Political parties in PNG lack and fail to promote ‘bread and butter’ policies as their platforms.
Registrar of Political Parties, Dr. Alphonse Gelu, says political parties fail to address everyday issues which he coined as ‘bread and butter issues.’
He said one of the major ‘bread and butter issues’ which are highlighted in elections overseas is the issue of tax.
“In Papua New Guinea I’m very, very surprised that despite this very big number of political parties, I think we have 35, none of them talk about taxes.
“Taxes do affect the lives of the people of this country everyday of their lives. Whenever we go to the shops, whenever we purchase our airline tickets, our pays or salaries that we get every fortnight is affected by this particular issue, and no one seems to be talking about it,” Gelu said.
He illustrated how a K400 salary could not sustain a family living in a city such as Port Moresby, which has been categorised as one of the most expensive places to live in.
"We should have a political party that should come out and say, you vote us in and we will look at the tax issue in Papua New Guinea. Okay, maybe making special reference to the income tax. Okay let’s break up into different categories, the people that earn this much, we tax them this much. The people who earn this, maybe there’ll be no taxes for them,” he said.
Gelu said ‘bread and butter’ issues extends to fuel prices and transport fees such as bus fares and other everyday costs.
However, he added the policies must be clearly articulated on how they will be achieved and not just general statements.