Papua New Guinea needs external support to beef up the security capacity for the upcoming 2022 National General Elections.
Enga Governor Sir Peter Ipatas said it is evident that the national security force lacked the capacity in dealing with the election exercises and this has led to many compromised elections over the years.
Sir Peter proposed to Prime Minister James Marape to seek assistance from Australia and New Zealand police forces to provide support in capacity building in the lead up and during the national general elections.
“Why are we shying away from asking outside help for this matter?” Sir Peter asked.
“During APEC, we asked for outside help where foreign troops were deployed to beef up the national security.”
“Why don’t we do the same for this upcoming national election where we all know too well our past experiences in this exercise has always been compromised.”
“These external security personnel can come in as early as January next year and work with the national security personnel to identify areas that have the potential to disrupt good elections and ensure that doesn’t happen.”
He said elections in the country, especially in the Highlands region is always filled with corrupt practises and this should be minimized and stopped if the government is responsible to the people.