MPs of the United Democratic Party (UDP) say their president Sir Thomas Chan was wrongly advised when he revoked Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s membership.
Sir Thomas sacked Mr Sogavare from the party Wednesday this week.
But UDP MPs, who are part of the DCC coalition, said the sacking was illegal.
In a statement issued on Friday, they said the UDP executive never agreed to revoke Mr Sogavare’s membership from the party.
“We would like to remind the president and his advisors, that for any revocation to be valid, it must be consistent with the Political Parties Integrity Act 2014 (the Act) Regulation 29 and Clause 27 of the UDP constitution which is a contractual document between members of the UDP,” the statement said.
“The Act is clear – it stipulates the appointment of a disciplinary panel to determine such matters, consistent with the rules of natural justice which accords Members after issue of a mandatory notice, the opportunity to respond to disciplinary charges, and the right of appeal against a disciplinary panel hearing,” it added.
The statement said all of these requirements were not accorded to the Prime Minister, and that Sir Thomas’s actions are not compliant with the legal requirements of the Act and the UDP Constitution.
“The Act aside, the president has also failed to comply with procedures under the UDP constitution in relation to disciplinary matters, in particular the requirement to appoint a disciplinary committee headed by the secretary of the party.
“Moreover, why has the president revoked the membership of the Prime Minister for the reasons published in the media instead of charges being laid against him in accordance with disciplinary rules?
“There was no 14 days’ notice given, as per the disciplinary guidelines, hence the decision to revoke the PM’s membership came unilaterally from the party president, not the disciplinary panel.”
The UDP MPs maintained that the purported revocation of the Prime Minister’s membership of the party does not disqualify him from being a legitimate Member of the UDP or to act in the capacity of Prime Minister.
“The question of whether or not Mr Sogavare remains as Prime Minister can only be decided by the National Parliament.
“We wish to state our unreserved support for the Prime Minister as a Member and Parliamentary Wing Leader of the UDP.
“We call on the Party President to raise party matters with the duly elected members of the UDP Parliamentary Wing and not act unilaterally as has been the case.”
