Basil’s death affects election timing

A SENSE of foreboding and further morbid tidings assails the nation as we learn of the death of our Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil on the night of May 11, the eve of the issue of writs for the 2022 general election.
Those writs are now being deferred by a week in direct consequence of his death.
The governor-general is adamant he has signed the writs and that the issue happens as scheduled.
That is a legal minefield but he ought to have been advised by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the nature of the emergency warranting the further deferral.
The G-G acts on advice by the NEC and presumably none other.
By extension, to put this matter to rest, the Queen as Head of State of PNG would most normally receive advice from her privy council, which in Commonwealth nations are prime ministers and distinguished by the title right honourable.
As prime ministers normally chair NEC, any advice from the NEC is deemed to be from the privy council and acted upon by the sovereign.
The Electoral Commission might not qualify to advise Her Majesty which might make the governor-general’s ruling to be the correct one.
But all of that has been brought about by the death of Basil.
The death of the young leader, just 53, is shocking and the manner of his death horrifying.
Dead too is his close protection officer and three others are fighting for their lives having received injuries that we can only guess at from seeing the damage to the vehicle.
We are gripped by incredulity when we see the wreckage done to the late leader’s vehicle against the other vehicle involved in the accident which appears virtually intact.
A state funeral will be held tomorrow and we are told Parliament which had risen for this term will be recalled to observe the normal protocols accorded a Member who falls in office.
These are, of course, unprecedented and we break new ground as we go along.
It might be advisable to turn to older Parliamentary jurisdictions such as the English, Canadian or Australian ones to see what precedents they have in relation to issues of this nature to guide our own decisions.
Basil captured the imagination of many Papua New Guineans and inspired many more in the humble manner that he conducted himself.
He would burn burgers for his visitors and make tea for his workers.
He accused this newspaper of biased reporting once while he was serving in the Opposition.
He later turned up in the newsroom and apologised in person.
He was never too big or too far up to say “sorry” or be “sorry” if he felt he had wronged somebody.
He was that kind of leader.
He was at the coal face most often in his political career.
His coal face was his electorate, Bulolo, and that dedication ensured Basil survived three consecutive terms of Parliament and he was heading for his fourth which by many accounts he was going to win. Death now permanently prevents that possibility.
Basil becomes the eight Member of Parliament to die in office in just one term of Parliament.
Before him went William Samb (Goilala), Johnny Alonk (Middle Ramu), Sam Akoitai (Central Bougainville), Roy Biyama (Middle Fly), Richard Mendani (Kerema), Sir Mekere Morauta (Moresby North West) and Thomas Pelika (Menyamya).
This is unprecedented in the history of Parliament.
This Parliament is unlike all others in that the country has been caught in the maelstrom of the pandemic since early 2020.
The socio-economic effect of this upon the population as well as the physical deaths arising from the pandemic has invited to the country, and indeed to the entire world, this sense of foreboding and of onrushing gloom.
The deferral of the issue of writs a second time also reminds us that time is not on our side.