MPs want Trawen for common roll briefing

ELECTORAL Commissioner Andrew Trawen has been invited to Parliament today with leaders of university students, churches and trade unions to discuss the update of common rolls.
Deputy electoral commissioner John Kalamoro  yesterday updated parliamentarians on the progress of the common rolls updates.
But the MPs were not satisfied with Kalamoro’s explanations.
They wanted Trawen to be available at midday today with his team of lawyers and advisors for a frank and open discussion.
Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah also invited PNG Trade Union leader John Paska, lawyer John Nonggorr, church and student leaders to be available for their input.
“I invite Nonggorr, Paska and other NGO leaders and activists to come and give their views,’’ he said.
“We have a serious problem with the roll and I do not want the public to think that we MPs are pushing an agenda to stay in power longer.
“I’m not afraid to face my voters. But we have to get things right for this election and the most important thing is the common roll.”
Namah and leader of government business Moses Maladina also invited the media to attend the discussions.
Kalamoro briefed MPs at the state function room on the preparations for the 2012 general election.
He stated that much of the data for the preliminary rolls for the seven highlands provinces were yet to be fed into the computers and made available for public scrutiny.
Kundiawa-Gembogl MP Tobias Kulang said data for eight wards in his electorate sent down to the commission headquarters for input were missing.
He had to go there himself to do a search and found it.
“This kind of rubbish cannot be happening. How can we trust the returning officers? This is why scrutiny of the roll is very important. If it means giving more time, we should,” he said.
Koroba-Kopiago MP John Kekeno said in the last elections common roll figures were inflated in some wards for the national elections.
But during the council (LLG) elections, the number of voters dropped to the correct figure.