House, summit clash

By MALUM NALU and CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
THE final sitting of Parliament is expected to begin today after an adjournment from yesterday afternoon because there was no quorum as many MPs were attending the 2017 Leaders’ Summit.
Speaker Theodore Zurenuoc made the ruling following a request by Leader of Government Business James Marape. Government MPs, including Marape and Zurenuoc, then proceeded to the Stanley Hotel for the closing of the two-day summit.
It could not be determined how many MPs were in Parliament yesterday afternoon. Zurenuoc told The National later that the MPs should be in Parliament today.
The House requires one third of MPs present to form a quorum.
“Definitely, they (MPs) will be going tomorrow (today),” he said.
“The adjournment was purely because the summit is on and we want all the MPs to come here (summit venue) to conclude the summit this afternoon.
“The prime minister (Peter O’Neill) also made a special request for all members of the Government to be here, so we had to adjourn until tomorrow (today).
“That is why at around 3.30pm, I adjourned Parliament.”
Zurenuoc said on the agenda were three bills relating to the general election which needed to be debated and voted on.
This week will mostly be covered by Question Time and other businesses.
“Basically, it will be normal Government business,” he said.
“The bills are due next week, April 4.
“We’ll deal with that and also the departure of Sir Michael Somare from Parliament.
“We’ll have a special programme next Wednesday for that.”
At the summit, Marape advised public office holders to be time-conscious in order to deliver services to the people.
“It starts with us, leaders. Time lost will never be retrieved. You can save money in bank,” he said.
“You can keep assets for later use but not the asset of time.”