By Sarah C. LaBelle
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania
The opposition in the Solomon Islands has alleged that they have the numbers to rule for the past three weeks. Meanwhile, the government claims that this is untrue. The Governor General has stepped in and set December 13th as the date for parliament to meet to settle the issue. Currently, the sides appear to be tied at 24 members each. For more background information, please see theImpunity Watch posts on the early stages of the numbers dispute here andhere.
HONIARA, Solomon Islands — As December 13th approaches, heated arguments are springing up between MPs and a variety of lawsuits have been filed related to the dispute over who has the numbers to lead.
Julian Moti, the controversial attorney general of the Solomon Islands, filed a suit against Governor General Sir Nathaniel Waena and others, challenging the constitutionality of his intervention in the political mess. Moti said that there wasn’t anything unusual about naming the governor general as defendant in a suit, and said that there is a history in the Solomons of prime ministers suing governor generals. He also named Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Independent Members as defendants, stating that since they had a stake in the outcome of the case, they deserved to be heard.
Criminal charges of misconduct in office and conspiracy were dropped against opposition leader Fred Fono today in magistrate court. The charges were dismissed on the grounds that the prosecution abused the court process by attempting to incorrectly get the case referred to the High Court rather than the Leadership Code Commission.
The opposition group, now calling itself the “Coalition for National Unity and Rural Advancement” (CNURA), recently dropped a claim against current Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare of misconduct, which turns out to have been based on fraudulent information. An unnamed government spokesman said that the accusation was a deliberate attempt to discredit the government, and called it a “smear campaign”.
MP Sam Iduri, one of the nine original defectors, has been called on by his community leaders to rejoin the government because they feel that his defection may lead to development projects being canceled in their community.
East Honiara MP Charles Dausabea accused RAMSI of wanting to topple Sogavare’s government, based on information from “reliable sources”, and said that RAMSI needs to stay out of politics. Fono denied that his group is supported by RAMSI, and told the Solomon Star that “Dausabea needs to justify where he gets his statements from … RAMSI is totally neutral and I don’t know where Dausabea gets his facts from but he needs to check again.”
CNURA has said the the Grand Coalition for Change (GCC), the current government, has not successfully implemented its “Bottom-Up Approach” (BUA) development policy. CNURA claims that Sogavare spent money that should have gone to BUA on defending and protecting Moti, and stated that CNURA is committed to making the development policy work. Sogavare responded to these claims by saying that they demonstrated CNURA’s desperation and claims that the policy would take a long time to implement successfully. He also said that the programme should not be discontinued even if a future government does not like it; the hypothetical future government should realign the programmes instead.
CNURA also criticized government attempts to stop the printing of the gazette on the proclamation of the date the governor general declared for parliament to meet. These attempts failed because by the time members of the prime minister’s office arrived at the printers’ office, the gazette had already been delivered to Government House and distributed among the MPs. Of the attempts, Fono said, “They are sure signs of a desperate group that wants to cling onto power despite losing its majority support in parliament.”
Fono also alleges that opposition MPs are being threatened and that government officials are behind the threats. An unnamed government official spoke with the Solomon Star and categorically denied the allegation. Fono claims that the MPs are being harassed by groups of people showing up at the Honiara Hotel, where the defected ministers are staying since their government housing has been revoked. Government caucus chairman Nelson Ne’e said that the opposition members were “locked away like prisoners” in the hotel, a claim Fono disputes.
For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Solomons govt caucus whip accuses opposition of keeping MPs prisoner – 29 November 2007
Radio New Zealand International – Calls for MP in Solomon Islands to rejoin government – 03 December 2007
Solomon Times – Opposition Group Vows New Beginning for Nation – 03 December 2007
Solomon Times – New Government to Enhance Solomons Security, Law and Order: Huni’ehu – 03 December 2007
Solomon Times – Opposition’s CNURA Pledges to Make BUA Work – 04 December 2007
Solomon Times – BUA – The Way Forward for SI: Prime Minister Sogavare – 04 December 2007
Solomon Times – CNURA Pledge to Address Economic Recovery and Financial Management – 04 December 2007
Solomon Star – Opposition blasts government – 04 December 2007
Solomon Star – Moti explains law suit – 04 December 2007
Solomon Star – Opposition drops claim about PM – 04 December 2007
Solomon Star – Opposition MPs being threatened, says Fono – 04 December 2007
Solomon Star – RAMSI stay out of politics: Dausabea – 04 December 2007
Islands Business – Opposition parties formalise coalition – 04 December 2007
Islands Business – Court dismisses charges against Opposition leader – 04 December 2007
Radio Australia – Solomon Is. Opposition releases policy details – 05 December 2007
