Pruiatch welcomes few Opposition members decision to defect to the government
Papua New Guinea Opposition Leader Patrick Pruaitch has welcome the decision by few of the members of the Opposition and his National Alliance party members to defect to the government.
"A faction of the National Alliance Party has agreed to join government ranks with my blessing as party leader, Opposition Leader Patrick Pruaitch said today.
He said: “The National Alliance believes that as Treasurer, Hon. Ian Ling-Stuckey, will drive a rational economic agenda that will be in the best interests of all Papua New Guineans. As a party we have spent considerable time working on an agenda for economic recovery and some of those policies can now be implemented.
“The majority of NA Members of Parliament have agreed to support me in my role as Opposition Leader in our desire to keep the government honest and accountable. We will continue to support good government policies and will speak out when policy failures become apparent.
“It would have been preferable from many perspectives for National Alliance to have remained united, either in Opposition or with the Government, but this is not possible at the present time.
“I am confident Prime Minister James Marape will continue to assess the political situation and determine the best way forward for the country.
“We are honouring the Prime Minister’s desire, as expressed in various statements, that he wants a strong Opposition represented in Parliament. I expect those of us that remain in Opposition to speak out whenever we feel the government is less than adequate in meeting the challenges of this nation and its people.”
Mr Pruaitch said four National Alliance MPs – Treasurer Ling-Stuckey, Governor Allan Bird, Namatani MP Walter Schaubelt and North Fly MP James Donald – had joined the government ranks together with Governor Gary Juffa.
“It may appear quite an awkward situation with some NA MPs in Government and the remainder in Opposition, but this has happened previously in PNG. For the present, I believe this will be in the best interests of this country,” he said.
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He said: “The National Alliance believes that as Treasurer, Hon. Ian Ling-Stuckey, will drive a rational economic agenda that will be in the best interests of all Papua New Guineans. As a party we have spent considerable time working on an agenda for economic recovery and some of those policies can now be implemented.
“The majority of NA Members of Parliament have agreed to support me in my role as Opposition Leader in our desire to keep the government honest and accountable. We will continue to support good government policies and will speak out when policy failures become apparent.
“It would have been preferable from many perspectives for National Alliance to have remained united, either in Opposition or with the Government, but this is not possible at the present time.
“I am confident Prime Minister James Marape will continue to assess the political situation and determine the best way forward for the country.
“We are honouring the Prime Minister’s desire, as expressed in various statements, that he wants a strong Opposition represented in Parliament. I expect those of us that remain in Opposition to speak out whenever we feel the government is less than adequate in meeting the challenges of this nation and its people.”
Mr Pruaitch said four National Alliance MPs – Treasurer Ling-Stuckey, Governor Allan Bird, Namatani MP Walter Schaubelt and North Fly MP James Donald – had joined the government ranks together with Governor Gary Juffa.
“It may appear quite an awkward situation with some NA MPs in Government and the remainder in Opposition, but this has happened previously in PNG. For the present, I believe this will be in the best interests of this country,” he said.
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