FORMER Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare last week spoke about his time as prime minister when he was referred to a leadership tribunal.
"I want everyone in Papua New Guinea to remember that during my time as prime minister, in the last parliament a leadership tribunal was setup by the Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia," he told parliament when making a personal explanation on various issues in relation to leadership. He spoke about the reason for his referral which was late submission of his annual returns as required by the leadership code. "I would like to stress that when the tribunal was set up by the Chief Justice, I did step aside to protect the integrity of the highest office in our country. Before doing so, I appointed Mr Don Polye as the acting prime minister," he said. "Personally, I felt that this was an issue of morality the precedent it established must be remembered for the sake of the principle of accountability – I knew I had to set. "To step aside as required by my own conscience was to instill confidence in the people of PNG that I too was subject to every law. After stepping aside, I then applied to the tribunal requesting to return as the prime minister while the tribunal was being run. Due to the administrative nature of the offence, the Tribunal granted my request." Comments are closed.
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