Strengthen county’s political system

THE Marape-Steven Government so far appears to have sung the hymns that pleased ears of many.
It is always the case when there is a change in government. I am however curious about the silence of the government in not singing the song of fixing the electoral process which has been highly corrupted.
The last National Election in 2017 was the most corrupt on record.
This is according to various reports by independent observers and from our individual observations as citizens who were victimised by the sheer magnitude of the corruption that was involved.
Many of us were disenfranchised directly.
Some of the singers in the current government screamed out very loudly against the highly corrupt national election of 2017.
Among them were Sir Mekere Morauta and Bryan Kramer.
What is their stance now that they are in government?
Can we count on them to practice what they preached about the corrupt 2017 election?
The election observer team from the Australian National University (ANU) released a very damning report about the 2017 National Election. The ANU report recommended immediate remedies to address the problems and prevent them from being repeated in the next election in 2022 and onwards.
The election in 2022 is not very far in terms of planning and getting things right.
Preparation has to start now if we are to have a genuinely ‘free, fair and safe election’ where we are given the chance to vote MPs freely without any undue influence and tempering of the process.
The most critical place to start operationalising the government’s slogan ‘Take Back PNG’ is at the start of the problems.
The electoral process has not been free, fair and safe in many electorates since 1977 (when the first election was held after independence in 1975).
At each election, we continue to see candidates and their supporters employing corrupt practices to enable their candidates the chance to win.
State institutions, especially public servants, are somehow co-opted into these corrupt schemes of candidates and their supporters every election.
Just because petitioners do not corroborate evidence well and do not put up convincing arguments in the Court of Disputed Returns due to various inhibiting factors does not mean the elections are free and fair.
When candidates get elected into Parliament through sectarian support or through corrupt means, their time in Parliament is dominated by pleasing those who supported them.
The so-called DDA’s and PEC’s are places where these sectarian interests take utmost precedence over the common good according to the policies, regulations/laws and the Constitution.
The nonsense of changing government mid-way through a Parliamentary term where we see MPs jumping here and there as headless chicken is the result of MPs being in Parliament not through a ‘free, fair and safe election’.
If the process was truly fair and there was a strong political party system, MPs would not be jumping here and there and presenting themselves to the highest bidder during the so-called lobbying for government.
It is now ingrained in MPs and the political culture of PNG that the MP feels obligated to his supporters and political survival and jumps here and there to be in government thus creating so much instability and the corruption.
It is time the government fixes the electoral process.
It should start with appointing an expatriate electoral commissioner from developed Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Canada.
Let such a person to lead the election reforms and management.
Give the expatriate electoral commissioner the resources and money and do not interfere with his or her work and deliver a truly free, fair and safe national election so we can vote in leaders as MPs of our choice and get in the best people.
Secondly, the government should come up with decisive remedies to strengthen the political party system.
The weakness of the political system now sees MPs jumping here and there to be in government ‘to benefit my people’ and do not stand for party policies.
Thirdly, the government should take appropriate action to ensure the Opposition is also an important place to be in for a MP as part of the Westminster constitutional democracy that we follow.
This can be addressed when the political system is strengthened.

Concerned citizen, Pom