VONC should aim at resolving political tussle : Barker

PNG is going through a political impasse at this juncture with the current political crisis and the Opposition’s move towards presenting the motion for a Vote of No Confidence against the Prime Minister (VONC) on the floor of Parliament tomorrow, should put an end to this tussle.

These were part of comments made by the Director of the Institute of National Affairs, Paul Barker when speaking to this newsroom.

“Clearly Papua New Guinea needs Political stability but trying to have too many chops and changes is never a good thing, what is of particular importance is stability of policies rather than of individual governance, “said Mr Barker.

Mr. Barker says in the early days of Papua New Guinea’s political history Governments tended to have short lives as you could have a VONC at short notice at any time within the life of that Parliament, however many of the policies and Members of Government continued from one Government to the next and what is most crucial and important is stability of the policies and getting these policies right.

He adds, “In light of this the current VONC facing members of Parliament although highly criticised, is keeping the Government accountable and it is the duty of Parliament to keep the Government in check, even Opposition. 

The INA understands that a motion for a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE will be introduced within the first 18 months and the last 12 months before the next election, something the Government attempted to amend by reducing the number of sitting days for Parliament. 

“While the whole country watches the political turn of events at Waigani in the coming weeks, Mr Barker emphasised that the VONC is an important function because if you deny and remove that important capacity on the VONC we are weakening the function that Parliament has, which is to try and keep the Government accountable and honest,” he added. PNGFM / PNG Today