Supreme Court rules on crucial cases in Samoa
In Samoa the Supreme Court has ruled in two crucial cases brought further to the general elections.
The Court has ruled in favour of the FAST party to overturn a declaration by the Head of State that a sixth woman MP should be added to the Parliament. This gives FAST 26 seats to 25 held by the caretaker HRPP government. The Court reminded the Head of State of the constitutional requirement that he summon Parliament to sit within 45 days of the original poll.
In a second case the Court ruled that there was no constitutional basis for the Head of State to have voided the results of the April 9th elections and called for a second election on May 21. The Court has reinstated the results as they were declared after the April elections.
The caretaker Prime Minister has announced that his party (HRPP) will appeal the judgments.
Leaders meet for further post-referendum talks
The leaders of Papua New Guinea and Bougainville have met to take forward talks further to the independence referendum in 2019. Prime Minister James Marape and President Ishmael Toroama of Bougainville arrived in Kokopo on Sunday for their meeting.
This is the first of a series of meetings to work on a blueprint for independence in Bougainville. The results of these consultations will go to the National Parliament of PNG for ratification under the terms of the Bougainville Peace Agreement.
The consultation process has been delayed because of the impacts of COVID-19. It is likely that there will be further delays as PNG moves closer to next year’s general elections. President Toroama’s government has been implementing an ‘Independence Ready’ initiative on Bougainville. His government has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with PNG Power prior to taking over management of power supplies on the island next year.
COVID-19 round up
In Fiji the number of COVID cases continues to rise. There are currently more than 50 active cases in the country, with most of them being outside of quarantine and including 12 that are the result of community transmission.
Meanwhile in Papua New Guinea, the total number of recorded cases has exceeded 13,000 and there are 133 known deaths recorded.
In Solomon Islands, two positive cases of COVID-19 were detected among the crew of a vessel that arrived in the country from PNG on a private charter.
Vaccination programs are underway across the region. In Tonga the King and Queen are among more than 20,000 people who have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The travel bubble between Cook Islands and New Zealand commenced on May 17th. This is hoped to provide a lifeline for the tourism industry in Cook Islands which has been badly hit by the border closures.
Police complaint laid against Minister in Vanuatu
In Vanuatu police have received a complaint against Jay Ngwele, the Minister for Infrastructure and Public Utilities. The complaint was laid by the Leader of the Opposition, Ralph Regenvanu.
Regenvanu has alleged that the Minister and his political adviser, Joshua Kalsakau, demanded that a shipping company pay a bribe of VT5 million (AUD 60,000) to facilitate the issue of a provisional certificate for a vessel that Vanuatu Ferry was seeking to import.
Regenvanu’s complaint alleges breaches of the Constitution, the Leadership Code Act, Maritime Sector Regulatory Act No. 26 of 2016, and the Shipping Act (CAP 53). His complaint rests on evidence provided by the company’s adviser, John Mark Bell, who says he was asked by the Minister, via his adviser to pay VT5 million for the certificate to be issued.
The allegations have been denied by both Ngwele and Kalsakau. Ngwele has threatened to sue Bell and Regenvanu for libel.
Tess Newton Cain is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Griffith Asia Institute and project lead of the Pacific Hub.
