DDAs advised to not get involved in commission’s work

NO district development authority (DDA) should be involved in the common roll update as this could see sitting MPs accused of election tampering, Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil says.
“As much as possible, DDAs should not be involved in the Electoral Commission’s work to avoid being accused by other candidates,” he said.
Basil, who is MP for Bulolo, was responding to a supplementary question by Kairuku-Hiri MP Peter Isoaimo, who said ward recorders, local level government managers and presidents thought that DDAs should pay to update the common roll. “That is why we should allow Electoral Commission under its own funding to fund those exercises,” he said.
Isoaimo said he believed the common roll update was the function of the Electoral Commission and that there needed to be some clarification as to which State agency was supposed to fund the update.
Isoaimo made the query after Tawae-Siassi MP Dr Kobby Bomareo had asked about the common roll update as well as assurance of amendments to the increase in polling days and the one-day polling.
Basil said it was proper that the Electoral Commission funded those exercises, and the Government expecting a quality update of the roll.
He also referred further questions to Prime Minister James Marape who would have the “answers for the questions you ask”.
“He may make a statement on the update of the Electoral Commission,” he said.