THE Motion of No Confidence in Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele’s leadership fizzled out on Monday, revealing it seems, the true intent of the alleged disgruntled Government MPs who initially offered to back the Opposition move.

 It turned out the plot is the biggest fundraising stunt to fool the Opposition, prompting the mover, former Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo to deny the motion stemmed from the Opposition grouping.

“It was their motion. We met with the group twice and they all offered their support,” the MP for Honiara Central told Parliament yesterday.

“We believed them because what they were saying was in the best interest of this nation,” Mr. Darcy told the waiting nation on how the motion would go.

In the end, it was the Opposition grouping that lost more in what turned out to be the biggest fundraising stunt even mounted in any MONC in the past.

Only the Opposition Leader Matthew Wale and Gordon Darcy Lilo kept their followers, despite having signed on the dotted line to join the GNUT Coalition.

The Leader of the Independent Group in Parliament, Peter Kenilorea Jr lost his two MPs to the government – Cathy Nori and Francis Sade, who last Saturday was sworn in as the new Minister for Public Service.

It is understood  MP Nori will be sworn in as the Deputy Speaker, the first woman in Solomon Islands to hold such a position.

Meanwhile, Members of the government side are preparing to “hang Hon Darcy Lilo” in the Sine Die motion next week.

“We have lined up for him, should the motion go through. But because the motion was withdrawn, we are ready for him during the motion of Sine Die. We will bring out everything about him,” a spokesman told Solomon Star yesterday.

“It should be an interesting debate next week,” the spokesman said.

By Alfred Sasako