“MY REFLECTIONS ON THE EXTENSION OF THE LIFE of THE 11th PARLIAMENT TO 31ST DECEMBER 2023,” Dr. Transform Aqorau.
Much has been said and written about the events in Parliament on Thursday 8th September and so it is not worth regutitating what was said. It is water under the bridge, and what has been done cannot be undone, but what has been done cannot be allowed to pass without comment.
Thirty-seven of our Members of Parliament decided for no legal, political, economic or social reason to flagrantly abuse their numerical strength to usurp the powers that are vested in us the people to choose who we want to represent us in the National Parliament.
Thursday 8 September 2022 will go down, to borrow words from Presidentb F.D Roosevelt when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, as a day of infany; a day which will be remembered for the usurpation of the rights vested in the people of the country, all because of two weeks social event, namely, the Pacific Games.
Section 73(3) of the Constitution which is the subject of the amendment is designed to allow people to choose their representative in Parliament after four years when they get tired of them, are fed up with their performance, and want to change their representative. If their representativen has done well, it is the peoples opportunity to give their representative a fresh mandate to represent them Parliament for another four years.
In a liberal democracy, this is a fundamental right that belongs to the people which they must be allowed to exercise because the source of the powers of the respective members of Parliament are derived from the people; not the other way around.
In reviewing Section 73, it dawned on me that the framers of the Constitution were very careful about ensuring that the people must be able choose their Parliament to give their representatives a fresh mandate to lead the country. In order to preserve the integrity of the Constitution, I would have advised, instead of seeking to amend the Constitution to “suspend” Section 73(3)to amend the current 4 year term to 5 years to commence with the 12th Parliament.
There is something, intrinsically and inherently wrong with a Constitutional amendment that seeks to “suspend” a provision of the Constitution that vests powers in the people to choose their representative,not only because it is unprecedented, but it is because of a social event.
If Solomon Islands was in a state of war, it would perhaps be legally justifiable, but resources to support the Electoral Commission conduct the elections is available, and therefore the decision by the 37 members of Parliament, can only be described as an assualt and insult to the people of Solomon Islands.
The Prime Minister said that the Constitution has been amended 11times before, and therefore it was not unusual to bring this amendment to Parliament.
My response is that no clear and right thinking Parliament have ever sought to amend the Constitution to suspend a fundamental provision that belongs to the people of Solomon Islands, all and only because of a 2 weeks sporting event. It can only be described as a flagrant abuse of power which sets a very dangerous precedent for the future.
The admission that the country cannot host two events in the same year reflects incompetence of the highest order, and shows also that they are perhaps unfit to run the country. A government must be able to not only demonstrate that it can defend and protect its citizens, it must be able to defend its people.
None of the 50 members of Parliament will be directly involved in the elections which is conducted by an independent body and so it is not as if the elections would be a constrain on the performance of their public duties. Thus, what those 37 members have also said is that the highly competent Electoral Commission is also incompetent. Their behaviour must be demoralizing for public servants.
What these 37 members of Parliament have failed to calculate is the potential now to raise the level of insecurity for the country. The current political leadership of the national government is not likely inclined to address the claims of the people of Malaita through their provincial government and the outstanding claims of the people of Guadalcanal, thereby accentuating the poor relations that already exist between the parties.
This is a potential security risk which could affect the games. It will only take the fear of trouble for the other Pacific Island countries to boycott the Games for safety reasons. This will be highly embarrassing and the blame will on the 37 members of Parliament for their miscalculation.
The Prime Minister said, we have the numbers which we wish they could use for the betterment of the country. They should use those numbers to reform the forestry sector, address plastic pollution, and create an enabling regulatory for business to flourish.
Instead, they used the opportunity to play the ethnic card and perform at a level that make primary school kids look so much wiser. Our Donors and regional partners must be wondering how to deal with Solomon Islands mercurial and schisoprenic leaders.
We are wondering ourselves, but we have just had the opportunity to address it stolen from us in what is the biggest assault on our democracy since independence.
Our only solace is that they are not guaranteed to return in April 2024 as we the people will have had our rights returned by those who stole it from us.
