Author Archives: Academia Nomad

By Alan Bird, Governor of East Sepik Province Is it possible to bribe the voters? I see some smart commentators talking about transport, food and drink being provided by candidates at rallies saying it’s wrong and constitutes bribery. First of all, I don’t believe our voters are stupid. Certainly not in Sepik. Sepik voters areContinue reading “Does paying for campaign rallies amount to bribery?”

PANGU save lo rot, or PANGU knows the way, is a motto made popular by the late Sam Basil. It’s a reference to PANGU Pati, led by the late Michael Somare, that attained independence for Papua New Guinea in 1975. In 2014, Sam Basil moved to PANGU Pati, which didn’t have any MP in parliament,Continue reading “Don’t compare Michael Somare’s PANGU with James Marape’s PANGU”

Of the 983 PNG MPs elected since the first post-independence election in 1977, only 7 were female MPs. You’d hear voters say: female candidates should have good leadership qualities, have good policies, or they should be elected on merit. These are all good expectations. But here’s the problem: We’ve used these criteria for 47 years.Continue reading “Case for female candidates: PNG Election 2022”

When addressing a crowd of Pangu Pati supporters on 27 May 2022 in Morobe Province, James Marape challenged People’s National Congress (PNC) leader and former PM Peter O’Neill, and his supporters to show to the country what they have done for Lae and Papua New Guinea during eight years in office from 2011-2019. Marape invitedContinue reading “Don’t be fooled: O’Neill & Marape are brothers”

Many young people are contesting the PNG 2022 national election. Some have graduated a few months ago with their university degrees, whilst others have been working for just a few years. Young people in PNG have been politically active since independence. The likes of former Prime Minister Pias Wingti left his studies at the UniversityContinue reading “Do young people who contest PNG elections understand politics?”