Niningi a victim of election violence

MINISTER for Justice and Attorney-General Pila Niningi says the rule of law is being ignored by people as he has been a victim of two separate General Election 2022 (GE22)-related violence.
“During the campaign period, (last month) I had two aggressive acts of violence done against
me by rival candidates,” Niningi said in a statement last week in
response to the rise in General Election 2022 (GE22)-related violence.

“One was a direct hit on my vehicle, resulting in the fracturing of my driver’s arm.
“The other was an open shooting incident at one of my villagers, wounding a young man who is currently hospitialised.
“Yet I asked my tribesmen and supporters to refrain from retribution.
“Instead, we reported the matter to the police and waited for justice to take its full course.
“I share the above experiences to point out that as a leader, I had to make a hard choice to follow the law. I had to lead by example.”
Niningi said he was appalled to hear and see GE22-related violence happening in many parts of the country.
“We are at the crossroads where the rule of law is no longer adhered to, instead men have come to think that they are a law unto themselves,” he said.
“This mentality must not be tolerated nor entertained.”
Niningi appealed to all candidates and their supporters to abide by the law.

Gulf calm as counting starts

By JAMIE HARO in Kerema
THERE has been no major incident related to election violence in Gulf, an official says.
Provincial police commander Chief Insp Jeffery Lemb said since the nominations and polling, there had been no major incidents and called on locals to continue cooperating with security personnel.
“Elections in the province have been peaceful since nominations began, no major incidents and we intend to continue the process in the next few days in this counting period,” he said.
Lemb said despite setbacks with the delay of moving the polling officials and ballot boxes back to Kerema on time, the election process in the province had been peaceful.
“Despite the delay, we had assistance from the Police Department who hired aircraft to move our security personnel, polling officials and the ballot boxes from three different locations back to town safely,” he said. He said these were polling teams from Kaintiba, Kotidanga and Kikori local level governments.
In addition, Lemb explained that the counting venue which was supposed to cater for the open electorates was not completed on time and was moved to the Bouraga Haus and the Catholic Mission Hall which started on Monday.
“Currently, we have 90 security personnel on the ground, these include local police, members of the Correctional Services, PNG Defence Force, Water Police, NCD police and a police mobile squad, that are tasked to see this counting process through,” he said.
Meanwhile, the provincial election office has marked three days to complete the counting process.
The counting started with ballot boxes from Kerema Urban LLG and Central Kerema LLG for the Kerema open and regional seat on Monday while counting for Kikori started counting yesterday.

Students appeal to candidates, thank army

THE University of Papua New Guinea student representative council (UPNG SRC) is appealing to candidates in the National Capital District (NCD) to exert more control over their supporters following the suspension of classes after a violent incident last Sunday.
UPNG SRC president Melvin Tinol told The National that they supported the actions taken by disciplinary forces.
“The fight that transpired last Sunday posed a direct threat to the staff and students of the university as it occurred along the route many students and staff use to travel to and from school,” he said.
“We are proud and support the actions taken by the PNG Defence Force who sent out officers to monitor the situation in the city as it provides a sense of safety to the university community.
“We now call out the respective candidates to control their supporters and have all their disputes dealt with in court so that the rule of law prevails.”
Tinol said the suspension of classes would delay the commencement of their second semester.
“We appeal to the general public as well to ensure a safe and fair election as a democratic nation and in that way we do not cause inconveniences for other businesses such as schools,” he said.