Parliament adjourned as 'kitchen cabinet' runs scared

Opposition Leader Rt Hon Sir Mekere Morauta said today the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the National Parliament and the Leader of Government Business have yet again breached the Constitution by failing to ensure that Parliament sits the required 63 days in the Parliamentary year.

“I will immediately seek legal advice about the options open to the Opposition for fighting the adjournment in the courts,” he said.

“The adjournment motion moved by Mr Tiensten and accepted by Mr Nape, is not only a most serious and deliberate breach of the Constitution.

“It goes against all the principles of democracy.

“Today’s decision was designed purely to avoid a motion of no confidence.

“It was an act of a desperate Government that will do anything to stay in power. It was an act of a Government frightened of facing the consequences of its own actions.

“Not only was the decision in breach of the Constitution, it was in breach of Standing Orders.

“The Speaker accepted the adjournment vote on the voices. The Opposition called for a division, a request that the Speaker is obliged to agree to. He refused.

“Adjourning the Parliament denies the right of the people to be represented by their elected Member of Parliament.

“It is a further step along the National Alliance’s road to chaos and disorder.

“It is a further step towards stamping out legitimate dissent.

“People are being denied their right to free speech, to protest, and now, once again, Members of Parliament are being muzzled.

“It is time the dictators of the Kitchen Cabinet were called to account for their actions.”

Sir Mekere said that by adjourning the Parliament today to 16 November, Michael Somare, Jeffrey Nape and Paul Tiensten had breached their Constitutional duty and had committed an offence under the Leadership Code.

Section 124(1) of the Constitution prescribes that “the Parliament shall … meet … for not less than nine weeks in each period (of twelve months)”.

In 1999 the Supreme Court ruled that the meaning of “nine weeks” in this context was 63 days and that the ‘parliamentary year’ commenced on the day after the return of writs following a general election.

The relevant dates for the current term of Parliament are 07 August 2009 and 06 August 2010.

In the period 07 August 2009 to date, the Parliament has sat for only 35 days, 28 days short of the required 63 days.

“The decision to adjourn displays a total disregard for Parliament as an institution and a total disregard for the constitutional requirement for Parliament to sit,” Sir Mekere said.

“The actions of 21 July 2010 are a deliberate and flagrant breach of the Constitution and of the Standing Orders.

“The Speaker violated the Constitution by accepting the Motion for adjournment. The Leader of Government Business violated the Constitution by moving the Motion. The Prime Minister, as head of the executive government and responsible for the Government’s actions, violated the Constitution.”

The Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Leader of Government Business have sworn an Oath of Office to protect and uphold the Constitution and the laws of the country.

These three leaders have yet again consciously and knowingly breached the Constitution, and their Oath of Office, Sir Mekere said.

“I also hope that the Ombudsman Commission will finally take action and refer the three leaders to the Public Prosecutor for breach of the Organic Law on the Duties and Responsibilities of Leadership,” he said.

Sir Mekere said the adjournment was clearly designed to prevent debate and voting on a number of important bills and motions, as well as the proposed Motion of No Confidence in the Prime Minister.

Sir Mekere said the Kitchen Cabinet was deliberately destroying the right to free speech in Papua New Guinea.

“Today we have seen Members of Parliament illegally being prevented from debating matters of the highest national importance,” he said.

“Recently we have seen legitimate criticism of the proposed amendments to the Ombudsman Commission and the new Environment legislation being silenced.

“Why do the Prime Minister and his Kitchen Cabinet fear free speech so much?

“Why do they trample on our right to criticise bad laws, to criticise corruption, to criticise the Government’s failure to deliver services to the people?

“This is a very dangerous road the Kitchen Cabinet is taking us.

“The fundamental basis of our Constitution is the preservation of parliamentary democracy.

“The Kitchen Cabinet is destroying democracy in our country.”

Parliamentary chaos as Papua New Guinea Governor-General sworn in

By LIAM FOX of ABC

Chaos has reigned in Papua New Guinea's parliament during a ceremony to swear in the Governor-General.
Parliament resumed to swear-in Sir Paulias Matane for his second consecutive term as Governor-General, but before that could happen, the opposition called for a vote to defer the ceremony.
It believes the process to re-appoint Sir Paulias was flawed.
As foreign dignitaries looked on from the gallery, MPs hurled abuse across the floor of parliament.
After a lengthy discussion with the clerk the deputy speaker allowed the vote to precede - and it was lost 42 to 59.
The opposition leader and his deputy then left the chamber in protest while Sir Paulias was sworn in as PNG's head of state.

 

Suspected criminals get a dose of their own medicine

By ANDREW ALPHONSE of The National in Tari

 

A GANG leader was rounded up and axed to dead allegedly by angry Tengo villagers from Margarima district yesterday while three of his criminal members were arrested by police and paraded naked in public in Tari, Southern Highlands province (pictured).

 Tari police said the notorious gang members have being involved in armed hold-up of vehicles at the infamous Ambua Gap section of the Highlands Highway from Mendi into Tari. Police said the gang numbering to 19 have always taken cover in the thick jungles of Ambua and held up vehicles at gun-point while they attacked and robbed helpless travellers.

 Police said several mothers and girls have been raped while money and valuables worth thousands of kina have also been stolen by this gang at the road block.

 Several attempts by police to have them captured have been futile.

The gang’s latest attack happened on Monday afternoon at about 5pm when they held up a passing 15-seater PMV bus.

Another utility vehicle loaded with some men from Margarima arrived minutes later to the scene and attempted to rescue the PMV bus and its passengers when a member of the gang opened fired and shot one of the Margarima man who died instantly.

Angry relatives of the deceased identified as David Sore, of Kungu village in Margarima, immediately retaliated by mounting a road block at Tengo village and searching all vehicles passing through to Tari.

The relatives alleged that the gang was from Tigibi village on the foot of Mt Ambua.

The National travelled on the same road in another PMV bus from Mt Hagen into Tari, 20 minutes after the incident had happened and witnessed the happenings.

Angry relatives of the deceased forced all vehicles passing through to stop while they made a search for any people from Tigibi that could be in the vehicles.  

At around 5am yesterday, the Tengo tribesmen armed with bush knives, bows and arrows and homemade guns went in pursuit of the gang into the Ambua jungles.

The tribesmen numbering more than 50 tracked the gang to the foot of Doma Peaks range where they conducted an early dawn raid at Alua Kambe village near Tigibi and raided the hideout of the gang.

 In the raid, the relatives burnt down several homes and hacked to death the gang leader whose identity is not known.

The other 15 gang members fled while three of them were not so lucky and were surrounded by the locals.

The locals then alerted Tari-based police mobile squad (MS) 09 unit and under the command of chief Sgt Peter Buka, the MS09 unit went into the area and managed to apprehend the three gang members.

As the MS09 members rounded up the three men, members of the local communities who had been victims of the road blocks stripped the trio naked and tied them to the front of the police vehicles.

The trio were shown to the public along the way as police drove them for about 15km into Tari town.

Victims of the gang attack at Ambua threw missiles, rocks and shouted abuse at the trio as they were driven into the town and shown to the public at Tari police stations for victims of the road blocks to come forward and give statements to the police.

At the police station, hundreds of Tari and Hela people rushed to get a glimpse of the gang members while others beat up the trio with sticks and stones.

Blood could be seen sprouting out of the three men’s heads while several bruises were evident on their naked bodies from the public’s beatings.

Several Tari and Hela community members commended the MS09 unit for capturing the criminals and expressed a sigh of relief that at last some of the bad men who had been robbing and attacking them at Ambua have been captured.

Police identified the three gang members as from Pureni and Yaluba villages in South Koroba who had migrated to Tigibi to conduct their illegal activities.

The three are currently locked up at Tari police station cell.

Police said they would conduct further investigations and questioning.

Police said the trio were likely to face a number of charges including wilful murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, illegal road blocks, rape, attempted rape, stealing, in possession of offensive weapons, threatening and more.

Tari police station commander chief inspector Michael Welly confirmed the incidents and commended the police MS09 unit and the Tigibi community for their part in apprehending the three men.

Police are confident of arresting the other 15 gang members now that three of them have been caught.

Stark naked and shamed

Alleged members of a gang who have been terrorising people travelling along the Ambua Gap section of the Highlands Highway between Mendi and Tari in Southern Highlands were captured yesterday and paraded around Tari naked, The National reports.

 Members of the public also took their anger and frustration out on three of the 19-member gang who were captured, beating them with rocks, sticks and other missiles as they sat naked atop police mobile squad (MS09) vehicles.

One of the gang members, allegedly the leader, was hacked to death.-Nationalpic by ANDREW ALPHONSE

 

 

Lobby for vote

Notice to follow Governor General swear-in

 

LOBBYING for numbers was intensifying last night for a showdown in parliament today, when the opposition is expected to lodge the notice for a motion of no-confidence in the prime minister, The National reports.

The new-look opposition, buoyed by the arrival of former deputy prime minister Sir Puka Temu, and ministers Belden Namah and Charles Abel, is confident of getting the notice through today.

Sir Puka is happy with the group’s performance yesterday afternoon when parliament resumed, pinning Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and Public Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare down on good governance and corruption issues.

The prime minister fought back with tenacity when answering questions, looking comfortable with the numbers on his side, although anything can happen in 24 hours.

The opposition will step up another gear today by pushing the notice of vote of no-confidence.

The first business when parliament resumes this morning will be the swearing in of the re-elected Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane.

Insiders told The National that straight after the swearing-in, the government will adjourn parliament until November.

The opposition expects this, and Sir Puka said he was confident they would secure the required minimum of 55 MPs to block an adjournment, and push through the notice for a no-confidence vote in the prime minister.

If the opposition succeeded in giving notice today, they will await the parliamentary committee led by the speaker to screen the motion to see whether it is of national interest or of a parochial nature.

The speaker would then make his ruling by Thursday and, if it is affirmative, parliament will adjourn for seven days and then resume for the vote.

Sir Puka, who was surrounded by 43 MPs including former ministers Namah and Abel, Morobe Governor Luther Wenge and opposition MPs Sir Mekere Morauta, Sir Julius Chan and Bart Philemon appealed to decent leaders in the government to move.

“I know they respect the Grand Chief that, because of him, we have come this far but the leaders must do the right thing and join us,” Sir Puka said.

“We have tested the numbers in parliament and we know that we will get the necessary numbers to vote out the prime minister,” he said after he moved to extend question time in parliament, which required a simple 55 majority, but he only mustered 43 MPs from the March Girls camp that stood up to be counted.

“We have tested the numbers and we will now put a strategy in place to remove this government.

“I demand you move to this side to support us to put a vote on the prime minister,” Sir Puka appealed the government side.

“I demand that the head of government should step aside. Why concentrate too much power on one man at IPBC and Treasury and Finance.”

He said the prime minister had served a long time and age had caught up with him, and the momentum to remove him is driven by young leaders.

Sir Puka also appealed to the speaker to ensure the motion goes through to parliament.

He said technical requirements for the notice of motion to go through would be strictly adhered to, given the experience by the opposition in the past and the government MPs now in opposition.

“We will comply with all the technicalities.

“Parliament is the people’s house. It is not the government house and not the speaker’s house. The speaker must maintain neutrality all the time,” Sir Puka said.

A government spokesman said last night that the government was talking with opposition groups to bring them over to fill the vacancies in cabinet.

The spokesman said they were making offers to the “original” opposition.

 

Namah alleges dirty deals at BDA

FORMER forest minister Belden Namah yesterday raised serious allegations of corruption and questionable deals involving some government ministers, The National reports.

The prime minister tried to get the speaker to stop Namah raising the allegations publicly in parliament, claiming the former minister could not divulge confidential cabinet information for five years.

But, speaker Jeffery Nape allowed Namah to speak out.

Namah, former deputy prime minister Sir Puka Temu and culture and tourism minister Charles Abel walked out of government on Monday and were sacked by the prime minister yesterday.

When parliament resumed after 2pm, the three walked in with the opposition and sat in the opposition’s middle benches.

During question time, Namah told parliament he was fed up with corruption in government, and decided to walk out.

The Vanimo-Green MP alleged a number of corrupt practices by the Border Development Authority (BDA). One of them involved buying boats at inflated prices.

He said the BDA bought six border vessels for six border provinces for K2 million each, when the price of each boat was K600, 000.

He also alleged that a company that was awarded a contract to set up VSat communication in the border areas did not have technical capacity.

He said the company was owned by a senior government minister.

He claimed that an Icelandic company was awarded a contract of K15 million to do the town planning for Aitape, with no work done so far.

Namah said such deals and transactions showed that the BDA had lost its way and was not serving the purpose it was set up for.

He said serious issues still remain to be addressed at the border areas, including the deteriorating border posts and closure of police posts, border incursions, illegal drugs, firearms and human smuggling.

He said BDA was established to build infrastructure like bridges, police posts and roads in the six border provinces but that had not happened.

In his questions to acting Finance and Treasury Minister Arthur Somare, Namah asked whether the minister was aware that BDA had not carried out its functions and roles to build infrastructure.

He asked the minister if he was aware that last Friday, K14 million was released to buy another two vessels.

He said one of the vessels had been allocated for the prime minister’s use in East Sepik and questioned whether East Sepik was a border province.

Namah also alleged that BDA was buying properties in Port Moresby.

“Institutions and infrastructure in the border areas are in dire condition and we are doing things for our own personal gains.

“There is supposed to be proper facilities built at Wutung. Where is our priority?

“The reason I moved over here is because of corruption on the other side.”

In response, Somare said he needed to be briefed on the BDA operations before he could reply to the allegations.

House closed to public: Police

THE public will not be allowed to observe parliament when it resumes today, The National reports.

NCD police operation boss Supt Andy Bawa told The National that the ban was to instill control during this politically-sensitive period, especially with the looming vote of no-confidence against the government.

Yesterday, armed police personnel stood guard at parliament’s two gates and turned away the public from entering.

A huge crowd had gathered at the gates but could not enter.

Bawa also warned that police would not allow any planned public protests or marches in fear of riots.

The crowd, which consisted of mainly young people as well as women and children, were keen to learn and wanted to be the first to know about the outcome of yesterday’s  parliament session.

Some public servants, especially teachers and landowners from Hides in Southern Highlands, were part of the crowd that waited outside the gates of parliament.

Many people said they wanted a change of government.

“The change is necessary because we, the resource owners, have not benefited from the developments taking place, especially from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project,” chairman of the project development licenced (PDL) 1  area Takis Purawi said.

“LNG has become a political agenda for politicians while many of my people have not benefited from this project.”

Purawi, from Koroba, said he also wanted the government to be fair in its deals with the resource owners by offering better options.

Waigani Noblet Primary School teacher, Veronica Evare, said a change in government was necessary for the good of all people.

“There are so many issues to be addressed.

“We, the teachers, nurses and many others, including those in the informal sector, have been neglected over the years.

“Equal services and opportunities must be provided for all, including the rural areas, and I believe that will come with a change of government,” Evare said.

Bawa also commended the people for retreating peacefully after they were denied entry.

“There was no arrest and the general behaviour of the public was excellent.

“I commend the public for respecting the law and leaving for home quietly,” Bawa said.

Parliament will meet again today for the anticipated swearing-in of the governor-general at 10am.