Polye: Kandep counting deliberate manipulation

The polling and counting in Kandep has been described as bias, deliberate manipulation, blatant corruption and clear unfairness.

Don Polye who lost the seat of Kandep to his main political rival Alfred Manasseh said in a statement that the current situation on the ground in the electorate and Wabag town was because of the stifling of the people’s rights and their collective votes.

He added that the issue was not about Manase versus Polye but about the denial of democratic rights through the gagging of “my peoples’ mouth by those who desired to cheat me out of retaining my seat”.

It’s about my people being forced to stand by and do nothing when their ballot boxes were hijacked at gunpoint!  Its about certain villagers being denied their right to cast their votes on the allocated day at their designated polling venues because the ballot boxes never arrived!  Mr Polye said.

“It’s about the deliberate destruction of only certain sound ballot boxes and good votes inside the counting room!  It’s about why the mobile phone networks in Wabag were both switched off during the most crucial time in the counting room!”

“It’s about who instigated the senseless killing of 2 policemen and 3 civilians in Wabag town and by whom! It’s about why there was confusion and conflicting instructions given by the Electoral Commissioner to the RO regarding the counting of certain ballot boxes!”

“It’s about why the Kandep Open boxes were not counted whilst the same boxes for the Enga Regional seat were counted! It’s also about why the Kandep election was not failed,” he added.

Mr Polye has described the execution of the whole election and declaration process as  unjust, and not neutral, it was definitely not impartial and was not democratic.

He said that the pointing of fingers by Commissioner of Police Gari Baki was shallow and unprofessional.

“I urge Commissioner Baki to properly and fully investigate the killing of the 2 policemen and 3 civilians and why; identify the weapon used and find out its source, identify who hijacked certain ballot boxes in Kandep and why; who destroyed sound ballot papers and clean boxes in the counting room and why; find out who turned off the mobile networks in Wabag during a critical point in the counting and why,” he added.

He added that all of these facts must be considered to understand the situation. Post Courier via Press Release