Speaker considers Kidu’s request

SPEAKER Jeffrey Nape has acknowledged receipt of a request from the Moresby South MP Dame Carol Kidu to be recognised as Leader of the Opposition.
He has yet to make a decision on the matter.
If Nape should recognise Dame Carol, the only female parliamentarian, she will become the alternate Prime Minister and enjoy perks and privileges that are superior even to those of ministers.
Dame Kidu’s Jan 27 request to the Speaker followed her dissociating herself from the Somare faction after she discovered that group had prompted the failed attempt to overthrow the PNG Defence Force commander.
“After reading the media statements today that the decision for the recent military intervention were made by the cabinet of the former government, I wish to disassociate myself from both factions and request that I be allocated a seat in the Opposition benches,” she said in her letter.
“I further request that, as I am the only Member in the Opposition benches, then I should assume the Leader of the Opposition position for the remaining time in this term of Parliament effective form the date of this request.”
Parliament’s legal advice is that Dame Carol only needs the Speaker to give the nod in order for her request to be effected.
The Opposition Leader’s salary set in January 2007 by the Salaries and Remuneration Committee is equivalent to the Deputy Prime Minister at K104,845 per annum and far superior to ministers who are supposed to earn only K83,945.
The Opposition Leader is entitled to own staff and a large entertainment allowance.
Dame Kidu decided on this course of action when she discovered that all her colleague MPs in the Somare camp were not attending Parliament, making her a one-person opposition.