Comments

Hi Sam Thanks for another excellent piece. I’d be interested in a more specific comment on the Supreme Court’s ruling on the ‘failed’ local level government elections as this seems to set a fairly wide precedent. The judgement, while insisting on the equivalent of an “electorate by electorate” basis, indicates that the Electoral Commission’s power to fail an election is “indeed widespread and over-arching”. It then gives some examples “For instance, it would be reasonable to fail an election on the ground that a return of a candidate cannot be made for a LLG ward because the election has been totally subverted. Similarly, it would be reasonable to fail an election if it is impossible to make a declaration or return because a substantial number of ballot papers for a particular ward cannot be found or despite reasonable steps taken to find those missing ballot papers, such that a full and proper scrutiny of the votes for the ward in question is impossible. Another example is in a situation where there is widespread violence in a council ward or in a large number of wards which prevents an overwhelming majority of voters from voting for their Councillors or Council Presidents respectively.” With potentially 50% of voters not being able to cast a ballot, could that be interpreted as an election being ‘subverted’, especially if there was a political pattern of shortages of ballot papers in certain areas. There would some tools to analyse the degree of “subversion” between the number of ballot papers distributed in certain LLGs or Wards relative to the number distributed in 2012, or the numbers of ballot papers distributed relative to the electoral rolls or the 2011 population census. And possibly a “missing” ballot paper could be considered sufficiently similar to a “non-delivered” ballot paper in a subsequent court judgement – or equivalent to violence preventing voting. Hope the 2017 experience doesn’t harm too greatly PNG’s democratic principles which have been broadly up-held, in its own unique ways, since Independence. Cheers Paul Flanagan

Bob, I agree that some of the initiatives from the iXc sound really positive and are looking at important questions, even though I am a bit skeptical of whether something like this could really influence the wider risk-averse DFAT culture particularly in a time of a constrained aid budget. But after several years now, we really aren't hearing anything much about outcomes, or pilots, or anything tangible from iXc (to do with aid and development in particular... e-passports are not a development initiative). It was part of the same aid policy announcement where the Foreign Minister decreed she would be tough on aid performance, and that if programs weren't working they would be axed, so there's a bit of an irony in how little is being said in terms of tangible outcomes from this. I don't agree with that way of thinking on aid performance (and it hasn't really happened anyway thankfully), and I'm certainly not saying that enough time has passed to really judge iXc as obviously there was set-up time etc etc, but it would be good if they actually communicated what they are doing - not just what they are thinking about doing. On the website there's a few blog entries about things but not much else that is clear about the translation from innovation and ideas to development on the ground. It would be good if it was a bigger resource for learning in this relatively new space i.e. public reporting and updates on how things are going, particularly noting the challenges. There's lots of ideas in development, the devil is in the detail and the implementation.

It is interesting that trust building is at the centre of this partnership arrangement. However, one of the important factor amongst others, is the issue of exercise of power in decision making. That is, different stakeholders will have different level of power to influence or participate in decision making process. For example, a donor agency or a national agency may have assumed leadership since former may be the sponsor and the latter has national mandate to lead. Consequently, how do other less powerful or minority stakeholders have their voice heard in a collaborative partnership.

Thanks Bal for the information paper on PNG election at the eve of polling Another important challenge that can be added to your paper is the increase in foul play/corruption during campaign, polling, votes counting and declaration of winners. As demonstrated in the past PNG election corruption has increased and many ended up in court, the big time winners are the layers while the courts have to be stressed out to handle the different election related cases. So only a small fraction, less than 3% of winning candidates are truly mandated by the LPV system in the 2012 election. The rest ended up in court, those have the resources do take up the legal battle in court do so meeting all the legal cost, while others just enjoyed being an MP because no one is able to dispute them in court. We anticipate to see more complex and ever increasing volume of corruption in this year’s election campaign, polling, votes counting and declaration. This is the cause for concern in this election, it is not about who will form the new government. The PNG judiciary is now preparing on how to handle increase volume of election related cases and this will mainly to do with election foul play/corruption. We have witnessed how the current ruling government used it political power to supressed any opposition to how it governed the economy/country and replaced/removed and closed down any institution or individual going against its decisions and actions right from political portfolio to bureaucratic head to police officers and even university students on the streets. Some of the decision are done outside established protocols and legal limit, even some institutions alleged to support the government than working as an independent entity serving the nation. These are serious issues. Therefore, the fear is that these level of draconian governance is likely to decide the outcome of election too and it’s inevitable as we see it during this year’s election planning, appointment of election officials, deployment of security and allocation of election funding,etc..etc. it’s not a secret anymore!

No doubt partnership agreements can add value, but just a plea for DFAT to be wary of the transactions costs involved for all partners in documenting additional separate partnership agreements - at a time of declining budgets and particularly when DFAT contracts with implementing agencies seem to have become more legalistic and onerous for many partners since 2013.

I see that Mobile is a channel nau were olgeta entertainment flows in n out. It is really ubiquitous n scarry n addictive. Is mobile a private gadget, with regulations from gov. ....but the way ahead really lies in how much money MNOs make, Banks, users, There are tons of things we don't do rite yet in PNG. Taim nupela rot I hop, olgeta man like train without knowing the bends, potholes that will be left unattended, na planting moa yet. Pipol mid to know how to make money using a mobile phone, rather than waste time watching movies, play games, etc. ....but again, it is a private gadget. So better MNOs stop all phones from accessing "PORN Sites". It is that isi but again MNOs love the revenue from Data Usage coz video n song download is cool money than text, or image in jpeg format. This ecosystem bids to be analysed b made public so we see which court the ball is in most times. How about that. Regards, Alf SMIP

Thanks for the discussion on electoral corruption. The term electoral corruption in PNG context comes in different forms and complexity including abusing formal election campaign process and procedure, abusing the electoral system itself, exploiting the security personnel, polling and counting officials during polling and votes counting period to serve one’s interest for political power or grip onto political power. It is actually incited by the sitting MPs and intending candidates so the electoral corruption actually started with this cohort of so call leaders and wana be leaders. The voters, security personnel, electoral and polling officials and the electoral systems itself fall victims to these practices. This is the order of business in PNG elections, if you are a politician or a candidate, you cannot deny going through these electoral corruption at one stage or another. In fact, everyone knew there is laws that governs the conduct of election campaign, polling and votes counting conduct to declare someone as an MP, but no fear, do what you can to get into power is the norms. Later you face the laws and find your way out through. However, how the winning candidate or MP facing the laws (if implicated) is another long journey and that can only be done if someone (a losing candidate) has the resources-money to meet all the legal bills and other expenses to bring a case to court, which in many cases worth more than how much he/she spends on election campaigns. Still in PNG, enforcing current electoral laws or introducing new laws will not deter the corruption in electoral politics. We need to understand the political economy of PNG relating to election and the PNG cultural/traditional practice of leadership.

Jo, this is super fascinating stuff. I think 'ideas-based networks' can be very powerful (in certain contexts) for the setting of aid and policy priorities. My Doctoral research (completed 2014) explored the role of 'epistemic communities' in the construction of policy choice in Pacific island countries. My research found that policy entrepreneurs within key institutions were key to setting the terms of debate about appropriate policy, particularly when those individuals generated a new body of knowledge (through publication), and worked with others as part of a transnational network (thus participating in a normatively powerful 'epistemic community'). Perhaps we can share our ideas 'off-line'. Wes

Thanks Bal, a balanced and eloquent account. Looking forward to the second installment.

Thanks Sergio - our experience is that failing to pay attention to the processes and relationships often causes under-performance in the first place, and can be very time consuming and costly to heal once things have 'broken'. At the same time, partnerships are not an end in themselves, so it is about the balance between delivery/processes/relationships.

Henry, I commend you for your very thoughtful and real questions to the IOM's Director General on real issues and challenges pertaining to the migration and development linkages in our region. I come from PNG and had just completed my thesis at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales on Migration and development in PNG. In my research that also discovered the issues and challenges to the regional seasonal labour migration initiatives by Australia - APSWP and New Zealand's - RSP; are both great initiatives however they still central coordination and planning by Pacific Island countries as much by the host countries given policy shifts and human rights issues of the seasonal labour migrants. I am hopeful the right policies are developed to tackle institutional and capacity issues.

Terry, so far you haven't found the explanation. I whether you could explain Australia's policy in relation to international aid. Is it ignorance? greed? laziness? fear? Enlightened self-interest would entail a more generous policy, so from any perspective it seems difficult to understand.