Nominated candidate for the Prime Minister (PM) position by the care taking government, Rick Hou strongly rebuffs the front page article of Island Sun newspaper yesterday, which claimed that he slammed the former government.
Speaking during the press conference yesterday at the Office of the Prime Minister, Hou said he sees the article as an error to his conversation with the Island Sun news reporter.
Hou told the journalists that it was misleading, since the author of the news article also denied the headline, when contacted on Tuesday.
Island Sun news published a leading news story yesterday with the headline “Hou Slam DCC.”
But Hou said the actual question raised was, why his party (Democratic Alliance Party or DAP for short) cross the floor to join the ousted Democratic Coalition for Change (DCC) government.
Hou explained that his answer was for stability’s sake since the DCC government has experienced instability that really hinders their efforts to implement government policies, in the last three years.
He said this ongoing instability in the DCC government has persisted for the last three years and finally ended in a Motion of No Confidence that successfully resulted in the removal of the former PM Manasseh Sogavare.
Thus, Hou said DAP see themselves as agent of stability at this time, which led them to join the former government, to ensure instability is eradicated, in order for the new regime to carry on with their development programs in the remaining year.
However, Hou said what the article claimed that he downplayed the programs of DCC is grossly misleading, false and misquoting what he actually mean.
The likely new PM revealed his team from the former opposition group have always been supporting the budget of the DCC government in the last three years.
Adding, their new coalition have discussed the news article and agreed that it was an error that went to print.
By AATAI JOHN
