Basil’s behaviour a disgrace

BULOLO MP Sam Basil’s behaviour in the recent political impasse is unbecoming of a senior three-term MP, a disgrace to the party system and the whole political process in Papua New Guinea.
He first entered parliament as a Peoples Progress Party member.
Shortly afterwards, he moved to the PNG Party then again he shifted to Pangu.
He then jump to Our Party and eventually moved to the Melanesian Alliance Party, and now, he has cemented himself to the United Labour Party which he currently leads.
After teaming up with Prime Minister James Marape during the vote of no-confidence last year, Basil was offered the deputy prime minister’s position on top of the national planning and monitoring portfolio at the expense of Davis Steven, the Esa’ala MP.
Not content with this position and with the recent political impasse, the hunger for prime minister’s position got the better of him as he was one of the first Government MPs to cross the floor to the Opposition and not respecting the joint communiqué he signed with Marape and other coalition partners to enter the 2022 election together.
During the impasse, Basil was not successful in being nominated as the Opposition’s candidate for the PM’s post.
Therefore, it was no surprise that he abandoned the Opposition and rejoined the Government he deserted earlier, to enjoy the perks and privileges as he moves towards the 2022 elections.
To be given the deputy prime minister’s position again after what he did to Marape is hard to believe.
This continuous “yoyoing” by our politicians is a major contributing factor to instability in our party system and weakens the whole political process.
This sort of actions is a mockery of our political system compared to other established democracies.
Can the relevant government authorities and the registrar of the political parties come up with some stringent measures to stop the nonsense of MPs jumping from party to party and not respecting party commitments?

Max Giamiti
Chairman
Mumeng Landowners
Morobe