LET's SUPPORT OUR ELECTORAL OFFICIALS

For two years I was an election committee member at the UPNG SRC ELECTIONS. PNGEC ran the elections with our supervision. At the so-called premier university of the Pacific we struggled to get the students-yes the so-called educated elites of PNG-to follow simple rules and processes that we had in place. It was a nightmare trying to control headstrong people who didn't want to follow the rules.

The students would insist on voting without iD documents which was mandatory, and supporters of rival candidates would stand so close to voters trying to sway them or intimidate them into voting for their SRC candidates. And I had to constantly ask them to move away ad if they were little kids who lost their way. There were many unruly groups who wanted to have their way with the elections and there was always potential for things getting violent.

Anyway I realized how much pressure electoral officers had to endure in a simple UNI SRC election. To run a national election would be an utter nightmare!

I told the electoral officers then that I take back every undue criticism I had made against them in respect of running national elections. If we struggled to reason with educated elites in a university, how on earth could they reason with uneducated villagers who want nothing but have their clansman/tribesman get into Parliament?!

And so I've come to appreciate how hard they work and I'm reluctant to condemn them when things go wrong.

Not only are these officials managing a process, they also have to manage people. And PNG people are not exactly the easiest people to manage. Things are bound to go wrong more than once in a country such as ours with a people such as ourselves.

The best we can do is manage those difficulties as best as we can, support the officials and be patient with them. They're under extreme pressure, they don't really need the extra burden we put on them with our constant criticism and complaints.

The electoral process is a difficult one. But it's an extremely important one. It's worth our time. It's worth our sweat and tired legs in long cues. It's worth skipping a few hours of work; maybe even a day or two. We won't do it again for another five years at the most.

Let's value this process and the people who have volunteered to manage it. They may not be adequately compensated for their efforts, and the least we can do is show them some support instead of beating them while they're probably already down.

God Bless ALL ELECTORAL OFFICIALS AROUND THE COUNTRY.

And GOD BLESS PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Ganjiki


Sent from R&G's iPhone