THE National Court has ruled that a leadership tribunal failed to afford natural justice to Vanimo Green River MP Belden Namah to give him the opportunity to be heard before recommending his dismissal from office. The ruling yesterday by Justice David Cannings was in regards to a judicial review Namah had sought over the tribunal’s decision which recommended his suspension. Namah was recommended to be dismissed from duties by the Higgins tribunal on April 9, 2018, after he was found guilty of misconduct in office when he stormed a court room to arrest former chief justice Sir Salamo Injia, who was presiding cases at the time. Before the recommendation for dismissal was implemented, Namah applied to the National Court and was granted leave to review the tribunal’s decision and a stay of its decision.
At the trial, Namah argued that the public prosecutor’s request to the former chief justice to appoint a second tribunal (Higgins tribunal) to look into the matter, including subsequent decisions and the final decision, was unconstitutional as he claimed that the first tribunal’s appointment was not formally revoked. The argument was dismissed but his claims of failure to accord him natural justice was upheld. The court declared that there were no errors of jurisdiction arising from the alleged errors of the public prosecutor not obtaining a fresh referral from the Ombudsman Commission and the former chief justice not properly revoking the appointment of the first tribunal. The court found that there was an error of jurisdiction in the second tribunal’s recommendation of Namah’s dismissal from office, which arose from its failure to afford natural justice. The matter will return to court on Tuesday (July 14) for question of what further orders, declarations or remedies ought to be granted. Solicitor-General Tauvasa Tanuvasa said despite the ruling Namah was still under suspension from duties as it was according to law that any leader referred to tribunal was under automatic suspension. “If Namah wants to lift the suspension he has to go back and complete his case before the tribunal,” Tanuvasa said. The National/PNGfacts Next : Controller Cautions Public Against Fake News & Misinformation Comments are closed.
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