Election fraud a very tempting idea

HELA businessman George Tagobe raised serious allegations of possible election fraud in his part of the province. Similar allegations have been raised elsewhere, especially in the Highlands where elections are fiercely and aggressively contested.
I have been involved in elections for many years as a public servant so I will try to explain the process involved as well as try to address how these concerns can be addressed.
Firstly, the PNG Electoral Commission has the mandate to run elections under the Organic Law on Nation Elections (OLNE).
The election administration process normally starts with the appointment of returning officers (RO) and assistant returning officers (ARO) for each electorate. It has been the tradition that the appointed RO and ARO are permanent public servants and ideally are the district managers (kiaps).
There are a lot of merits in appointing public servants because they will take the task as part of their routine job as well that they will be subject to the normal public service charges under the PNG General Orders in the event of allegations of election fraud and misconduct.
However, the PNGEC has advertised for recruitment of RO and ARO. This could have been done as a formality as it is expected that permanent public servants should be holding the key roles of RO and ARO.
Secondly, the first task that the RO and ARO undertake is the update of the electoral roll. This means updating the election’s roll which is normally done 12 months prior to the election. It is an important activity on the election calendar.
During this exercise, people do not normally cooperate at the village and ward levels. Despite this, the RO and ARO make it their duty to ensure the rolls are updated and submitted to the PNGEC.
Often people claim that the roll is inflated or falsified. But an updated roll can detect and limit fraud and inflated figures. If Tagobe believes that voter listing have been inflated and falsified, he should take it up with the PNGEC immediately.  It is advisable to use the 2002 and 2007 electoral rolls as reference to ascertain and compare the voter update for 2012. 
Thirdly, every province should have a provincial elections steering committee, chaired by the provincial administrator or his/her deputy. Other members should be provincial elections manager, the provincial police commander and other key stakeholders such as churches.
Its primary role is to share and disseminate information in a two-way process. The committee does not have any power to direct or dictate on the PNGEC in the conduct and discharge of the election process.
Likewise, the administrator cannot use his power to direct or dictate on the public servants to do his favours. There is nothing to gain in election fraud.
Fourthly, it is true that every public servant or polling official is expected to be aligned, associated or related to a candidate or a political grouping. It is expected because of the very nature of our social structure where every individual is a generic creature of the clan, tribe and political associations.
This is unavoidable however, the fact remains that their primary responsibility is to take the ballot papers to the voters, have it cast and return it to the scrutiny for declarations, etc.
Polling officials perform a life-threatening job. They do the job simply because they have to do it for a living. They do not manufacture or print ballot papers. The ballot papers are distributed according to the figures on the electoral roll.
My honest view based on my experience is that polling officials feel very scared to tamper or get involved in polling fraud. They are always in the watchful eyes of the politicians and their supporters from start of polling, scrutiny and declarations.

Yapi Akore
Kundiawa