BY KELA KAPKORA SIL BOLKIN
MY FAMILY AND I departed Port Moresby for Simbu on 4 January 2012 to take our recreational leave.
Kundiawa town was dull and tired under the shadows of Monguma, Tokma, Porol, Dee Pek, Gor and the bulky landscape that surrounds it.
But many men in dirty coats and jeans were seen congregating in lanes and on street corners talking.
I think I know what these men were discussing in their small gatherings. Politics!
Women and children ran in and out of shops to buy goodies like salt, oil and soap. My family and I bought some goodies as well for our village and jumped on a PMV to get home before the usual afternoon showers came.
Upon hearing of our arrival, our tribesman and family members converged at my village home. In the evening, and for the next six weeks we talked about the pandanus kernel season, villages rugby league matches, deaths and burials, bride prices, maternal or fraternal payments (head pay), sanguma, the 2012 national election and many other hot and interesting issues probably are trivial to an outsider.
The 2012 national election discussions were paradoxically tiresome and interesting.
They took us well into the early hours of the morning every time we touched on the subject. Every Galkope I met announced the name of the candidate to whom he or she will give the first preference vote, or even votes two and three.
Then they went on to tell me why the candidate is good leader. The candidate bought them and others boxes of grog, paid school fees, slaughtered pigs during funerals, gave free rides to town, paid bride prices for all his wives, etcetera.
The Galkope tribesmen invited me to campaign houses built for the candidates they supported. I visited a few in the evenings to see what they do at night. To my surprise, these campaign houses were packed to capacity.
Eighty to ninety people frequent these campaign houses each night. All they do is gamble, chew betel nut, watch videos, freely charge mobile phones, have free dinners and occasional sex at the back.
People also congregate and talk politics at the market places and even after Sunday church service.
Once in a while some henchman of the candidate will announce that the candidate is in Australia and will return soon to see them all, when in fact he is in Port Moresby or Lae.
Almost everyone in the Galkope knows who will vote for which candidate. The candidates also know who in the Galkope will vote for them as well as those who will not.
It is no longer a secret - and so frustration and pressure are building in the candidates and, before long, the lid will burst and they will run for the caves and foreign lands again.
I realise that the Galkope seem to forget the immediate past. Such open ballots in previous elections brought fire and brimstone during the post election and people have experienced losing homes, loved ones, property and coffee gardens, but they refuse to accept the PNG constitution, which calls for secret ballots.
The 2012 intending candidates have got it wrong as well. They started campaigning and erected campaign houses three or four years ago. They have handed out cash and free goodies each time they went home and, in so doing, gave bud to a neo-cargo cult.
The people refuse to go to the gardens with their spades anymore. All they want to do is come to the feast, dine and be merry in the campaign houses in the nights and sleep during the day.
Henchman, supporters and even church workers that I talked to did not mention anything about candidates’ character, civic virtue, good governance, party policies, honesty and trustworthiness, educational background, experience or commitment to development.
I conclude that the contemporary Galkope culture will not vote on good character, civic virtue, party policies or qualifications and experience in the coming election.
All the Galkope ask for is enough moneys and bags of goodies. Furthermore, they regard the source of the money that the candidates spew around as a triviality.
Recent Comments