BY SAMIE WAIKORI
The group of MPs who deserted GNUT government early this week have called for calm amid the political instability.
This follows a no confidence motion filed against PM Jeremiah Manele, after a mass walkout of 10 MPs from his government, who now join the Opposition Group.
While time still allow for lobbying ahead of tabling the motion on Tuesday next week, citizens of this country, especially those in Honiara were asked for peace and calm.
A senior MP within the group, MP for East Malaita, Manasseh Maelanga made the appeal at a press conference held with local media yesterday.
“I want to call on the people of this nation for calm and see how things will work-out.
“This is our leaders and they will be looking at how to solve things for our country,” he said.
This week, Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele and Opposition Leader Matthew Wale also called for calm and allow leaders to deal with the current political situation.
Similar appealed also echoed by RSIPF, Honiara City Council and other important stakeholders in Honiara.
As of Wednesday night, the Opposition Group is reported with 26 MPs and the government side with 23 MPs.
Lobbying is underway.

BY SAMIE WAIKORI
Former Minister for Infrastructure Development and MP for East Malaita Manasseh Maelanga who joined nine others and deserted GNUT government says they are not grasshoppers, but leaders, who made the decision for the interest of the country.
The MP made the statement in response to allegations raised by some MPs on the government bench that their decision to defect from GNUT was ‘nothing else but grasshopping’.
[Grasshopping is a term used to describe members of parliament who jump from one side of the floor of parliament to the other].
“I want to iron out allegation made by some of our former cabinet colleagues, alleging our move was grasshopper, is childish in politics.
“This is not grasshopper. If you look at history, we are not people like that. We moved because of something, and it’s because leadership,” Maelanga said.
Maelanga added if a leader does not know how to handle a group, this is what is expected, as they are mandated by people to serve the country with integrity.
He said there are allegations on certain issues they were not happy about, because of leadership. And with a weak leadership, the country cannot achieve anything, nor progress.
Adding only through strong leadership, the government can implement its policies.
In the meantime, Maelanga said the mass walkout from GNUT was also due to personal conviction, based on what they ‘felt inside’.
“We cannot just sit-down when things are not going well. We have our own thoughts and for me, I just cannot sit down and watch,” he said.
Maelanga also called on MPs to understand and acknowledge that in parliament, the opposition group is an alternative government.
They can form the government if they have the majority number.

BY SAMIE WAIKORI
Former Minister for Infrastructure Development, MP for East Malaita Manasseh Maelanga has called on MPs in GNUT government to make up their mind and leave.
This is the right decision, and only through that they can resolve issues they continue to feel discontent about under the current leadership, he said.
In light of that, the 10 MPs had made up the decision to resign from their ministerial portfolios and left government, a hard decision to make, Maelanga said.
But they did so, according to Maelanga, for the good of the country.
He said there were reasons to desert GNUT government and above all, their loss of confidence on the current regime.
Maelanga told media yesterday that sometimes in the recent past, a petition was submitted by the government group to the Prime Minister.
He added within the petition requests were made for PM Jeremiah Manele to dialogue with some of the government ministers on concerning issues, but nothing happened.
“This shows weak leadership,” Maelanga said.
He furthered that some colleagues on the government side were also not happy about it, “but they still sit down there”.
“They don’t have the guts to move,” Maelanga said while acknowledged them as leaders, but for 10 of them, they had made their decision to leave GNUT government.
“I call on them to make up their mind,” he said.

BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
Minister Fredrick Kologeto has described Deputy Prime Minister Bradley Tovosia’s resignation as a mature decision in his leadership.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Mines Tovosia tendered his resignation from both positions on Monday this week.
“I think he showed mature leadership in his part. Sometimes when you come to that level, I think it’s very hard for you to go down. But he humbled himself to come down and resign, listen to us,” said Kologeto, minister for communications and aviation.
“So, he humbled himself to take the stand and be brave, and I think that’s where the leadership comes in. Putting people first, country,” Kologeto said.
Kologeto said Tovosia was still an OUR Party candidate and has joined the GNUT government backbenchers.
“So, I think he humbled himself to make the decision. But it’s good for the party, I mean, for the government and the nation,’’ said the People’s First Party wing leader.
“And for us, the People’s First Party, that is it. Put people first. That’s our core, our mission,” Kologeto said.
“Tovosia will join the backbencher and promise to offer his support to the Government,” he said.
He said that the Government backbench plays a very important role.
“They (Backbenchers) are a kind of opposition group inside the caucus. It’s the cabinet, the ministers, the caucus, the whole government formation. They keep an eye on the ministers as well. Anything the ministers are not doing right? The caucus is always there,’’ he said.
Tovosia is the Member of Parliament for East Guadalcanal.

BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
People First Party Wing leader and Minister of Communication and Aviation, Frederick Kologeto has voiced respect for the 10 MPs who resigned from the GNUT on Monday.
Ten MPS led by Manasseh Sogavare resigned from the GNUT citing disagreements with Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele’s leadership and his deputy, Bradly Tovosia.
“I would like to say that I respect my colleague’s decision,” Mr Kologeto told Island Sun Tuesday this week.
The Minister also assured that any decision to be made by his party regarding the ongoing political situation would be made as a Party decision and not as individuals.
“As a party leader of the People First Party, any decision to be made will be made as a party decision. No individual. So, we stand and remain committed to staying with the GNUT government,” he said.
Speaking in an exclusive interview, Kologeto said ministers should not put personal interest first, but the people first, in light of the political situation.
“The only thing people must know, and we as leaders must know, is that we are leaders. we should not put personal interest first. The Nation’s interest is what matters, people come first,” he said.
He also said that GNUT has welcomed whatever result from the motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele which is set for Tuesday next week.
“We welcome any decision that happens on Tuesday. We respected the process. If it is defeated, then it would be another process for the formation of the government. So let the process take its course and see how it goes,” he said.
The Minister also called on citizens to remain calm and let the democratic process take its course.
“There’s a time to form government, a time for disagreement on issues, and a time to address issues. So, I like the nation to respect this whole process. If God allows them to lead, that’s according to the will. After all, people put us here, but everybody has the right to form the government,” said Kologeto.

-Sogavare and Maelanga blame PM Manele’s ‘indecisiveness’ and ‘weak leadership’ for their walk-out
-Both MPs say PM Manele should take responsibility for ‘GNUT’s demise’

BY IRWIN ANGIKI
Prime Minister Manele’s ‘indecisiveness and weak leadership’ in matters of national interest is what caused Manasseh Sogavare to lead nine other MPs in leaving government.
Addressing media for the first time since the mass walk-out on Monday, Mr Sogavare and Manasseh Maelanga said it was something they did not take lightly, and had done because they ‘cared for the country’.
Taking further aim at Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele’s leadership, Sogavare labelled it as ‘laissez faire’.
Sogavare and Maelanga said PM Manele must take full responsibility for the break up in the Government for National Unity and Transformation (GNUT).
“Prime Minister Manele must bear full responsibility for the demise of the GNUT government,” Sogavare said.
From the beginning GNUT government was a shaky coalition, Sogavare said.
“Surprisingly that did not bother the leadership of the government. I think he had the assumption that things will iron itself out. That’s not how you deal with issues like that.
“It’s sad that it needs to take a revolt to bring sense to our brains,” Sogavare said.
Sogavare further accused PM Manele of intentionally allowing instability to run in the government coalition.
“As the prime minister and the political head of the executive government, the prime minister has a solemn, solemn responsibility to protect and to ensure the survival of the government. By adopting a very, very, very, very, very laissez faire attitude to the issues that cause instability, he has intentionally allowed the government to collapse.
“For that, he must take full responsibility. As I have said, the serious leadership issues that we make reference to have been brought to attention to the prime minister and only he himself can attend to that one.
“His indecisiveness … does not speak well of the prime minister’s leadership and questions where his interest really lies.
“We moved out of the GNUT government because we deplore … what I would like to describe as a laissez faire attitude of the leadership towards serious issues which undermines all the good intentions of the government.”
Sogavare said PM Manele’s indecisiveness to address serious issues of national interest was seen in both the domestic front and international stage.
He did not specify which domestic issues exactly PM Manele is being accused of not addressing.
Sogavare ambiguously made reference to ‘calls by the leader of opposition from time to time’.
“You just need to check the Hansard, you know, when the calls by the leader of opposition, time and time again, when, you know, budget would discuss the debates and things like,” Sogavare said.
One matter Sogavare made clear however is that of former Deputy Prime Minister, Bradley Tovosia, saying PM Manele failed to take action and remove his deputy in response to allegations against him.
Labelling Mr Tovosia’s attitude as ‘repugnant’, Sogavare said, “The concern about the attitude of the deputy prime minister was raised with the prime minister on many, many, many occasions by various members of the coalition, including myself too, and some others.
“So he’s fully aware, and as the leader of the coalition, we expected him, for taking leadership in addressing all these issues. We of course, was disappointed to see that that one did not happen.”
Maelanga was also vague with details, hitting back at critics and defending their walk-out saying:
“You move because of something. You cannot just move for nothing. There is something that’s why we moved.
“And as leaders, we are here to serve our people with justice and integrity, for this country.
“And when you move out, it means something. It means something a lot.”
Maelanga took aim at the People First Party (PFP), saying they were the first to have issues with Prime Minister Manele’s leadership.
PFP is still with government. And, Maelanga questions this.
“If you can recall back, there was a petition sent to the Prime Minister. And that one [PFP], cover nearly half of the government side, a coalition party, which is People’s First Party. They are the ones that are really behind this.
“We who are here, we are from OUR Party. We stay quiet and watch things, and the people who liked to move out in the first place, are [the ones who remain with government].
“They are the ones that disagree with the leader, with the Prime Minister, and bring all this up.
“So that’s why I am calling why are they not on this side. They should be moving. They should be moving. So there are allegations, things that we are not happy with, because of leadership.
“Like my colleague said with a weak leadership it will be hard to achieve anything. We can’t move. A leadership must be a strong leadership. Then we can move whatever policies that our government wants to implement.”
When asked during the press conference Q&A to detail allegations against Prime Minister Manele and his former deputy, Sogavare declined.
“At this point in time I do not want to … it is not proper at a conference like this. There are serious indications. At this point in time that’s all I can say,” Sogavare said.
He alluded to revenues lost from minerals, saying that such matters were under investigation.
On the matter of his allegations of PM Manele’s indecisiveness in the international stage, Sogavare mentioned Cabinet’s decision to address the security MOU with Australia.
Sogavare said any MOU with a bilateral partner must not victimise a third party, indicating disagreement with clauses in the current security MOU with Australia with respect to China.
Meanwhile, attempts were made to get comments from the Prime Minister yesterday. His Press Secretariat said the Prime Minister will host a press conference on Friday.
Attempts to have comments from People First Party’s wing leader Minister Frederick Kologeto were unsuccessful before this paper went to print last night.
On Monday this week 10 government MPs led by Sogavare resigned from the GNUT government.
They include five ministers and five back-benchers.
Later the day, Opposition member and MP for Central Honiara Gordon Darcy Lilo filed a notice for motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Manele.
Deputy Prime Minister and Mines Minister, Mr Tovosia also resigned from both portfolios.
The motion of no-confidence is expected to be tabled in parliament on Tuesday next week.