Youths encouraged to vote, make a difference

By AILEEN KWARAGU
SPECIAL Parliamentary Committee on General Election 2022 (GE22) chairman Allan Bird says it is by law that every person above 18 years must register on the common roll.
Bird said voting was a right and people had that opportunity every five years to vote for the best leader they thought could make a difference.
“To the young people who have been refusing to register on the common roll, you will not vote,” he said.
“But if this is because you are angry with your member, then make a difference, register yourselves and vote.”
Bird was reacting to a statement made by committee representative Fosa Torea last week that youths in rural parts of Gulf had refused to register in the recent election because of lack of development in their villages.
Torea requested that election officials should have security when they went out to rural villages to update the common roll.
“Youths refusing to enroll in the community is one reason that has been affecting the update of common roll in Gulf,” Torea said.
“Another reason that has affected the common roll was the abolishment of the ward recorder system.”
Gulf election manager said they only received K900, 000 from the Electoral Commission which was not enough but the provincial government helped with K2 million.
Meanwhile, committee deputy chairman Sir Puka Temu urged all provincial election managers to submit their financial reports and give them a copy.
“We know that the government’s budget provided a lot of money and provincial governments also helped with running the elections,” he said.
“The police and PNG Defence Force had also received their own funding which the people would want to know how much was spent in the GE22.”