The Opposition says Sogavare’s intention to rush the Constitutional Amendment Bill through Parliament is an abuse of processes
OPPOSITION Leader Mathew Wale has lashed out at Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s move to fast track the Constitutional Amendment Bill to defer the 2023 election without going through the necessary parliamentary processes.
Prime Minister Sogavare in yesterday‘s parliament meeting announced the statement of government business for the weekend.
He said the Parliament will resume on Monday but will adjourn to Tuesday for the first reading of the Bill on the constitutional amendment. Parliament will then be adjourned for Thursday, during which he will table the bill for debate.
But Mr Wale said the move is a clear abuse of the parliamentary processes and will set a bad precedence for the future.
He said the usual practice under standing orders is, once the responsible Minister presents the Bill at the Second Reading stage, it cannot be debated until after three clear days.
“In the instance, the Prime Minister wants to move the Second Reading debate speech on Thursday and start the debate and conclude it on the same day and go on to commit it for detailed scrutiny at the committee supply stage is an abuse of parliamentary processes.
“In other words, he wants this bill to be rushed through quickly by Parliament on Thursday.
“Where is the good governance he always talks about?’’ the Opposition Leader adds.
He said good parliamentary practice is that a Bill should go before the house according to the set processes. First it must go before the Bills and Legislation Committee (BLC) to conduct hearings and enquiries. When the BLC processes is completed, the committee will write a report containing recommendations about the Bills and put it before the house. That report will help enlighten Members of Parliament about the Bill before they consider the it at the Second Reading stage.
“Obviously, the Prime Minister is not interested in good parliamentary practices or good governance because he wants to short cut the processes.
“This clearly an abuse of the processes and it sets a bad precedence for the future. No Prime Minister should see it necessary to short cut or undermine the parliamentary processes,” he said.
He said the bill seeks a constitutional amendment that will affect the life of the house and as such all Members of Parliament have a vested interest in it.
When asked if his position as member of the BLC may influence the Prime Minister to avoid the parliamentary processes, he said it has nothing to do with that.
Mr Wale said most Opposition Leaders are Members of Parliamentary Standing Committees and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and BLC are \no exceptions.
He said these Standing Committee have a good history in terms of not being politicised and the Prime Minister is aware of this as he was also a member of these committees when he was Opposition Leader.
The Opposition Leader said since that move is to do with what the Prime Minister expects, there is public anger and objection to defer the next NGE and he quickly wants to get rid of it and it is a risky calculation.
“My sense of public opinion is that the vast majority of Solomon Islanders are opposed to this Bill. Whatever opinion they hold, we would want proper parliamentary processes to be complied with,” he added.
BY CHARLES KADAMANA
Solomon Star, Honiara
