NATIONAL PARLIAMENT OF SOLOMON ISLANDS Monday, 6 November 2017 The Speaker, Mr Adjilon Nasiu, took the Chair at 09.49 am Prayers. Business of the House ATTENDANCE All were present with the exception of the Motions MOTION OF NO CONFIDENCE “THAT THE NATIONAL PARLIAMENT OF SOLOMON ISLANDS RESOLVES IT HAS NO CONFIDENCE IN THE PRIME MINISTER The SPEAKER: Honorable Members, let me explain why the Motion appears on today's Order Paper. On the 29th of October 2017, my office received the Motion of No Confidence in the Prime Minister by the Leader of the Independent Group. The Motion has met its required seven (7) clear days on Notice Paper, and this morning my office has been informed that the mover would like to introduce the Motion. It is a matter of parliamentary practice that a Motion of No Confidence takes precedence over other parliamentary business or items of business that can or ought to be set down on the Order Paper for that particular sitting. This means that a Motion of No Confidence must be dealt with as soon as possible and it may be required to be debated on days allotted for government business and not necessarily on Fridays only which is Private Members day. The reason for this practice is twofold. First, a Motion of No Confidence against the Prime Minister implies amongst other things that the Government does not have the numerical strength to govern, and this is a serious issue in which Parliament must deal with at the first available opportunity. If there is doubt as to the majority of support commanded by the Prime Minister in this House, it must be tested as soon as possible because to have a minority government administering the affairs of the country would run contrary to the established principles of majority rule, which is a rudimentary basis upon which our constitution and parliamentary democracy is premised on. I do not think this would be in the best interest of this nation. Secondly, if there is clearly a lack of support for the Prime Minister, this implies that the required numerical strength is not on the government side but on the opposing side of the House. The situation where the opposing side commands the required majority could lead to deliberate hindrance of government business on the floor of Parliament and thereby stalling parliamentary business. That would not be a good situation to be in because the Government must be able to continue implement its polices and deliver services to the people of this country and Parliament must be able to continue its business. I now call on the honorable Member for North East Guadalcanal and Leader of the Independent Group to move his Motion. Hon. DEREK SIKUA (North East Guadalcanal—Leader of the Independent) (09:53): Mr Speaker, before I move the Motion, and with your indulgence, may I take this opportunity to ask the honorable Prime Minister to assess his chances of successfully defending this motion. As you can see, this side of the House has the numerical strength of 27 Members of Parliament to pass the motion. With that, and in the interest of maintaining honor and credibility in our national leadership that I kindly and humbly ask the member of Parliament for East Choiseul to resign as Prime Minister of Solomon Islands. This would maintain the integrity of our democracy given the numerical strength has shifted to this side of the House. This means the Prime Minister no longer enjoys the support of the majority of Members of Parliament. In the political history of this country, all past prime ministers who have been placed in the same situation have always opted for the option to step down, and I might add including the former minister for development planning and aid coordination and Member of Parliament for South New Georgia/Rendova/Tetepare who is with us here on this side of the House. In this regard, I would like to give this opportunity to the Prime Minister to reassess his support and do the same by resigning as Prime Minister on the floor of Parliament. The SPEAKER: Honorable Members, the honorable Member of Parliament for North East Guadalcanal, the Leader of the Independent Group has moved that the National Parliament resolves that it has no confidence…. Hon. DEREK SIKUA: Point of Order, Mr Speaker! I have not moved my motion. I am simply giving the opportunity to my good friend the honourable Prime Minister to resign on the floor of Parliament. I would like you to give him the opportunity to say something in reply to what I have just said. Hon. MANASSEH SOGAVARE (East Choiseul—Prime Minister) (09:56): With all due respect to the request by the Leader of the Independent Group asking the Prime Minister to resign, the nation needs to hear what their Prime Minister has done very wrong and the reason as to why they have moved across and wanted to move this motion of no confidence against him. With all due respect to the request by the mover, we are not talking about small positions like shopkeepers at the back yard of China Town. We are talking about the Prime Minister of this nation and the people of this country must hear the reason why this motion is moved. So I will not resign, I will face this motion. Hon. DEREK SIKUA: Mr Speaker, I rise to move the motion standing in my name in today's order paper. I move that the National Parliament of Solomon Islands resolves that it has no confidence in the Prime Minister. Mr Speaker, first of all, I would like to thank you for understanding, especially for your letter dated the 3rd of November 2017 regarding this particular motion of no confidence and government business and to have to this motion set down on the order paper and debated this morning, today being a normal government business day. Indeed, your ruling shows that you have the interest and welfare of all Solomon Islanders at heart. Your letter requires the honourable Prime Minister to concur and if he has done so, I also thank him for his concurrence in this regard. Let me at the outset say that this is the second motion I have moved against the same Prime Minister. I would like to mention right at the beginning that I do not have any ill feelings or any personal ill feelings against the Prime Minister, and I hope that his family and his people of East Choiseul do not see this motion in that light. As you maybe aware, more than a week ago, nine members of the Government backbench and seven senior ministers from the Democratic Coalition for Change Government (DCCG) under the leadership of the honourable Prime Minister have resigned to join forces with the Opposition Group and the Independent Group of MPs. We, the 27 MPs sitting on this side of the House now recognize ourselves as one group, and we have committed ourselves to form a recognized position as a potential government. At the outset, I wish to assure our people that each of us concerned MPs sitting on this side of the House have not taken this decision and course of action without proper consideration and reflection on what has happened to our country over the last three years under the leadership of the current Prime Minister and MP for East Choiseul. Indeed, in confronting our important constitutional responsibilities and challenges, I cannot emphasize the importance of our leadership to this country and our responsibility to build this nation in unity. On this note, I would like to add that as an Independent nation, Solomon Islands has had parliamentary democracy for the past 39 years, and we and the nation as a whole hope and pray that the events of recent weeks have not tested our commitment to the values of parliamentary democracy but have entrenched them more deeply. The nation has called upon us as national leaders to act to resolve the current political impasse. As elected representatives of our people, we are very well aware of the beliefs, needs, aspirations and circumstances of the people we represent. So we must now exercise sound judgment on their behalf and take to our hearts their concerns. As important political leaders and as elected political leaders of our beloved country we must put the interest of our people and the nation first. I want to categorically state here on behalf of the MPs that have resigned from the government a week ago that they did not cross over to this side of the House because they oppose the Anti-Corruption Bill. No, Mr Speaker. As a group now and a potential government, we are all committed to supporting the Anti-Corruption Bill. As we are all aware, the Anti Corruption Bill has gone through the first reading, and we as a group are all committed to ensuring its passage on the floor of this House. The Democratic Coalition for Change Government (DCCG) has indeed intended to affect real change in the policy framework document when it assumed power in late 2014. I was part of that government but did not last long; I only lasted eight months, and I left in October 2015 with a group of my friends. So I can tell you that the intended policies to affect real change in the policy framework document of the government are well focused. At this point in time, three years on, we seemed to be going around in circles. Like I said three years on it has become apparent that most of the good and well intended national policies will not be achieved under the current leadership.