Lobbying for the formation of the 12th Parliament gov’t intensifies, Wale’s rejection of Lilo’s proposal to join CARE leaves the tripartite coalition at the verge of disintegration
THE rejection of a proposal by the Central Honiara Member of Parliament (MP)-elect Gordon Darcy Lilo to join the Coalition for Accountability, Reform and Empowerment (CARE) if he is given the positions of Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister of Finance and Treasury by the MP-reelect for Aoke-Langalanga, Matthew Wale is seeing the disintegration of the tripartite coalition, well-placed sources revealed last night.
The sources told Solomon Star that GDL had approached Mr Wale about joining CARE and even getting the Parliamentary Wing Leader of the Solomon Islands United Party (SIUP), Peter Kenilorea Junior and his Party members to join CARE if Wale can give him the DPM and Miniter of Finance and Treasury positions but Wale outrightly rejected the proposal, saying the position has already been allocated to the Leader of the Democratic Party (DAP) and MP-reelect for Small Malaita, Rick Hou and the Finance and Treasury Ministerial portfolio to the MP-reelect for West Are Are, John Maneniaru.
The sources added that disappointed by Wale’s undiplomatic response to the proposal by Wale and furthermore by Wale’s non-allocation of the ministerial portfolios that he promised them, four MPs-elect of CARE have decided to exit from the tripartite coalition to join the SIPRA-SIUP coalition.
They said the CARE coalition met on Monday to discuss the ministerial portfolio allocations and some MPs just could not tolerate the overbearing attitude of Wale and it is likely that more MPs from the coalition will leave the party besides the MPs who had already made known their intention to leave.
The sources said the four MPs had clearly stated that if Lilo could not persuade Wale to give him the positions he wanted and is not keen about the idea of teaming up with SIPRA and SIUP to form the next government, then there is no hope for CARE to form or even be part of the next government.
“These four disgruntled MPs stated that with a SIPRA-SIUP coalition, they believe they will be allocated the ministerial portfolios of their preference.
“These four MPs have gotten in touch with Lilo and Kenilorea Junior who are now overseeing the largest force in the negotiation process for the formation of the next government.
“As for CARE, it is at the verge of disintegration just because of the arrogance of its frontliner who seems to show no iota of respect at all to other leaders,” one of the sources said.
CARE comprises Wale’s Solomon Islands Democratic Party (SIDP), Rick Houenipwela’s Democratic Party (DAP) and the Daniel Suidani-led Umi 4 Change Party.
By DELI-SHARON OSO
Solomon Star, Honiara
