Speaker wants Wenge prosecuted

By ISAAC NICHOLAS
SPEAKER Jeffrey Nape has ordered the prosecution of Morobe Governor Luther Wenge for contempt of parliament.
He said Wenge had brought parliament’s integrity into question by filing in court affidavits of reports on the proceedings of parliament and documents without the authority of parliament.
Wenge and the Morobe provincial executive had filed a Supreme Court reference challenging parliament’s passage of the Judicial Conduct Act.
“His conduct breaches the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act and is an offence punishable by imprisonment,” Nape said.
Section 10 of the act states that any MP who discloses to a court a report on the proceedings of parliament or a document laid before parliament without parliament authorising their publication is guilty of an offence.
Wenge had filed the affidavits last week and were tendered in court as evidence last Tuesday.
Nape said such an offence would carry a prison term of not more than three years.
“Wenge had tendered in court two copies of a certified Judicial Conduct Act when neither had been cleared for publishing.
“He has caused parliamentary procedures to be called into question and scrutinised in court without any authority to publish the documents.”
Nape also denied claims that there were two judicial conduct acts.
“There are not two acts. There was a mistake in the printing of documents and this was ascertained before any authority was given to release the JCA for publication.”
He said opposition leader Dame Carol Kidu was also being investigated for allegedly breaching the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act.