Lobbying intensifies ahead of PNG no confidence vote Featured
PNG opposition leader Don Polye, who hopes to become the Prime Minister after a no confidence motion next Friday. Photo: Papua New Guinea opposition
17 July, 2016. Papua New Guinea's opposition now claims that as many as 30 MPs have sided with it as back room lobbying intensifies ahead of a no confidence vote next week.
Parliament sat on Friday for the tabling of an opposition motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, before being adjourned until next Friday when a vote will take place.
While there, Bire Kimisopa and his three New Generation Party MPs, as well as the government minister Ben Micah and his People's Progress Party, crossed the floor to join the opposition.
A spokesperson for the opposition said more MPs joined it on Saturday, and its members have entered a camp to plan and discuss their options ahead of Friday vote.
The leader, Don Polye, and his deputy, Sam Basil, were unable to be reached for comment on Saturday, but other MPs at the camp, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they were confident they would have the 56 MPs needed to topple the government by Friday.
But Mr O'Neill's government, which still commands a sizable majority, is also understood to be lobbying intensely.
Mr O'Neill and other government MPs could not be reached for comment on Saturday.
However, in a statement on Thursday, he said he was confident he would survive the motion, dismissing it as a costly attempt by the opposition to cause instability for the sake of political self-indulgence.
Protests continue
Meanwhile, air travel in Papua New Guinea was disrupted for a fourth day and workers at the nation's ports were deliberately working slowly as part of a protest against the Prime Minister.
A civil society said its stop work protest had disrupted air travel across the country since Wednesday as pilots of the state-owned airline, Air Niugini, chose not to fly.
The group wants Mr O'Neill to stand down to face fraud allegations that have dogged him for more than two years.
The PNG Maritime and Transport Workers unions said it advised its workers not to take part in the protest and that work at the ports was continuing normally.
But the civil society group's leader, the constitutional lawyer Moses Murray, said that while the port workers were not disrupting essential services, they were protesting peacefully at the same time.
"What would you interpret if you are unloading a container from a boat in two hours. It takes two hours to unload one container. They're working, but is their conscience fully with their work?," he said.
-RNZI
5 comments
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Ko e tali pe ena ho'o laine faka'osi Toa Ko Maafu, tau falala ki 'olunga ke fai mei ai hotau tataki, pea kapau ko e kautama pe koeni 'oku 'omai kenau tataki kitautolu, ta oku ikai ke toe kehe hotau kuonga mei he kuonga ongongata'a 'o ha'a 'Isileli hono ngaahi kovi'i kinautolu 'e Nepukanesa 'i papilone, ko e taimi ia ne taki fakahe ai kinautolu ki papilone ko e lahi mo e totu'a 'enau fai angahala.
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Ko e ha nai e founga ke fai 'i Tonga ni he 'oku tokosi'i e fa'ahi fakaanga pea 'oku 'ilo pe 'e he kau mempia kapineti 'e ngoto e vaka ka nau fakalongolongo pe kinautolu mo fangota kae faka'ofa e kakai ia moe fonua. Ko e siokita ko honau tokoua mo'oni pea 'alu fakataha moe ta'efieauna. 'Oku tau falala ki 'olunga 'e tataki mei ai 'a e hala ke fakahoko.
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Malo PNG e ta sipinga lelei pea koe founga totonu 'ena ke fai mo fakahoko leva. 'Ofa pe 'e hoko mai 'a Tonga he vave taha he tu'a 'o PNG kae tuku aa hono taukapo'i e fai hala moe fakamala'ia ki he fonua.
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'Amusia e kau Kapineti mo Fale Alea 'o PNG 'oku nau 'atamai lelei, 'o 'ilo pe faihala moe ta'efalala'anga honau taki pea nau afe leva mei ai 'o kumi ha taki faitotonu mo manako he pule lelei.
Kapau ko ha me'a 'ena 'i Tonga ni, 'e afe kotoa hake Kapineti ia 'o taukapo'i mo 'aofi e faihala 'a e taki neongo 'a e tekeutua mai 'a e faihala moe kakaa. 'Ikai toe kehekehe mo 'enau hiki nima ke hao 'a Lavulavu, neongo 'a e mata'a'aa mai 'a e faihala. Mo'oni e lau 'a 'Aisake Eke, na'a mau ki'i tukutafa'aki e lao, mo'oni, faitotonu, moe pule lelei, kamau hikinima ke hao a Lavu telia na'a mole homau lakanga Minisita, mafaii mo e ngeia. Kau Minisita tu'u tau'ataina, mou ako ha me'a mei he kau PNG, pea mou loto lahi 'o faitotonu, he ka 'ikai temou tafia kotoa kitu'a he fili hokoo. Kuo maama e kakai kau tama. -
Kaikehe koe ofa fonua e lava pe he tuu fakataha ke ai ha vote. Ko Tonga ni heikai lava ha vote he oku tokosii e faahi a e kau Nopele pea oku osi lava a Siaosi Sovaleni Poasi Saia mo Feao o identify ae palopalema he tataki a Akilisi ka oku ikai kenau move kinautolu ke fai ha vote of no confidence koeuhi koe faahinga uhinga fakaekinautolu Pe. Ka mou nofo ai pe hena ketau auha kotoa.