Court decision on motion this morning

At 9am today the people of Vanuatu will know if Parliament will meet to debate the second motion of no confidence on the nation’s prime minister this year or not.

The Supreme Court will hand down its decision at 9 o’clock this morning on the application by the Leader of the Opposition, Moana Carcasses — MP for Port Vila, and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and MP for Santo Rural, Serge Vohor, the movers of the motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister, Joe Natuman.

The two leaders lodged the motion on Friday, August 29 signed by 27 MPs with the backing of some Government backbenchers.

But on Monday, September 1, the Speaker of Parliament, Philip Boedoro, replied to their request for the calling of the Parliament to debate the motion of no confidence and said the motion was not in order.

He said five signatories – all government backbenchers had withdrawn their signatures rendering the motion non-compliant with the requirements under the country’s Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament.

Believing their rights were infringed during the process of consideration of their request by the Speaker, the Opposition sought the help of the courts to order the house to meet to debate the motion. The Speaker has insisted that some of the five who withdrew their signatures had done so before the motion was lodged and the rest during the period or consideration of the motion by the Speaker.

Last week, the Government issued a statement claiming it had strong evidence of foreigners involved in this latest motion of no confidence and has led to one investor and an Australian lawyer, Robert Herd, being deported from the country.