Inquiry into PNG's National Election will be Independent : Bird

Papua New Guinea's East Sepik Governor Allan Bird has assured the citizens that the outcome of the inquiry into the 2022 National Election by the Special Parliamentary Committee will be independent.

 Governor Bird admits a lot of things in this country have gone wrong including the National Elections.

He, however, says most of the issues facing the country at present are the result of many years of corruption, mismanagement, nepotism, and ignorance.

Inquiry into  PNG's National Election will be Independent : Bird 

And he urged citizens to at least trust a few leaders who put their hands up now to help in fixing some of the issues and election flaws are one of them.

 Bird said these when NBC News questioned the independence of the inquiry as the committee is made up of politicians.

"There are  many things in this country have gone wrong, and people have lost trust and confidence in leaders, he told NBC News. 

But he adds, there are few leaders who stood out amongst the crowd and hope to get some things right and election flaws are one of them.

Straight after the 2022 national election, Governor Bird in Parliament called for a committee to be established to assess the conduct of the national election as there was widespread violence and killings in all parts of the country after the election.

Parliament in its first session after the  2022 national election has established a Special Parliamentary Committee, a first of its kind to assess the conduct of the elections. 

The Governor is now the Chairman of the  Special Parliamentary Committee on National Election, whose task is to inquire into the conduct of the 2022 national election. 

Meantime the Committee is conducting its first inquiry this week at the Parliament's State Function room into the conduct of the 2022 national election.

When NBC News further asked about election reports and recommendations compiled by other institutions such as National Research Institute (NRI), Transparency International PNG (TIPNG), and other international observers, Bird said findings from this inquiry will be compiled and relevant parties mentioned above will sight the report before it goes to Parliament. 

The Chairman of the Committee Allan Bird said he hopes to see the report of that inquiry be tabled in Parliament soon. 

NBC News / PNG Today

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