Sir Mekere tells PM: You’re responsible

By JONATHAN TANNOS

OPPOSITION Leader, Sir Mekere Morauta, yesterday accused the Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, of washing his hands clean of the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC).
Sir Mekere said the law, parts of which were last week declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, was the making of the Prime Minister himself.
Sir Mekere said he had proposed the law in 2001 but Sir Michael had refined and adopted his own in 2003 which had now been thrown out by the Supreme Court.
Sir Mekere said Sir Michael could not blame him and legal consultant Dr John Nonggorr.
“Somare cannot duck responsibility for OLIPPAC,” he said.
“Michael Somare has a highly selective memory.
“The law on which the court made its ruling last week was the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates 2003, enacted when Somare became Prime Minister in 2002. Has Somare now conveniently forgotten that he repealed the 2001 law I enacted when I was Prime Minister and replaced it with his own 2003 law?”
Sir Mekere said under the Somare version a change was made to allow the current Prime Minister’s chief of staff Paul Bengo, as the only constitutional officer holder to remain in office over the age of 55 as Registrar of Political Parties. Sir Mekere said the intention of the law was passed in good faith to stabilise the system of politics and reduce corruption. He said the issues should still be high on the agenda of any ethical political party.
But he said despite the good intentions the system had been grossly abused by the current government over the last eight years.

Post Courier July 12 2010

Lawyer: House can fix dent in OLIPPAC

National Newspaper below reports that true democracy has been restored but I doubt it. Politicians are now free to join any political parties they want but the bottom line is that we are still dealing with the same corrupt leaders. Additionally, we are still dealing with the same system.
It will really require a complete change of system and people in-order for any changes to take place in this country. The same recycled leaders will be in government. There is no immediate change that I see but we need to invest in getting young leaders with new ideas and vision for this country.

Source:

By JULIA DAIA BORE

WEDNESDAY’S Sup-reme Court decision on the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC) was hailed by its referrer, Dr Bob Danaya, as “justice being done at last” for the people of PNG.
Danaya and counsel Loani Henao, however, said the decision had left a “dent” in the OLIPPAC.
Henao said: “The major parts of the OLIPPAC that we challenged in court have been declared unconstitutional, but the rest remained intact.
“The question of whether what remains of the OLIPPAC would hold the law together is something for Parliament and the registrar of political parties to consider,” he told reporters after the court decision.
“In our view, the OLIPPAC had been severely dented. And, so, necessary amendments are needed to put together a complete OLIPPAC.”
Henao said while the intention of the OLIPPAC was to bring stability to government, such should not happen “at the expense of freedom of choice, freedom of expression and freedom of exercising conscience”.
“Do it properly; you can still do it within the framework of the Constitution.
“Do not abuse and do not take away the rights of the people which are expressed by their representatives.”
Thanking his legal team for convincing the Supreme Court to rule in their favour, Danaya said: “I can tell Members of Parliament that from this hour on, you are free to resign from a political party – if you wish to – and join another party or form another party.
“MPs now have that freedom; and, the important thing is, from here onwards, we must ensure there is good governance in Parliament and throughout PNG.”
Henao said the fears of a dictatorship were gone.
“That has been removed.
“True democracy has returned.
“The Supreme Court decision was very important. It was, hopefully, a lesson to the legislators that the enshrined freedoms in the Constitution must not be tempered or interfered with.
“These freedoms are put there so that they will allow the constituencies and the grassroots people of this country to exercise their freedom of choice and their freedom of expressions through their elected MPs.
“That should never, ever have been taken away in the first place.”

National Newspaper July 9 2010