Court throws out challenge

By CLARISSA MOI
JUSTICE Collin Makail says that standing for general election is a personal choice.
“If a member of a local level government (LLG) decides to contest the general election, he has two options: to either remain a member of the LLG so that he is not disqualified by virtue of the new law.
“Or nominate to contest the general election and surrender the office of the LLG,” Justice Makail said.
He said this yesterday when dismissing an application by the councillor and ward council president of Mt Hagen rural local level government Wai Rapa to temporarily stop the Local Level Government amended Act which was recently passed by Parliament.
Rapa, through his lawyer Carl Kuira said that he would be directly affected by the amendments to section 14 of the Local Level Government Administration Act.
Kuira added that this would also affect every other local level government member or councillor who wished to contest the general election.
He said this also breached their Constitutional rights to stand for general election.
Solicitor-General Tauvasa Tanuvasa, representing Attorney General Pila Niningi, said temporary orders should not be granted because the law had already been passed in Parliament.
He added that the substantial matter was yet to be heard before a full Supreme Court bench.
Tanuvasa also stated that there was no evidence that every other local level government council or member had supported Rapa hence it would not be correct to say that this law would affect every other person.
Justice Makail said that the right under section 50 of the Constitution was intact, preserved and available at all times and was no way affected by the amendment of the LLG Act.
“Members of the local level government are elected and are representative of their people,” he said.
Justice Makail also noted that under the Public Service Management Act, public servants who hold public office must resign if they wished to contest the general election.
He also noted that before the amendment of the Local Level Government Act, there was no equivalence of such law in the third level of government.
Justice Makail said whether a member of a LLG could continue to hold office and nominate to contest the general election had been an ongoing issue between the local level government and the national government.
“The new law is in no way in breach or denial of a local level government member or president’s rights to Constitution, it all comes down to personal choice.
“By passing this law, the Government is willing to fund the by-elections for persons who resign, and as a result, leave vacancies.
“For the court to intervene, I should say that the law has been passed and now giving effect to, it is not a proposed law.
“Rapa is asking the court to go into the domain of the Parliament and the court should be slow to grant such an application.
“The Supreme Court will decide whether or not this law is constitutional, but it is a separate matter,” Justice Makail said.

Fire service on alert

PNG Fire Service Commissioner Bill Roo says his team will be on alert throughout the election period.
“We will be on alert 24 hours a day and 7 days a week,” he said.
“All our 16 fire stations nation -wide will be on stand-by should there be any emergencies.”
Given past experiences where there were cases involving violence and destruction of properties, he gave his assurance that his team would be working around the clock to assist police.
“Most of our officers are police reservists so we will release them to help police throughout the duration of the election.”
The commissioner said although they were not a part of the Joint Security Taskforce, they would do their very best to extend their services where it is needed.

Niningi refiles court reference on convicted candidates

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Pila Niningi has refiled another special reference in the Supreme Court to seek clarification on whether people convicted by a court can stand for general election.
Solicitor-General Tauvasa Tanuvasa representing Niningi, appeared before Justice Collin Makail yesterday and advised him that the previous one was dismissed last Wednesday due to incompetency issues.
He said that the special reference filed on May 5 was served to parties on Monday.
Those parties included the Public Solicitor, Public Prosecutor, the Speaker of Parliament, Electoral Commission, Powers of Mercy Committee, Registrar of Political Parties and the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission (CLRC).
Tanuvasa informed the court that this special reference was filed for the benefit of the people of Papua New Guinea and could be heard at the court’s own timing.
He further asked the court for directions to progress the matter.
Justice Makail then ordered parties to file application to intervene by May 12, and fixed May 13 for the matter to return to court.
Tanuvasa said the special reference contained legal questions that needed clarification from the Supreme Court on the eligibility of those people who had been convicted by a court.