President’s stay application adjourned to tomorrow

National

By KARO JESSE
THE Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing of a stay application filed by Bougainville President John Momis and his executive council to tomorrow. The Supreme Court panel comprising Justice Nicholas Kirriwom, Deputy Chief Justice Ambeng Kandakasi and Justice David Cannings adjourned the hearing to enable service of the proceedings to the electoral commissioner because he would have a direct interest in the matter.
The stay application filed by Momis with his executive council is seeking restraining orders to stop the Speaker of Bougainville House of Representatives Simon Pentanu from issuing the writs for the presidential election on Friday.
The application to stay the speaker of HoR from acting on the directives of the election commission is filed pending a special reference filed by Momis pursuant to section 210 of the Bougainville constitution.
The reference filed is challenging the validity of section 89 (2) and 91 (4) of the Bougainville constitution.
The special application seeks to clarify whether the provision of section 55 (5) (b) regarding the lawful status of former combatant members of the house impacted on the outcome of a vote to amend the sections 89 (2) and 91(4) (f).
The representative of former combatants ceased to exist after referendum which is according to the Bougainville constitution however, the representatives of the former combatants continued to take part in affairs of Bougainville HoR post referendum.
Lawyer representing president Momis, Loani Henao, told the court that the matter was urgent that the writs would be issued on Friday pending unclear interpretation of certain provisions in the Bougainville constitution.