Confidence high in government’s camp to have its motion through
By Gary Hatigeva
AFTER three days of workshops and trainings, youth parliamentarians are all set to take part in a whole day debate session, with hopes high in the government camp, to have its motion voted and passed.
On Wednesday, the youths were given final coaching on their presentations and debates for the session, with recaps on the processes and procedures of parliament, particularly, Parliament’s Standing Orders or House Regulations.
Speaking on this, Chairlady of the National Youth Parliament Marisa Peppa, in an interview explained that the youths are all set and now hyped up for today’s session, with so much anticipation for a much higher level of debates and discussions into the motion to be tabled.
Ms Peppa further explained that yesterday’s session also saw all 50 participants separated into the three respective groups of parliament, which are, the Opposition, Independent, and Government, where heads of these groups were appointed.
Following the appointment of a Prime Minister and the formation of a government, those in the government side went through the process of allocation of ministerial portfolios.
“So they are all pretty much set for tomorrow (today), and are ready to make a good youth parliament debate session,” the NYP Chair explained.
The Minister responsible for the motion is expected to move it and present an opening speech before the floor will be opened for debates.
The Motion: “That this National Youth Parliament resolves that Compulsory Voting be introduced in the Solomon Islands to ensure peacebuilding and social inclusion” and the Youth Prime Minister is confident his side will pull things off, with the support of the other side of the house.
Peppa said this year’s session is very much a duplicate of an actual parliament sitting, which involves all the processes and protocols, including the activities that involved in the formation of a government, opposition and independent benches in parliament.
“Debates will be guided by Parliamentary Standing Orders and that means all the rules that are applied on Members of Parliament in actual sessions, also apply on these youth parliamentarians.
“They might also exhaust the voting procedures of parliament if the house comes a deadlock over the motion, where every single vote would matter most, especially for the Yes and No’s.
“We’ll see how things will go tomorrow (today), but there is so much to look forward to in this debate session, as it is expected to bring out the great potentials in our youths, as some of them have already been involved in politics arena and would have very good contributions and discussions,” she added.
Meanwhile, the NYP Chairlady pointed out that today’s debate session will be open to members of the general public, and those who are interested can make it up to Parliament early as the programme will start at 9am sharp.
A number of schools have confirmed their attendance to observe the session, with families of the participating youths, but the NYP Chairlady reminded that once in parliament, observers must always adhere to the rules and regulations of parliament.
“Remember, less noise when in the public gallery during parliament session and no photos when sessions are also on.
“Just basically, don’t do anything that will interfere or create obvious disturbances to the session, otherwise, all are welcome to listen and observe,” the Chairlady stressed.
The debate will also be broadcasted live on SIBC and televise on TV through the Telekom Television (TTV), with an additional feature, for it to be steamed live on Facebook.
