Chief remains, says Kaiwi

GRAND Chief Sir Michael Somare remains in office regardless of the wishes of his family, the president of his National Alliance party said yesterday, The National reports.

“The position now is that the Somare family has made its wishes known,” National Alliance president Simon Kaiwi said yesterday.

“They do not want their father to continue as a politician. That is understandable.

“In terms of the positions that he (Sir Michael) holds as prime minister, parliamentary leader of NA and East Sepik member, he stills holds those positions.

“He is still the party leader and the PM until such time as that position is taken.”

He said Sir Michael’s position as prime minister would only be determined by parliament after legal requirements were satisfied.

The process to replace Sir Michael as parliamentary leader of NA begun in February this year at the Grand Chief’s own behest and was now well advanced, Kaiwi said.

Kaiwi said the next caucus meeting, scheduled to be held in Jiwaka, would determine the party leadership position.

“We are at an advanced stage now,” he said. “The process is well under way.”

That process started in February when, in consultation with the Grand Chief, Kaiwi was told to prepare for a successor to Sir Michael.

The parliamentary wing of NA, comprising 42 MPs, would convene in Minj town to elect the leader of the National Alliance.

That leader would be NA’s choice for the PM’s post should a vacancy occur by then.

Should a vacancy occur before the July meet, Kaiwi said it was the sole prerogative of parliament to elect a prime minister.

The view that the Somare family’s announcement to retire Sir Michael without his knowledge does not constitute a legally-binding decision was also shared by a number of people yesterday.

Private lawyer Tiffany Nonggorr said:  “It is not a family monarchy we have here in PNG; that Arthur Somare or any member of the family can decide on when the prime minister of this country can step down or not step down. 

“There are existing processes and bylaws of this land that must be followed.”

She said that by the application of this country’s section 142 of the Constitution and section 6 of the Prime Minister (PM) and National Executive Council (NEC) Act 2006, “the only way Sir Michael ceased being a PM is when he himself says (from his own mouth) that he has resigned and does so in writing to the national executive council, declaring that he is resigning and, therefore, stepping down”.

Or, that he is dismissed, suspended or voted out by parliament.

She said the application of such laws safeguard a PM (any PM) and the people of PNG from any actions, unscrupulous or otherwise.

She said the proper legal procedures required – under current circumstances – was that, upon advice from the national executive council, the governor-general was required to advise the PNG Medical Board, “who designates two medical practitioners to examine the prime minister”.

It would be based on that joint medical report presented to the governor-general “who advises the speaker to advise parliament which would then decide whether to suspend the prime minister on medical grounds or not”.

She said only then can a new prime minister be elected by parliament.

Outside of that, no one, not even the prime minister’s family members, have any say in whether or not he, as the chief executive of the country, should step down or not.

Senior lawyer Peter Donigi had raised similar points and the opposition yesterday called for the appointment of medical practitioners to follow the dictates of the Constitution.

Abal: Govt is intact

By JEFFREY ELAPA

 

ACTING Prime Minister and Wabag MP Sam Abal has assured the nation that the National Alliance-led government is intact and will continue to dispatch its responsibilities until next year’s general election, The National reports.

Abal said this during a  state-owned enterprises (SOE) consultation on the National Plan and Vision 2050, with the theme “Delivering through SOE” at the Crowne Plaza in Port Moresby yesterday.

He said despite speculations that the NA and coalition partners were splitting and regrouping to elect a new prime mi­nister after Sir Michael Somare stepped down, the go­vernment was intact.

But the talk in the corridors of power is that seve­ral MPs from the go­vernment are in talks with the opposition to change the prime minister when parliament resumes in August.

A few leaders who were interviewed said the coalition partners and NA members remained intact out of respect for Sir Michael.

The sources said since the PM had had been advised by his family to retire, the leaders could make their move.

Abal said in order to bring stability to the go­vernment and in fostering development, all political leaders needed to focus on the development agenda of the country first so “our people do not have to keep asking why they are still poor in a rich country”.

Abal said: “With less than a year to go before writs are issued for the next national election, it is my hope that politicians on both sides of parliament focus their best efforts on the people in their electorates, in deli­vering the best development outcomes possible.

“We can then go to next year’s election confident that which ever party wins the most seats, its leader can become the prime minister.”

Meanwhile, Abal urged all state-owned enterpri­ses to commit themselves to outlining three priority initiatives that could improve their profit margins and result in greater corporate growth.

 

 

Elias urges SOE CEOs to improve services

By JEFFREY ELAPA

 

CHIEF Secretary Margaret Elias has urged chief executive officers of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to be responsive towards the joint efforts to implement policies and directives of government geared towards achieving development objectives, The National reports.

She said the CEOs had responsibilities to improve service delivery by providing the environments to support economic growth and social development.

She said they should work closely with the Department of Public Enterprises and Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC) to develop an infrastructure development policy framework which they should present to government as soon as practicable.

Elias added that the state-owned enterprises needed to develop a master plan to be submitted to government by the end of this year.

“The challenge for you is to offer your services and technical advice to both the rural and urban communities in establishing enabling environment,” she said.

“For example, our district treasuries and district hospitals must have electricity and proper water supplies to ensure that they are functioning and which will encourage the local people to access services at the districts.

“I challenge you all to support government in improving service delivery under your organisations’ mandates.

“It is intended that this forum provides an avenue for effective monitoring, evaluation and reporting to government on how SOEs are supporting government in achieving its policy objectives through the existing mechanisms.

“It is imperative that we must improve on our performance as CEOs of state-owned enterprises and heads of agencies of government.”

She said it was a system under which government would enforce compliance and monitor performance particularly at heads of government agency level.

She said there had to be transparency, accountability and commitment in the operations of the organisations they led and be accountable to the government and the people.

Elias said the state-owned enterprises must submit their annual profit and loss statements and valuation of assets for scrutiny by government, through the IPBC.

She urged the CEOs to manage the people within their organisations to create harmony and avoid industrial disputes “which can be a disruption in the economy as well as hinder the achievement of the objectives of their organisations and the expected outcomes as per their business plans.”

BSP to buy back shares

BANK South Pacific Ltd will buy back up to K40 million worth of its own shares, chairman Kostas Constantinou announced yesterday, The National reports.

The shares buy-back was agreed upon during the bank's capital management strategy discussion during its annual general meeting last month.

The buy back is set to open today for a period of 12 months.

The board of directors decided to buy back shares since BSP's current market share prices did not reflect the fundamental value of the company.

Constantinou said BSP intended to enter the market from time to time to purchase shares pursuant to the buy back, which under this, shareholders are invited to sell up to 10,000 BSP shares of each registered holding.

BSP would pay for any brokerage on shares bought back.

Selling shareholders would not pay brokerage.

At the release of the full-year profit results to Dec 31, 2010, Constantinou informed the market last March that "BSP had achieved sound results last year, characterised by continued profitability and balance sheet growth, demonstrating operational and financial stability".

The directors of BSP believed that a measure on market buy back of the company's own shares would complement the share consolidation that was effected early this month.

The shares consolidation allowed for shareholders to now receive one share for every 10 shares they previously owned, meaning BSP's share price will, in effect, be multiplied by 10 to maintain the value per share.

Shareholders would notice that the current selling price for BSP shares stood at K6.68 from K0.68, and where they had 1,000 shares, they now have 100 BSP shares.

 

Tribunal date set for Somare

By JULIA DAIA BORE

 

ANGORAM MP and Minister of Public Enterprises Arthur Somare will face the Leadership Tribunal next Monday, The National reports.

The tribunal is to decide whether Somare is to continue as an MP pending the tribunal hearing on allegations of misapplication against him.

Much will depend on his submissions before the three-member tribunal headed by Justice Salatiel Lenalia.

The other two members are Principal Magistrate Orim Karapo and Senior Magistrate Noreen Kanasa.

They were appointed in 2006 by the late Chief Justice Sir Mari Kapi.

Lenalia was appointed by Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia three weeks ago following the National Court's dismissal on June 3 of Somare's last ditch attempts to have his referral stopped.

He had argued before a Supreme Court panel of judges headed by the Deputy Chief Justice Gibbs Salika that the proceedings should be dismissed.

Salika, however, ruled that Somare's application had "no merit".

He added: "The decision to refer, in my respectful opinion, is not unreasonable and capricious in the circumstances and as such, the Ombudsman Commission did not act in excess of its jurisdiction to refer.

"In the end result, all the grounds for judicial review are dismissed as having no merit."

Following this decision, Sir Salamo said the decision of June 3 effectively paved the way for the new chairman to be appointed and for the stalled tribunal to get under way.

After Somare, who?

The National Commentary

 

YESTERDAY dawned an ordinary sunny Port Moresby kind of day – a little on the windy side – but before it ended, Tuesday, June 28, 2011, was propelled into the annals of PNG history.

Shortly after 3pm, an announcement was made that Prime Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare was retired after nearly 50 years in PNG politics.

"Was retired", not "had retired"!

The man who has achieved so many firsts in his life has also achieved another milestone at this parting juncture – he could neither himself be present at the announcement of his retirement nor had he participated in the decision himself.

His immediate family made the decision for him three weeks ago while he still lay in the intensive care unit of Singapore's Raffles Hospital.

The announcement had been delayed in the hope that he would recover sufficiently for the family to consult him on its decision.

When that did not happen, the family decided to make the announcement to stop the speculation, to allow him time to recover fully and to make way for PNG to move ahead with the business of government without "Somare being in the way".

"We are removing our father," son and Public Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare said in Tok Pisin yesterday, "so that he is not an obstacle for PNG to move ahead".

It is a significant moment in the life of PNG when one of the longest serving leaders in the Commonwealth of Nations is removed from our midst. It is a moving time to see a firebrand politician so incapacitated on medical grounds that he cannot make the final solemn decision to retire.

Yet, the family decision is the correct one and it must be commended for it. That the family has stood together in the face of great stress and difficulty to make a decision for both their father and in the interest of the nation truly makes them our first family.

While retirement should be self-executing and, therefore, ought to automatically remove from him all necessary powers as MP for East Sepik, as National Alliance parliamentary leader and as prime minister, because he did not make the decision himself might raise some thorny legal questions.

What is to follow is not clear-cut at all.

The family action now removes the constitutional provision for three doctors to declare him incapable to continue in office on medical grounds. That provision is no longer relevant.

The action also provides a vacancy in the office of the prime minister.

The announcement by the family begins a process that will end with the election of a new prime minister of PNG.

Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal is in charge for now but how long he is to continue legally is unknown. While his reign on government, shaky at first, is strengthening and he appears focused and charismatic, this announcement will mean he must first gain legitimacy to continue in office from his own National Alliance party.

Since this situation has never before occurred, the laws have not been tested. This situation is unprecedented so that should provide government lawyers with some interesting legal gymnastics.

Parliament has adjourned to August, placing it well within the 12-month period when no motion of no-confidence can be moved in the prime minister, yet, there is no prime minister to move a motion against.

Only parliament can elect a prime minister so it is important that parliament meets as a matter of urgency and it falls to cabinet to make that decision.

Political lobbying, as expected, has begun in earnest and will continue.

The ruling National Alliance party, with 42 members, has a head-start but it might not have the advantage that the integrity law guarantees when it states that the leader of the party with the largest number will be invited by the governor-general to form government.

That provision, we would vouch, only applies at the end of a general election.

In such confusing circumstances, perhaps, a look for direction to the founding father, who now lies ill on a hospital bed in a distant land, might prove helpful.

A dangerous constitutional crisis is looming which needs averting but how to do it is the question.

What would the Grand Chief do in such a circumstance?

That unique ability of his to calmly smother all dissent, to gather differing views and extremities through consultation and consensus, to make sense out of chaos and to move all that mass in one direction, is needed again now more than ever before.

The question is: Do we have that man?

Somare retires

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

 

PRIME Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare has retired from office for medical reasons, his son Arthur Somare announced yesterday, The National reports.

The decision was not Sir Michael's, but that of his immediately family members who reached it three weeks ago in Singapore.

"He is not in a position to coherently make a decision himself ... that is why we have made the decision,'' Arthur said.

"On behalf of Lady Veronica and the rest of Sir Michael's family, I would like to inform the public that it is our wish that Sir Michael will now pursue a life in retirement after nearly 50 years of active politics due to medical reasons and the uncertainty of the recovery period."

The retirement covers all positions held by the PM including:

*Parliamentary leader of the National Alliance party;

*Regional member of parliament for the East Sepik people; and

*As Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea.

Somare, who is minister for public enterprises, put on a brave face although he was visibly emotional when making the announcement.

"The public was informed at different intervals that Sir Michael has taken medical leave to address a condition that has prevailed over many years," he said.

"The initial operation to replace the leaking heart valve was successful but, subsequently, other complications had developed.

"These complications have further delayed the anticipated time in which Sir Michael was expected to recover and return to Papua New Guinea."

The son said the difficult and trying part of identifying infectious diseases had been cleared but, at the age of 75, going to 76, and after three heart operations, "it will weaken a person of his age".

 "The uncertainty of when he will be out of intensive care has pushed us into this decision," he said.

He said Sir Michael was in ICU and "is not in a position to talk and understand the decision made by the family three weeks ago".

"I have not talked to my father in weeks," Somare said.

He said the road to recovery would be slow and "it will be a tedious wait and the family cannot keep PNG waiting".

"All five siblings and our mother have taken this decision that he steps down from politics and that Sir Michael is allowed to recover at his own pace. In our considered decision to do this, we believe PNG should have a level of certainty with regard to political stability and leadership well into the future.

"He is not only the head of the Somare family. He is the head of the country and there are different processes to be taken to elect a new prime minister.

"I am not here for politics but as a family member to announce the family's desire to retire our father.

"Taim femili ino toktok, banis istap yet. Nau mi toktok, mi kliarim rot. Em samting bilong palamen, kebinet na pati long mekim disisen. Em bai ino mo sanap long rot. (When the family did not speak out, it becomes an obstacle, but now that I make that announcement, it clears the road for parliament, cabinet and party to make a decision).

"This has not been an easy decision to make without full and proper consultation with Sir Michael.

"However, in the greater public interest and collective good of the country, we are of the view that this decision is necessary and we believe it will be his desire to do so at this time given the circumstances.

"I would like to thank the people of Papua New Guinea for their well wishes, messages of support and constant prayers."