Port Moresby, August 5, 2024 – Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has welcomed today’s Supreme Court decision dismissing a vote-of-no-confidence case filed by the Opposition.
The five-man Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, along with Justices Gavara-Nanu, Mogish, Cannings, and Hartshorn, dismissed the proceedings and upheld the objection to the competency of the case raised by Attorney-General Hon. Pila Niningi.
“I welcome the Supreme Court decision. Laws of our country cannot be hijacked or coerced or influenced in any forum, including National Parliament,” Prime Minister Marape said.
“Today’s ruling is a good ruling by the Supreme Court. You cannot get any better bench to read the law than the bench that read the law today, especially that Parliament handles its own matters.
“The premise of the Opposition coming to court was basically to question the conduct of Parliament and the Private Business Committee; however, the Supreme Court upheld Section 134 of the Constitution, which clearly states that matters of Parliament cannot be brought to court.
“The decision brings to greater light the borders of Parliament and the Judiciary. You can only go to the Supreme Court when the Constitution is breached.
“Today’s court decision highlighted that Speaker Hon. Job Pomat was never in breach of the Constitution and that his ruling was in order. In fact, when I moved a Section 96 Dissent, and when Parliament upheld that Dissent, Opposition MPs walked out of Parliament. If they were man enough, they would have remained in their seats and used their numbers to defeat my Dissent.
“Parliament operates on numbers, including for quorums, for the Speaker to entertain motions for decisions to be made.
“I appreciate the Supreme Court for enforcing, yet again, that matters of Parliament are matters of Parliament.”
Prime Minister Marape emphasised that the vote-of-no-confidence remains active until 2026, and MPs have the Constitutional right to exercise this option.
“I want to assure the people of Papua New Guinea that my government is not fearful of this vote-of-no-confidence and will continue to deliver services to you,” the Prime Minister said.
“We look forward to going to Parliament on September 3.
“I ask the Opposition to be responsible leaders and not to create unnecessary tensions in the public space, including throwing tantrums in Parliament, and outside. I appeal to them to come up with better policies than my government, rather than wasting time and money going to court and holding the country to ransom.”
###
