The 2002 Papua New Guinea elections were deficient in
many ways, particularly in the Highlands provinces. An
outcome of this turmoil in the Enga Province is the emer
gence of new form of division in society, namely: "haves
and have-nots" or as Engas put it: "eaters and non-eat
ers." This paper will look at how some candidates in the
2002 elections used language, which "fed into" the eat
ers/ non-eaters imagery. It will also touch on the
politicisation of the public service, investigate why people
voted the way they did, and ask what happened to the
voting papers. Whether one is a "have" or a "have not"
depends on a number of factors including the emerging
political culture of violence and intimidation, voting pat
terns during the elections, and political choices in the
post-election period.