Polye steadfast despite sacking

By MALUM NALU

OUSTED Treasury Minister Don Polye has accepted his sacking from Cabinet by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill although he believes he has done nothing wrong.

The Triumph Heritage Empowerment (THE) Party leader was sacked on Monday with Labour and Industrial Relations Minister Mark Maipakai.

He told reporters in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Leo Dion, his deputy party leader,  and other party MPs and leaders that he bore no grudges against O’Neill for sacking him.

He said he had done nothing wrong.

“The prerogative to commission and decommission ministers belongs to the Prime Minister,” Polye said.

“In our case, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has that prerogative upon which he has made the decision to decommission me and the Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations, for various reasons.

“We do understand and we respect as it is the prerogative of the Prime Minister.”

He said he and party leaders made a representation to O’Neill yesterday morning.

“Since the formation of this Government, this party has been an integral part of it, as the most important key player in putting this coalition government together.

“As such, this government is our government, a government that we engineered, a government that we came into solidarity with, a government that we formed and a government that is ours.

“We will continue to give that solidarity to the government.”

Polye said political and economic stability was the driving force behind his party’s continuing support for the Government.

“We believe in political stability,” he said.

“Papua New Guinea has suffered for some time and has had lost opportunities of economic development because of the consistent change of government, speculations thrown into the political arena.”