It was once said that getting elected to Parliament in Solomon Islands would soon be out of reach for ordinary Solomon Islanders.
That moment may not be far away. Indeed, as the results of the East Honiara by-election on September 23 showed, that moment has truly arrived.
And it did so with all its trappings. To the voters, policy intentions and or track records no longer matter. Nor was education a consideration. It was purely money.
Money, rather how much of it a voter could get prior to casting his or her vote, has become number one, the over-arching consideration. No money, no vote—pure and simple.
And the money take is widespread—from housewives and taxi drivers through to the white collar workers and church pews—the story is the same: No money, no vote.
Take for example the taxi driver I spoke to three weeks before the elections. He had a wife and a number of grown-up children. He was not aware I was a candidate.
“Who are you likely to vote for in the East Honiara by-election?” I popped the question.
“Me?,” he shot back.
“Yes,” I said.
“My family, that is me, my wife and our children, we are voting for someone who gives us money before the election. No money, no vote,” he said.
It’s a line that’s not confined to only taxi drivers. It’s a line that goes right through to church pews. Everyone wants something from a candidate before the election. It’s a bit like receiving an email informing you you have won a million dollars in a gold lotto and asking you to send some phenomenal amount of money before your win is posted to you.
How many others around the world received the same email?
In Solomon Islands, those with the dough and lots of it, thrive. And it seems, money power is now the new benchmark for winning election in Solomon Islands or at least in the country’s three urban seats. Money has taken over people power.
And because of it, genuine voters have been denied a free and fair election.
As the result has confirmed, money largely influenced the decision of thousands of East Honiara residents who flocked to the 37 polling stations on September 23 to cast their votes.
It won the election for Silas Milkada, a relatively unknown quantity until the Honiara by-election.
In winning the East Honiara by-election, Milkada, a logger or at least, had backing from the powerful logging lobby, becomes the first non-Malaitan to claim the seat.
He had never spelt out any policy intention during the three weeks he and others were on the campaign trail.
On August 31, he was campaigning at Burns Creek, a rough settlement of Malaitans outside Honiara. Malaitans in this settlement decided to settle there after they were forced out during the so-called ethnic tension.
Unlike other candidates who used the occasion to spell out their intention to represent East Honiara, he instead asked the people to raise questions with him.
“Our candidate is not going to say anything today. Instead, he will listen to you, your problems, your concerns. He wants to listen,” Francis Mete, a former top public servant, said in introducing Milkada.
Bewildered, some people turned to leave.
Milkada knew each whisper he received was worth money. He was well resourced to meet it.
According to reports filtering through from Milkada’s camp, he spent well in excess of SBD3 million in the three weeks of campaigning—that is a million dollars for each week.
Most of this money was spent during what is described as the “devil’s night”, that is the night before election day. The devil’s night is when literally tens of thousands of dollars flow freely in vote buying.
It’s when the devil sets foot, seizes control and calls the shots even in religious camps.
In my own camp, an emergency meeting was held on Monday night, September 22, to see whether I could buy the devil’s night. I rejected it outright.
“I did so for a number of reasons. Chief among them was that I did not have the resources, and secondly, the practices in the devil’s night are against everything I have ever stood and campaigned for.
“If I won, I want to win clean—pure and simple,” I told my campaign strategists.
Counting on September 23 revealed the extent of the power and influence of money on voters the night before.
Voters who had pledged their support with other candidates left in droves. As the counting continued into the night and spilled over into the next day, a clear trend began to emerge.
For example, up to 7pm the next day, the winning candidate had collected three quarters of the votes in each of the 21 polling stations counted. In one, he collected 48 votes, his lowest score.
It was unprecedented. It was as if Malaitans had stolen the seat and handed it over on a platter to a non-Malaitan, an indication perhaps that Malaitans are fed up with the antics of lies and marginalisation former holders of the seat.
Anomalies were found in other areas as well. Inside one box from one of the 21 polling stations, for example, counting agents found some 60 unsigned ballot papers. How these papers got into the box without the presiding officer’s supposedly watchful eye is anybody’s guess.
Was the presiding officer paid? How many other antics of corruption had found their way into the ballot boxes is anybody’s guess.
There were reports also of one candidate wandering in and out of the toilets at the Electoral Commission at around 1am on September 23. His reason: He was there to collect a copy of the voters’ list.
With an estimated 50,000 residents, East Honiara accounts for about 10 percent of the country’s population. But it has a record of low voter turnout.
In the 2006 national general election for example, the voter turnout was only 27.42 percent out of 30,049 registered voters.
While the statistics on the by-election were being collated, some said the turnout was the lowest. With its size and an ever-increasing population, East Honiara should have more than one seat in Parliament.