Files no-confidence motion against Speaker and deputy
BY SAMIE WAIKORI
Auki
MALAITA Premier Daniel Suidani has submitted a motion of no-confidence against the province’s Speaker and his deputy.
The motion was filed by Suidani on Tuesday this week, a day after Speaker Ronnie Butala announced having received notice of a motion of no confidence against Premier Suidani by the non-executives.
Speaking to Island Sun yesterday, Mr Butala welcomes the motion against him and his deputy.
According to the letter, Premier Suidani said:
“I, as the MPA for ward 5 and the Premier of Malaita Provincial Government, I hereby give notice of a motion of no confidence in the Speaker of Malaita Provincial Assembly in accordance to S.O. 116 as read with S.O. 118 of Standing Order of the Provincial Assembly of Malaita province.
The specific Teams and grounds for the lack of confidence in the Speaker are as follows;
1, The Speaker in the previous Motion of No Confidence against me 12 months ago acted contrary to S.O 152 Open Ballot voting. He instead ruled during the vote on that motion to adopt secret ballot voting, which is contrary to S.O. 152.
2, The Speaker in the previous MONC against me was not impartial in conducting the meeting. He was colluding with the movers of that motion to remove the premier from office.
3, More recently, the speaker acted contrary to my advice to administer the oaths of affirmations of office according to the Stand Order 9 of the Malaita Provincial Assembly. This has resulted in the matter now being contested in the High Court.
4, The Speaker is not impartial in exercising his function and is colluding with certain MPAs to move a motion of no confidence against the Premier.
As the head of an Elected Assembly, the speaker is duty-bound to decide independently on Assembly’s practices, procedures and processes following the Standing Orders and Provincial Government Act (PGA) 1997.
Instead, the speaker’s recent decision not to administer MPA oaths contradicted some of his past decision on similar matters.
As a result of specific issues that have been highlighted, the speaker is not impartial or neutral in exercising his duty. His actions bring the reputation and respectability of the assembly into disrepute.
Thus, this motion of no confidence against the Speaker is to restore the sanctity of the Assembly to ensure it is a respectable and impartial institution.”
Speaking to Island Sun yesterday, the provincial clerk Matthew Maefai confirmed his office receiving notice of Premier Suidani’s motion.
Maefai says he will wait for the speaker to arrive back in Auki before issuing a notice and date to table the motion in the provincial assembly.
Meanwhile, Butala welcomes the motion against him and his deputy, saying:
“I was informed on the motion of no confidence against me and my deputy speaker from Auki yesterday and my office is looking forward to facilitate it through the normal process.
“I respect the democratic rights of Premier Daniel Suidani for filing in the motion of no confidence and I and my deputy speaker welcome it.”
Suidani is also facing a no-confidence vote the non-executive bench filed against him Monday this week.
The motion has been scheduled for debate on 27 October 2021.
