People who voted in Morobe’s Huon Gulf District in 2017 were shocked to find out that they were not on the electoral roll this year.
A voter from Ward 19 of Wampar Rural, Waku Morgan, was concerned that most of her people’s names were not on the roll despite giving their information to census officials early this year.
A census was supposedly conducted early this year, where people were recruited on a short-term basis to go into wards and take note of the details of the population there.
28-year-old Morgan was keen on being part of the census team in her village of Zifasing, as she was one of the few locals who had completed Grade 12.
She had voted in 2012 and 2017.
She described the 2022 national general elections as the worst for Zifasing.
“Ol no mekim gut disla wok sensas bikos nogat planti man vout lo nau,” she stated. (They failed to properly conduct the census, that’s why a lot of people have not voted.)
“Last taim, neim blo bifo, 2012, ok nau ol wok lo stat lo kisim ol neim ken ya, em sampla ol nogat ken lo displa hap. (Some had their names on the roll in 2012, then when they recorded our names again, some missed out.)
“Sampla ol niupla ol go insait, sampla olpla ken em ol nogat. (New names were recorded while previous eligible voters missed out.)
“Mipla sampla bin gim neim ya, mipla olgeta tu em mipla nogat. (Some of us gave our names but we missed out as well.)
Morgan said they were advised that Grade 12 school leavers would be recruited to help with the census early this year.
She and her peers gave their names along with their Grade 12 certificates, only to see that wantoks of those who were in charge were hired.
“Taim ol mekim disla wok sensas ya, ol karim go lo maket. Ol putim teibol lo maket, ol openim ol buk tasol na ol tok, yupla kam chekim neim blo yupla. Neim blo yupla stap o nogat?” (When they conducted the census, they took a table and just set it up at the market and told everyone to come check their names.)
Morgan said an argument started soon after when locals pointed out that not everyone comes to the market; most are at home, in the bush or in their gardens.
She said most of those whose names are on the roll are settlers while a majority of the indigenous landowners have missed out.
She hopes the next census would involve indigenous landowners as they are familiar with each household in the village.
(Eligible voters of Ward 19, Wampar Rural LLG, Huon Gulf district, in Morobe Province)