SORCERY & ELECTIONS IN PNG

 

Extracted from an AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY REPORT

SORCERY is something educated Papua New Guineans do not want to believe in, but election time forces them to confront their beliefs.

Elections are when sorcery comes alive and when sorcerers become rich, says an observer in the 2017 national election.

“Elections are a good time for sorcerers. They use the campaign period to openly market their powers to candidates and if successful, the sorcerer is put on the candidate’s payroll.”
The observer in the Australian National University observer team in the 2017 national election in East Sepik noted: “This is 2017, and yet people still turn to sorcery when in need of an explanation or an outcome.
“Candidates who thought they could win without sorcery came face to face with it in this election. At times they were forced to succumb to their supporters’ wishes. Take for example the case of one highly educated candidate for Angoram Open. His supporters claimed that someone had worked magic, meaning he was not collecting the votes he expected.

“His supporters urged him to pay K20,000 to a sorcerer and have him look into the situation. The candidate said there was no need for that, but the supporters were unconvinced and went ahead and paid the sorcerer a visit. Soon thereafter the candidate left for POM (Port Moresby).”

As in the Sepik, observers in Morobe and Madang provinces also reported heightened witchcraft and sorcery-related activity during the 2017 election campaign.

ANU said in its just-released report on the election that observers in Madang, for instance, reported consistent rumours that a leading candidate for the Madang Regional seat had used sorcery in past elections and was doing so again in 2017.

Observers in Madang Open also encountered reports that the incumbent had engaged a powerful sorcerer and had threatened to invoke the forces of nature to swallow up and bury opposing candidate Bryan Kramer should he win.

As in Nuku Open, observers reported sorcery-related retributive violence in Madang Open and Rai Coast Open, where a man accused of sorcery was killed during the campaign period and another on polling day.
In Morobe Province, observers did not encounter sorcery-related violence per se, but did encounter consistent rumours that magic was at play in the election. Observers in Bulolo Open, for instance, reported the launch of a “sorcerers co-operative” during the campaign and claims that the ballot papers were being moved by magic in the counting room. Similar accounts of disappearing ballot papers were also encountered in Nawae Open and Menyama Open.

In Menyamya, observers reported concerns about heightened sorcery- and witchcraft-related activity during the election, including a disturbance at one polling station when an elderly man invoked the dead spirits to come and vote. There were claims too, that a suspected sorcerer seen to kill a village chicken and a snake within the district administration area, was threatened with bush knives and was forced to leave the place under police escort.

Observers reported the removal from the counting room of a scrutineer alleged to possess supernatural powers after he was accused of tampering with the ballot papers, and separately the removal of a reserve police officer believed to be possessed by witchcraft. He was escorted out of the counting centre and sent back to his own village under heavy police escort.

In the Highlands where much overt violence was witnessed, there were fewer reports concerning the use of magic or sorcery in relation to the election.

For the most part, observers in Southern Highlands and Hela provinces, and in Dei Open electorate noted neither discussion about sorcery and witchcraft nor sorcery-related violence, although one observer in Imbonggu Open reported that a candidate had been urging voters to vote wisely,
claiming that preferences could magically change once in the ballot box.
Observers in Goroka Open, Kandep Open, Wabag Open and Obura-Wonenara Open all reported that people were being warned to be careful and to protect themselves from sanguma (witches) when moving around at night and when visiting campaign houses, while observers from the Chimbu Provincial team and Obura-Wonenara Open teams reported that election officials had “banned sorcerers from involving themselves in the election”.

Observers from the Chimbu Provincial team also reported that several high-profile candidates had engaged the services of sorcerers from elsewhere in PNG to enhance their campaigns, while observers in Gumine Open reported that the sitting MP was reputed to have sought out those with sorcery powers and placed them on his payroll. They also reported that another candidate had focused his campaign on one particular part of the electorate said to have produced many powerful sorcerers and had pumped all his money into that area.
In Western Highlands and Goroka Open citizens expressed concern that votes had magically changed, alleged election-related sorcery killings and reported extreme retributive violence.

Observers in Hagen Open, for instance, reported that four women accused of poisoning an adolescent girl at a campaign event were tortured by fire, hot irons and bush knives and were eventually killed, while observers in Goroka Open reported that two women were killed and others tortured after a prominent candidate died early in the campaign period.

In Wabag Open, observers reported five separate incidents involving the torture of at least eight women accused of witchcraft, although as far as we can tell none of these incidents were explicitly election related.

In East New Britain, sorcery was again openly discussed, as it had been in 2012. One observer, for instance, reported “each candidate has a sorcerer to help him win” and that “a well-known and powerful sorcerer is working for a particular candidate”.

He went on to report that “the campaign manager for a rival candidate has warned the committee members to watch out for and protect themselves from that particular sorcerer”.

Observers reported that a supporter of a sitting MP was seen driving around in the MPs car with a “human skull … and a lady dressed completely in black”. A human skull was later found hanging on a tree outside the counting centre at Vunapope Hall. Pictures of the skull were posted on Facebook, fueling discussion that supernatural forces were at play in the 2017 election.
Elsewhere in NGI, claims regarding witchcraft and sorcery were also raised. In Talasea Open, observers encountered claims that a candidate was “changing people’s mindset so they would vote for him”, while one observer in Namatanai Open reported “money in great measure” moving people in the 2017 election and “black power” being deployed as the “top up for victory”.

Another observer in the same electorate witnessed the pre-poll training provided to presiding officers and polling officials, and overheard the officials discussing how dangerous the 2017 election was compared to earlier elections because all candidates were using sorcery to enhance their chances of success. Polling officials were warned during the training to keep alert.

Post-polling, one citizen surveyed insisted witchcraft was used to great effect in the 2017 election, being used to befuddle voters so they would mix up their preferences when voting.
Observers in Kavieng Open also reported that one campaign team was transporting an elderly man renowned for his magic around in a vehicle and having him perform spells to ensure voters maintain support for their party.

Concerns about sorcery and witchcraft were also evident to varying degrees in Southern region. Many of the purported sorcerers engaged elsewhere in the country were said to have hailed from Southern region.

That said, observers in Moresby Northeast and Moresby Northwest encountered no claims of sorcery and witchcraft activity in relation to the election, and the only mention of it in relation to the Moresby South campaign was a claim that the sitting MP had amassed his wealth through black magic and had engaged a sorcerer to assist with his campaign. It was subsequently claimed that this sorcerer had also magically changed votes cast in favour of other candidates into votes for the incumbent.

By contrast, observers in Rigo Open noted much talk about witchcraft, particularly after the death of a man during the campaign period was attributed to witchcraft. People within the electorate claimed it was an election-related killing.
References to witchcraft and sorcery featured prominently in the election in Northern Province, throughout the campaign, polling and into the counting period.

Observers also reported hearing that Northern Province governor had engaged his own sorcerer by way of response at a cost of K20,000 and that he was also using locally-engaged experts.

During the campaign, supporters of a rival candidate publicly accused Governor Gary Juffa of soliciting the support of sorcerers and witches, while a member of the security forces informed observers he had witnessed Juffa emerging “from a witchcraft house in Kokoda before going to vote”. The decisiveness of Juffa’s win certainly generated much speculation with observers and citizens alike highlighting that no one had ever been elected as governor of Oro twice or with such a margin.

“Everyone in Menyamya was concerned that sorcery and witchcraft were being practised in the night during the counting period. The scrutineers of all 22 candidates and the security personnel were on high alert and kept watch through the night till day break. There were rumours going around that candidates might try to use small animals to get through the gate and into the police station where the ballot boxes were being kept in order to move the ballot papers around and thus influence the counting and election outcome. That is the reason why they kept watch at night and why the scrutineers, security personnel, PNGDF and CIS chased and killed any animals that came near to the restricted area around the police station.”

(Observer, Menyamya Open)

“I heard David Arore had a witch from Samarai who helped him win the last election.

Unfortunately she died in 2017 just before the polling. People are now saying he won’t win this time.

(Observer, Ijivitari Open)

 

“The faithful supporting Peter Wararu were moving around the electorate, praying and

worshipping together. They were following a statue of Mary, Our Lady of Fatima. They moved from one Christian community to the next in prayer and worship. Wararu’s supporters are saying the Lady of Fatima cannot be carried close to Richard Maru’s posters or campaign houses, noting how every time the statue is carried near a Maru banner or poster dogs bark.”

(Observers, Yangoru-Saussia Open)