Prime Minister Marape welcomes Supreme Court decision on VONC

Prime Minister James Marape welcomed the Supreme Court decision yesterday [Monday]to dismiss the Vote-of-No Confidence case filed by the opposition.

"I welcome the Supreme Court decision. Laws of our country cannot be hijacked or coerced or influenced in any forum including National Parliament.

"The ruling by the five-man bench headed by Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika along with other Justices Gavara-Nanu, Mogish, Cannings and Hartshorn is a good ruling. You cannot get any better bench to read the law than the bench that made the ruling, especially that Parliament handles its own matters," Marape said.

The prime minister added that the premise of the Opposition coming to court was to basically question the conduct of Parliament and the private business committee; however, the Supreme Court upheld section 134 of the constitution, which clearly states that matters of Parliament cannot be brought to court.

He said the decision brings to greater light the borders of Parliament and the judiciary.

"You can only go to court when the constitution is breached. The court decision highlighted that Speaker Job Pomat never breached the constitution and that his ruling was in order," Marape said.

Mr. Marape further added that when he moved a Section 96 Dissent and when Parliament upheld that Dissent, opposition MPs walked out.

"They would have remained in their seats to defeat my Dissent.

"Parliament operates on numbers, including for quorum, for speakers to entertain motions for decisions to be made," Marape added.

Meanwhile Marape appreciates the Supreme Court decision and is looking forward to Parliament sitting on September 03rd.