East Sepik Governor and Special Parliamentary Committee Chair, Allan Bird in his remarks on the first day of the Elections Seminar pointed out that the findings put out in the Observation Report tabled by Transparency International, showed a tremendous deterioration of public trust in government agencies.
Bird expressed that all reports that were received all indicate that there is a lack of trust in the electoral process and a lack of trust in all government institutions.
“This decline of trust has actually occurred over a number of years and it’s not recent,” Bird stated.
He added that in many places around the country, there is a trend in which there is a lack of trust in many places, particularly the Electoral Commission, the Police, the Judicial System but most of all politicians.
The people who ought to depend on these structures don’t trust these structures. According to the Governor, when people don’t trust these structures, many see a constant breakdown in society to which he himself acknowledged.
He further stated that he believes there are many parliamentarians that are keen to see an improvement in the country’s electoral processes.
“If we can figure out how to gain the trust of our people, that’s the main goal here,” Bird added.
Bird acknowledged that the continual decline of trust goes back several decades and is unacceptable, but he is confident that there is no better time to address the issue than now.