political reviews • melanesia 497 the Solomon Islands Development References Trust’s hundreds of village workers, most parliamentarians are unlikely to cbsi, Central Bank of Solomon Islands. 1996. Quarterly Review. Honiara. be returned in the coming election. “Of the 2,108 survey returns almost National. Port Moresby. two people out of every three voters Roughan, John. 1996. Solomon Citizen, 29 are choosing not to return their October. present parliamentarian if an election were held tomorrow” (Roughan SC, Solomon Citizen. Honiara. Weekly. 1996). sinp, Solomon Islands National Parliament. Second, issues such as the economy, 1995. Hansard Parliamentary Report. logging, corruption, leadership quali- June. Honiara. ties, and the Bougainville crisis will all ——— . feature prominently in the 1997 elec- . 1996 Provincial Government Bill 1996. Honiara. tion. These issues have become increas- ingly important in the last two years. SN, Solomon Nius. Honiara. Government The number of corruption cases monthly. uncovered in 1996 is also bound to SS, Solomon Star, Honiara. Twice weekly. have an impact on the election results. Furthermore, voters’ awareness of SV, Solomon Voice. Honiara. Twice weekly. their role and rights in the political process has undoubtedly improved since previous elections. Third, despite this increasing aware- Vanuatu ness, and the existence of political par- The year of living dangerously might ties, the personalities of candidates will aptly describe 1996 in Vanuatu. continue to have a huge influence on The short life-expectancy for the voter choice. In a society with deeply newly elected Vohor-Lini govern- rooted patronage-based electoral and ment, forecast in this review at the coalition politics it will be a long time close of 1995, was quickly fulfilled and before parties become an important ushered in a year in which the institu- variable in determining election out- tions of the state were continuously comes. Patronage-based politics have assaulted and their integrity danger- intensified in recent years as a result of ously threatened. The parliament, the candidates’ access to substantial government, the judiciary, the police amounts of money that could be used and mobile force, and the Office of the for campaigning. This is particularly so Ombudsman were all at various times for current members of parliament, under attack and in peril. At year’s who have personal control of project end, much as in a bad year for funds worth si$200,000 each year cyclones, the country had survived the through the Constituency Develop- storms and an apparent calm pre- ment Fund. vailed, but the trail of destruction left Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka in its wake was observable everywhere. It remains to be seen how well the 498 the contemporary pacific • fall 1997 exotic species of Westminster-style par- dence, signed by a majority of the liamentary government recovers from members of parliament, had been the havoc. lodged requesting an extraordinary On 4 January 1996, newly elected session to debate it. Andeng and six Prime Minister Serge Vohor married ump members of parliament had and on the tenth departed the country joined the 20-member Unity Front (uf) to attend the funeral of the late Presi- opposition in Vanuatu’s 50-seat parlia- dent of France François Mitterrand, ment to upset the new government. leaving the government in the hands of Vohor responded by accusing Carlot- his coalition partner and deputy, Korman of fomenting the move against Father Walter Lini. Lini’s pre-election him. Father Lini, foreseeing the need to remark that “in politics there is no for- have a competent justice to hear con- giveness” was rapidly given practical stitutional cases, and in spite of his expression in the replacement by party earlier remarks, proceeded to extend faithful of the directors of Civil Avia- the contract of the chief justice for two tion, Public Works, Health, and the years. On 7 February, Vohor sought Cultural Centre; the suspension of the an order to prevent the parliament heads of the Police Special Branch and from sitting the following day, and the National Tourism Office; and when denied by the Supreme Court, public acknowledgment that the con- stunned his collegues and the nation by tract of Chief Justice d’Imecourt, due announcing that he was resigning from to expire in March, would not be the prime ministership with immediate renewed. Lini’s failure to spare Union effect. At 10 o’clock next morning of Moderate Parties (ump) followers President Leye Lenelcau signed a from his purge of public servants in decree dissolving the parliament, an portfolios under his control soon led to act that helped to explain Vohor’s complaints that the government sudden resignation. At noon, Radio seemed to be a National United Party Vanuatu announced that contrary to (nup)–ump coalition, not the other any reports, the president had not dis- way round. That discontent early solved parliament. To add to the con- became a stalking-horse for former fusion, later that night Radio Vanuatu Prime Minister Carlot-Korman’s ambi- broadcast a prerecorded interview tion to supplant his own party leader with the president in which he dis- in the top job. Carlot-Korman was not cussed the reasons that had led him to reconciled to his loss of the prime min- issue the decree. Both local newspapers istership, and Amos Andeng, ump next day reported parliament’s dissolu- member for Ambrym, while less driven tion. The attorney-general obtained a by personal ambition, was not recon- court order restraining publication of ciled to his party’s failure to win gov- any such statement. ernment in its own right—a failure he In the interval before Carlot- blamed on Vohor and his faction in the Korman was elected prime minister on party. 23 February, an extraordinary On 31 January the Speaker’s office sequence of events took place: Lini, announced that a motion of no confi- angered by the court’s failure to pre- political reviews • melanesia 499 vent parliament from sitting, set up a ity into the previous cohesion of the commission of inquiry into the former Unity Front, and even into the prime minister, and the chief justice Vanua‘aku Party (vp) itself. There, dis- patently intended to dismiss him for satisfaction among backbenchers with gross misconduct; Vohor purported to the allocation of ministerial portfolios, revoke his resignation and resume which was seen as favoring the four office, and Lini, in his last hours as smaller parties in the coalition, rankled minister for justice, acted to suspend to the point of some party members or dismiss the commissioner of police, talking of crossing the floor to join in the chief justice, the attorney-general, another vote of no confidence. the clerk and deputy clerk of the par- In April, parliament passed the liament, and was considering action to 1996 budget almost six months late remove the president! His actions were and considered two reports by the all beyond his legal authority and, ombudsman, one identifying serious taken together, seem calculated to have problems in public administration aris- effected a coup d’état by administra- ing from lack of guidance on correct tive means. procedures or the failure to observe On 23 February, the floor of the them where they did exist, and the House itself became a battleground, other castigating the failures of past where the police were first asked to governments to enact the constitution’s persuade the acting Speaker to vacate stipulations on multilingualism. They the chair for the conduct of the session, launched what was to become a volley and later forcibly to remove from the of damaging broadsides against the chamber Vanuatu’s only woman mem- government and ministers as the year ber of parliament, Hilda Lini. Follow- progressed and more and more abuse ing the defeat of the Vohor government of public office occurred. and the swearing-in of Carlot-Korman The rift in the Union of Moderate and his ministry, the day’s proceedings Parties widened further in May when were immediately challenged in court. Vohor’s faction boycotted a national On 1 March, the chief justice, in con- party congress convened by Carlot- firming the validity of the appointment Korman, which then elected him presi- of the new prime minister and dismiss- dent. The party now found itself with ing all the several grounds for Vohor two national executives. Proliferation or Lini’s application, observed: “The of parties continued as a former high- facts...show...that every officer of profile ump woman activist, Maria the Government or Parliament was Kalsakau, founded her own “Liberal doing his utmost to ensure that the due Party.” For the first time since indepen- process of Parliamentary democracy dence, two ni-Vanuatu, Kalkot Matas should operate within the Constitution Kelekele and Vincent Lunabeck, were and the rule of law.” appointed justices of the Supreme However, a change in government Court. did not bring greater stability or better Vanuatu’s Finance Minister Barak governance; on the contrary, it served Sope, the mercurial leader of the to introduce new elements of instabil- Melanesian Progressive Party (mpp), 500 the contemporary pacific • fall 1997 also began to exert his muscle in May zenship) of interference in Vanuatu’s and backed some “adventurous” internal affairs, and, following the development proposals, including a recovery of the documents in London geothermal power plant, a cement fac- by the British police, claimed that his tory, a mine and tourist complex, the government’s actions had rectified the sale of investor passports, and the issue situation. Unable to discipline Sope, on of a license to the “Dragon Bank” whose continued support in parlia- despite doubts about its record in ment his government depended, Carlot- Indonesia. Far and away his most Korman hit out at others and threat- imaginative initiative was the issue of ened to withhold the salaries of staff at ten us$10 million bank guarantees to Radio Vanuatu if a news item on the be traded on international financial ombudsman’s report was not with- markets by an Australian, Peter Swan- drawn. As soon as Swanson returned son, and some US business associates. to Vanuatu from overseas he was The guarantees issued by the Reserve arrested and remanded in custody with- Bank of Vanuatu were signed by the out bail by the Magistrate’s Court. On prime minister, the finance minister, appeal, the chief justice agreed to grant the governor of the Reserve Bank, and bail, but on impossible terms—the re- the first secretary of the Finance Minis- turn of the ten bank guarantees, a try. Their total value was more than surety of 10 million vatu, and the sur- twice the value of Vanuatu’s national render of all his travel documents, in- reserves and promised a risk-free profit cluding a Vanuatu diplomatic passport. from short-term interest of us$250 At the beginning of August, under million in two years. increasing pressure from the publicity The ombudsman completed an flowing from the ombudsman’s report urgent investigation into the bank and from other members of his own “scam” in early June and sent copies of government, Carlot-Korman finally her draft report to the prime minister, reshuffled his cabinet, moving Sope the foreign minister, and the deputy from Finance to Trade, Commerce and prime minister as required prior to Industry; his mpp colleague Edgell public release. At the beginning of July, from Lands; and Ravutia of the Fren in the absence of any response from Melanesie Party (fmp) from Tourism the government, the ombudsman pub- and Communications in order “to licly released her report, in which she inject fresh blood” into the develop- recommended that the president repri- ment effort. Sope’s reaction was to mand the prime minister and that the enter immediately into negotiations prime minister dismiss Sope, the gov- with the opposition. Given cause, the ernor of the Reserve Bank, and the prime minister dismissed him from the minister’s first secretary for their ministry entirely on 12 August. He involvement in the matter. Carlot-Kor- also dismissed Sope’s associates Edgell man, infuriated by the report’s publica- and Tan Union (tu) members Boule- tion, repudiated it as inaccurate and kone and Ravutia, who had formed a irrelevant, accused the ombudsman as new political grouping, the mtf (m for a “foreigner” (despite her Vanuatu citi- Melanesian Progressive Party, t for political reviews • melanesia 501

Tan Union, and f for Fren Melanesie), Faced with irresistible numbers for negotiating with the opposition. against him, Carlot-Korman brokered The sacked ministers all put it about a reconciliation with Vohor and pub- publicly that they had resigned before lished the points of their agreement in being pushed, and the Vanua‘aku Party a joint memorandum of understanding acquired an additional ministry in the on 19 September, under which the reshuffle. decisions of the rival party congresses Thus strengthened, the opposition were declared null and void, the court parties requested an extraordinary ses- case over the competing claims to the sion of parliament on 20 August, but name Union of Moderate Parties was the Speaker denied it on a technicality. withdrawn, and a Vohor adherent was Facing defeat in parliament, Carlot- appointed minister for Land and Natu- Korman threatened to prosecute his ral Resources. Three days later Carlot- erstwhile ministers for “treason” in Korman denounced Vohor for lying treating with the opposition to over- and abandoned the agreement. Vohor throw the democratically elected gov- immediately signed an agreement with ernment, a folly so extreme it is the opposition parties, under which he explicable only as a Napoleonic delu- would again become prime minister. sion of Carlot-Korman’s that “l’état Parliament, failing of a quorum for its c’est moi.” The attorney-general sitting on 25 September, reconvened advised that charges of sedition could on the thirtieth for only as long as it be expected to be prosecuted success- took the Speaker to close it on an fully. The Speaker, now embroiled in alleged procedural irregularity. Back in the machinations of the prime minister court again for urgent redress, Justice to retain power at all cost, announced Lunabeck ordered parliament to sit at that the sitting already scheduled for 7:30 the same night and stated that the 26 August would be deferred until 30 Speaker should be tried for contempt September. The opposition, whose of court. The opposition’s vote of no ensuing petition for an extraordinary confidence in Carlot-Korman was car- session was again rejected by the ried, and Vohor was elected prime Speaker, applied to the Supreme Court minister. Barak Sope, for whose blood for an order, and on 2 September the they had so recently bayed while in court held the Speaker’s ruling uncon- opposition, was installed as deputy stitutional and ordered the parliament prime minister. It took Vohor two to sit in seven days. The government, weeks to complete his ministry, mostly deeming the court’s order an infringe- because Willie Jimmy, who had ment by the judiciary of the constitu- become leader of the opposition after tional principle of the separation of the change of government in February, powers, took the matter to the Court had pretensions to the position of of Appeal, which comprised two prime minister. Disappointed in those judges from New Zealand and one hopes, he threatened to bring down the from Britain. On 16 September the government and stood out, resisting appeal was dismissed and parliament ultimate appointment as minister for ordered to sit on 25 September. Foreign Affairs and Immigration. 502 the contemporary pacific • fall 1997

Back in office and finding himself rienced ministers from the Vanua‘aku acting prime minister in Vohor’s Party. Vohor now enjoyed a large par- absence, Sope immediately moved to liamentary majority and was relatively resuscitate the bank guarantee scheme, free from the perpetual threat of no- which he persisted in claiming was a confidence motions that had preoccu- good deal for Vanuatu. In the name of pied politicians and paralyzed all gov- the Vanuatu government he demanded ernment programs continuously since that the ten documents being held by the general elections in late 1995. It British government authorities be also produced, for the first time since returned. Fortunately, the British 1991, a two-thirds anglophone major- authorities managed to stall on techni- ity in the twelve-member Council of cal legal grounds. Meantime the Ministers. ombudsman released yet another In October the government was report condemning Sope for alleged again in the Supreme Court seeking to breaches of the leadership code, ille- set aside a decision of Carlot-Korman’s gally signing a $250,000 guarantee in government to dissolve all six provin- his previous term as finance minister, cial councils, for electoral irregularities and pressuring the National Provident in some and gross maladministration Fund into a major investment in a sys- in others, and to conduct fresh elec- tem of electronic banking known as tions on the twenty-ninth under a new Cybank. In response to the report’s electoral system thought to disadvan- publication in October, Sope asserted tage smaller parties. It failed in court, there was a conspiracy involving Aus- and elections were held on 4 Novem- tralia to prevent Vanuatu gaining real ber. They were notable only because financial independence and, in a mem- support for the National United Party orable utterance, declared that “the fell, and the new Liberal Party of fact that the Ombudsman can investi- Maria Kalsakau won its first seat in an gate a Minister is detrimental to the election. operation of a democracy.” Lini’s animus toward the chief On 19 October, in what could prove justice was of long standing, and in to be a move of profound significance October he completed what he had for the future of stable government in failed to do in February by canceling Vanuatu, the leaders of the two major his contract. D’Imecourt, however, anglophone parties, Father Lini and remained a judge because procedurally Donald Kalpokas, conducted a formal only the president, acting on the rec- custom reconciliation, apparently ommendation of the Judicial Services mending the rift that occurred in 1991 Commission, could dismiss a judge. and brought more than a decade of Frustrated by the law’s delay, the anglophone dominance of Vanuatu police were instructed to deport him politics to an end. On 25 October, in a with only two hours’ notice. The judge surprise move that must have flowed managed to obtain an injunction from the vp-nup reconciliation, Vohor restraining their action but remained in sacked Sope and his mtf colleagues a state of siege while prosecution and and replaced them with able and expe- plaintiff’s counsel struggled daily over political reviews • melanesia 503 its execution. Agreement was ulti- response, they declared they would mately reached that the chief justice “stand down” from duty and refuse to and his family would leave Vanuatu obey the orders of their commanding and stay in Noumea pending a hearing officers. Frustrated by continued fail- of his claim of wrongful dismissal at ure to redress their grievances, they the end of November. The Vanuatu decided to take the law into their own government would in the interim con- hands. In an act of rebellion on 12 tinue to pay his salary, his accommo- October, an armed detachment dation costs and per diem in Noumea, abducted the president from his bed, and would guarantee his return travel dragooned a Vanair pilot from his and entry to the country at the time of sleep, commandeered a domestic air- his lawsuit. craft, and before dawn took off for While politicians thus played power Malekula and a surprise early audience games and tied up the Supreme Court with the acting prime minister. Sope with adjudicating the constitutionality and Member of Parliament for Male- of their dubious stratagems and ruses, kula Sato Kilman, rather less roughly a far more dangerous threat to the constrained than the other two, agreed exercise of democratic government to return to Port Vila with them on the was fermenting in the Vanuatu Mobile plane and to call a meeting of the Force, the paramilitary wing of the Council of Ministers. At the same time police force. the stand-down group detained their In August, members of the Vanuatu commanding officers under armed Mobile Force held a meeting to discuss guard at Cook Barracks and forcibly a rankling grievance over the nonpay- abducted the police commissioner, ment of allowances going back over a their supreme commander. Later in the number of years. At the time Hilda afternoon, at a meeting in Indepen- Lini referred publicly to rumors of a dence Park, Sope announced the estab- planned coup d’état that at the time lishment of a commission of inquiry to seemed no more than a rhetorical investigate their claims and stated that trope in the midst of the government’s no action would be taken against any ever more desperate efforts to avoid member of the stand-down group. The defeat in a vote of no confidence. The Vanuatu Mobile Force’s actions and rumor was quickly denied by the com- their impunity from reprisals embold- missioner of police, but stung the ened them to reject nominations for prime minister’s office into ordering acting commanders to replace those the sacking of the three Radio Vanuatu they had already driven from the bar- journalists responsible for the story. racks, and created growing uneasiness In September, 107 members of the and tension among people in the capi- Vanuatu Mobile Force wrote to the tal at the veto power over government minister for Home Affairs demanding the military now seemed to enjoy. payment of their outstanding allow- As a result of unrelated develop- ances, a demand that was rejected by ments, Vohor, on 7 November, com- the minister as an internal budgetary plying with a decision of the nup problem for the force to resolve. In congress, replaced Hilda Lini as minis- 504 the contemporary pacific • fall 1997 ter of justice by her brother Father weeks afterward she announced the Lini, to whom Vohor delegated formation of a new “movement” the responsibility for resolving the crisis Tuvanuatu Movement, which she said with the Vanuatu Mobile Force. The was not a political party but a grass- same day the vmf stand-down group, roots movement based on traditional impatient with the failure of the com- economic and political systems to mission of inquiry to report to them by restore power to the chiefs. the end of the previous month, invaded In December, parliament sat in ordi- the Department of Finance and nary session and passed the 1997 roughly abducted an expatriate Aus- budget, which revealed a deficit in gov- tralian accountant, David Schupp, to ernment outlays in 1996 equal to Cook Barracks to explain the delay. almost 10 percent of the recurrent This assault on a civilian—moreover, a budget—a shortfall attributed to mas- foreign national —was seen as a seri- sive import duty exemptions granted ous escalation in their violence. by the former finance minister and to On 12 November, in a bold, coura- overspending on public sector salaries, geous, brilliantly planned and executed which had increased by 30 percent move, Lini surprised and arrested 150 since 1994. Budget priorities were members of the Vanuatu Mobile Force focused on health and education and with a small tactical force of police for savings to be found through down- commanded by Peter Bong, the former sizing public service numbers and head of the Criminal Investigation improving service delivery. Regretta- Department who had been forced into bly, the bill to enact the Leadership early retirement earlier in the year. All Code was withdrawn for unspecified but about thirty of those arrested were reasons, but most probably because of released within twenty-four hours, but provisions for it to be retrospective to those detained were denied bail to face the time of independence. charges of kidnapping. They included Moves were also reportedly afoot to Corporal Kilman, the most prominent mend the rift in the Union of Moderate negotiator for the stand-down group, Parties, and Carlot-Korman was and his elder brother Sato Kilman, MP, reported to have accepted that Vohor a former commanding officer of the would remain prime minister. These Vanuatu Mobile Force and police com- reports will again unsettle the coali- missioner. Sato Kilman was eventually tion, because, if effected, Vohor would granted bail, and the others enjoyed need to drop nup or vp ministers to only a day or two of liberty at Christ- make way for his party colleagues. mas–New Year before returning to the Rumors around Port Vila spoke of the lock-up to await trial in late January. National United Party losing out. But Before year’s end, Hilda Lini’s the recent reconciliation between Lini loyalty to her brother finally failed, and Kalpokas may well militate and she resigned from the National against easy rearrangement among United Party, deploring the failure of partners now accustomed to betrayal. all the major political parties to deliver At year’s end, although the country development to the people. A few had survived a succession of political political reviews • melanesia 505 dramas, two coup attempts, and the veto over all actions affecting their sacking of the chief justice, the interests of which they did not Supreme Court had three major cases approve; and it had removed a contro- before it, all heavily weighted with versial judge who had himself become political significance—the prosecution a factor in local politicking in ways of Peter Swanson for his involvement inimical to continued respect for the in the bank guarantee scheme; the independence and impartiality of the prosecution of the mutinous members bench. The year 1997 promises more of the Vanuatu Mobile Force, behind “interesting times” in Vanuatu. which lurks the shadow of a possible David Ambrose coup attempt involving other nonmili- tary figures; and the appeal by the former chief justice against wrongful References dismissal. On the positive side of the Pacific Report. Canberra. Fortnightly balance sheet, the government enjoyed newsletter. a current majority in parliament large enough to enable the implementation Radio Australia. of policy and programs for the first Radio Vanuatu. time in twelve months; it had quelled Trading Post. Port Vila. Weekly. an insurrection in its armed force, which for several months had held a Vanuatu Weekly. Port Vila.