Tribunal finds Gore guilty

 By LAZARUS BIRA

A LEADERSHIP tribunal has found Cabinet Minister Delilah Gore guilty of shouting at a hostess on an Air Niugini flight and for official misconduct under the Leadership Code.

The decision was handed down by tribunal chairman Justice Goodwin Poole and members Magistrate Mark Selefkaru and Magistrate Ernest Wilmot. They dismissed the charge relating to her alleged failure to switch off her mobile phone on the plane.

Gore, the Sohe MP and Minister for Religion, Community Development and Youth,  was travelling on an Air Niugini aircraft from Popondetta to Port Moresby on April 25 when she was alleged to have failed to switch her mobile phone off.

She was alleged to have shouted at the hostess, who asked her to switch off the phone, and threatened to have her sacked.

She threatened to call a minister to have her sacked through the Air Niugini chief executive officer.

Poole said the allegation on the failure to switch off the mobile phone could not be proved as the hostess had assumed that it was still on.

He said the manner in which Gore was approached made her angry and she reacted inappropriately against the hostess, thus demeaning her office and integrity.

He said Gore should have acted as a leader and a role model. Poole said Gore had no authority over an organisation’s employee and the legislative role was not to be interrupted.

He said the penalty on having a mobile phone switched on and an assault on crews under the Civil Aviation Act were three months imprisonment or a K10,000 fine. Submissions on penalty would be done on Friday.