Lazing around for two weeks waiting to be airlifted for GE22 operations

News that matter in Papua New Guinea

Look! Are they having a picnic? Not at all. They are Electoral Commission (EC)’s workers and officials in Gama who have been waiting for two weeks to be airlifted for action. That is General Election 2022 (GE22) ala Papua New Guinea (PNG) for you!

Lazing around for two weeks waiting to be airlifted for GE22 operations

PORT MORESBY: This is Papua New Guinea (PNG)’s general election style. General Election 2022 (GE22) polling for Usino-Bundi is gazetted to complete yesterday (July 13, 2022).

Election Returning Officer Terence Baiyo said yesterday that pollig has been extended to Friday (July 15, 2022).

But members of the four polling teams for the Gama Local Level Government of Usino-Bundi has been waiting for two weeks to be airlifted for electoral operations.

That’s GE22 ala PNG for you, planning and efficiency.

PNG Cyber Monitor reproduces below the news break and a few GE22 news updates as published by The National:

Waiting 2 weeks for transport

July 14, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By GLORIA BAUAI
FOUR polling teams for the Gama local level government of Usino-Bundi are still waiting to be transported to their respective wards to start polling.
According to Usino-Bundi Returning Officer Terence Baiyo, the gazetted date to complete the polling for the district was yesterday, (July 13), but extended that to Friday.
Mike Wesley, an official stepping in to help Gama assistant returning officer (ARO) Fabian Meker with communication, said the Gama team had been at the Walium station for more than two weeks.
“Our team came on June 28 thinking that they’d be moved out by July 4,” he said.
“All their cash advances have been depleted here at Walium station. We still don’t know how longer we will wait for this team to be moved into the respective wards.”
Presiding officer of Gama’s Team 237 Teddius Dolbanz said back home, confusion and frustration had grown, with people calling, demanding to know the reason for the delay.
“In past elections, we were given two days to cover our two wards but with these delays, I don’t know what will be expected of us,” he said.
“Gama is very mountainous and can take a day’s walk to move between wards or polling sites we are assigned to. So this is very concerning.”
Baiyo said helicopter, which was a more convenient mode of transport into these part of the LLG, had been the main cause for the delay.
“They allocated choppers for election purposes but currently the chopper is being used by other provinces as well, for us it’s Middle Ramu and Raicoast,” he said.
“We completed our chopper schedule insertion last month and gave Heli Niugini to fit us into their schedule. But because their four choppers have limited seats, they couldn’t accommodate all the teams, so most of our teams were delayed.
“I’ve already made a request to the Electoral Commission for a one-week polling extension for Usino-Bundi.
“I’ve also got my officials to play around with the remaining dates between polling and counting, as long as we complete it by the July 29 return of writs.
“We have just revised the polling schedule – depending on when the teams arrive at that polling place, give additional days.”
Meker said four of his eight teams were already in the LLG and two had completed their polling.
“One transported their ballot boxes back to Walium station on Tuesday night while the other is awaiting a chopper,” he said.
“For the four teams still at Walium, we are working on plan B to send them by river or by foot – another costly and time-consuming exercise if the chopper doesn’t come .”

Plan to reform electoral process

July 14, 2022The NationalMain Stories

A STATE-appointed committee monitoring the progress of the General Elections 2022 (GE22) plans to continue operating after the return of writs, focusing solely on electoral process reform.
Dr Eric Kwa, the Secretary of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, told a FM100 Talkback show yesterday that the Inter-department Election Committee (IDEC) was usually disbanded after a general election.
“ (But) the current team agreed that we would like to continue to work until 2027.
“In that way, we are continuing to help the Electoral Commissioner (Simon Sinai), with the reforms he would like to bring forward,” he said.
On the common roll, Kwa said political leaders were not too concerned about the elections, which was why there were problems with its updating.
He admitted that biometrics had been approved to be used in GE22 but the decision was reached in mid-2021, thus could not be rolled out in time.
It also needed a budget of almost K250million.
He said the committee would propose to the Government to reform the electoral process in the first 18 months after the return of writs “so there is bureaucratic support for the reforms, unlike in the past”.
“We don’t want to wait until mid-term because by then, everybody’s focused on many other things,” Kwa said.
“We have also agreed to get the National Research Institute (NRI) to conduct research and produce a report on the GE22 and we will be working on that report to reform the electoral system.”
He noted that the Constitutional Law Reform Commission had already produced two reports, which are yet to be implemented.

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Polling in Western Highlands, Jiwaka deferred

Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai says polling in Western Highlands and Jiwaka has been deferred to tomorrow (Friday).
He said in a statement that polling in the two provinces had been scheduled for yesterday.
But it had to be deferred to allow time for the mobilisation of security personnel into Western Highlands and Jiwaka.
“The election is ongoing and decisions made are based on real time events faced by the Electoral Commission and its officials on the ground, as well as advice from the Joint Security Task Force on security issues,” he said.
Sinai confirmed that polling for Chimbu would go ahead tomorrow as scheduled.
“The polling period for General Election 2022 (GE22) ends on Friday and the public and voters in the concerned provinces are advised to take heed of these information and prepare accordingly to ensure polling is completed smoothly within the gazetted period,” he added.
Highland Eastern-end Deputy Commander Chief Superintendent Joseph Tondop said security preparations for Western Highlands, Jiwaka and Chimbu were on track.
On the recent protest which led to the closing down of the Kagamuga airport and the Highlands highway, Tondop said he would meet with the candidates and their supporters.
Tondop said what happened on Tuesday in Mt Hagen affected business houses and people’s movement.

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Sinai: Voting at shooting site to depend on security assesment

Taking ownership … Kelly Wingom (grey shirt), a long-serving public servant in Usino-Bundi, has volunteered to transport election teams into their polling stations. The father-of-six from Transgogol is the district’s family health coordinator, serving for almost 20 years now. He has in the past elections served as an Assistant Returning Officer. – Nationalpic by GLORIA BAUAI

THE completion of voting in a Moresby North-East polling station which was called off on Monday because of a shooting incident will depend on security assessment, says Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai.
Police are investigating the death of a woman following a shooting incident at ATS Block Two.
“I have not received the report from the Returning Officer, so we’ll wait to monitor the (area) because it has already been raised as a security issue,” he said.
Sinai said polling in other Moresby North East venues were successfully completed.
He warned that settlers at the ATS Block Two who were yet to vote could miss out altogether if the security situation remained unsafe.
He expressed his condolences to the woman’s family but said the Electoral Commission (EC) had deadlines to follow. They will now be focused on counting.
“It (her death) was probably election-related but the handling of the (people) and how they behaved is something we regret and I apologise for that,” he said.
“I have said time after time that we are only going to provide you a one-time opportunity, and you have to work with the commission to cast your vote.”
With counting for Moresby North-West and Moresby South to begin today, questions were raised as to when counting would start for Moresby North-East.
“It needs to be assessed properly if we need to go back but as I said, it now remains a security issue,” he said. Sinai also clarified that the repatriation of the woman’s body to her home province was outside his authority.
“It’s not part of my office. I am contracted to do election-related work. (The repatriation issue) is something outside my jurisdiction,” he said.