Lawyer suggests early election to solve crisis

By KEVIN PAMBA
THE only way to resolve the constitutional crisis is to go to election and allow the new parliament to fix the mess, Prof John Nonggorr said.
Nonggorr,  who provided legal advice to the Electoral Commission during the elections in 1997, 2002 and 2007, said fortunately the election was about four weeks away and that was good for the country.
“It (election) is so close, yet we are creating a lot of problems for ourselves,” said Nonggorr.
“At the end of the day, power belongs to the people.
“The solution is to go to the election.”
 He said it was important to allow the people, who had the power, to decide at the election so that the new members of parliament could correct the mistakes made in recent months.
Nonggorr was speaking to students and staff of the Divine Word University last Thursday at the invitation of the students representative council president Rosemary Miria.
Miria and the council invited Nonggorr to explain the judicial conduct law as part of various proactive ways the students were engaged in to understand the recent major political and constitutional issues.
 Nonggorr said the constitutional mess which had been created by politicians since Aug 2, 2011 would not be easy to fix except by a new parliament.
“The way to solve the present crisis is to hold the election,’’ he said.
He said MPs in the Peter O’Neill camp knew that their action on Aug 2, 2011 to overthrow Sir Michael Somare was unconstitutional as there was no vacancy in the office of the prime minister.
Nonggorr said this was proven by the Supreme Court decision on Dec 9, 2011.
He said if the O’Neill group as the majority faction in Parliament were not happy with Somare returning to power following the court decision, they would have used a constitutional provision to dissolve Parliament and bring forward the election.
Nonggorr said this was provided for in the constitution. MPs can move a motion of no confidence against an unpopular minority government.
He said such a no-confidence vote would not result in the election of a new government but the dissolution of parliament since it was under 12 months before the next election.
Nonggorr said while the provision to dissolve Parliament was there to stop an unpopular minority government from staying in office, the O’Neill faction took a different and unprecedented turn to fight the judiciary up to now.