Papua New Guineans living overseas wanting to cast their votes in this 2022 National General Election will continue to use postal voting system instead of just going online to cast their votes for their candidates. According to the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Electoral Commissioner Mr. Simon Sinai, Papua New Guineans overseas can start applying to vote now through the PNG Embassy or High Commission offices. The applications will be processed through the Department of Foreign Affairs and then the names will be checked and confirm by the Returning Officer if they’re on the electoral roll. Mr. Sinai said if everything is in order, then the postal ballot papers will be sent over to those that have applied to vote, which they will later send back with the postal envelope. “We have no electronic arrangements yet, there is no law covering the electronic system so we’ll just have to go manually but the process is a little bit long,” said the electoral commissioner. Mr. Sinai further explained that there are two different categories of the postal voting system. One is for those people overseas, the other one is for those security personnel that are currently engaged in the election security operations. “Those ones we can get their names, check them and send it (Postal vote) to them. At least one or two people can go and get them to vote, or they can either post them. It’s already in the election process.” Meanwhile, polling will take place across the country on the 4th of July, which is just a week away.

The sitting member for the Moresby North- West electorate in the nation’s capital Mr. Lohia Boe Samuel, has pledged to continue his work and that of Pangu Pati in a five- year plan to properly address the issue with settlements and urban village development if he gets a second term in office after the 2022 National General Election. For the settlements, he has planned to continue with the urbanization program so that the settlements are integrated into the city and function as suburbs with proper water and sanitation and electricity supply for homes. “For that we need to work closely with the landowners of the settlement areas. Identify the landowners so that they will be compensated, so we can issue titles (Land titles) because without landowner compensation it will be very difficult. For the ward one villages, Mr. Samuel said Pangu Pati also has a modernization village plan for them for the next five years. In addition to this, the member said the matter of basic services to the suburbs in the electorate is also included in the five-year plan. Mr. Samuel is looking at improving basic service to the suburbs like fixing the water issues, the road issues and even National Housing Corporation (NHC) title issues for homes, which is an issue a good number of people in the suburbs are facing. “This is the thing we will do for the suburbs; we will fix your title problems that you are having with the NHC and the Lands Department, and we will bring basic services.” Samuel had met with the prime minister and reported to him all these matters and the plan was put together to address them, which is what Mr. Samuel is adamant to make sure it happens if re- elected for a full term in parliament. “So, this is the plan for settlements, this is our plan for the villages of Motu Koita and this is the plan for our suburbs of North- West. So, when we roll it out for the next five years, I am sure all the long suffering will be minimized,” said Mr. Samuel. The member said all these during the Pangu Pati rally held yesterday in Port Moresby where all Pangu Pati candidates running for the seats in the city and the Central province, attended. Pangu Pati parliamentary leader and Prime Minister, James Marape, was present at the rally as well to show his full support for his candidates running in this election.

The ballot papers among other election materials destined for the various Local Level Government (LLG) and ward council areas around the country, have started their journey to the various provinces and districts today with the assistance of the Australian Defense Force (ADF). Papua New Guinea (PNG) Electoral Commissioner Mr. Simon Sinai said the first province to get the election materials from the flight out this morning is Western province. Mr. Sinai said the PNG Electoral Commission is focusing on delivering all the election materials in just one week, but if there is a need to continue for another week, then the Commission will do so. “All the ballots have been sorted by our teams and all sensitive materials including the electoral roll, plastic seals, polybags for counting, labels for ballots boxes and the ballot papers,” said Mr. Sinai. The electoral commissioner also appealed to voters to take ownership of this election and go to the polls to mark a leader that would represent them in parliament, now that the PNGEC has started the distribution of the election materials. He said there is no need for any form of violence as the election is a democratic process every five years for people to choose a leader of their choice. Meanwhile, the man in charge of the ADF support for this election, Wing Commander Michael Rouhan, said they are here on the request of the PNG government and the extent of their involvement is to provide planning and logistics on air mobility to deliver the election materials to the provinces. This air mobility will be made possible with the Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF) aircrafts that are currently in country, the C-130 Hercules, and the smaller C- 27 Spartan air crafts. Wing Commander Rouhan added that there are 132 ADF personnel on ground that will be working with the PNG Defense Force transport the election materials. This is our job, and we are very happy to come and help out,” said the Wing Commander. There are two weeks left before the polling starts on the 04th of July and the transportation of the election materials early will ensure everything goes smoothly for voters and election officials come voting day.

The Opposition Leader and PNG Party Leader Belden Namah has proposed taking a better approach to providing free education and health service if he becomes the next Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. Speaking at a recent PNG Party rally in Rigo in the Central province to show support for his party candidates, the Opposition Leader told the people that the best approach to this is to start from the bottom up, which is to improve the enabling infrastructures first. Namah said the provision of free education and free health service was initially a PNG Party policy when the party formed the coalition to install Peter O’Neill as Prime Minister. But this policy was rushed by the then prime minister as a means of securing support from the people come next election. When Namah was Deputy Prime Minister in the then O’Neill government, he proposed not to implement the policy yet until there are improvements made to the education and health sectors by way of building more schools, hospital, colleges and universities to enable more professionals in these sectors. He explained that by doing this, there should be no issues with spaces in schools and there will be good coverage of basic health services provided to the people. The Opposition Leader now wants to implement this PNG Party policy properly if he is re-elected to office and becomes prime minister after the 2022 National General Election. “When we go into power, we will still have free education and free basic health service, while we have that we will build more schools, more nursing colleges, more universities, more medical faculties,” Namah told the people. “We will not put the cart before the horse, we will do it right because PNG Party believes in doing the principal things right. We don’t have to be too complicated; we can come back to the basics.” Mr. Namah attended the PNG Party rally at the Kemabolo village on Tuesday this week in the Rigo District to show support for his candidates running under the PNG Party banner like the former Central Provincial Administrator Mr. Gei Guni Raga, who is running for the Central regional seat.

One candidate running for the Rigo open seat in the Central province is adamant to see a change in the District which he said has gone backwards post-independence as a result of poor management and a lack of proper leadership. That candidate is Mr. Dickson Guina, the former Secretary of the Department of Provincial and Local Government Affairs. A veteran himself of the public service, having served over thirty years in handing matters of provincial and district affairs, he told crowds at a recent PNG Party rally at Kemabolo village in Rigo that it is time now to vote in a leader that has a vast and intimate knowledge of how the system works, so to bring about the changes, developments and services to the district, which have been lacking in the past forty- six years. “We are lacking a good leader, a leader who has a dream, a passion for change, and a vision for the future generation. ”Guina told the crowd that if elected into parliament, he plans to turn things around starting off by transforming the district capital, Kwikila into a major commercial hub where it can bring in the much needed revenue for the district through business and agriculture. He also plans on further improving education among the vital service in the district, so to have a school of excellence that would generate well and highly educated young people from the district that would serve the district, the province and the country as a whole. Mr. Guina plans on doing all that by putting to good use the K10million District Support Improvement Project (DSIP) funds parked in the District Development Authority (DDA) office each year for developments and services for a district. With his wealth of experience in the public sector and dealing with local level government affairs of districts in the county including Rigo, Mr. Guina further assured the people that his is the right man for the job. “I want to make Rigo one of the model districts in the whole country, I want to make Kwikila an economic hub,” he told the people. “Be serious about voting this election, it’s about change. You vote a leader who can bring change.” Meanwhile Mr. Guina, who is running as an independent candidate, was invited to the PNG Party rally yesterday at Kembolo village by the Party Leader and Opposition Leader, Belden Namah. Mr. Guina was there amongst other party and independent candidates and PNG Party candidates running for the various seats in the Central province, including the regional seat. Although it was a PNG Party rally, all other candidates were given their opportunity to also talk to the crowd where Mr. Guina took the opportunity to address the people.

The body of the late Member for Sumkar in Madang province, Chris Nangoi, is expected to be flown into Port Moresby this week so to lay in state at the Grand Hall in Parliament for fellow members of parliament to pay their final respects. According to the United Labour Party (ULP) Treasurer Mr. Rueben Giusu, the Clerk of Parliament is in liaison with the party, the office of the member, and the family of the late member to make the arrangements at a time when the 2022 National General Election is already on. “We are hoping that the body of the late member for Sumkar is brought in the earliest on Tuesday to lay in state and be flown back to Madang either on Thursday or Friday.” He added that the confirmation is expected to be made known by tomorrow by the Clerk of Parliament. The late member of Sumkar passed away on Thursday 9th June at the Modilon General Hospital in Madang, following a short illness. The late member is the second ULP member that has passed away after the Party Leader and Member for Bulolo late Sam Basil, passed away a month ago in a road accident in Morobe Province.

The Papua New Guinea Defense Force (PNGDF) maritime element boosted its operational capabilities with a new vessel commissioned today; however, it will not be used for any duties yet. Commander of Defense Force (CDF) Major General Mark Goina said the new Landing craft- HMPNGS Cape Gloucester, will not be deployed for security and logistical operations during the 2022 National General Election. “For the landing craft, because this one’s just commissioned, we’ll put her on reserve,” said the CDF. He said the other vessels in the fleet will be used including the other landing craft the HMPNGS Lakekamu. “Lakekamu will be used mainly within the Milne Bay waters and to Morobe and up to East and West New Britain.” However, Goina said if there is need to deploy Cape Gloucester, the defence force will do so. He added that the Guardian Class patrol boats will be on duty as well supporting the election security and logistical effort. Meanwhile, the new vessel was commissioned as HMPNGS Cape Gloucester to mark the significant battle during the Second World War that played at big part in turning the tide of the war in the pacific. Cape Gloucester was one of the major battle grounds in the pacific campaign that saw the allied forces comprising of United Stated Marines of the First Division, Navy, Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force and Army landed and engaged the Japanese force during Operation Benchmark to capture an airfield, before moving on to the Admiralty Islands, which is now Manus. The new vessel was purchased from the Australian Defence Force by the PNG government and was delivered on the 13th of May this year. It holds up to 16 crew including the captain and has a greater loading and troop capacity than the current landing craft.

Members of Nambawan Super Limited (NSL) stand to benefit from an investment made by the superfund, that was officially opened to the public today in Port Moresby city. That investment is the Rangeview Plaza, a new shopping complex built through a public private partnership between NSL, National Capital District Commission (NCDC) and Lamana Development Limited and built at a cost of K300million. NSL Chairman Mr. Reginald Renagi said that the superfund is are the majority shareholder with 56.72% ownership of the project. “With Nambawan Super as the majority shareholder, the project is also expected to generate long term returns for Nambawan Super’s over 214, 000 members nationwide. “Rangeview is proudly PNG- owned and aims to be an industry leading enterprise that benefits everyday hard-working Papua New Guineans through providing high quality goods and services, supporting state led development and growing the retirement savings of Nambawan Super,” said the chairman. Meanwhile, the ownership of the new plaza is split between NCDC with 12.76%, Lamana Development with 30.52% and NSL with the 56.72%. NCD Governor Powes Parkop said this project initiative has also created employment for many people during the construction phase and now when it all completed. Parkop also explained that this partnership was part of the city’s plans to promote investments that would go towards the goal of lifting the image and reputation of Port Moresby to a main hub for business, investments, and entertainment in the Asia- Pacific region. NCD City Manager Mr. Ravu Frank also echoed this statement by the governor by saying that there are more projects in line that NCDC would partner with private organizations to deliver that would improve the image of the city and boost business and investments. Meanwhile, the Rangeview precinct features the commercial plaza, and a residential complex called the Rangeview Estate, which is located just next to the plaza itself.

Prime Minister (PM) James Marape has honored the request for the Deputy Prime Ministers seat to be retained in the Morobe province, when he appointed the Member for Lae John Roso the position, follow the recent tragic passing of the former Deputy Prime Minister and Member for Bulolo, Sam Basil.   Speaking this afternoon after his official swearing into the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Roso said the request was put forth by the Morobe Governor Ginson Saonu in honor and as a mark respect of the late member for Bulolo who died in a tragic road accident in the province.   "He asked for the seat to be retained in Morobe and the prime minister in his wisdom after consulting various leaders, ensured that the seat of the deputy prime minister fell on my shoulders, so I would like to say a big thank you to the coalition members,” said Roso. "We will try to do our best to ensure the country runs smoothly until the next government is formed after the election.”   Meanwhile, Prime Minister James Marape said even though the election is on, the office of the deputy must not be vacant, hence the appointment of Mr. Roso. He further stated that from this time on there will be no major decisions made from the office of the deputy, instead Roso will be just doing oversight of things.   The PM then congratulated Mr. Roso on his appointment and congratulated the Member for Magarima Mr. Manasseh Makiba who was also sworn in this afternoon as Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.   Both Roso and Makiba were sworn in this afternoon by the Acting Governor General, Chief Justice Gibbs Salika, at the Government House in Port Moresby.     

An independent candidate contesting the National Capital District (NCD) Regional seat is focused on prioritizing on improving people’s lives as his policy through a proper city planning mechanism that would lead to improved services. The candidate, Mr. Ben Dangima who could be a hot favorite in this election, said what the city of Port Moresby needs is a leader who would focus on the bottom-up approach to development, and that means sorting out the issues and needs of the people in the city through better planning. This is one thing he intends to bring in and make it work if he gets elected as governor in this 2022 National General Election. “Our policy is a bottom-up policy, and our slogan is hope for the hopeless,” said Mr. Dangima. He said the city has seen a lot of settlement issues, law and order issues and people just wanting to make a living but are unable to do so because of the challenges brought about by some laws and regulations that don’t favor citizens. He added that his focus is to help the little people, the ones living in settlements, the homeless people, and the struggling small business owners and those wanting to get into small businesses. “That’s why we want to have a proper town planning system in place,” he said. That’s because to really address this, he said proper urban planning is key to it and proposes to make the necessary changes to have an effective and robust planning system in place that would improve health care, proper water and sanitation into the settlements, proper education systems to help those who did not make it in school and better strategies to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). He further stated that with proper planning a lot of things will fall into place, the welfare of the people will be better addressed, that will then lead to better law and order situation in the city and SMEs to prosper and generate revenue and employment for the people in the city. Meanwhile, Mr. Dangima went for his nomination at the Sir John Guise stadium yesterday (Thursday 19th May) at around 4pm along with a big group of his supporters in a convey of hired trucks and public transport buses that made their way to the venue.

The Magpies have return to the Colts Oval with fresh new faces after two years outside of the premier Port Moresby Australian Football League (AFL) competition and just last weekend saw the football club from Gerehu had their first match of 2022 Moni Plus AFL season during the opener. According to the club’s Founder Mr. Bruce Sovara, the team had to cancel its participation in the competition when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020. There were a lot of disturbances brought about by the measures and restrictions put in place during that period of time that saw the club unable to get back into the competition. Nevertheless, after a long break from the competition the club is back with new players replacing the older ones that have stepped out of the sport or moved on to other clubs. “We had to start all over again. Most of the players are new and come from all over Gerehu from stage one to stage seven who have come forward after we put out a notice to any interested boys who want to play with the club,” said Mr. Sovara. Mr. Sovara himself is a legend in the game and he aims to shape up the boys to be a formidable team in the city competition. He is a Papua New Guinea (PNG) representative himself having played with the Mosquitoes men’s national team for the 2002, 2008 and 2011 International Cups and has a lot of experience and skills that he can pass on to the young guns. Meanwhile, the club for the time being has put in a team for the men’s A- reserve grade and the focus now is to put together a women’s team as well. A notice for interested girls to be part of the club has already gone out and the club is expecting some good response.

Port Moresby candidate Michael Kandiu has signed his nomination this afternoon marking the start of his campaign to run for the NCD Regional seat . Kandiu and his supporters turned up this afternoon at the Sir John Guise stadium to sign the nomination for along with the Returning Officer. After nomination, he said he just want to see this election run fairly and has made some recommendations to the PNGEC earlier to ensure a safe, free and fair election. This is Mr. Kandiu's third time to run for the NCD regional seat. He contested in 2012 and 2017 elections where he came in the top five. Mr. Kandiu is confident in coming home this election.