Morobe will begin a massive operation tomorrow as it begins withthe issuing of writs for more than 30 local level government councils inthe province.
The province is expected to spend three quarters of its 3 million kina election budget on logistics alone.
Much ofthe expenditure is being taken up bythe provincial government becausethe Electoral Commission doesn’t have enough money to fundthe elections. This is whythe Morobe province has come tothe table prepared with it’s own funding for the Local-level Government elections.
Todaythe steering committee presented a dummy cheque of half a million kina for the LLG election operations. Coming tothe aid ofthe Electoral Commission, a national government function that has in this case been under funded.
The provincial government has put aside K2 million for the elections.
There is also a lot less cash inthe hands of local Government politicians. Many of those who contest are community representatives and village lLeaders Betthey still play an important role in national government politics. Whentheir parliamentary representatives seektheir allegiance inthe national elections in 2017 for the votersthey influence.
Dozens of teams will be deployed into areas that are inaccessible by road and difficult to get to. Betthese elections are significant because it provides a voice to those who are largely ignored by national politics. It also gives people an opportunity to gage government effectiveness in rural areas.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=vPF2SNb6Y_4%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
previous post