SOLS: Guadalcanal leaders meeting crucial for country.
Updated
In Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal leaders have called a special meeting this Thursday that could determine the future of the government. Organisers say the Guadalcanal block of M-P's will be asked to resign from the Grand Coalition government led by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
Presenter: Sam Seke
Speakers: Walton Naezon, Spokesman and former Central Guadalcanal M-P
SEKE: Spokesman for the organisers, former Central Guadalcanal M-P Walton Naezon says the summit has been organised to discuss important issues affecting the province.
Mr Naezon says they include a Guadalcanal leaders' communique put to the Sogavare government in February that was ignored.
The resolutions in the communique included the leaders opposition to the rearming of the police and the appointment of Julian Moti as Attorney General.
Mr Naezon says Thursday's meeting is also expected to call on the six Guadalcanal M-P's in government to resign over the Federal Constitution issue.
He says if they don't resign then they will no longer be seen as representing the people of Guadalcanal.
Guadalcanal Province's eight members of parliament hold the balance of power in the current 49-member house. The eight Guadalcanal votes will be vital when the planned Opposition motion of no confidence is taken.
I spoke to Walton Naezon about the planned Guadalcanal Leaders' summit.
NAEZON: The communique was presented to the Prime Minister on the agenda of Moti appointment, rearmament and the appointment of police commissioner. And I think the Prime Minister threw this one out, even though the Guadalcanal leaders and MPs are pressurising the Prime Minister through a communique, he did not listen and he continued to get Moti as an AG and of course hand-picking the commissioner of police and of course the proposed rearmament.
SEKE: So when are you planning to hold this meeting?
NAEZON: We're proposing the Guadalcanal leaders meeting to be held on Thursday this week and one particular thing that we worry about is the amendment of the constitution that's going to come before the parliament. So we are going to resolve after the meeting to ask our members of parliament to resign before that amendment goes through parliament.
SEKE: And on the issue of rearmament I believe the government's actually just trying to rearm the close protection unit, and the border protection unit that's rearming like the patrol boats and stuff. Why are you worried about that?
NAEZON: Even though the assurance given to the nation by the Prime Minister that is the only division(?) that he proposed to rearm, we believe that any rearmament slowly once you open the door is more down the line eventually the older police force will be rearmed. The other issue we worry about rearmament is that once the people see the police are rearmed we believe that people will go ahead and rearm themselves. Like in the case of Guadalcanal the police during the ethnic crisis they have shot and killed Guadalcanal people. So that is the fear Guadalcanal people we have at the moment.
SEKE: Now the meeting that you are proposing, has that got any kind of blessing from the Guadalcanal provincial government?
NAEZON: Yeah Guadalcanal provincial government, they fully support the proposed meeting because now the Prime Minister has thrown away the request from the communique the Guadalcanal province believes that it is time to call all the leaders, all the chiefs, all the people of Guadalcanal to see that and inform them that our request was thrown away by the Prime Minister.
SEKE: Now there is a motion of no confidence coming up against the Prime Minister on Friday. Is this meeting going to have any bearing on that?
NAEZON: Sam I don't think it's, we are proposing this meeting to fall in line with the motion of no confidence. The motion of no confidence was a move by the opposition MPs, that is nothing to do with our meeting. Our meeting is merely to discuss the communique, and our communique we totally reject the rearmament, appointment of Moti and hand-picking of commissioner of police. That is what we have to ... again by the support of the Guadalcanal people and tell the Prime Minister this is our stand. If he goes ahead, and actually he did now, probably we will conclude to dissociate ourselves from our MPs. So it means that anything our MPs are saying in cabinet or parliament they did not represent our people.
