Sir Julius degrades parliament

By JAMES APA GUMUNO

FORMER prime mi­nister Sir Julius Chan says the current parliament is "shameful, shocking and a showground, with a kindergarten much better than parliament", The National reports.
The leader of the People Progress Party and governor of New Ireland told media per­sonnel in Mt Hagen last Friday that "the country is in a mess".
Sir Julius claimed this was the worst parliament he had come across in his political career.
He said there was "no fairness and justice in government; parliament is run by a dictator".
"The government system is fine but the players did not play their game properly. 
"The players have become touch judges and referees at the same time, there is hardly any control," he said.
Sir Julius said they did not discuss anything good in parliament because "the business of parliament was in a mess".
"This has created disunity."
He said the government "is for the rich and not for the poor; the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer".
He said under the World Bank and Asian Development Bank index, "more people are now living below the poverty level than in 1990".
Sir Julius said some government ministers built their own empire and set up many dummy companies at the ex­pense of ordinary people.
He named two dummy companies set up by a senior minister in his province and "run by his political cronies".
He said his deputy governor asked for an inquiry to be conducted this year into these companies but, so far, no investigation had been carried out.
Sir Julius said this was one of many companies established by people in power.
He said he and other coastal provinces were fed up with the government and "want to get autonomy for their provinces and run their own affairs".
He said there "is no bright future under this government