Move causing chaos in the House

Editorial

Does truth matter anymore?
This may seem a pointless question but if our Parliamentarians were true to themselves and the national interest, they would not have dragged us into the current chaotic situation.
We could merely be voicing the sentiments of many Papua New Guineans that this is certainly not the time for politics.
The dark face of politics is once more seen in this past week or so.
The barrage of exchanges between the two sides of the House has begun.
Soon the high court will be asked to rule what we expect to be a number of cases resulting from the political crisis.
Until that happens, and hopefully not too far into the future, the country will have to wait and see.
Traditionally, the November session of Parliament is when the Treasurer tables the national budget, followed by debates and a week’s interval before the Opposition responds to it before it gets passed giving legal effect expenditure in the coming financial year.
However, the 2021 budget was not presented to a full house and its passage on the same day raises a lot of legal issues which the obviously be settled by the courts.
The parliamentary process should have been allowed to take its course.
The Opposition has all the time and opportunity to move any confidence motion against the Government and redo the budget if that is necessary.
However, given what has already happened, it will once again be up to the courts to interpret the current political situation and resolve it for the benefit of everyone.
The public has the right to ask if the actions taken by individual MPs last week and this were in the interest of the country or merely for political gain and convenience.
There have been one too many instances in the past when politicians have publicly stated one thing but acted in a contrary manner.
We would have thought that in any democracy, the elected leadership will act on the desire of the electorate in any major shift in leadership such as what has happened when very senior ministers broke ranks with the government.
We would have thought that a need for a change of leadership would be “felt” and expressed to the elected representatives to make that move. Such a need was not sufficiently clear to the public to appreciate the events that are presently unfolding.
Without fully understanding and taking active part in calling for a change of government, there will be suspicion that certain MPs are acting on their own interests and not in the interest of their electorates or the nation at large.
We say this not in defence of the current government of Prime Minister James Marape.
The questionable actions of MPs only adds to the public’s cynicism towards politics and politicians generally in this country, which should not be the case at all.
Instead, in an effectively functioning democracy, the public should be actively participating in politics, for instance through political party affiliations, etc., and when their party officials take a stand on any issue, they will better appreciate it.
Such appreciation and participation in politics has been left to elected MPs to act often without a wide enough consultation to take part in debate and vote in matters that have far-reaching implications on the nation.