Blackout causes havoc for parliament

By JEFFREY ELAPA
PARLIAMENT House was in the dark for about 45 minutes yesterday after a surprise power blackout caused havoc during the first sitting of the house.
Speaker Theo Zure­nuoc was called by The National late yesterday to substantiate claims of sabotage and said he was suspicious about the timing of the power failure, which occurred du­ring the second and third reading of the bill to extend the grace period.
Zurenuoc said he had instructed the clerk of parliament to investigate the incident.
He said he was meeting with the clerk when a MP (named) called for him to adjourn parliament because of the blackout.
Zurenuoc said the blackout seemed suspicious and he instructed his clerk to check as the standby generator did not work.
He then received a text message from the same person stating “larim blackout stap” in Tok Pisin (let the blackout continue).
Coincidently, the Mi­nister for Public Enterprises, Ben Micah, and leader of government business James Marape came into his office and asked them to contact the chief executive of PNG Power to check on the fault.
Zurenuoc called PNG Power which sent an electrician who found a fault with the switch that controlled the power from the standby generator.