BY BARNABAS MANEBONA
ROUND two of Motion of No Confidence against the Premier of Central Islands Province provincial government Assembly is set for today.
Central Islands Province’s (CIP) political battle heads for another showdown as the previous Motion of No Confidence (MONC) against Premier Stanley Manetiva three weeks ago was deemed invalid.
The Minister of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS) Hon Rollen Seleso on the advice of the Attorney General (AG) wrote to CIP’s Speaker Hon Francis Moah that the recent election of a new Premier that Hon Polycarp Galaigu won was invalid.
Seleso went on to say that based on the AG’s advice, the motion failed to meet the seven clear days requirement and it was called by seven MPAs’ as the absolute majority when eight was required. The Minister further instructed that Manetiva remains in power.
Honorable Rollen Seleso warned that he would dissolve the CIP Assembly if they fail to resolve their political differences by the end of June.
CIPs Speaker Hon Francis Moah speaking to Sunday Isles yesterday said they are now in the process of reprocessing everything since the Minister of MPGIS is in the process of dissolving the Assembly.
“Let us quickly get this done through so that our provincial Assembly can be saved from being dissolved which will be a huge drawback for the province if such occurs,” said Moah.
It is understood that the current camp of the movers of the motion has a total of 8 Members of Provincial Assembly (MPAs) signings. There are 13 Wards in CIP.
CIPs Speaker Francis Moah had earlier explained to the media that a total of eight MPAs had signed the latest petition, unlike the recent one where only 7 of them put their signatures to the petition calling for the CIP Assembly to meet, resulting in the ousting of Manetiva.
Moah said the clear seven days rule before a MONC that is debated will also be fulfilled as the eight MPAs majority is met having eight of them signing the petition, calling for an urgent meeting for today, July 1.
The province has already lost $5.6M in funding from the government. This is because, with all the political instability, CIP failed to meet the deadline for the passage of the provincial “Budget”.
Whilst Premier Stanley Manetiva on the other hand welcomes the MONC against him, he also expresses that due to all the instability since the Provincial Public Accounts Committee (PPAC) resignation saga, funds, time and energy have been wasted.
“If the Contingency Warrant [CW] that CIP is operating under expires by the end of June, this means we must pass the ‘Budget’, however 100 percent, the Provincial Capacity Development Fund [PCDF] is gone. But I guess that July 1 [today] is only for the MONC. Though if there will be a new led government, there will be no ‘Budget’,” said Manetiva.
