I voted a day late on June 27th
in the 2012 PNG General Election at the Waigani Primary School in the nation’s
capital. I was among the many voters from the UPNG area to cast our votes on Wednesday,
rather than on Tuesday as originally scheduled.
I was in a good mood to vote
on the day I voted. I had a bilum full of betel nuts to help me stay focused on
the task at hand. It was an important task; an exercise in celebrating free
will to vote in a democratic society. Papua New Guineans exercise every five
years this right of citizenry.
Everything looked fine without
any disturbances at the polling station. There were a few iiregularities. The
first problem appeared when a woman used someone else’s name. The election
scrutineers were quick to respond to this irregularity, pointing out that the
known person of that same name was also in line to vote. The woman with the
false name was turned away from voting. The next woman after her was illiterate
that on asking someone to help her it turned out she was not on the list of
voters eligible to vote there at that time. She was an elderly woman who had
been staying with a relative in the electorate. An argument began between the
relative of the two women who were turned away and the election scrutineers.
The scrutineers wanted the
election officials to correct this mistake immediately. The election officials
explained to them that only those listed for that polling area were allowed to
vote. The police officer intervened by warning everyone that anyone falsifying
their identities will be arrested and locked up. The relative of the two women
who were turned away from voting argued with the scrutineers, the election
officials, and the policeman.
The false identity and
eligible voters discovering their names were not on the common roll were only
the tip of the iceberg in this election. At the UPNG campus some drunk students
intimated voters at the polling site and voters were double voting in different
sites were some of the shocking narratives of people on that day.
Further disappointment was
that some of the voters living in the area of voting for as long as I have been
around did not have their names on the common roll. I know it must be a
disappointment to them as well for finding out that their names were not listed
for voting. The reasons for this to happen are beyond me to explain in this
column. Since voting began a compound of election related problems began to
emerge all over the country. This election will go down in history as one of
the most challenging experience to election officials, the candidates, and the
voters. Whatever the outcome is for this election we hope the formation of a
new government takes place without any eminent constitutional crisis.
The best thing about voting is
that a greater sense of purpose and participation in the political process is
realized. A concrete sense ofcitizenry is exercised with the consciousness that
one single vote makes a difference in the kind of leadership a nation desires.
A vote counted towards a collective goal and purpose is the ultimate expression
of nation building. There is in that expression the realization that the leader
who gets elected to parliament is a manifestation of the people’s imagined
community.
It is now up to the elected
leaders to realize that the values of serving others before oneself must
prevail to the extent that they seek divine wisdom in all decision making
situations. As leaders they must shed all individualistic sentiments and
various kinds of juvenile politicking for matured, conscientious, and ethical
conducts in carrying out his or her mandated duties and responsibilities as
political leaders as provided in the Organic Law on Duties and Responsibilities
of Leadership. Elected leaders are expected to rise above the fray, to deliver
their verdict on what is good for the people and not for self-pontification
that comes with insatiable appetite for power.
Voters do not enter the
threshold of power. It is the elected leaders who reach that threshold where
power beckons a leader to taste its sweet nectar. Political power entices its
newly elected members, soothes the pain of yesteryear’s politicking of those
returning to parliament, and reinvigorates those who were already inducted into
the hall of fame in PNG politics.
In the minds of everyone who
voted or were voted the formation of a new government begins with the knowledge
that an elected leader must shed the old clothes for new ones in order to
become a representative of the people. In the next few weeks the elected
leaders must decide who they align with in securing the right to rule.
We exercised the most
fundament element of democracy in voting our leaders and our parliament. It is
now the job of our leaders to take us to where we want to go in the next phase
of our lives in this free and independent country.
It is hoped the new parliament
is fresh, fair, and balanced in all aspects. I do hope that both young and old
leaders work together to take us further. By the same token I do hope that a
good number of women have become part of the new parliament. Our vote is for
change in the political, social, and economic landscapes of our country.
A final point that needs to be
stressed before the formation of a new government is that a new attitude in governance
must guide our leaders. The questions to answer are: What kind of future will I
shape in the next five years? What kind of legacy will I leave after the next
five years? The burden of the voters is on the shoulders of the leaders.
The democracy we have enjoyed
so far made us voted. Leaders must continue to uphold the spirit of democracy
for everyone. God Bless this beautiful country.
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