Wednesday January 17, 2007

IN a submission to the Electoral Commission (Elcom), Meri I Kirap Sapotim (MIKS), a non-governmental group committed itself to tackle corruption in governance during the election period.
Rather than complain about corruption among MPs and senior bureaucrats, the group decided to educate people to vote responsibly.
It believes that governance would improve greatly if election anomalies are rectified.
In the submission, MIKS said it intended to put up billboards in every town of the five Highlands provinces with the message “Stop corruption. It destroys you”.
It also identified five areas that it wants to work on, begining with this year’s general election.
They are:
1. Stop the so-called campaign houses;
2. Stop all forms of political gifting;
3. Stop the use of guns and threats;
4. Stop ethnic bloc voting; and,
5. Stop the suppression of women during elections.
Campaign houses have been common in the Highlands, where candidates summon people to construct huge houses for them to talk to voters.
Campaign houses encourage the movement of people instead of candidates going to public places to campaign.
Corruption occurs when the candidates offer food and drinks to voters. Sometimes even pigs are slaughtered for voters and money given.
In some areas, campaign houses turn out to be venues for tanim het or karim leg sessions, a common form of courtship rituals. Promiscuous behaviour has also been reported.
With that came the rising rate of divorce and unexpected pregnancies among young girls.
There is now a growing fear that this coming election will see a surge in the number of people contracting HIV.
MIKS believes that women and girls were offered to men in exchange for their votes and that some were also abused.
Doing away with campaign houses will drastically reduce the expenses of the candidates.
Political gifting has been the usual order of doing things during an election campaign. Any gift, in cash or kind, must be discouraged as it is clearly a form of corruption.
It is corruption because the person giving the gift has a special interest.
In the past, politicians would pay school fees and bride price, sponsor rugby league clubs, fund volleyball competitions and distribute all sorts of goods.
Campaign trucks would even transport dead bodies.
People who accepted these gifts felt obliged to vote for the donor rather than to vote by conscience.
People have the idea that since many MPs do not return to their electorates for most of their term anyway, they might as well demand something before they cast their votes.
They would simply say, “em baim mipela pinis”, or the wining candidate would say “mi baim ol pinis”.
An election free of bribery is quite unthinkable nowadays and it begins with the employees of Elcom.
From the time they go around to update the electoral roll to the counting of votes, they have been bribed.
Bribery is a crime and candidates seen doing that should be arrested. However, the very people tasked with doing so have fallen into the same trap. More and more, bribery has become institutionalised during elections.
The use of firearms during elections is a common phenomena in the Highlands.
Firearms have been used to intimidate voters and will be a problem again in this year’s general election.
This Government has been very reluctant in accommodating the recommendations of the Gun Committee, and to tighten the laws governing gun possession.
If any tough measures were to be taken, most MPs would be culpable, because they are very much involved in gun smuggling and transportation.
People in Southern Highlands confided that what they surrendered to the police during the State of Emergency were homemade and were not functioning properly.
Thus, high-powered guns and those that are functioning properly are still very much in the people’s possession.
With the Government’s inaction, crimes committed with firearms will continue to escalate in the Highlands.
The reduction of the police force to a ratio of one policemen for every 2,000 civilians does not help. The police are not only obviously outnumbered but also outgunned.
So we can expect the police to just sit back and watch all the election anomalies happening right before their eyes.
MIKS’ decision to educate the people on the evils of corruption and bad governance is a step is the right direction.
People should take ownership of governance processes in the country. An election free of fear and favour can be the beginning of good governance.
Eradicating bloc voting will not be easy. Many people really do not have personal choices in selecting whom they wish to vote.
It is worse if the candidate is a member of the tribe – hardly anyone in the tribe will have a choice.
This has been the case and will continue to be so unless there are radical changes to election practices.
With the limited preferential voting system, people now have a second and a third choice. However, this also has been a problem when votes are traded among clan affiliation, or in exchange for brides.
Since all preferences have the same value, the tribe also determines the second and third preferences for the voters in the interest of the clan and the candidate.
The suppression of women in voting for their choice is also common in cultures where patriarchy is the socio-political establishment.
In many polling places, women turnout is minimal compared to men.
Along with sexual and physical abuses during election period, women are also deprived of their rights at the polling booths.
As a women’s organisation, MIKS is seriously fighting this injustice and has already suggested that Elcom sets up two polling booths, one for men and the other for women alone.
Finally, after having seen all the problems associated with elections, we know that nothing will transpire out of good governance if we do not resolve the anomalies.
It is also true that democracy is at stake if we do not improve our style of voting. The billboards MIKS wish to display in the Highlands are again a good awareness tools. Only time will tell if our people are willing to embrace democracy wholeheartedly.

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