By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania
YAREN, Nauru –- Amidst recent political instability, Nauru’s President, Marcus Stephen, has declared the newly appointed parliamentary Speaker, David Adeang, “out of control.” Mr. Adeang, a member of the Opposition, working with Nauru’s former President, Rene Harris, attempted to oust Mr. Stephen with a vote of no confidence on Tuesday.
While Mr. Stephen’s supporters still hold a majority of 9 in the 18 member Parliament, Mr. Adeang’s appointment as Speaker is significant because it allows the Opposition to recall Parliament even when Government Ministers are out of the country and unable to vote.
Eager to remove Mr. Stephen’s government, the Opposition is calling for new elections. In accordance, Mr. Adeang has recommended dissolving Parliament and holding a new round of elections. Mr. Stephen has accused the Speaker of “breaking every parliamentary rule in the book.”
But Mr. Adeang and the Opposition are justifying last week’s vote of no confidence on the “pollution and phosphate dust emissions” resulting from Nauru’s recent revival of its phosphate industry. Last month’s closing of an Australian detention center has placed nearly ten per cent of Nauruans out of work. The government has been pressed to find alternative solutions for creating a sustainable economy. Phosphate exportation is one of those solutions.
The mining of phosphate, a mineral used in farm fertilizer, has long been a source of political unrest in Nauru. In the last hundred years, the phosphate industry has been both a blessing, transforming Nauru into one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and a curse, more recently bankrupting the island and ravaging its environment. President Rene Harris, whom the Opposition favors, is credited, at least in part, with causing Nauru’s fall from riches.
Meanwhile, President Stephen has retaliated, calling Mr. Adeang’s environmental reasons for the vote of no confidence a “a red herring being used in an attempt to justify their selfish and uncaring actions, which are not only affecting the smooth conduct of parliament; they are also hurting Nauru’s reputation at a time when genuine progress is being achieved.”
Nauruans are caught in the middle; many favoring a return to prosperity, yet, others unwilling to sacrifice their backyards to dust and phosphate emissions. The majority merely want an end to the political instability.
If Parliament calls for new elections, however, foreign minister, Dr Kieran Keke, is confident the current Government will prevail.
For more information, please see:
PacNews –- Nauru talks ongoing to find political stability –- 24 March 2008
Pacific Magazine –- Nauru President Claims Parliamentary Speaker “Out of Control” — 22 March 2008
ABC News –- Oppn MP appointed Nauru Speaker –- 20 March 2008
Al Jazeera.net –- Nauru’s riches to rags decline — 17 March 2008
BBC News — Nauru seeks to regain lost fortunes — 15 March 2008