State asks Ikupu to explain poll decision

THE Department of Provincial and Local Government Affairs has questioned a candidate why he is contesting the elections while still a public office holder. 
In a letter to candidate Miria Ikupu dated June 7, the department’s secretary, Munare Uyassi,  wrote: “Be advised that concerns have been raised with the department over your non-resignation to contest the Moresby Northwest electorate in the 2012 national election. 
“As chairman of the Motu Koita Assembly, you are deemed a constitutional office holder within the meaning of section 221 of the national Constitution.”
Responding directly last evening, Miria Ikupu refuted Uyassi’s claims and lambasted the Post-Courier for printing an opinion that has caused a lot of public confusion.
“I have always wanted to contest the Moresby Northwest open and I have received several legal advices going back two years that all say that there is no law that demands that I resign as chairman of the Motu-Koita Assembly before contesting.
“Right before the elections, I have also received clear advice from Mawe and Stevens Lawyers that it is not legally necessary for me to resign as chairman before contesting,” Ikupu said. 
But in the letter to Ikupu, Uyassi said the department respected Ikupu’s right to contest the elections but that as per the law, the leader must resign as chairman of the assembly to stand as a candidate.
Uyassi said Ikupu’s action was a breach of the Leadership Code making the chairman vulnerable to court cases, penalties and court of disputed returns if he won the election.
He said section 27 (1) and (2) of the Constitution said a person who was holding public office must not place himself “in a position in which he has or could have conflict of interests or might be compromised when discharging his public duties”.
Meantime, Ikupu is adamant he is still the chairman of the Motu-Koita Assembly as he is elected by the people of Motu Koita and he has resumed since June 25 after his council sanctioned leave of absence to contest the elections.
“I am not a public servant or a chairman of an association so that I have to resign.
“As far as the law goes, I have resumed as an elected leader and in the event that I win the Moresby Northwest election, I will only then resign from my current office to take up the new elected office,” he said.