O’Neill makes ‘one-man’ decisions

 By MALUM NALU
SACKED Treasurer Don Polye yesterday accused Prime Minister Peter O’Neill of making hasty “one-man” decisions without the approval of the National Executive Council and members of the coalition government.
He said this on a radio talkback show in which he received support from all over the country for not signing the K3 billion loan to buy 10.1 per cent shareholding in Oil Search Ltd.
Polye said he respected and abided by the principles of the Alotau Accord signed by coalition partners before forming the Government. But he said it was O’Neill who was going against these.
“We have to be in partnership in accordance with the Alotau Accord,” he said.
“I’m not the kind of person to break the accord and promises to stick together. It wasn’t the Government that sacked me, it wasn’t parliament that sacked me over the loan, it was one person who got this loan. He pushed it through other leaders.
“The whole government did not participate in this loan. It was one man – the prime minister.
“He pushed through the loan, despite me asking not to push it through.
“This is a wrong loan, this is a bad loan. In this country, there are two deficits. One is a good deficit and one is a bad deficit.
“Buying in a speculative market, at the cost of US$3 billion, when you will only be earning 0.441 for every share, is only A$6 million.
“That’s the income you’re looking at every year. This is not right. This is not a decision that was made by the Government, by Parliament.
“THE Party members respected the Alotau Accord and stayed in government because this is their government, this is my government. The policy issues must be addressed because they came from one man.”