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THE Office the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC) has described the report claiming that Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare had met with former militants as ‘a deliberate lie’ concocted by none other than a bunch of power-hungry politicians in the Parliamentary Opposition Group.
It said it was interesting to learn that this group of politicians used the Island Sun newspaper to publish the false allegation against the Prime Minister and then issue a media statement under the label of the Parliamentary Opposition Group to call on the Prime Minister to confirm or deny whether the allegation is true.
The OPMC said such an action brings into question the integrity of the Parliamentary Opposition Group to perform the watchdog role it is constitutionally mandated with.
It said the Prime Minister meets with the ordinary citizens of Solomon Islands on a regular basis but he has never met any so-called militant or groups representing militants.
The OPMC said the allegation is simply a continuation of the string of lies advanced by the power-hungry politicians to discredit his image ahead of their planned motion of no-confidence.
It said the Prime Minister has more pressing and important issues of national interest to attend to than responding to a concocted media report.
Meanwhile, the OPMC cautioned the Parliamentary Opposition group against the use of the term ‘Ex-Militants’ on those who took part in the ethnic conflict.
It said the use of this label can be seen as undermining the social rehabilitation process the ethnic conflict participants had undergone to reintegrate into the society.
