Sir Michael blamed for NA’s downfall

SIR Michael Somare must take the blame for the fall from grace of the National Alliance party and the political crisis, Enga province branch president Paul Kurai says.
Kurai, who fought hard to win four seats in his province in the 2007 general election, said Sir Michael listened to the wrong advice from political friends.
He said it resulted in the downfall of the National Alliance-led government and the split
of its members.
He said if Sir Michael had appointed the right people to run the government while he went to Singapore for medical treatment, such problems would not have happened.
He said if Sir Michael had given the deputy prime minister’s post to Don Polye when he went to Singapore the party would still be intact and they would still be in government.
He said Sir Michael made the wrong decision in giving the deputy prime minister’s post to Wabag MP Sam Abal with the intention of taking it back later and giving it to his son.
Kurai said that plan backfired on the “father of the nation”.
Kurai said the party, as an institution, took some time to build but greed and political in-fighting were causing it problems.
He said he had trust and confidence in Polye as a parliamentary leader to lead the party into the national election
next year.
He said the challenge was now with party executives throughout the country to work with Polye to win more seats and form the next government.
Kurai said he respected Sir Michael as a father of the nation and former party leader.
But he said Sir Michael was getting old and with his health problems and the political pressure, “he must resign from politics”.