Declaration of second SOE raises questions

National

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
CONSTITUTIONAL questions have been raised over the declaration of a second state of emergency and two controllers.
However, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said the first SOE was declared after the Feb 26 earthquake (natural disaster) in the Highlands, with Dr William Hamblin as the controller, and the second after last week’s political unrest in Southern Highlands, with Thomas Eluh as the controller.
O’Neill said the two declarations differed in that one was for a natural disaster and the other for law and order purposes.
He said the initial SOE was extended to cater for law and order issues so Eluh, as a senior police officer, was qualified to handle that.
O’Neill said the National Executive Council had approved K3 million to be released to immediately enable SOE mobilisation.
Former PNG Defence Force commander retired Major-General Jerry Singirok said the appointment of two civilians as SOE controllers undermined the constitutional functions of the police commissioner and the PNGDF commander.
“Eluh is a former senior police officer and he has no superintendent over the police force as stipulated in Section 198 of the Constitution and the PNGDF other than to request assistance to the PNG DF commander and the police commissioner,” Singirok said. “He is also not a member of the National Security Advisory Council. I’m also concerned that Cabinet has not appointed a minister to oversee the SOE. In all cases, it is the police minister or the minister assisting the prime minister who is appointed to oversee the SOE. I’m concerned about the quality of advisers around O’Neill.”
Sinasina-Yongomugl MP Kerenga Kua, the former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, urged the Government to reconsider its decision to declare SOE in Southern Highlands.
He said there were legal issues to consider because the Government had earlier declared an SOE in Southern Highlands following the earthquake.
“As a result of recent incidents in Mendi, the NEC has effectively declared a second national emergency over the same geographic area, namely, Southern Highlands province and has also appointed a second controller in the person of Thomas Eluh,” he said.
“The legal status of the declaration of the second national emergency and also the appointment of a second controller Eluh may be unlawful.”
Kua suggested NEC should be properly advised by the Attorney-General, Davis Steven, whether the Constitution allowed for the declaration of two overlapping SOEs and controllers over the same geographic area.