Second no confidence motion filed against Malaita premier
BY SAMIE WAIKORI
Auki
MALAITA Premier Daniel Suidani is poised to face his second motion of no-confidence within a year when the Provincial Assembly meets towards the end of this month.
Members of the non-executive group filed the no confidence motion with the Office of the Malaita Provincial Assembly Speaker in Auki yesterday.
“I received notice of the motion at 11am today,” Speaker Ronnie Butala told Island Sun yesterday.
“After looking through the content of the notice, I’m satisfied it had met the criteria under standing orders 106 and 107,” he added.
“The notice will take seven clear days (excluding Saturday and Sunday) from the date of submission before it can be tabled in the provincial chamber for MPAs to debate.”
Butala said the motion will be debated on 27 October.
He has not provided contents of the motion.
Following the sacking of his deputy Randall Sifoni and the subsequent resignation of six executive members, Suidani is believed to be running a minority government.
In October last year, Suidani defeated the first no-confidence motion that was tabled against him.
Incompetence, financial mismanagement and abuse of office were some of the reasons given by provincial assembly member David Baerara for bringing the no confidence motion against Suidani last year.
However, when the motion was finally moved it was defeated by 24 votes to nine.
Suidani is an outspoken critic of the national government’s decision last year to switch Solomon Islands’ diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China.
His government’s refusal to allow any aid from Beijing into the province has been a source of friction at both the provincial and the national levels.
