Marshalls no-confidence

motion loses by one vote

By Giff Johnson

FOR a month and a half, the Marshall Islands Nitijela (parlia ment) was stalemated over a motion of no confidence, unable to meet in a standoff that prevented legislators from passing the annual national budget before the expiration of the fiscal year on September 30.

The filing of a motion of no confidence by opposition senators in early September - an unprecedented move in the 19 years of constitutional government - led to more unexpected developments that halted the legislative process in the country for almost six weeks, as the government party demanded the vote be held on open roll call, while the opposition and Speaker said it must be done by secret ballot.

But on Friday October 16 - the third day of a re-extended session, following a court ruling that the vote had to be held before adjournment - a secret ballot vote was finally held, with the opposition falling one vote short of the 17 majority needed to oust the government of President Imata Kabua.

The final tally was 16 votes for the motion and 14 against (three government party members, including Kabua, were absent during the vote).

Both sides expressed relief that the bat tle was over and, though the opposition didn’t win, opposition Senator Brenson Wase, who was a cabinet minister until recently, said the narrow one-vote defeat of the motion showed the opposition was a force to be reckoned with and “sent a mes sage to the other side.”

Following the vote, the majority party was expected to call for a special session later in October to get the delayed national budget passed. The Marshalls legislative process had been bottlenecked for weeks as a result of the controversy. Just two weeks after President Imata Kabua had shuffled his cabinet in mid-August, drop ping three long-time government party members in favor of two opposition sena tors, the former ministers along with oppo sition forces introduced a motion of no

confidence. When the motion came for a vote on September 7, debate over the vot ing procedure broke out as opposition members asked for a secret ballot vote, while government ministers requested a vote by open roll call. Speaker Kessai Note - who last year unsuccessfully challenged Kabua for President and earlier this year moved legislation banning gambling through the parliament over the President’s objections - recognized the opposition’s request for a secret ballot, saying it was made first and therefore took precedence.

The chamber immediately erupted and, as the Speaker was handing out secret ballots for the vote, the President led a walkout that would delay the vote for almost six weeks.

The boycott continued through September 18, the last of the regular 50 sit ting days in the year, while the national budget and a number of other bills lan guished. During the extended stalemate each side accused the other of violating the constitution in radio and newspaper com ments.

Because the constitution says a motion of no confidence shall be voted on between five and 10 days after it is introduced, gov ernment party leaders maintained that once the 10 day period had expired, the motion had lapsed, and the parliament should get on with its other business.

But the Speaker and the opposition maintained otherwise, and Note kept the motion as the first item on the Nitijela’s agenda.

Even when the President extended the session by an additional four days in late September, and again in mid-October when the Speaker called the session back to order in response to the court ruling, the Speaker refused to bend and the impasse continued.

Meanwhile, on a couple of occasions, the majority party sent a handful of sena tors to the chamber for a session in hopes of meeting the necessary 17 for a quorum so a vote could be held with the minimum present, assuring defeat of the motion. But opposition senators played a cat and mouse

game on those occasions so until the entire government party returned for the session on October 16, the Nitijela couldn’t muster a quorum to hold the vote.

Finally, with the legislative process at a standstill, the government’s Attorney General filed a request with the High Court to intervene and end the constitutional cri sis. The AG’s request was followed imme diately by opposition Senator Litokwa Tomeing’s request for the High Court to step in and end the stalemate.

Chief Justice Daniel Cadra consolidat ed the two petitions, and ruled on September 29 that the motion of no confi dence must be voted on at the next session where there is a quorum, and that the Nitijela could not adjourn while a motion of no confidence was pending.

“To hold that the motion has ‘lapsed’ or is ‘rendered moot and ineffective’ because the vote did not occur within the 10 days would permit the evasion of mandatory Constitutional duty by unconstitutional means,” Cadra said in his ruling. “Such a holding would send the message that pub lic officials can ignore Constitutional imperatives, as well as the obligations, duties and responsibilities of their office.”

Within days, the President’s office issued an acerbic personal attack on the Chief Justice, saying his ruling showed that he wasn’t fit to be a judge. The gov ernment party’s statement ridiculed the Chief Justice’s opinion.

The government said that a “fair and democratic government cannot be achieved by denying the majority of the Nitijela, 18 Senators, their Constitutional right to a roll call vote and allowing the minority to have a secret ballot”.

Opposition senator and former High Court Chief Justice Witten Philippo responded that it was wrong for the gov ernment to launch a scathing personal attack on Cadra for issuing a ruling against the government’s position in the controver sy.

“It’s an embarrassment to the govern ment and the people of the Marshall Islands and the government had no busi ness issuing it,” he said.

The Attorney General, in early October, filed an appeal of the ruling with the Supreme Court and Minister deßrum indi cated that despite the outome of the vote, the government’s Supreme Court appeal would be pursued to get resolution of what could be a reoccuring dispute. ■