By Meleasie Goviro – EM TV News, Port Moresby
David Arore was sworn in today, at the Parliament House, as Member for Ijivitari.
After being ousted from his seat in 2012 through an election petition by John Warison on counts of bribery, Arore made a huge comeback in the by-elections last month.
Although he was looking forward to resuming his duties, Arore was not happy with the effect the election petition had on his people’s welfare while he was out of office.
Arore said he had been crippled by the election petition.
He was disappointed of the time wasted in the election petition process, leaving him with less than a year to deliver any significant services to his people.
“In reality it’s only about eight months because the accounts open in March and by December end of this year the accounts close. The accounts don’t open until March 2017 and that’s when you meet the next elections. So how much can one deliver in eight months?”
He said it saddened him that while the government was battling what now seems to have been a pointless election petition, his people were neglected throughout the drought.
Now that he has retained his seat, Arore swore he would push for stronger amendments to be made to the election petition procedure in the next parliament sitting.
He said it not only affected him but violated the rights and well-being of the Ijivitari people.
“It’s infringing on the common good; the majority’s right. The country respects individual rights so what about the majority’s rights? What about the rights of the candidate in court? What about rights of voters? Are they not individuals? Do they not have rights that their votes be questioned?”
Meanwhile, having run for the elections under the PNC Party, Arore pledged to stand by the O’Neill government till the 2017 National Elections, for being the only government who honored their commitments to the people of Oro, he stated.
