No fights so far: Singura

FIVE people arrested a week ago in Finschhafen, Morobe remain in the Gagidu police lockup awaiting investigation, according to provincial police commander Supt Jacob Singura.
They were arrested after a confrontation between supporters of two candidates for the Finschhafen seat on June 20 at Mindik village.
During the confrontation, some supporters received injuries and a 10-seat Toyota Land Cruiser was torched.
“On the ground in Finschhafen eight members of a mobile squad unit based in Mt Hagen, Western Highlands, are assisting local police,” Singura said.
Police are monitoring the situation.
Singura said police in Finschhafen would be deployed to polling areas when funding became available.
Meanwhile, police have noted that over the last week there has been no major incident in relation to the General Election 2022 in Morobe.

Provincial election officials prepare as countdown to polling begins

POLLING officials have only four days left to ensure necessary materials reach all polling venues in their respective electorates, an official says.
Huon-Gulf returning officer David Wasinak said polling materials and funding to run the polls had already reached the district.
He said the delay currently was with routine bank processes to clear cheques for funds to be drawn by returning officers (ROs) and their assistants (AROs).
“We have only two working days – (today and tomorrow) for this to be cleared and funds released,” he said.
“As soon as we get the money, we will carry out training for our temporary election workers (TEW) and distribute the materials to each local level government (LLG) so the teams can be on their way into the district.
“We have to think of the ones in very rural areas because they will mostly be walking; time is really catching up.”
Wasinak said Huon-Gulf had 43 teams to be deployed into the four LLGs; eight teams for Morobe Patrol, seven teams for Salamaua, eight teams for Wampar rural and 20 teams for Wampar Urban.
He said polling training for Morobe and Salamua TEWs would be held in respective LLGs while for Wampar rural and urban would be in Lae.

Central counting moved to city

ALL counting for Central has been switched to Port Moresby from the districts for convenience, provincial election manager Peter Malaifeope says.
The counting was supposed to have been done in the districts but officials decided Port Moresby would be easier as far as time and distance were concerned, he said.
“All districts will have their counting in Port Moresby,” Malaifeope said.
“Counting for Abau and Rigo were initially said to be done in Kwikila and Kupiano stations but due to time and distance, we decided to bring it to Port Moresby.”
He said counting for Kairuku, Hiri-Koiari and Central regional seats would be done at Murray Barracks and for Abau and Rigo open seats Bomana Correctional Services would be the venue.
He said counting in Central was scheduled to be completed before the return of writs on July 29.
Malaifeope says polling will start on Monday and end on July 10.
He said polling materials, officers and security joint forces would be dispatched to their respective districts by Saturday.
“Ballot papers and other polling materials have all been sorted to the five districts awaiting collection by the respective returning officers and security forces for dispatch,” he said.
He said logistics for polling, including helicopters that would transport polling materials and officials to places with no roads, were in place.
He said counting should start on July 11.

50 people petition EC for outstanding allowances

MORE than 50 people who were engaged by the Electoral Commission (EC) to update the common roll in Madang have petitioned the commission concerning the payment of their allowances.
Theodor Mandoma, who was engaged as a ward recorder for Madang urban local level government (LLG), raised the concern on behalf of ward recorders and agents at the Madang Police Station on Tuesday.
Mandoma said they were told by electoral officers in December that the rate for a ward recorder was K72 per day and K68 per day for the agents.
However, he said after five months of updating the common roll, the ward recorders were paid K700 and the agents were paid K300 for the five months’ work which he said was not enough.
He said they were also not paid risk allowances as promised by the commission.
Mandoma added that they used their own money to hire boats and paid their own way to Madang town to bring in the data collected.
Madang election manager Sponsa Navi, who met with the ward recorders and agents, said he would discuss that with his superiors at the commission headquarters in Port Moresby.
He said that allowances were arranged by the commission in Port Moresby.
Navi assured those who had not received their allowances will still get their share.
He also told them to list their expenses during the common roll update and give it to him so he could see how the commission could sort them out.