Moroi seeks legal opinion against Poiya

CENTRAL province Governor Alphonse Moroi is seeking legal opinion to refer his deputy and Goilala MP Mathew Poiya to the parliamentary privileges committee for misconduct in office.
Mr Moroi alleged that the Goilala MP had breached the standing orders following this week’s abrupt adjournment and walkout by Mr Poiya while chairing the provincial assembly sitting, causing confusion amongst the members, including the Deputy Prime Minister Sir Puka Temu.
“For Mr Poiya, as a provincial speaker, to leave the assembly while the meeting was still in progress, brings confusion among the assembly members,” the governor said.
He said Mr Poiya did so because the PEC refused to deliberate a proposal he had vested interest in.
It was about an agro-forestry project submission, the Mekeo Hinterland Agro-Forest project in which Mr Poiya is the current chairman of the  board of directors.
“Mekeo Hinterland project is a contentious issue, already presented twice to the PEC and was deferred due to court proceedings challenging its establishment and registration of ILG  in the project area”, the governor said.
Mr Poiya had “hijacked” normal processes to get the project approved by the National Executive Council without going through the provincial forest management committee and the National Forest Board, he added.
Mr Kavo said he was also a landowner in the project area, and would not preside over any PEC meeting scheduled to deliberate on the project submission because it will be a conflict of interest.
The governor urged Mr Poiya who is the proponent of the submission and chairman of project board of directors to also refrain from attending any PEC when it discusses the project, because it would  also be a conflict of interest.