Concern about the lack of interest in strengthening political parties in Papua New Guinea

The Registrar of Political Parties Dr Alphonse Gelu is concern about the lack of commitment and seriousness in developing and strengthening political parties in the country. Since taking office in September 2012 he has noted that there is clearly a lack of commitment from party officials and MPs to strengthen political parties in the country.
Despite the fact that political parties emerged before independence and was part of the rise to statehood, there is no positive sign that would show that parties are part and parcel of the development of democracy in the country. Parties instead of being institutionalised into the mainstream of politics in the country have been totally negated by the leaders. They are only used during the elections and formation of governments and then are left out cold before the next election. This practice has been counterproductive to the growth of parties and as a result as led to problems such as political instability in the country and most importantly has contributed to nurturing a style of leadership that has no vision and commitment to improving the overall well-being of its citizens. There were some positive signs from people like Sir Michael Somare who publically mentioned the importance of parties in the country and what it can contribute to the development of the country. Other leaders have not made their stand known on how they see parties in the country and what they can contribute.
Do political parties matter in PNG? Definitely parties do matter in PNG. PNG is a highly heterogeneous society which means that there are many differences that we can identify in the country. Differences based on culture and custom, ethnicity, religion, etc., may be factors that gives rise to the emergence of parties that can represent the social cleavages in the country. At the same time having political parties serves that aspiration of forming a government based on groupings rather than on any other basis. These groupings thus enable the people to know who would lead them and which policies and ideas would be pursued by these groupings. In this case it makes more sense to allow parties which clear policies to govern rather than some groups that the people just don’t know what they are up to. This is an advantage of having parties in a polity therefore making parties to be more relevant to our current political settings.
Leaders must start aligning themselves to their parties and must also make contributions to the strengthening of the political parties. With the current trend in PNG politics, political parties can only be strengthened if the MPs and the Parliamentary Leaders are committed to the affairs of the parties. There is no other ways to strengthen parties in the country. Membership can also be another means to strengthening parties but at this stage, parties have not been able to clearly define their membership base so it is still a long way away for parties to rely on their membership. Dr Gelu is therefore making a strong call to the MPs and the Parliamentary Leaders to take time and attend to the affairs of their parties.
As a result of this attitude, the Registry has instituted various measures to try and strengthen political parties in the country starting with the revision of the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates. The roll out of the Learning and Development Plan for party officials is another important initiative. In this program, parties are taught to develop their party structures, develop their membership base as well as develop relevant policies that would attract votes. These changes would take time for parties to absorb but the Registry has been on the toes of party officials reminding them that it is important for them to take on board new ideas and practices that would make them to become effective political organisations. The Registry is doing what it can but it also requires support from the MPs to really strengthen the parties in the country.

Splits in Political Parties in Papua New Guinea

By Dr Alphonse Gelu
Looking at the development of political parties in Papua New Guinea since the late 1960s, splits or division within a party has been the major cause of party decline in the country. One party that was greatly affected by this experience has been Pangu Pati, one of the oldest political parties apart from the United Party. The Peoples Progress Party (PPP) and the Kantri Party have also faced this situation in the past. Pangu first experienced a division within its ranks after the 1982 national elections which led to the formation of the League for National Advancement (LNA). Later in the 1980s, another split occurred which led to the formation of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM). The final split to Pangu occurred in the 1990s, when the National Alliance (NA) was established and headed by the former founder of Pangu Pati, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare. The split from Pangu by Sir Michael contributed to the massive decline of Pangu Pati thus affecting greatly its dominance in the elections since 2002. Since 2002, Pangu has not been able to get itself off the ground which saw its dismal performance in both the 2007 and 2012 national elections. The 2012 election result was the lowest in the history of Pangu Pati when it won only one seat Angoram Open. To make matters worse for the party, it lost the seat when its only elected MP passed away while in Office.
The Registry since its establishment back in 2001 has been following the situation faced by Pangu Pati with interest mainly due to its prominence as a party back in pre-independence era and after independence. But despite the loss of a MP by Pangu Pati back in 2013, there was light at the end of the tunnel for the party through the efforts of its General Secretary Morris Toveabe. Morris did not allow the situations faced by Pangu to affect its standing as a registered political party. He was and is one of the outstanding party executive who is always around during the Learning and Development Workshops since 2013. He is one of the few executives who had attended all the workshops and his contributions to the workshops have always been well appreciated by the Registrar and Registry as a whole. Morris is an example of a party official who never gives up despite the dilemmas faced by the party.
Morris through his commitment and performance as a party official is an example of someone who holds the interest of his party at heart and would not stop at anything to pursue the interest of his party. His exemplary commitment led to his party getting a MP in mid-2014 through Hon Sam Basil MP for Bulolo who has joined the party and has taken over the leadership of the party. Since joining Pangu and heading the party, Hon Sam Basil and Morris has worked well as a team. The Registry was impressed with the media campaign that Pangu has embarked on and especially the membership drive that Pangu has rolled out starting in the Morobe Province.
This short article is to show how a party who was once dominant in the politics of this country has suffered due to splits and divisions but is now trying to work its way back into the mainstream of politics in Papua New Guinea. Currently a number of parties have also faced some splits in its membership in Parliament but the Registry’s advice to the parties especially its party officials is not to give up but to follow the experiences of Pangu Pati and the commitment showed by its General Secretary Morris Toveabe to keep working to move the party forward.

Kumul Flyover

The flyover recently completed was opened on the 31st of May 2015. Originally known as Kukubara Fly over as named after the street it overlaps, it was renamed to Kumul Flyover to reflect a national project. The 2km stretch of road runs from the national parliament and national court turnoff along the John Guise drive in Waigani to Jacksons International Airport. The project cost K160 million plus.

Engagement in Vanuatu’s Political Reform

By Dr Alphonse Gelu
The Registrar Dr Alphonse Gelu was part of a team put together by the Commonwealth Secretariat based in London to facilitate a political dialogue for Vanuatu. The dialogue took place from February 24th to 26th 2015. The government of Vanuatu under the Prime Ministership of Hon Joe Natuman requested the Commonwealth Secretariat to assist in this process. The request to the Commonwealth was made by the Prime Minister to the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat Kamalesh Sharma in September 2014. The two day dialogue which took place in the Parliament chambers ended with a plan to further pursue political reforms in Vanuatu. A total of 48 Members of Parliament from both the government and the opposition attended the two days dialogue and were given enough time to ask questions and make comments on the issues raised. It was obvious that there is a strong desire amongst the political leaders to address political instability in Vanuatu. Since 1991, political instability has impacted Vanuatu’s economic growth and national development. The process of political reform, therefore, aims to deepen Vanuatu’s democracy and developing a better process for the Government to pursue development and to improve the lives of the people of Vanuatu. The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Speaker of Parliament in their addresses at the opening session all expressed their support for the dialogue process to assist with finding a solution to political instability through political reform. The Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader even sat togather during the 2 days session an indication of cooperation between the leaders in Vanuatu. The Commonwealth Secretariat consisted of Albert Mariner – Head of Political Affairs within the Secretariat and responsible for the Pacific and Caribbean, Steven Malby – Head of the Rule of Law Division, Ms Tiffany Chan – Political Affairs Division, Brian Lange – Commonwealth Secretariat based in Honiara Solomon Islands and two resource advisors, Professor Don Patterson from the Emalus Law Campus, University of South Pacific , Vanuatu Campus and Dr Alphonse Gelu – Registrar, Registry of Political Parties, Papua New Guinea. The Registrar opened the two day dialogue by presenting a detailed picture of how the political reforms were undertaken in Papua New Guinea and the reasons behind the reforms. The presentation by the Registrar set the benchmark to eventually lead to the final agreement by the Members of Parliament on the way forward for the country. A number of agreements that was part of the way forward for Vanuatu were adopted from the presentation by Dr Gelu and they included; 1. Party winning the majority of seats after an election will be invited by the President to form the government 2. Independent candidates to join political parties within 2 weeks after their declaration 3. Political parties to be registered 4. Grace period to be introduced to allow a government to deliver 5. Political parties and winning candidates to furnish election returns and annual financial returns by political parties 6. Political parties to be funded by the State Dr Gelu was pleased that the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC) influenced the thinking of the Leaders in Vanuatu resulting in the adoption of the above points. An extreme action taken by the leaders in Vanuatu is the idea that MPs who jump parties will automatically lose their seats in parliament. Dr Gelu explained that this was an idea that was floated in Papua New Guinea but then was abandoned due to strong opposition from the politicians. The idea to change the voting system was also discussed with the majority of the MPs supporting the proportional representation voting system. The Limited Preferential Voting system used in Papua New Guinea was also presented by Dr Gelu. Dr Gelu also mentioned that the Registry recently engaged researchers from the National Research Institute (NRI) to look into a voting system that supports political parties. This is part of the overall strategy that the Registry is taking in strengthening political parties rather than candidates. The study which is sponsored by the Registry should be completed at the end of March 2015. For Vanuatu, some of the proposed changes may proceed without any major changes to the Constitution, while others may require amendments to the Constitution and the rest will be included in a referendum. Dr Gelu believe that the use of a referendum is also a mechanism that Papua New Guinea should seriously look at because it is a process that allows the majority of the people to have a direct say into certain issues that would have greater impact on the lives of the people. The Registrar was happy to be part of the team which once again propelled the image and reputation of the Registry as a government agency that also shapes political reforms not only in the country but also in the region including the Solomon Islands and now Vanuatu.