BY BARNABAS MANEBONA
MOTION of No Confidence against the Premier of Central Islands Province Provincial Government Assembly has been ‘passed’.
Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) for Tulaghi Ward 4, Hon Stanley Manetiva has been defeated as the Premier for Central Islands Province (CIP).
Despite Manetiva not turning up for the meeting with his five (5) camp members, the meeting proceeded with the motion passed in favor of eight (8) MPAs.
There are 13 provincial Wards in CIP.
CIP’s Hon Speaker Francis Moah speaking to Sunday Isles this afternoon said they first suspended the meeting for an hour, giving time for the Manetiva-led MPAs to arrive and attend, but they did not turn up.
“So we resumed the meeting at 10 am, and we continued proceeding with the motion. It was passed. The eight MPAs signing for the Motion of No Confidence (MONC) turned up and we passed the motion,” said Moah.
Why the five MPAs did not attend the meeting, the Speaker said he has not been given any reason and he does not see any reason as to why they would not attend.
“The seven days’ notice had been publicly made known at Tulaghi and through media outlets, but still they did not attend. They have not given any reason as well to the Speaker as to why they have not attended,” said Moah.
The election for the new Premier will be next week Wednesday.
Hon Moah said they do not want to declare nominations yet because it is heading into the weekend.
“We are taking 48 hours according to the Standing Orders, we will start it on Monday, 9 am nominations will be open and it will close on Wednesday at 8 am an hour before the meeting.
“At 9 am Wednesday we should proceed with the election for a new Premier,” said Moah.
After the Premier elections, due to all the political instability, the CIP Assembly according to Speaker Moah will only be operating on the ‘Recurrent Budget’.
“We will only be operating on the Recurrent Budget, a little on the Capital Budget but only on the ministerial allocations. For the PCDF, 100 percent, it is all out. We have been disqualified for it. The previous Budget announced was deemed invalid, we are coming back to reprocess everything,” said Moah.
It is understood that Honourable Rollen Seleso had earlier warned he would dissolve CIP’s Assembly if they fail to resolve their political differences by the end of June.
