PAPUA New Guinea is at a cross road, a candidate for Angoram Open in East Sepik says.
Independent candidate Cyril Gare told people after his nomination at the Angoram station that despite 10 national elections and 10 parliaments, our performance as a nation remained mediocre with a bleak future
“Unless we change the way we do things in this 11th national general election, the future of the next generation – which we are responsible for – could be lost forever.”
Mr Gare said during a public address after his official nomination in Angoram on Thursday when nomination opened after a double delay.
He said PNG like a helpless pig suffocating under the wraps of a predator snake struggling to break free but could not.
He urged the six million voters in the NGE 2022 to “find the snake by its forehead and kill it with the last silver bullet or we are gone forever.
“There is no room for compromise and no other options except to kill the predator by its head now or never,” he said.
Mr Gare provided three hints to assist voters identify the “snake” in the guise of candidates and political parties.
He said people should ask candidates and political parties where they have obtained their money for the elections. If it is an independent candidate, where did he or she get the money to contest in this election? If it is an endorsed candidate, does his or her party have businesses? And if not, where did the political party get the money from to fund this election? He said the law allows electors to know where candidates and political parties got funding for elections in the spirit of transparency and accountability.
Mr Gare said dirty money and multi-national companies have always been silently involved in funding elections in PNG from which the “curse” begins at the very beginning of the electoral process and continued through to the formation of governments. These governments then return favours consequently compromising at the whims of those who sponsor them.
Mr Gare said cursed and corrupt money in elections have been the cause of all PNG’s miseries to date and unless electors were equipped to identify the “snake” in the very beginning, the serpent will always crawl back into the peoples’ house to lay eggs and replenish.
“No wonder the development expenditure over 45 years is in billions of kina but physical quality of life (PQL) on the other hand is sky diving and continue to dwindle,” he said.
“This election is special as it marks the end of one generation and beginning of another. As fathers now, it is our duty to set the course for those we produce. Our children will curse us for our inaction today. It is now in this 11th election to lay the foundation or we will lose a generation forever.”