BY IRWIN ANGIKI
The motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele has been withdrawn on the floor of parliament by the mover, Gordon Darcy Lilo.
Mr Darcy Lilo, MP for Central Honiara, withdrew the motion citing not having the numbers to continue with the process.
He also told parliament the motion was instigated by government ministers who were ‘disgruntled’ with the governance of the Government for National Unity and Transformation (GNUT).
Yesterday, after Speaker Patterson Oti opened the sitting by reading the rules governing a motion of no confidence, Darcy Lilo asked him to consider a request to defer the motion to December 18.
Apparently, Darcy Lilo had written a letter to the Speaker and the Prime Minister seeking deferment on Sunday night. Darcy Lilo described his request as being based on a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’.
However, Speaker Oti in acknowledging receipt of the letter, told parliament that he was following the law and was not going to stray along to some gentlemen’s agreement, thus denying Darcy Lilo’s request for deferment.
“Yes, I acknowledge your submission to defer the motion from today until further dates, mentioned in that letter was December 18. As you have heard, once it was done in paper it cannot be deferred and also there is no provision in the standing orders for deferment of a motion. There is only a standing order 31.2 whereby a notice you can give to the clerk for the motion to be deferred to another date.
“I stood by that, and therefore I will go by proceedings of the house, based on the standing orders. I will not delve into any gentlemen’s standing orders to govern the proceedings of the house,” Oti said.
Darcy Lilo then brought up a precedent set in a civil case 401 of 2012, paragraph 20 in which the Chief Justice had emphasised in judgement that a motion “before it is moved” remains an exclusive property of the mover.
Using this precedent the Central Honiara MP argued that since he had not yet moved the motion in parliament, it belonged to him, and that he wanted to defer it.
“I want to refer you to civil case 401 of 2012 in paragraph 20 which I think somehow got missed out in your explanation on when a motion is introduced and moved. I think the Chief justice really emphasised that point by inserting it in a bracket ‘before it is moved’, ‘before it is moved’, it still remains an exclusive property of the mover. So, in this situation, as you have relied on section 31, I also intend to utilise that section, 31.2. But, as further qualified in our jurisdiction by the chief justice I am yet to deal with this situation, I am yet to move this motion.
“I feel that I am still outside of that boundary, and therefore it still remains as an exclusive property of the member for Central Honiara,” Darcy Lilo told parliament.
Oti suspended the sitting for an hour to sort out the matter.
When parliament resumed Oti declared that the motion cannot be deferred.
Darcy Lilo conceded and declared a withdrawal to the motion.
Before the suspension, Darcy Lilo had told parliament that the motion was initiated by members of government.
“Situation that we face quite frankly it should have come from the other side of the bench. You know prime minister, you sat with him, you deal with him, so it is yours. The leadership spillage can only come from the other side of the house, not really from this side. And this situation really was instigated by members on the other side of the bench, not from our side, not from our ranks. Whatever motivated them, I think it is quite straight forward, you have always been having disgruntlement among your own selves.”
Meanwhile, Opposition MP Derick Manu’ari posted on his facebook page following the parliament sitting echoing Darcy Lilo’s assertion in parliament that government MPs had been behind the motion of no confidence.
“We do not have the numbers because it was a motion propagated by people within the government. They pressured us to put the motion on notice and assured us of their support. They made the move because they were not happy about how the government was making decisions, on mining, tax exemptions and other inside dealings that they are aware of and have revealed all of that to us. We had 2 meetings together with them as a group supporting the motion to pass. They dragged us on to the brink and suddenly retreated/ retracted at the last minute,” the Opposition MP said.
The motion was eligible to be tabled in parliament on Friday last week, however parliament was about to pass the budget.
Darcy Lilo implied in parliament yesterday that he had agreed for the motion to be tabled yesterday due to the importance of passing the budget on Friday last week.
Prime Minister Manele had told Island Sun over the weekend that GNUT was rock solid heading for the motion with ’29 to 30 members’.
Yesterday, PM Manele confirmed to Island Sun that government now rules with clear majority of 30 MPs.
On Saturday government backbencher MP for Northwest Guadalcanal Francis Belande Sade was sworn in as the new minister for public service, after the former, Rennell and Bellona MP John Tuhaika Jnr had resigned the previous day.
