Posted By Staff Reporter
IS THE PNG ELECTORAL COMMISSION FREE FROM BIAS AND CORRUPTION AND PREPARED TO CONDUCT THE 2022 ELECTIONS?? A personal experience of former Ambassador Gabriel Pepson in the recently concluded Pom NW By Election .................... Good evening fellow WHlanders, Our young country of PNG is confronted with enormous challenges, ever since independence in 1975. Today, the challenges are much greater. The socio economic condition in any country is moulded & determined mostly by the political leadership of the country. For PNG, what has happened in the past is now behind us. The future is important, and is still in our hands. Therefore the forthcoming 2022 general elections are extremely important for every citizen of this country. It is in this context that I feel it's important that I share with WHlanders what I just experienced here in Port Moresby in the last 2 weeks in the by-election for Moresby North West (MNW) seat. I was a candidate.
Since the issue of writs on 25th February 2021, the by-election was saddled with heaps of problems and polling was delayed for a very long time until 4th June - nearly 4 months. It is unheard of in the history of elections in PNG. The overall conduct of the by-election was pathetic and riddled with blatant corruption at different levels. People turned up in big numbers at various polling booths and voted for me but the results didn't show. I was present at many of these polling booths. Even in the polling booth where I voted with my family & many of my supporters at the Salvation Army compound in Hohola - I scored zero. If that is not corruption, I wonder what is. Similar patterns emerged in many other ballot boxes. Where my supporters turned up in big numbers like in Morata & other locations, I scored less than 10 in each ballot box. During counting, it became obvious that the ballot papers counted were most likely not the same papers from the polling booths, but brought in from elsewhere. So the candidates including myself, asked the Returning Officer (RO) to allow the Presiding Officers (PO) who were present in those Polling booths, to verify their signatures. This was bluntly refused by the RO many times. In fact, the POs should have presented their respective ballot boxes to the Counting Officials before counting started, but that did not happen because POs were terminated in the evening after polling ended on Friday 4th June. All the 136 POs were terminated without any reason. Was Electoral Commission trying to hide something? That suspicion remains today. We can only suspect what could have happened that night on Friday 4th June with the power blackout throughout the whole city of Port Moresby. Perfectly timed coincidence. I took the opportunity during the campaign to let the people of Moresby North West, and to some extent - PNG, know what I stand for, and what PNG could be. I pray & hope that what happened in this by-election in the nation's capital does not repeat itself all over the country (especially in remote electorates) in the 2022 National general elections. The outcome was what many candidates feared could happen because of many questionable activities of the Electoral Commission since the issue of writs. Pangu Party's candidate won. He should have been given the opportunity to win it the right way. I hope that the rule of law & normal governance processes are observed in the 2022 general elections? Governance protocols must be religiously guarded & adhered to from the top, if we are serious about taking back PNG. We have a wonderful country, spoilt by a few greedy & heartless people. So I therefore urge you all to be on the alert and pray for a good, well organized, corrupt free general elections next year 2022. You must do it for not only yourself, but your children's future. May God bless this wonderful country of PNG, given to our forefathers & generations thereafter . Gabriel Pepson Next: Vote Discrepancies And Only In PNG Note: Let Your Views be heard : Send all your Political Commentaries to us through our email : pngfacts@gmail.com Share this Comments are closed.
|
PNG Politics WatchPNG Political analysis, Gossips ,Commentaries, news and ViewsPapua New Guinea Politics, news and commentaries . Send us your PNG Political view to us for publication on this page . Contact us |