Jiwaka and Western Highlands lead the way in MoA Signing
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
To secure a clean electoral roll, Jiwaka and the Western Highlands have officially become the first two provinces in Papua New Guinea to sign Memorandum of Agreement with the PNG Electoral Commission (PNGEC). The goal of this new partnership is to support and fix the electoral roll, so that the upcoming election is clean, transparent, and completely fair.
Electoral Commissioner Margaret Vagi explained that while past agreements with the provinces were just informal handshakes, this new document is a strict, legally binding contract.
“Electoral Commission always gets blamed by the public when the voter lists are messy or full of errors. With this agreement, we are shifting that responsibility back to the local communities. Outside officials will no longer control the data. Instead, local village leaders, ward recorders, and Ward Enrolment Committee (WEC) must physically check and sign off on every single name in their village, meaning local communities will truly own the electoral roll.”
While both provinces share the exact same goal under this contract, they are dealing with very different financial situations on the ground.
Provincial Administrator for Jiwaka, Rick Kogen announced that his province has set aside K300,000 entirely from their own local tax revenues to support Provincial Election Manager Ms Rosie Pandihau, thus Jiwaka's teams can legally start training and field operations next month. Mr. Kogen said the K300,000 offered it's not the limit to support the Jiwaka Provincial Electoral office. They will still provide support in other areas such as logistics, manpower, technical advice and additional programs that need assistance.
In contrast, Western Highlands Provincial Administrator Joseph Mangbil said his province is fully ready to help, but he issued a sharp warning about a lack of cash.
Mangbil criticized the national government for treating elections like a sudden emergency. He argued that even though everyone knows elections happen predictably every five years, the government waits until the last minute to scramble for funds instead of budgeting money annually. He warned that when there is a lack of money, transport cars break down, police security drops, and the election becomes highly unsafe. To fix this gap, Western Highlands leaders are currently asking local Members of Parliament (MPs) to chip in money from their district budgets to support the roll enrolment update.
Acting Electoral Commissioner, Mrs Margaret Vagi said, “The actual work to clean up and finalize these electors’ lists will roll out in three clear stages later this year. In July, local workers will be trained and will go house-to-house in the villages to collect correct names and take photos of voters. From October to November, a rough draft of the list will be sent back to the villages so everyday citizens can check it to make sure their names are not missing or spelled wrong. By December, the voter list will be locked for good. No more changes can be made, which allows the teams to stop dealing with paperwork and focus entirely on safety and planning for voting day.”
A major worry hanging over this whole project is a massive funding gap. The national government gave K50 million to the Electoral Commission, but money is mostly tied up in big-ticket items.
The Deputy Electoral Commissioner, Ms. Kila Vaname, praised the decisive action, thanking Mr. Kogen and Mr. Mangbil for signing the MoA to support and bridge the funding and logistical gaps.
Media Release by PNG Electoral Commission via Facebook
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