Marape retains House post

By MALUM NALU
TARI-Pori MP and Finance Minister James Marape will retain his position as the leader of Government business when the 10th Parliament is officially opened tomorrow.
“I will continue to serve our country as the leader of Government business for a second successive term,” Marape said.
“We will have the opening ceremony (tomorrow) and adjourn to Sept 12 to give time for Government to prepare its businesses, including the supplementary budget that the Government is looking into.”
He said the Independent Commission against Corruption Bill would be one of the early priorities of Government.
“The O’Neill-Abel Government wants to bring the Independent Commission against Corruption Bill as early as we can,” Marape said.
“We hope our friends from the Opposition support us, as lately some MPs on the Opposition have publicly denounced supporting it.
“Our Government is a reformist one as per our Alotau Accord II, with a view to unlocking our national wealth through resource law reforms that is win-win for our nation as well as our investors.
“I appeal to all MPs to take their role seriously in matters of public policies that are of benefit to the country.”
Marape said he expected a bipartisan approach on the bills the Government would bring to Parliament.”
He will be making appointments to the parliamentary committees “that will see a lot of bipartisan presence”.