GE22 is such a failure

I CONSIDER the General Election 2022 as failed.
The Electoral Commission (EC) had five years to prepare for this important national event, but looks like it did not.
Also, the National Government did not provide sufficient funding to the EC to get everything ready for the election.
Thousands of voters throughout the country cannot vote because their names were not found on the common roll.
The National Census and common roll update was another failure. After this election, we will have candidates elected into Parliament and they will promise their people that they will serve them to the best of their abilities.
How will an MP serve it’s district or province well when he/she does not have accurate data of the people living there?
Statistics is very important but sadly for PNG, it does not have a proper data.
Accurate and reliable information or statistics about the country’s population will enable the government to properly plan and budget for distribution of services so that it can trickle down well to every citizen from the remote areas to urban settings.
Because of lack of proper data, most parts of the country are still under developed.
We do not even know the exact population of our country.
We are only guessing and estimating.
This is ridiculous!
The transparency and integrity of the election process is clearly being compromised.
Candidates are dishing out large sums of money to lure voters.
How can we identify quality leaders when money power is influencing and distorting our moral conscience?
Election related deaths and violence are reported in parts of the country, especially in the Highlands.
High-powered guns are smuggled and used in the election while vehicles are torched and properties destroyed.
Do we call this a free, fair and safe election?
We hear that the country is having financial problems compounded by the lack of developments in the districts and provinces.
But where do all these millions of Kina that the incumbent MPs, political parties and candidates get from that we see being spent in this election?
I have a feeling they will recoup these monies from the DSIP/PSIP allocations and will not use them for its intended purpose, thus, suffering their people for another five years.
If we continue to allow money to influence our decisions, we will continue to have Parliamentarians that will not be “peoples’ choice” but the greedy ones that will only be interested in building their empires.
The first business of a new government elected after this election must be to fix the electoral process, improve the database of the country, toughen up laws, protect the Constitution, minimise borrowing, focus on downstream processing and the extractive sector, review all state functions, cut down on taxes and create more employment as well as look at ways to generate internal revenue through SME among others.

Tony Palme
Banz