Wenge’s courtroom successes

LUTHER Wenge’s three-term tenure in parliament from 1997 to 2012 will be remembered best for the voracious legal challenges he brought against the state.
In his time, he has brought seven proceedings against the state and won six with one pending.
Four were against laws introduced by parliament – the Value Added Taxation Act of 1999, the Enhanced Cooperation Programme (ECP) Act of 2004, the preferential voting system adopted by parliament, and the Judicial Conduct Act 2012; one challenged parliament’s election of Sir Paulias Matane by a vote of 73 to have him retained as governor-general, one challenged the prime minister for inaction on appointing a deputy prime minister and one challenging the state’s negligence of the Buimo jail facility.
In the latest case, he challenged the constitutionality of the Judicial Conduct Act and the referral of the chief justice and Justice Nicholas Kirriwom. He has won an interim injunction so far.
In all cases, Wenge alleged serious infringements of the rights and freedoms of the people as guaranteed by the Constitution.
Wenge’s actions are both good and bad, depending on where you sit.
Many people in the far-flung nine districts of Morobe would see this as a waste of the province’s scarce resources.
The province is the biggest after Western in land size and the biggest in population size, now that Southern Highlands has been split into two with the inclusion of the new Hela province.
Yet, he has done Papua New Guinea wonders in standing up to serious infringements on the Constitution and he continues to do so.
Had Wenge not taken up the various cases, we wonder whether any other institution or individual would have taken them up.
We wonder again whether all these cases, which have been found to be gross violations of the Constitution and people’s individual rights and freedoms, would continue to have effect.
Certain bodies which are constitutionally charged with protecting it and the people’s rights have raised hardly a whimper which is truly tragic.
Wenge is a legislator first and a governor second.
He must ensure all legislations, that is laws, that are passed by parliament stand the test of the Constitution.
All laws must conform to its requirements, the failure of which should see the inferior law thrown out or amended.
This is what Wenge has consistently done.
He is, without comparison, one politician who is a champion of the Constitution. Still, the people of Morobe do have a point.
Money from the provincial coffers are limited and they have a primary function – that is the development of Morobe province.
Every toea spent elsewhere means sacrificing a project somewhere in the huge province.
There are parts of this province which are in the highlands and parts which form river valleys and parts that are large outlying islands.
Lae, the provincial capital, is the second largest city in the country and the nation’s industrial and manufacturing hub.
In the minds of others, therefore, Wenge stands accused of using
Morobe’s money for a cause which does not affect Morobeans alone but all Papua New Guineans.
They feel that the
money ought to be found elsewhere.
Wenge’s answer to these accusations is standard: “I am a national legislator and a defender of the rights of not just Morobeans, but all Papua New Guineans.
“At the end of the day, every case won is a victory for the rights of the 500,000-plus Morobeans as well as the seven million Papua New Guineans.”
Wenge may need to use his powers as a legislator to move in parliament that it sets aside funds for members of parliament to apply for to seek legal redress in court, in the event they find themselves in the minority, as he has found himself so often, but do feel aggrieved that parliament has been a mistake, as he
also has proved time and again.