Sir Bob urged to check eligibility

By GABRIEL LAHOC
LAE business icon Sir Bob Sinclair has been warned to check his eligibility to contest the general election in the Huon Gulf district of Morobe province.
Another intending candidate and former Electoral Commission official, Peter Yasaro, said Sir Bob should confirm his eligibility with the Electoral Commission to avoid a major embarrassment during nomination.
Yasaro, a former kiap who served in the provinces of New Ireland, East New Britain, West New Britain, Northern, East Sepik and West Sepik, retired after spending his last six years with the commission.
He was involved in the last national elections.
He said there were two main eligibility criteria for intending candidates – birthright and citizenship.
The birthright automatically qualifies an intending candidate to contest in an electorate if he was born there, while the citizenship right covers naturalised citizens.
“He must confirm his status with the commission to avoid embarrassment when it comes to the nomination period,” Yasaro said.
Sir Bob has not responded to critics in the media, while his supporters have come to his defence, saying a man of such stature was over-qualified.
His supporters have questioned critics, saying that Sir Bob owned half of Lae city with his business interests covering Morobe province.
Yasaro said the Melanesian culture in the country had encouraged intending candidates to indirectly engage in early campaigning.
He said such practices amounted to corruption and called on relevant government agencies to crack-down on “this culture of gathering people in events and discussing ideas relating to the elections of leaders”.