Four candidates contesting the Koroba Kupiago Open Seat in the Hela province are now calling on the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Simon Siani, to order the cancelation of 12 ballot boxes that are currently in dispute. According to one of the candidates Mr. Jonathan Aiene, the ballot boxes for the Kupiago basin were tempered with allegedly by the supporters of the incumbent member, and that denied the democratic process and the rights for the people to cast their votes for a leader of their choosing. Mr. Aiene claimed that the boxes arrived at the polling site on July 03rd in preparation for the polling to start the next day on the 04th of July; however, he alleged that the boxes were hijacked in the evening by supporters of the member and kept in a house. He said by the time it was morning, all the boxes were already sealed and ready to be transported to the district headquarters. This left the polling teams and the provincial election manager highly suspicious. “I feel that this is not a good precedence for us young people coming up and going into politics, so for us to dispute these boxes is reasonable and the electoral commission must take note that those twelve boxes at Hela now does not contain votes from everyone,” said Mr. Aiene. He said he himself did not vote, even his parents and family did not cast their votes because of the hijacking of these ballot boxes. “I appeal to the electoral commission to stop this illegal practice because if the electoral commission doesn’t do something now, who else is going to help us to get rid of this disease?” He said the matter has been brought forward to the Hela provincial administrator and the provincial election manager and they are aware of it and are dealing with it at their level. Meanwhile, the candidates have also registered their complaints with the provincial election manager so this matter can be made public knowledge. The candidates that have brought this matter forward are Mr. Kenua Ikila, Mr. Samson Peri, Mr. Allen Yalu and Mr. Aiene. They are currently in Port Moresby city to take this matter up with the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission.

Polling will still continue for some electorates in the East Sepik province due to the late insertion of polling teams due to logistical problems faced with the transportation of teams.  According to the Provincial Election Manager Mr. James Piapia, the Ambunti-Dreikikier and Angoram districts still have a couple of wards to go to the polls because the polling teams were unable to get into some areas of the district sooner due to issues with fuel for transportation.   Apart from this, he said other districts like Yangoru Sausia, Maprik, Wewak and Wosera Gawi have wrapped up polling and should progress onto counting this week at their respective district headquarters.  Meanwhile, the provincial Election Manager also confirmed that a very huge number of people in the province were turned away on polling day because their names were not in the electoral roll, excluding them from exercising their constitutional right to vote a leader of their choice.  The Provincial Election Manager, Mr. James Piapia, admitted that this led to people being frustrated at polling sites and resorting to damage the ballot boxes.  “In Wewak the people became angry when they found out that their names were not on the roll, this led to youths frustrated and using objects to break the ballot boxes.”  Mr. Piapia hopes that everything else goes smoothly from here on so that counting can be completed on time.

The National Capital District (NCD) Election Manager Mr. Kila Ralai has re-assured the residents of the city that he will continue in his role until the 2022 National General Election is complete. Mr. Ralai made this announcement after taking questions and criticism from the candidates from Moresby North- East on the way he as the election manager, is managing the election process that has resulted in a further delay to polling. Initially he intended to resign as NCD Election Manager, but as things calmed down and with the blessing of the candidates, Mr. Ralai said he will continue his duty to ensure everything goes smoothly going forward. “The candidates and everybody supported me so I will not resign, I will be provincial returning officer and election manager for NCD,” said the election manager. Even though the candidates called for his resignation as the election manager, it was critical he remains because to appoint a new election manager would take time and that would lead to further delay of the election process, which is something everyone don’t want right now. Meanwhile, earlier in the day the Returning Officer (RO) for Moresby North- East had to verbally make known his intention to resign from the position due to pressure from the poor preparation of polling teams which led to the further delay of the polling in the electorate. However, the candidates when meeting with the election manager and his team, requested for the RO to be put back into his position. Most of the candidates said the RO has done an excellent job so far that they would rather have him handling matters than having someone else whom they don’t really know. Mr. Ralai further re-assured the candidates that he will make it his business to have the RO returned as soon as possible so that the election teams can finalize the ballots before polling takes place on a new date, which now Monday 11th July.

The polling day for the Moresby North- East electorate in the nation’s capital, Port Moresby had been further delayed for two days after the election team failed to complete preparations for polling to take place today. National Capital District (NCD) Election Manager Mr. Kila Ralai said the polling has been further delayed to Monday 11th July because they are still doing the distribution of ballot papers that led to the cancellation of polling which supposed to start at 8am in the morning. Mr. Ralai explained that the completion of the distribution of the election materials is important to ensure every ward in the electorate go to the polls on the same day. “Even if we go for two wards, it won’t look good for two wards to go for polls and the other two wards later, so we hold back all wards for Moresby North- East and we all go at once on Monday,” explained Mr. Ralai. He further said the election teams along with the scrutineers for the various candidates will go through the final distribution of the ballot papers and boxes this evening and finalize everything tomorrow in preparation for Monday. The delay had left people of North- East electorate left confused and frustrated. Most did not even know the polling was delayed and were gathered around the various polling sites for hours. The candidates further called for a better management of the election process and to make sure no more delays occur.

The prime minister has come out to say that the arrests of his son in relation to the huge amount of money transported in bag to Hela province on the eve of polling, was only a misunderstanding. Prime Minister (PM James Marape explained that his son was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and that money confiscated was meant for a local construction company and has no ulterior motive behind it. He said his son was with a group that was being given a tour of the PNG LNG facilities when the incident occurred. “They happened to be in the precinct when the cargo was delivered to another vehicle and a few of them were assumed to be in the same area with the same interest. My son had no in-put in the transportation of the money.” “The arrest took place, and we allowed the process of police to run its course and they are on bail at the moment,” said Marape. The prime minister fully knowing that this would have implications in the election, re-assured the people that this money has nothing at all to do with his election campaign, which some people including his opponents would see as. “I just want to report to the country that I don’t need money to make me win a re- election,” stressed the PM. Marape also added that it is not uncommon for large amounts of cash to be moved up to the province especially for companies to make payments to employees in rural areas. He said most of the time workers of construction companies preferred to be paid out in cash so to avoid banking fees that would be imposed on them if they have bank accounts. Therefore, he said this situation is unfortunate especially at the time when election is still going on, because large amounts of cash coming in will be very suspicious. The PM concluded by saying that this incident is now a matter of the police and would wait for the outcome of their investigations.

Polling for the 2022 National General Elections started today Monday the 04th of July, but already Manus province has announced a delay in its polling schedule. The Acting Provincial Election Manager for Manus Mr. Tony Balema said he received approval from the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission (PNGEC) head office in Port Moresby after requesting for a delay due to issues with logistics and the late arrival of election materials to the provincial capital, Lorengau. He said the delay is for two days meaning that the people of Manus will go to the polls on Wednesday 06th of July. According to Mr. Belama, the election materials arrived just last week Friday delivered by aircraft and that had to force the election team on ground to quickly go through the final checks before the deployment of the ballot boxes and papers, the plastic seals, and other important pieces of items to the various polling sites around the island province. He said the delivery of the election materials, the security personnel and election teams will also be supported by the Papua New Guinea Defense Force (PNGDF) maritime element stationed at the Lombrum Naval base. “The first lot of materials will be transported by this evening to the Nigoherm and Aua-Wuvulu LLG (Local Level Government) areas as these two are the furthest away,” said the acting provincial election manager. He added that the rest of the election materials is expected to depart Lorengau tomorrow to the areas that are closer and easier to access. Meanwhile, the two PNGDF vessels, the HMPNGS Tarangau and the HMPNGS Ted Diro, will be engaged to transport election teams, materials, and members of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) and the Correctional Services (CS) to provide security for polling on the outer islands.  

It will be one-day polling for the various provinces in the highlands region with security teams moving between provinces to provide security on the respective polling days as per the polling schedule. The Papua New Guinea (PNG) Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Simon Sinai, said polling for the highlands is scheduled to start on Monday the 04th of July with Hela province to go first. For the Enga province the polling day will be on the 07th of July, Southern Highlands province polling day will be on the 11th of July, Jiwaka and Western Highlands province will be on the 13th of July, and wrapping up with polling for Simbu province to be conducted on the 15th of July. “This arrangement was made in consultation with police because an election cannot be run without police,” said Mr. Sinai. The Electoral Commissioner further said that they had a meeting with Police Commissioner David Manning last week and agreed to this. “We should work on a schedule in that order because there’ll be relocation from one location to another. All the provinces are ready, it’s just that police will be moving so that’s why we have the days spaced out between.” Mr. Sinai added that polling for the other regions should start also on the 04th of July, but if there should be issues, further arrangements will be made. “Those who have difficulties and late arrivals of materials (election materials), they can always poll on the fifth (05th July) or the sixth (06th July), as long as they make sure they make better awareness that they are affected in certain locations and that they want to defer polling,” explained Mr. Sinai. Meanwhile, most of the election materials have been transported to the various provinces and from there, they are transported to the various districts, Local Level Governments, and Wards in preparation for polling to start next week.

The Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission has praised political parties for their excellent support so far for the women candidates which they have endorsed for the 2022 National General Election. The Acting Registrar of Political Parties, Mr. Emmanuel Pok, said this is something significant displayed in this election which has increased the chances of women of being elected to office. “Unlike previous elections, in this election political parties have endorsed a significant number of female candidates and going in and supporting them in their campaigns with their candidate posters and banners. That’s the support that women are receiving,” said the acting registrar. Mr. Pok said the second significant support is that parliamentary leaders of political parties are actually going into the districts and provinces to campaign for their female candidates. “That’s never been done or at some stage the support did not come fully as expected by the women candidates, but in the 2022 national election the political parties did that so we are hoping that at least three or four women can come home in the election.” Meanwhile, the Commission is pleased so far with the conduct of the 53 registered political parties during this election. The acting registrar said so far, they have not been any major or a high number of election related violence or incidents apart from the few reported in the country’s highlands region, where posters and political party banners were damaged by people. He added that a total of 3, 506 candidates were nominated for this election, of which 3, 364 are male while 142 are female candidates, and of that total 1, 330 candidates both male and female, are endorsed by political parties. The Commission conducted surveys in 13 provinces and has seen this outstanding support by political parties and is hoping this continues until the national election wraps up.

The new club in the 2022 Moni Plus Port Moresby Australian Football League (AFL) premiership, the Alavana Swans, continues to raise the interest of youths in the sport with the home games it hosts in the big village of Hula, Central province. Just last weekend the club hosted its third home game at the Raukele Park where it took on the competition heavyweight the Bismark Maritime West Eagles in front of home fans. The Swans lost that match, but the focus remains and that is to gain more interest from the young population so to have more of them playing footy and even have a chance to one day represent the country in international games. “The Swans will host a couple more home games in this season, maybe about three more games to go,” said the Port Moresby AFL Association President Mr. Douglas Lai. The Swans is the only rural team participating in the Port Moresby competition and it is hoped that this footy spirit will spread to the neighbouring villages as well. Meanwhile, the Swans will be coming to the city this weekend to play against the Gerehu Magpies on Sunday in both the Seniors and Reserve divisions. The Swans currently sit on the tenth place of the competition ladder of both the Seniors and Reserve divisions.

The West Sepik Province Electoral Office is making the final preparations for its teams to conduct the polling and counting by providing the final training to the election teams to cover the districts as it waits for the last lot of election materials to arrive by the end of this week. The Provincial Election Manager Ms. Salote Kai confirmed that most of the election materials have already arrived in the province transported in with the assistance of the Australian Defence Force, but the last lot of things required by the election teams , which are the stationary items for the team members to use, are yet to arrive. She said these items should be transported to the province by ship and should be in by this Friday before the election teams are sent out to the various district to prepare for polling. Meanwhile, most of the election teams are ready for deployment to the four electorates to conduct polling come the 04th of July. The provincial election manager said most of the teams are ready after completing training for polling and counting and should be sent out to the districts by this Saturday in preparation for polling next week Monday. “The last lot of Assistant Returning Officers and elections teams should wrap up their trainings this week before they are deployed.” Ms. Kai added that the final group are the teams for Nuku and Aitape- Lumi districts and they have started their two days training today with training conducted for the members at their respective district centers, while the teams to cover the Vanimo Green and Telefomin districts have already completed their training and are awaiting to be deployed out of the provincial capital, Vanimo. She said once all the teams are ready, their deployment to the various polling sites should take place on the weekend. “Some teams will be transported by plane to the districts only reachable by air and the other teams will go by vehicles to areas accessible by roads,” she said. The provincial election manager added that so far it has been trouble- free in the province with no election related violence or incidents. She hopes things will remain this way until the whole 2022 National General Election completes.  

Although things have picked up from the devastating impacts of the COVID- 19 pandemic, there are still challenges that Nambawan Super Limited (NSL) must overcome to ensure it delivers to its members and their contributions. Speaking at the recent 2022 Nambawan Super Employers Conference, the NSL Board Chairman Mr. Reg Monagi told the members and their employers that this year has its own challenges as the year progresses compared to 2021 when things picked up and looked good for NSL returns on investments that translated into some good outcome for members’ contributions. “Last year the fund achieved a net surplus of five hundred and twenty-six million, which resulted in the growth of its net assets to eight- point- eight billion and a declaration of six and a half percent crediting rate to more than two hundred and fourteen thousand Nambawan Super members,” said the chairman. He added that in 2021 the fund made benefit payments totaling K778 million through retirement savings accounts, unemployment benefits, housing advances, and payments on members' exit from the workforce. “Despite the improved results, 2021 has not been without its challenges. The NSL board and management have worked tirelessly to overcome the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic to deliver these good returns for our members and we are pleased with the overall performance of the fund in 2021.” However, Mr. Monagi admits that 2022 has its own challenges brought about by global and domestic events. “2022 is delivering new challenges, global markets have been volatile as they react to the Ukraine and Russia conflict and resulting fuel and now food shortage and global inflation is rising quickly, meaning the cost of living is increasing,” Mr. Monagi further elaborated. He said domestically there are several unfavorable conditions in the local market that are adding to this and one major challenge the fund has already encountered is that of the state-imposed Market Concentration Levy on the BSP Financial Group. “With these challenges in mind we aim to remain diligent, focusing on delivering to our members and working to build better futures over the term,” he said. Mr. Monagi said this is because NSL has increased its member assets in the past decade and continues to work around challenges to deliver to them and will continue to do so. The Nambawan Super Employer Conference was held at the Stanley Hotel in Port Moresby on Friday 24th June and was attended by NSL members, and their employers and saw speeches and presentations given by NSL management, including by the Chief Executive Officer Mr. Paul Sayer.

The Bismarck Maritime West Eagles is the team to beat in the 2022 Moni Plus Port Moresby Australia Football League (AFL) season as they continue to reign over everybody else. According to the President of the Port Moresby AFL Association Mr. Douglas Lai, the Eagles sit at the top of the competition ladder of the Senior Men’s division. “The Eagles are sitting on top of the ladder with 24 points after recording six straight wins out of six matches so far since the season started,” said the president. Looking at the top five, Mr. Lai said results from game six of round one last weekend, has seen the Lamana Dockers trail behind the West Eagles on second spot with 20 points, the Cats are on the third spot with 20 points as well, separated by a 42% difference. The Concept Koboni is on fourth place with 16 points and new team Port Power on fifth spot with 16 points as well but separated by a 72% difference. However, it’s a different affair on the top five spot of the ladder in the Men’s Reserve Division. New team Port Power is sitting on top with 20 points followed by West Eagles on second place also with 20 points but separated by a 64% difference. On the third place is Gordons Kokofas with 20 points but separated by 35% from the Eagles. The University Tigers sit on the fourth spot with 12 points followed by Concept Koboni on fifth with 12 points, separated by 18% difference. Meanwhile in the Women’s Division, Concept Koboni lead the ladder with 20 points followed closely behind by Lamana Dockers on second place with 20 points as well, separated by 66% difference. The Gordons Kokofas sit on the third place with 12 points, West Eagles on fourth place with 8 points followed by the Gerehu Magpies on 8 points as well but separated by a 42% difference. The University Tigers sit on the sixth spot with 4 points.