Dear Editor – The country must condemn this payment in the strongest term.
It is a very bad precedential use of public funds (tax payers’) by the DCC government and a Prime Minister who is so hungry for power that he would do anything to hold on to it.
It is very bad for the government and the Prime Minister to use other people’s money to ‘buy’ the ex-combatants’ MPs support against the recently aborted vote of no confidence in the PM.
It is a very expensive political expediency move which inter alias, will cost this country dearly.
How much basic health and education services are sacrificed to make way for this illegal payment as it is not provided for in this year’s budget?
As momentum was building up to the possibility of a no confidence motion in the Prime Minister late last year, the most likely turn of events was that the payment was promised to the MPs most closely associated with the ex-combatants, who in turn pledged their support to the PM resulting in the withdrawal of the motion.
Of course the DCC and the PM will go on denying this until kingdom come.
But this was what most likely happened.
So here we have a power hungry PM wanting to hold onto everything he has got which included alleged agreements with the likes of the Nazar group; the Skyline scam investors and potentially all the intended foreign business investors who courtesy called on the Prime Minister in his office.
We should have laws which restrict access by foreign business entities to our Prime Ministers.
Since when do our business people visit Prime Ministers of Asian countries whenever they are in those countries?
Never! We should reciprocate on this.
Gabriel Taloikwai
Honiara
