my Australian father 60 years ago at the age of 9 years.

Children learn the weak strong stresses that make beautiful English sentences.

I go (weak strong)

I go to town ( weak strong weak strong)

I go to buy some food (weak strong weak strong weak strong)

This report gives only a small selection of patterns that will be increased on a later blog this month. I have been thanked by a kind person on blog and asked for more information. Basic rhythmic structures are as follows:

I go
I go
I go to town
I go to town
I go to town to buy some food.
I go to town to buy some food.
I go to school
I go to school
I go to school to learn to read and write
I go to school to learn to read and write.
I go to bed
I go to bed
I go to bed to sleep at night
I go to bed to sleep at night.
I sleep until the morning light
I sleep until the morning light


He goes
He goes
He goes to town
He goes to town
He goes with me
He goes with me
He goes to town with me
He goes to town with me
Come to town
Come to town
Come to town with us
Come to town with us
Come to town and buy some food
Come to town and buy some food
Wait for me at 8 am
Wait for me at 8 am
Wait for me and we will go
Wait for me and we will go

Come inside
Come inside
Come inside the house
Come inside the house
Come and sit with me
Come and sit with me
Come inside and sit with me
Come inside and sit with me
We will sit
We will sit
We will sit and watch TV
We will sit and watch TV

But this is only the start. Children have to learn the English through interaction of question and answer. This will introduce them to the basics of simple English.

They will be introduced to question forms of how? when? where? why? who? what? can? could? did? will? and more.

Peter

My name is John. I am 8 years old. I live in Lae. I go to school in Eriku. I am in grade 1.

1. What is his name?
2. How old is he?
3. Where does he live?
4. Where does he go to school?
5. What grade is he in?

Jenny

My name is Jenny. I was born in Lae. I have two brothers and two sisters. My father works in town. We live at West Taraka.

1. What is her name?
2. Where was she born?
3. How many brothers does she have?
4. How many sisters does she have?
5. Where does her father work?
6. Where do they live?

There will be many more posted on this blog over the weeks to come as teachers use the patterns here and seek more. The teachers are advised to put these exercises on a brown paper flip chart so that students chant the same patterns over and over.

Some years ago, some fool teachers declared that chanting and memorizing were an inferior way to learn. So the learning by memory died. It has to come back with reading aloud, reciting poetry, singing songs and chanting multiplication tables.

The basis of phonics is speaking aloud. Reading and writing come later. This program is very much based on the Tok Pisin phonics program designed at the RAAF School of Languages at Point Cook near Melbourne 1978-1992, 

The patterns follow a very similar line in teaching simple sentence English. Defence Force personnel became quite proficient in Tok Pisin in 4 weeks full time.

Elementary students in PNG may take 2 months to become proficient in simple sentence English. Tok Pisin patterns were chanted in a similar way to the approach as here:

Mi go
Mi go
Mi go long taun
Mi go long taun
Mi go insait long haus
Mi go insait long haus
Mi go antap long maunden
Mi go antap long maunden
Mi go kisim kaikai
Mi go kisim kaikai
Mi go long hap
Mi go long hap.

CORRUPTION IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA CONSTABULARY

I have written on the issue of Police command and control as this has been my main involvement with the Papua New Guinea Constabulary. 

I have nothing but contempt for the harassment and violence I have suffered at the hands of policemen of all.ranks. Only once has there been disciplinary action against the policeman concerned.

I have never been charged and convicted of any offence but been in the cells three times on fake complaints. For 4 years from 1993, I lived with Nancy until a police inspector David Joseph of Manus decided she was to be his second wife.

He ordered me to keep away from her after he convinced her that he was to get me deported for whatever reason. He knocked me unconscious in the Lae police station, was charged on complaint and gaoled for 3 months.

At one stage, I hid Nancy for two weeks. Joseph put out an All Points Bulletin (APB) on me to be arrested on sight and put in the police cells. 

He would have bashed me in the cells until I told him where Nancy was. It was a relief two years later to be told he was dead. I no longer had to look over my shoulder in Port Moresby.

I moved to Port Moresby after he threatened on release from prison that he would find and kill me. He was shot dead the following year perhaps by an angry policeman. Police officers are not supposed to have sex with subordinates' wives. He was a police loose cannon.

Joseph used to boast to Nancy that he kept unhappy police wives happy with sexual pleasure when their husbands were on duty. 

In 2006, I allowed my house meri to hide at my flat away from bashing from her policeman boy friend. 

The constable boyfriend used to harass his girl friend at the house often with a squad car full of police. I would stand behind the door and phone the sergeant at Internal Investigations.The violent boyfriend would fade away.

For 8 years, I lived with an old Filipino man at 5 mile in a Housing Commission flat. I paid his rent, water and power. This convinced the neighbours that I would get the house when he died. They wanted the house for themselves.

So the trouble making woman neighbour set up a harassment campaign against me with the help of her policemen brother fom 6 Mile station. I was evicted by a policeman on the word of the neighbour. I was threatened with gaol. The woman would call her policeman brother at any time and he would come.

I was using the house as a care centre for AIDS Holistics and held medication for HIV and TB. I was only a stop gap measure if the people had run out of medication. I would give them enough for a week. But the trouble making neighbour stirred up hatred in the neighbourhood among her violent friends that I was visited every week by prostitutes.

The woman waited at the gate one morning. As I walked through, she hit me with a rod of iron. I swore at her and kept walking. An hour later the police from Gordons station arrived and arrested me for insulting language. 

Her policemen brother arranged that. I was put in the cells, bailed and appeared in Court on a charge of insulting language. But the charge in Court was dropped as the women did not appear. She has used a false name on the charge sheet with the collusion of the police constable who arrested me.

I was eventually evicted by a herd of violent police who smashed the door down, arrested me and allowed the local criminals to plunder my property they threw on the road. 

This was all the work of corrupt police, housing commission officers and the woman next door. My house was being used for prostitutes so I was told. The old man was too sick and afraid to defend me. So he stood by while criminal neighbours kicked out his only source or rent, food, water and power.

Last year, my 16 year old daughter was taken down the Waigani police station in a police van with a group of young people intercepted on the road side. 

She was assaulted by a policeman who grabbed her breasts. She slapped him and was dragged out of the station and bashed under a tree by 6 policemen. She was charged with nothing as were all the young people arrested with her. This is all part of the local police weekend fund-raising.

A young girl of 10 years old was molested at our house by a drug body marijuana smoking man. She was touched and fingered. We went to the Sexual Offences Squad at Boroko and laid a charge. It was ignored.

I did have friendly contact with the Police Station Commanders at the 6 Mile and Gordons police stations but it was obvious that they had absolutely no control over the police at their station. They just did their thing regardless of their superior officer.

There are too many rogue police in the PNG Constabulary who can have their own security business as a second pay. 

They can evict tenants, block roads and demand money, act as pay roll escorts and rape women in police cells.  They can not be stopped except by complaint to Internal Investigations which many citizens are afraid to do,

I have been sick over the last 6 years starting with a heart attack in 2010. I allowed my daughter to live with ex-Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki and wife Serah whom my daughter called aunty and uncle. I said that they could adopt her in the event of my death.

Some 4 years ago, there was a lovely woman living in my house whom I persuaded to have a TB test to which she was tested positive. She was to be my daughter's friend. I was sick and needed help.

She was Grace Gulu daughter of violent drunk Chief Inspector Gulu. Her TB never got better even though I took her for treatment and check-up every fortnight at Pacific International Hospital with Dr Sapuri. The virus may have have immunity to medication. I have no idea of where she is now.

One night she decided she was dying and screamed and cried. She phoned her father who came to the house drunk with another drunk policeman, severely bashed me and took her away without her TB medication. 

Uncle Supt Laimo Asi may know the identity of the other violent drunk basher who threw me on the bed and repeatedly punched me in the face. He screamed " Compensate her you bastard. Compensate her". 

What had I done wrong? I cared for a woman with chronic TB at my own expense. She had one foolish fault by which she ignored the doctor and me. She smoked while TB infected. Dr Sapuri explained that this was a fatal mistake. But she knew better.

I complained about the vicious assault to Police Internal Affairs but there was never a response particularly from the bad tempered Chief Inspector at 6 Mile Police who investigated complaints.

In recent days, there has been a media report of Superintendant Laimo Asi and other police going to schools to talk about child abuse. If he was the violent basher in my bedroom, he has his own abuse to account for.

I do recall in the haze of punches, the young woman Grace calling Uncle Laimo to stop hitting me. If he is the basher and talking to school children, he is a wonderful, caring violent drunk rogue copper. Take out an APB on me Asi and put me in the cells. Then you can get drunk again and bash me any time. I will identify you this time if you are the one.

Asi claims that she is still alive but if she is dead it is because her violent and drunk father and uncle tore her away from her carer and TB medication which was not what she wanted. She was hysterical because her health had dropped badly.

This is not a  good example for two senior police drunks, uncle Asi being the head of RPNGC in the National Capital District. Asi, you let her phone me on 73009142 to show you are not a liar. If she is dead you helped kill your niece. She called your name in my bedroom as you bashed me.

This is a corrupt police force where there is a lack of governance at all levels. I fear for what is happening at the present time. Corruption is not just at the lower ranks.

The problem started with the house stealers in the neighbourhood. They worked to remove me with with the help of corrupt police from 6 Mile and Gordons stations. They regarded Grace the daughter of a senior police officer as a prostitute who had to be removed even though she had been part of my family for almost a year. 

Grace got no help from her drunk and violent father and uncle. As senior officers they were stupid people who never came near Grace up to the time they bashed her carer and took her away probably to die. 

But her father once came and borrowed money from me. Grace hated her father for taking her daughter away and giving her to his childless second wife. Grace wanted her daughter back and for me to help her contact Welfare. If she is dead, how convenient !!

Trouble making neighbours saw the house as a brothel not an AIDS and TB care centre. With my forced eviction, all AIDS Holistics files were lost. All clients disappeared. One died and perhaps more.

After Grace left, a woman started working as a part time house meri. She was unemployed and had 4 children. I gave her a little money to buy food for family. Somehow the neighbours found out she was HIV positive and chased her away. 

They regarded all HIV women as prostitutes. I was called the AIDS carrier who infected the women who came to the care centre. Bastards. I was not even HIV positive. I was helping people in memory of Linda and my son who died of AIDS in 2002 and 2003. That was why AIDS Holistics was formed

I do not criticize the Judiciary. It all starts and ends with corrupt police and trouble making neighbours . There are many good police but they are outnumbered. Let the Judiciary know that I reserve all my contempt for the corrupt elements of the PNG Constabulary.

LIGHT OF HOPE IN THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA CONSTABULARY

Two Commissioners should be given medals. History will be kind to them as patriots trying to bring accountability and transparency to the constabulary.

Many Australian Defence Force officers would have watched with morbid amusement and total horror at the antics of the police fraud squad idiots in seeking to destroy the office of Commissioner. 

In some dictatorships, the fraud squad officers would be executed by firing squad. In North Korea they may be fed to dogs. But we live in democratic Papua New Guinea.

One officer was found guilty of Contempt of Court when right or wrong he was seeking to clean up the command and control mess. 

The assumption for some was that he was the Prime Minister's stooge seeking to quash arrest of the Prime Minister. He should now be awarded a medal for bravery in the face of the police enemy. The police system was grossly flawed.

This has to be the only time in the world when a Commander was taken to Court by a subordinate who sought a charge of Contempt of Court. 

From early times, the Commander of disciplined forces commanded and required his subordinates to be accountable and to obey commands. Not in the PNG police. The Commissioner has the primary role of administration. But corruption of the police is an administrative matter.

The police may be laboring under the delusion as set down in the Constitution that having been given the powers of arrest, they are accountable to no-one, not even their superior officer.

This seems to have existed from the base constable to the chain of command up to the Commissioner. Police have been out of control, some using the local police station as their base for criminal and corrupt activities. 

Some were given money under the table to evict tenants without a Court Order. Some were pay roll guards for companies, all without the knowledge of the Police Station Commander. They could arrest and charge without his knowledge which leads to false arrest in support of wantoks.

All arrests warrants should have the signature of the commander at the next highest level. This was not the practice in recent times and led to charges against two Commissioners. Warrants should be rejected by the Courts if not authorized by the next highest commander or his delegate.

All citizens should be protected from false, mischievous and corrupt arrest with all police being accountable to their superior officer. This has led to the criticism that the PNG constabulary had a lack of governance.

But most important of all is that the senior officers of Government be protected and this is now being done by the present Commissioner with a panel of senior officers to vet the file of the Fraud Squad.

It should not be left to the Courts to decide that the charges against senior officers are in error. It should be handled in-house within the Constabulary and the chain of command. Arrest of a Prime Minister is serious business that will destabilize Government and cause problems overseas. 

The currency will drop and cost of living will rise with inflation. What if the panel of senior police detects crucial errors? Parliamentary affairs will be business as usual. 

Any officer unwilling to submit investigations to scrutiny has to give the impression of having something corrupt to hide. If he moves against the Commissioner, he would in many countries be regarded as in gross insubordination and leading a mutiny.