Sir Arnold testifies
MADANG Governor and former chief justice Sir Arnold Amet took the dock yesterday morning to answer questions on allegations in relation to the election petition for the Madang Regional seat.
Sir Arnold is the third respondent who appeared before Justice Bernard Sakora in the National Court in Madang for allegedly inducing people not to vote for petitioner Peter Yama in the 2007 National Elections.
The petition by Yama alleges that Sir Arnold, in his campaign speech on July 3 last year, told between 300 and 400 people at Kevasop village on Karkar island: “You people of Kevasop do not vote for people who have two or three wives.”
In court, Sir Arnold could not attest to the date of the Kevasop meeting, but confirmed that he spoke at this meeting.
The court heard that he based his speeches also at other pre-campaign meetings on the concept of “good governance, good leadership”, and “people mindful of corrupt leaders, untrustworthy, making money at the expense of the people, those who can’t manage their personal lives”.
“At no time did I mean this for Peter Yama. I know him personally and know that he has two wives – Mary and Agatha – whom I personally know. I never referred to Peter Yama in person,” Sir Arnold said.
He quoted the Bible, reading from 1 Timothy 3:1-7 to put into context virtues of leadership.
The text outlines qualities of “leaders in church”, and reads in part: “If a man is eager to be a church leader, he desires an excellent work. A church leader must be without fault, must have only one wife, be self-controlled and orderly, manage his own family well, and be respected by the people.”
In cross-examination, Yama’s counsel Ben Lomai asked: “Do you know of any other candidate who has more than one wife?”
“No,” Sir Arnold said.
“With your sound knowledge of the legal system, is it wrong for leaders to have more than one wife?” Mr Lomai continued.
Sir Arnold replied that there was no law restricting leaders to the number of wives they should have.
Mr Yama’s counsel was trying to qualify that the context of a biblical text was for church leaders and was irrelevant for political leaders on a campaign trail.
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