EC lawyer blames funding issues for delay in case

A LAWYER representing the Electoral Commission (EC) in an election petition challenging the result of the Kundiawa-Gembogl seat in General Election 2022 has told a court that they faced funding issues and were unable to collect witness statements on time.
Shimenda Kapi told Judge Joseph Yagi in the National Court at Waigani on Thursday that the lawyer representing the EC, Ray William, had gone to Mt Hagen to collect witness statements and compile affidavits, however, the witnesses were scattered around the province.
She said William had explained the reason for the delay being that he was not able to complete collecting witness statements and had returned to Port Moresby.
Kapi said they were relying on the returning officers to provide information.
She then asked the court for additional time to file the necessary documents because the delay was not intentional.
Kapi said William was also working on other cases.
She said this would not be prejudicial to the petitioner, William Onglo, as trial dates had not yet been set.
Kapi raised that the National Court had the jurisdiction to hear objections at any time, given the court’s recent ruling on similar cases and a precedent had been set.
Onglo’s lawyer Isaac Emmanuel submitted that there needed to be good reasons before the court for it to use its discretion.
Emmanuel said while funding was an issue, there needed to be proper management for collecting witness statements and parties had to make it their responsibility to collect them.
Judge Yagi reserved his ruling for a later date.