Stop entertaining election corruption

The National Letters

WHEN can Papua New Guinea have a free, fair and safe election?
Stakeholders involved in an election, either it be a by-election or a normal gazetted general election must be held accountable for allowing corruption.
Almost all elections held to date according to my assessment have failed.
Successive governments continue to spend millions of kina from tax payers’ purse on elections and election-related court battles as well as by-elections.
Let me begin by making references in detail.

  • CANDIDATES – aspiring or intending candidates create avenues for corruption by facilitating haus sel with supplies of food items and beverages such as caffeine with undisclosed amount of cash to the voters before elections.
  • VOTERS – the free and fair elections experienced during the first past the post era has changed to votes in exchange for cash and goods when the limited preferential voting (LPV) was introduced.
    What transpired in point one above is becoming a norm in any elections today.
    It is gradually becoming an election tradition.
  • POLLING officials – whether they be civil servants, part time or disciplinary force personnel,they allow voters to queue up and vote on any name in the common roll creating avenues for double voting and unregistered voters to take advantage and in turn denying the registered voters and vulnerable groups such as mothers, old and the disables.
    The election officials are aware of such activities but are tight lipped.
  •  DISPUTES – disgruntled losing candidates take advantages of loop holes in the electoral laws to dispute the results in court.

Most of the affidavit used as evidences are in fact mentioned in the points above which they also were part of them.

Let’s be real and accept the result.

All candidates and their so called scrutinisers must be educated on election protocols and procedures.
The trend mentioned are getting complicated.
The government of the day needs to intervene before it becomes norm and rooted.
I am appealing to my fellow citizens to be responsible and stop entertaining or allow corruptions for a better PNG for today and the future pause for a moment and think of where we are navigating our beautiful ship floating on sea of oil and gas to?
Stop entertaining corruption and work towards eradicating it.

Joeggy