Archive - Jun 2011

The Nagriamel Movement wishes to remind the general public that any planned dissolution by the President of the Republic of Vanuatu would have severe repercussions on the state of affairs of this nation and the people.

Secretary General, Jeff Patunvanu, said local businesses that are already in severe cash flow crisis will be forced to pay the price and this will quickly filter down to local grassroots people already suffering poor services and struggling to survive.

Opposition leader Sato Kilman has slammed the investigation on perjury allegations against him and three of his MPs by interim Prime Minister Edward Natapei saying as far as they are concerned there were no plans or conspiracy and they did not lie in court.

He also dismissed speculation that the MPs investigated could be arrested in Parliament.

Mr Kilman’s response rebutted the interim Prime minister’s reasons who justified why the government boycotted Parliament, and that includes allegations of Santo Rural MP Samson Samsen receiving a fat envelope to switch sides.

What is the period of a life of Parliament?
 Four (4) years
Can Parliament be dissolved?
Yes
On what basis can Parliament be dissolved?
There are two scenarios.

Dear Editor,

Thank you for allowing this poor taxpayer to make a small observation.

To my understanding, the term “contempt of court” means the deliberate refusal to follow a court order or action contravening an order.

The Judge, in appointing Mr Natepei as acting Prime Minister, ordered him to hold elections “as soon as possible”.

If Natepei had the speaker call parliament together on yesterday's date, surely that falls within the “as soon as possible”.

Dear Editor,

Will our Political Leaders ever listen to the innocent cries of the silent majority of people out in the rural areas throughout Vanuatu?

It is time that our Politicians change their mindset and attitude. If they are not willing to change their mindset and attitude, they will soon face the consequences of their decisions and actions.

Among others, I believe it is very unlikely that their voters may vote them into the Parliament comes general election next year 2012.

Last year the members of parliament (MPs) effectively increased the allocation to Vt3 million, but only Vt1 million was left to be applied for through normal parliamentary process to ensure transparency and accountability and Vt2 million went directly into the pockets of MPs as allowance.

The minister of finance at that time (November 2010), Sela Molisa, currently interim finance minister said one of the reasons for the sudden increase would not only help the work of MPs who faced constant demands for assistance from voters but also to minimise movements of MPs.

o Mi harem se last weeks dob from an eye witness on an AFP guy handcuffing a woman on a Air Vanuatu flight and asking how he got the handcuffs on the flight through security in Vila resulted in an Aussie High Commission investigation. The guy who grabbed the woman as the flight landed did so because the woman was making her way towards the cockpit. He was a retired AFP officer. The AFP were alerted at the airport and came on board when the flight landed and handcuffed her so the handcuffs were not brought onto the plane at Vila and security in Vila was not compromised. That is good news.

President of the Vanua-aku Pati Edward Natapei has said if the Government requests the Head of State to dissolve parliament for the country to return to early general elections and he agrees then he as the President of VP wishes to assure the country that he (too) will agree in line with the best interest of the country and its people.

The following is an English translation of his statement in Bislama which he signed:

The interim government has accused the former Kilman ‘government’ of illegally using the Community Development Fund (CDF) under the Prime Minister’s office to pay “MP allocations” of Vt500,000 each to four members of parliament.

These four members of parliament are Tafea Outer Islands MP Phillip Charlie, Ambae MP James Bule, Malekula MP Esmon Simon, and Santo Rural MP Samson Samsen.

The total paid out was Vt2 million.

The instruction to make these payments were made on Tuesday May 31, 2011 from the prime minister’s office to the ministry of finance.

Ratu Tevita Mara has called on the Governments of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the FLNKS Organisation, Members of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), to immediately suspend Fiji from the MSG as it is in flagrant breach of Article 6, Section 2, and other provisions of the Agreement Establishing The Melanesian Spearhead Group.