Support call by Sir Peter

IN the recent parliament sitting, Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas commented on the need to engage the Australian and New Zealand police personnel in the Papua New Guinea general election next year.
After listening to the NBC programme on Thursday night, I was prompted me to express my views on the issue.
I would not take speeches of national importance delivered by Sir Peter, New Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan and Western Highlands Governor Paias Wingti lightly.
This is due to their experiences as political leaders over a long period of time.
As such, Sir Peter’s call should not be taken lightly.
His concern does not necessary mean that our two disciplinary forces (police and military) are corrupt and would not be able to handle the 2022 general election.
Yes, there are few elements of corrupt personnel within the ranks and files, but not all members of these forces are corrupt.
I believe Sir Peter saw a need for the upcoming election to be conducted in a transparent manner under the watchful eyes of the neighbouring foreign police personnel on observer statuses.
I do not see anything unlawful about that.
The reality has been that corruption, in terms of bribery which led to foul plays at the polling booths and tally rooms were never initially initiated by the members of our two disciplinary forces.
Rather, such doings have always been imposed on the disciplinary forces’ members and polling officials by corrupt sitting MPs and corrupt money-rich election candidates.
The problem with some members of our disciplinary forces has been their reluctance to say no to such corrupt practice.
The story would have been different had many of them not succumb to such evil as demonstrated in the case of the 2017 National Capital District seat that saw the electoral commissioner suspended and the case currently before the court.
From Sir Peter’s view, I can figure out that there will be millions of kina used in the coming election by our sitting MPs to grasp political power in terms of winning respective seats and having the numbers to form the next government.
Apparently, the chances of bribery and controlling the election process throughout the nation will be very high. As such, the voting population and polling officials, including some members of our disciplinary forces would be bound to confront this evil as seen in the past elections.
Again, this depends on which areas of the country the election is conducted because the behaviours of the voters and the public varies from one province to another or at a larger scale, one region to another.
In order to minimise this evil as well as load of court of disputed returns every five years, it is better to engage the Australia and New Zealand police to assist in the election process as international observers.
These collaborative efforts provided to our polling teams and tally room officials (which would consist of our members of the two disciplinary forces) nation-wide hopefully would minimise election-related corruption.
Furthermore, after 46 years of independence, the Electoral Commission by now should have clear indicators pinpointing parts of the nation that have been heavily subjected to election-related corrupt activities, violence including court of disputed returns and have these places or electorates placed under international observation commencing from the polling booths right to the tally rooms.
That should be captured in their 2022 national election plan and strategy.
On the other hand, other decent parts of the nation that have never encountered such doings would not need foreign engagement to assist with the election process as this would be waste of time and resources.
We preach too much about our political independence and we tend to forget that we are in a global community.
PNG still depends on foreign aid, foreign funding of projects, borrowing from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other financial institutions, so what is sinister about involving the Australia and New Zealand police personnel in the 2022 general election?
The critics of the concern raised by Sir Peter should understand that what we do here can affect our standing in the global arena whether it be at the United Nations or at the World Bank.
Therefore, to involve foreigners – in this case our immediate neighbours – is the right thing to do.
PNG should not have a government after 2022 general election that would be questionable.
I commend Sir Peter for raising this matter.

Emmanuel Allen Mungu,
Port Moresby