ARE WE HEADED FOR ANOTHER POLITICAL IMPASSE?

by PAUL AMATIO

When the Supreme Court made a decision that the election of JM as PM was legal, people said it was a victory for him. I see it as a victory for the Rule of Law, the Constitution and Parliament.

My view of that ruling is that essentially any breach of laws governing parliamentary operations are for the SC to deal with as Constitution Law matters. Any breaches of procedure are for Parliament to rectify.

That being said, on the 13 Nov, the whole parliament agreed to reconvene on 01 Dec without dissent or objection. That is a fact and indisputable. Why no one in Loloata objected is up to them to explain when the motion to adjourn was tabled and they had all the standing to do so. Surely a point of order could have been raised about the correctness of that given that the Standing Orders are clear on it. But they didn’t and that is now history.

So the will of parliament was made clear that it will reconvene at the date it has determined (by majority vote) at that meeting of parliament.

Now the law is silent on the legality of the date so set when the motion was moved by someone not a Minister and the Standing Orders are suspended. Neither the Standing Orders nor the Organic Law have any provision for when such a situation arises. Now suppose that after blocking the 2021 Budget, the Opposition just sat around and waited for a Minister from the government side to move for adjournment. Would that have been acceptable?

Definitely. It would have avoided this impasse we have now. So this this a question of Law or Procedure?

So seeing that both laws which govern the operations of parliament are silent on this, my view is that the matter most likely will be refereed back to parliament by the SC to correct itself in line with the recent ruling last Friday. And if a date is to be set, it will most likely be by an order of the Governor General to address a matter of National Importance, specifically the passing of the 2021 Budget.

Now it is entirely possible that the 01st Dec date was set unlawfully. Still that was the date was set and agreed to by every single MP in the house at the time. Hence that clearly shows that this was the will of parliament at the time. Now the Speaker has no powers to reconvene parliament at a date of his own selection to correct a perceived mistake as he must and is bound to comply with the will of parliament even if that will is wrong. And so he is obliged to fix the mistake made in the last session on the date set and determined by parliament, not of his choosing. In my view, he possibly broke the law here by going against the stated will of Parliament and can possibly be cited for Contempt of Parliament.

Having said that, the Loloata Camp arrived in Parliament on the date set by the Speaker and then blatantly proceeded to break the law again. They obviously did not have the numbers to pass any law…not even a toilet cleaning law. Yet they, knowing full well, went ahead and said they had passed the 2021 Budget. And in the process, I understand a whole host of procedural issues and laws were also broken.

So my question is, if you as an MP in the Loloata Camp say that you stand for the rule of law, respect the law and the constitution, then why did you vote to pass the 2021 Budget knowing full well that you were blatantly in breach of the Constitution? That is not the act of a person who respects the law. In fact, that is reminiscent of 2011-2012 when laws were passed willy nilly to further the interests of one person and not the State (which again was a breach of the Constitution also).

I call on Gary Juffa and Governor Alan Bird to advise the Loloata Camp that there is no need for you to repeat the mistakes of the 2011-2012 period. We respect you as being honest and fair, open and transparent and do all things in compliance with the laws of PNG. I for one do not want to see that you are bending to condone illegal acts merely to remain in government. That is not you.

And the same call goes to the rest of the MPs. If you have to fight then fight fair and fight square. Leave the gutter tactics to the gutter rats. You are not them and they are not you but necessity has pulled you together. It does not mean you have to subvert your standards to theirs.