Caption: Opposition
Leader Don Polye
By MATTHEW VARI
OPPOSITION Leader and Member for Kandep, Don Polye has criticized the decision by the government to initiate a State of Emergency (SoE) to collect millions of kina in monies owed to state run electricity supplier PNG Power Limited.
In a media conference hosted yesterday at parliament house, the leader of the opposition questioned the legality of such a callout stating that the situation did not warrant such measures.
Polye said that in order to declare a state of emergency, there were circumstances under the constitution that warrant such a measure to be taken.
“As far as I am concerned is the fact that when there is a state of emergency- we must have three or four conditions that warrant it,” Mr Polye said.
“First there must be an act of war against Papua New Guinea by a foreign intrusion or in fact if there is any foreign intrusion causing disruption to national security.”
“If there is any social unrest or social violence, such that it affects the livelihood of the people, threatening businesses or major projects for the economy is threatened than a state of emergency can also be called.”
“The final condition is when there is a natural disaster, affecting the people then we will completely and quickly need to go in and sort the problem.”
Polye said that public funds are managed as such that processes and procedures are guided, however, adding that in the case of a SoE the processes are suspended as the risks are immediate and pose a threat to thousands of citizens.
“In this instance you just collect the minimum of the amount that the government has not specified clearly,” he said.
“Hypothetically if it is between K130 to K200 million that has to be collected, so you are calling a stae of emergency only to do a normal administrative function of an entity mandated by the constitution to do their job administratively.”
“Here the government is coming in declaring a state of emergency not under the conditions of the constitution, just to collect debts. That then raises the question as to why the amount has been allowed to accrue over the years.”
He said the moves by the government were suspicious, especially when there were existing processes in place already to do the job.
“We have the police and the court of law there, debt collectors there, Power PNG there through the CEO and his administration- it is their job to collect it,” Mr Polye said.
“If they cannot collect it then they can outsource the collection to professional expert debt collectors who can summon those people, bring them to the court who can order them to pay the monies.”
In addition he expressed fears he claimed that the government would use the insolvency issue to sell off 50 percent of the PPL, which he said could be easily achieved under the guise of the SoE.
“I call this decision a rogue decision from a rogue government, trying to sell the assets of PNG in a rogue way.”
He called on the Prime Minister and the Minister for State Enterprise to be weary of the people’s assets, saying that it was illogical, killing systems of good governance.
Something the leader said could set a precedence that could lead to similar exercises to be initiated to collect debts of other state owned entities and institutions.
“That is not on and is not how you run a country-. You are suppose to strengthen the institutions and systems to perform the functions independently without doing things like this.”
“I am seeking legal advice in the interpretation of this government in declaring this state of emergency to a judicial review if it is constitutional or not.”
“At the moment I am seeking that advice and am looking at the decisions that have been made and once I get that advice I will use that to determine to bring to the courts for a constitutional interpretation of what they have done.”
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