15/05/2012 16:50

 

My fellow people of East Sepik and all Papua New Guineans, in a few days the writs are going to be issued and my team of parliamentarians, our lawyers and the Nation still awaits the decision of the Supreme Court to reaffirm the legitimacy of my government.

As we wait, time is running out and this is exactly what this illegal group had hoped.  Based on their illegal antics, it is almost certain that, after 44 years in Parliament, they have robbed me of the right to make my final address to the Nation from the National Parliament.

For this reason, I take this opportunity to speak openly to my people of East Sepik and Papua New Guinea as a whole.

As I stated some nights ago at the National Alliance dinner, I have dedicated 44 years of my life to politics in this country. People of East Sepik have shown trust and confidence in my leadership since 1968, For this, I carry an immeasurable debt of gratitude.

But with our system of government, it has been the people of Papua New Guinea through their elected representatives who have allowed me to be Chief Minister then Prime Minister from 1973 to 1977, then from 1977 to 1980, from 1982 to 1985, then 2002 to 2011.

Though I started my career as a teacher then union leader and broadcaster, my passion has been, through politics, the people of Papua New Guinea.

I have also been involved in the formation of two prominent political parties: Pangu Pati and the National Alliance Party.

The road for me has not been without bumps, sharp turns and uphill climbs.

At independence, we had the challenge of keeping the nation of many tribes united and from breaking up into small autonomous or independent states, unable to compete in international marketplace.

After, we struggled through the ten-year Bougainville conflict, the devaluation and floating of the Kina, and the Sandline saga. 

By far, however, the greatest threat we have faced is maintaining the independence of our judiciary and upholding the integrity of our Constitution.

In our short history, no government has ever defied the orders of the courts created new laws designed only to target political opponents and to imprison diligent judges.  These brazen attacks on our democracy have led to this drawn out crisis.

Together we must join and fight for our future, I am thankful that there have been very little physical confrontations in this crisis.

We are fighting with our intellect and our values.  We have proven our discipline by avoiding an escalation of violence in spite of the importance of this battle, because we understand that those consequences would affect the future development of our democracy.

Against difficult odds, my committed team will continue the fight against these desecrations of the law and Constitution by members of parliament.  Papua New Guinea cannot subscribe to ‘mob rule’ in Parliament; everyone must respect our Constitution and our Courts.  No one is above the law!

Together, we must ensure new leaders come to Parliament after elections committed to ensure that these assaults to the foundations of our democracy will never happen again.

Our Constitution and courts are here to serve the greater good of our society as a whole. Everyone must believe that justice is blind and will rule based on what is right. 

Rather than legislating for the good of all people, this group of alleged ‘leaders’ have used legislation only  seeking to eliminate political and legal opposition. Such seeds are sown by would-be dictators. 

This gross abuse of power cannot become precedent.  This cannot ever be allowed to happen again.

While these shockingly unjust actions have been leveled against me, I cannot stand aside and allow other elected leaders to be similarly removed by opposing members of parliament based solely on political vendetta. How can we allow one member to void all of the votes given to another member for his own benefit? Such conduct is not acceptable anywhere in the free and democratic world! 

We call on the good citizens of Papua New Guinea to join our effort to ensure that the contempt proceeding against these rogue members of parliament is completed. All members of parliament must understand that we are not above the law. The consequences of contempt before our Supeme Court must be IMPRISONMENT.

It is saddening for all that some esteemed senior members of parliament have also been severely infected by this disease and have not spoken out against these violations. Our people must recognize this at the polls.

With these dangerous issues still pending, I cannot leave this stage without giving my all to ensure PNG is back on the path of democratic rule where the three arms of government remain separate and independent. This has been a great lesson for us as we continue to grow together as a nation.  While I cannot reverse time, I can try to do something about the future.

For this reason, I have decided to lead the National Alliance Party to the elections to ensure that the party gets the numbers to form government in July.

The events of 2 August have affected the numbers within the National Alliance Party. The question of leadership has not been decided; however the Party has decided that I will remain its leader until the formation of the new government.

While I personally would like to stand down, I had a lot of reactions against the proposal last week. I will therefore be going to East Sepik next week to sit with people and leaders of each of the six districts and will then make my decision whether or not to stand again.

Regardless of this uncertainty, I still urge people of Papua New Guinea who support me to vote in people that will uphold our Constitution and strengthen our democracy.  PNG must form a new Government based on good governance and the rule of law.

This is because, despite all the talk, we have achieved greater progress over the last nine years than any time in our past history. Let’s not vote in a government that will sacrifice all the gains for their own self-preservation.

This election will be my final tour of duty and I look forward to visiting many parts of the country to call on you to join with me to restore hope and demand change during this dangerous time of our young history.

May God continue to bless Papua New Guinea.

 

M T SOMARE GCL GCMG CH CF KStJ

• Sir Michael Somare gave this speech at the Radio East Sepik, the provincial station for the PNG government broadcaster National Broadcasting Commission on Tuesday May 15, 2012.