Too many parties halt development

Letters

THE ongoing trend in PNG politics of registering new parties every new term of parliament can be regarded as an impediment to development aspirations of the nation.
The government need numbers to hold onto power for a term of parliament, thus, having so many parties create so much instability that much needed financial resources which are meant for development are used to buy political support.
Knowing too well that collecting numbers amongst the smaller parties has the tendency to shift the balance of power, leaders of smaller parties tend to leverage that opportunity to obtain benefits.
The benefits gained are often diverted to uses outside of district development priorities and so much needed services and infrastructure are neglected.
Over a term of parliament, so much tension and stress from holding together many political allies is such that political survival becomes a matter of priority over service delivery.
In light of that scenario, could the office of the Registry of Political Parties confirm if there are provisions under the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC) which can be effected to:
l PUT a ceiling on the number of political parties (e.g. 10 parties) that can be on the register each term of parliament and should meet some stringent conditions to retain its place in the register such as having proper office, having appropriate constitutions and national representation each year; and,
l MONITOR parliamentary representations each term of parliament so that parties that do not have any MPs should be delisted from the register.
It is evident that many new parties have policy platforms that are similar or duplicates to other parties’ policies and that defies logic as to determining the type of …… development they want.
In the end, it is confusing for the majority of voters who are in rural areas and illiterate.
Most of them cannot comprehend party policies that they end up voting along ‘save pes’ lines, sacrificing the opportunity to vote in quality candidates that have the potential to represent them meaningfully in parliament.
The stability of a government and continuation of policies can only be achieved by having only few large parties.
What the country should be after is quality representations and not increasing in the number of parties.
Can the registrar of political parties please have ongoing review forums to improve the mechanisms of the party system and most importantly, service delivery to the nine million people of Papua New Guinea?

Concerned Ples Man
Bulolo