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The 2007 elections for the Kiriwina-Goodenough seat had at least a couple of candidates
blatantly raising false hopes for the voters that once voted in, they would fight tooth and
nail, and open up ducts towards millions of kina. And that the monies would be brought
back to the people for their own unconditional ‘consumption’ and endless feasting!
Candidates often failed to explain to voters that government funding is ever so limited,
must be properly appropriated, and accounted for. Usually excitement overcomes any
rationale thought thereby leaving behind little room for reason. Being so deeply
enmeshed and consequently uncritical of the convoluted term ‘politics’, candidates were
clearly behaving irresponsibly by deluding the voters.
This leads me to the other curiously interesting and yet related observation on the final
outcome of 2007 elections in the Milne Bay province. This is almost unique to Milne Bay
as the phenomenon perpetually repeats itself. Of the five elected members, one was a
naturalized citizen, three others were of mixed blood European and PNG, and one a
mixed blood of Milne Bay and PNG highlands (but see Anere 2002). 9 From the outset, it
would seem as if no full-blooded Milne Bay was fit enough to contest and/or there was a
conspiracy to outsmart the autochthones. This is neither a slight nor, a prejudice against
the eventual winners or all half/quarter-blooded Milne Bays. However, it is an
observation that is worthy of notice.
Milne Bay province has an unenviable history of voting in either naturalized citizens or,
half/quarter-blooded Milne Bays to run its political affairs. Naturalized citizens and halfblooded
Milne Bays have been generally and economically better positioned candidates
compared to the average full-blooded Milne Bay. Naturalized citizens have been of late,
super businessmen in the province. The previous Governor and a few others more were
such, and so as the present one. 10
The other half-blooded Milne Bay members of parliament have been all business people
except for the Kiriwina-Goodenough member elect. He was a former branch manager of
Air Niugini, even then there was speculation during the elections that he was part of a
covertly-engineered network of individuals with a zealous eye on marine business
interests in the province. Two naturalized citizens have been alleged to be engineers of
such a scheme. Three other locals, and two of whom, are close blood relatives of the
winning candidate, were said to be scheming to get into the Local Level Government
council elections in order to further consolidate this business network.
The point is naturalized citizens and half-blooded Milne Bay candidates are usually better
placed to facilitate ‘handouts’ in order to win votes from the poverty-stricken local Milne
Bays (see Anere’s Tables 6.4 & 6.5, 2002: 91). Taking nothing away from the piecemeal
generosity these individuals provide to the locals however, the ‘handout’ mentality
prevails come election time. Many of such well to do candidates perpetuate these
electioneering tendencies including urban-based, albeit full-blooded Milne Bays that had
business interests and excessive party endowment.
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