The saga continues

Politics

By Martin Tiffany

THE political saga continues in the Solomon Islands with three gov ernment ministers joining the op position, an opposition MP switching to government and the opposition leader calling on the government to step down.

Opposition leader Solomon Mamaloni says the opposition has the support of 25 members of parliament in the 47-member house and can form a government at any time. To prove this Mamaloni is displaying a list of the 25 MPs who have pledged loyalty to him in writing. These include the three former minister who joined the opposition in the second week of November. This effec tively increased the opposition numbers from 23 to 26 and decreased the government number from 24 to 21.

However opposition MP Nelson Boso moved to the government camp making it 25 —22 in favour of the government.

The opposition say they have formed a committee to allocate portfolios and take over the government.

Prime Minister Francis Billy Hilly has however rejected Mamaloni’s call for his government to step down saying his government was elected by parliament and only parliament could remove it from office. He said right from the start “the opposition has been out to block the government from carrying out its pro gramme for no good reason at all”.

As this issue of PIM was going to press on November 18 the number crunchers in Mamaloni’s camp were lobbying to confirm their numbers to push through a no-confidence motion when parliament sits on November 29 (this sitting had been postponed twice at press time).

Section 34(1) of the constitution requires the resolution of no-confidence in the prime minister to be passed by parlia ment “by an absolute majority of the voters of members thereof’. With it seems 25 members in his camp, Mamaloni can claim the ball to be firmly in his court.

This current episode basically began on November 9 when the governor general Sir George Lepping revoked the appointment of the minister for educa tion and training Dennis Lulei. This was done following the advice of prime minister Hilly who said it was clear Lulei did not want to remain with his coalition government.

Lulei moved across to the opposition camp followed shortly after by the minister for provincial government and rural development, Eric Seri, and minis ter for culture, sports and tourism, Allan Paul. It was also reported that Lulei was trying to lure Ysabel Province MP, Edmund Andresen, away from the gov ernment. However, Andresen said he would not join the opposition as long as Mamaloni was there. When Mamaloni was prime minister he sacked Andresen from his ministerial position without reason.

Two government backbenchers were sworn in to replace two of the former ministers. Walter Folo Talu took over Lulei’s portfolio of education and train ing while the MP for South Vella La Vella, Oliver Zapo, became the new minister for provincial government and rural development.

Since gaining power on June 18, Hilly has been hounded by Mamaloni, Mamaloni did not agree with the validity of Hilly’s 24-23 victory and submitted a formal dispute to the governor general.

The governor general said he was convinced 24 was an absolute majority and so Hilly was the prime minister under the constitution. Mamaloni was still not convinced and commenced proceedings for judicial review of the governor general’s determination in the High Court.

The result was Justice Albert Palmer saying in his judgement that the governor general had not committed any error of law and was perfectly entitled to say as he did in his determination.

Mamaloni appealed this decision but the Court of Appeal in its judgement on November 5 found in favour of the governor general.

Within days of the Court of Appeal decision the current happening began as the three ministers crossed over, effec tively taking away power from Hilly.

If the numbers remain in the oppo sition’s favour was is likely to happen now is a notice of resolution will be given to the speaker informing him of the vote of no confidence. The governor general is then informed and fresh elections are ordered as provided for in schedule 2 of the constitution.

But the situation in the Solomon Islands is very fluid and there is no telling what may happen. As they say, watch this space. □