A duty to understand country’s Constitution

EVERY Papua New Guinean, or at least those who are literate, must make it his responsibility to thoroughly know and understand the country’s Constitution.
The turn of events since last Aug 2 have made us so emotional and angry be­cause we only hear about the existence and power of the Constitution but many of us do not even know what is in it!
The judiciary has taken advantage of our ignorance for far too long and has capitalised on our emotions and given itself the jurisdiction to issue stay orders, preventing the operation of the Judicial Conduct Act that was recently enacted.
I believe the enactment
of this law was warranted and long overdue even though its passage was hasty. But a critical situation calls for critical action.
There are no provisions in our Constitution that empower or confer inhe­rent powers upon the ju­diciary to question or im­pede parliament’s decisions and duties.
From a layman’s perspective, the chief justice and his fellow judges overstepped section 19, and are fighting against sections 157, 178 and 179 of the Constitution.
I urge every Papua New Guinean to get a copy of the Constitution so that we can all understand the correct administration of the three arms of government.

Layman
Via email