Speaker tells Somare-aligned MPs to decide on sitting preference

By JEFFREY ELAPA
MEMBERS of the Somare regime who occupy the middle bench have been told by the speaker to indicate where they prefer to sit.
Jeffery Nape yesterday advised the MPs to inform his office in writing where they wished to sit as there was an opposition in place with Dame Carol Kidu as its leader and Sam Abal as her deputy.
“By tomorrow, I want you to write to the speaker to indicate where you will sit,” he said.
“You are complicating this parliament. By tomorrow, I want you to do that before I tell you to explain on the floor.”
Meanwhile, parliament was adjourned to today as there
was no quorum.
Nape found that the parliament was empty and adjourned it to today when several important bills would be debated.
Among them is the Boka Kondra Bill, the bill for an act to amend the Land Act 1996 to give effect to the National Goals and Directive Principles of the Constitution, section 53(5)(a)(c) and (d), the provision of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, the Provision of the United Nations convention on the Law of the Sea and customary law relating to land and in heritage of property rights.
Also expected for discussion is the bill to amend the Oil and Gas Act 1998.