PM to further adjourn parliament as political instability continues
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare will further adjourn Parliament today as the political instability resulting from the recent major cabinet shakeup enters another week, a government insider says.
He adjourned Parliament last week citing the visit of the President of the Asian Development Bank and the Public Accounts Committee’s need of time to scrutinise the second supplementary appropriation bill for this year as the reasons.
“The Prime Minister will be further adjourning Parliament tomorrow in an effort to buy time to ensure the numerical strength of the Democratic Coalition for Change Government.
“He fears a motion of no-confidence as the political move to oust him from the prime ministership continues to gain momentum,” the government insider said.
The government insider added that,“ The issuing of cash-contained envelopes to government caucus members during the urgent caucus meeting on August 20 is a sure sign of desperation by the Prime Minister to hold on to power.”
He welcomed the call by the Leader of the Parliamentary Independent Group Dr Derek Sikua for the deregistration of the Solomon Islands Forest Association (SIFA) due to its heavy involvement in politics.
Dr Sikua told Solomon Star that since its establishment SIFA has never lived up to its best practice standards to sustain forests in the country and it is time relevant authorities deregister the association for the betterment of forest resources and governance.
“I totally support the call by Dr Sikua and relevant authorities should heed the call as the forest association is manipulating the Prime Minister for its selfish commercial interests at the expense of Solomon Islanders.
“The $2-million donation from two logging companies to the Democratic Coalition for Change Government to maintain its support for the leadership of Prime Minister Sogavare implies a strong connection between the Prime Minister and companies.
“This is a worrying implication especially when the Prime Minister has been so vocal against corruption,” the government insider said.
By Teddy Kafo
