Flag of Kiribati. Photo: 123RF
The soaring cost of living and signs the government's struggling to meet its obligations are dominant discussion points going into next Wednesday's first poll in Kiribati.
Wednesday's ballot will be followed by a second round on Monday week, after which nominations for president will be made, ahead of a popular vote expected in September or October.
"Kava has been a commodity used by candidates to really get people around to sit around and talk about ideas that they want to share." - Kiribati journalist Rimon Rimon
I-Kiribati journalist, Rimon Rimon, who is RNZ's correspondent spoke with RNZ Pacific.
(The transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
Don Wiseman: Just a few days out now from the election, very much at the sharp end. How's it looking?
Rimon Rimon: Look, there's been quite a rush to get things sorted out right before the elections. One of the issues that we're facing now is that a lot of people on the ground are finding that the government, or perhaps a certain government institution, is quite strict on identification. So there's been an issue with the lead up to the polling day, and there's been, you call this registration of voters, and there's been quite a mix up of requirements of whether you can bring your licence or your passport or the national ID card.
Now the government, or the agency that is responsible for this, is saying that on polling day they will be strict on just national ID cards. Now the problem is, and some of the people are lashing this out, expressing themselves on social media, saying a lot of people don't have national ID cards because the National ID card office is running beyond capacity to cater for the people's needs. So, a lot of people don't have cards, or are in the process of renewing their cards, and are quite worried that they might not get the chance to cast a vote on that.
Otherwise candidates are really pumped up during the final rounds of putting up papers and flyers around the town in front of stores and public places for people and just the last push for support for what they're running for.
DW: Campaigning, I think, has been going on, in some cases, anyway, for months, hasn't it? Has it become more intense?
RR: It's become more intense, indeed. I think a lot of people, especially I'm seeing some of the incumbent candidates, the candidates seeking re-election, really going out. I haven't witnessed any of those campaigning, because usually they are done within community houses called mwaneaba, which are sort of like a traditional marae in New Zealand. A lot of people are saying that they're seeing some of the candidates giving out kava, which is quite a popular commodity here, even though the time for giving out things have already stopped, according to the laws.
DW: Does anyone police that?
RR: Well, the commission is supposed to be looking about this and of course, we have the community as a police and people usually report that. We're seeing a lot of these. People are giving away kava, not the candidates, but some people tend to know that that person giving out the kava belongs to a certain candidate or is a supporter of that candidate.
Who is monitoring all of this? I think that's a very good question to look into. I think that the elections commission under the Ministry of Culture is really responsible. It's not just about police patrolling the community as if they were looking for crime or mischievous activities. I don't think it works that way. I think it works on community level, where people who continue to experience that will report that to the appropriate authorities. We've had that kind of cases in the past elections, where certain people reported candidates giving away money, more than $20 - according to the constitution, you cannot go give away $20 - and we had this incident where a lady put herself on camera and put it out on social media that a certain candidate gave her more than $100.
I think that went to court at that time. This time around, I'm hearing some stories of communities continuing to enjoy drinking and discussing over our kava about who and what to vote and at the cost of the kava being provided by a certain candidate. Now these I haven't really gone to verify this - whether this kava was actually belonging to a certain candidate, but certainly there were free kava going around because a lot of people in the communities are still actually drinking kava. Kava has been a commodity used by candidates to really get people around to sit around and talk about ideas that they want to share.
DW: In terms of ideas, you and I last time talked about the various benefits that the current government has been instrumental in organising - the old age pension, the unemployment benefit and the grant or the subsidy for copra growers. Is there any more discussion along those lines?
RR: These have been the flagship policies that really define the ruling party over the last four years. While I think the main ideas now are that, especially what I'm hearing here in capital, because the price of living is not really conducive. Certain items in shops, the prices have gone astronomical.
So those are the kind of issues that people are looking for in their candidates. Another issue is that medical healthcare has been quite in decline in the last four years. Really essential medicine, like Panadol or Paracetamol for kids, are always in short supply, and these are the kind of things that when I dig, in my local reporting, we found that the government is outstanding with overseas suppliers, and that gives us the idea that government is in some kind of cash flow trouble.
To see policies like the unemployment and the copra subsidy, which constitute quite a big chunk in handouts to the people. I think this gives the idea for people saying that, look, we're facing a lot of the overall public service delivery needs to be improved, and some are now coming to realise that those social benefits that have been in place could perhaps be a cause of this problem that exists here. These are the kind of things that now people are trying to choose between because they appreciate these social welfare benefits. It's why they've voted this government back into a second term in the first place.
But they also want an improvement of just the general wellbeing in like the public service delivery and the health care because, for example, in just this year alone, we've had two fuel shortages, which has put the capital and everything to a grind. Fishermen couldn't go fishing, the cars couldn't go around. They were lining up because there was a fuel shortage, and I found out last year, it's a government owned company that looks after the oil and petrol and all these couldn't clear the outstanding and that's why the ship wasn't able to come or to deliver the fuel on time.
These are the kind of issues that people now have to battle for. Because what we're seeing is that a lot of the people is they're seeing politicians as not being that honest when they run for campaigning and then when they come into office. They're giving a very careful look now at who and what they will be voting for.
DW: Is there an early end to campaigning? Is the campaigning still right through to Tuesday evening?
RR: Yes, because on Wednesday morning, I think it's seven o'clock, ballot booths open, and any last-minute effort is very useful. You could be aligned to vote a certain candidate but learning something at the last hour that that candidate did something really against your principles or your beliefs, could sway your vote. Campaigning really goes right to the 11th hour.