Respect Sir Michael, says pastor

PETER O’Neill and MPs in his group should respect the Supreme Court decision declaring Sir Michael Somare as the legitimate prime minister for the good of the country, a clergyman appealed yesterday.
Pr Peter Ropra of Goroka called on O’Neill and Belden Namah to respect and accept the court’s decision.
He said there was no need for them to go banging on the gates of Government House and barging through police cordons as it was painting a very bad picture of the country and its leaders.
Ropra said the fight for political leadership could have very serious consequences and could spill over onto the streets “if leaders are not careful”.
He said leadership was about numbers and “there’s no need for you (O’Neill) to fight because you have the numbers”.
Ropra said there still had to be the appointment of a Speaker of Parliament and “Sir Michael at this stage does not have the numbers, which means the Opposition will still have one of their own in the post”. 
“Your people are watching to see if you uphold the laws you made yourself … for the sake of integrity and credibility this is not the way to go.”
He said the fight over power was creating uncertainty in the minds of Papua New Guineans and investors and was being watched by countries around the world.
Ropra said the independence of the court had to be upheld and “all leaders must be mature enough to accept it”.
Morobe Governor Luther Wenge described the events in parliament as unprecedented.
Wenge said there was a real possibility of an uprising by the people who had already suffered long hard years from bad decisions and indecisions that had not helped raise their standard of living even though the country was resource-rich.
He said the option to dissolve parliament could inflame the situation.
He called on the country’s political leaders to follow the law and not send the wrong signals to the people.