Caption: (L) Chief Secretary
Sir Manasupe Zurenouc and Registrar Dr Alphonse Gelu.
By
MATTHEW VARI
Sunday, November 1, 2015 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)
IN response to the circulation of a security bulletin from
leading international petroleum company InterOil claiming the passing of the
revised Organic law on the Intergrity of Political Parties and Candidates
(OLIPPAC) which will keep the PM in office if charged in court untill
convicted- the State through the office of the Chief Secretary and the Registry
of Political Parties have condemned the claims.
This follows the circulation of the bulletin via email to
many business houses and organisations throughout the nation's capital since
Friday when it first surfaced, and has subsequently reached social media sites
like Facebook.
Copies of the bulletin were distributed at a conference
called by the Political Parties Registrar Dr Alphonse Gelu and Chief Secretary
of Government Sir Manasupe Zurenouc along with Constitutional Law Reform
Commission Secretary Dr Eric Kwa on Tuesday.
According to the document contents, reference was made to
the Registrar, the PM and connected to Monday's dispersed civil society march
that did not take shape and moves to prevent a motion of a vote of no
confidence taking place whether the result favours the PM's removal.
Concerned of the public reaction to the claims set by the
author of the bulletin and individual within social sites like Facebook-
Zurenouc denied any such moves or narratives within the proposed organic law.
"First of all there is a vote of no confidence motion,
but those of us here are all public servants and we are concerned of the
contents of this document," the chief secretary said.
"In the last couple of days – InterOil a leading
company in the country has issued a security bulletin to its employees, which
has gone out to other companies throughout the country."
"The bulletin has stated that Dr Gelu will personally
table the law on the OLIPPAC, which will provide that when a PM is charged will
not resign until he is found guilty."
"We are here to explain to the public- particularly
Papua New Guineans that this is incorrect. We are concerned that our people and
the social media have taken this security warning that could create
chaos."
He referred to the OLIPPAC, passed in 2000, that had some
sections removed by the Supreme Court in 2010 that were deemed
unconstitutional.
Dr Gelu told the media that nothing in the revised organic
law that states the claims made.
"This person (author of the bulletin) was trying to
link the protest march on Monday to the revised organic law, which states that
if a prime Minister is convicted of an offence he cannot stand aside until he
is convicted," Gelu said.
"There is nothing in the organic law- we do not know
where they got their information from- for us at the registry it has really
affected our minds and our efforts, undermining our effort in getting the
revised organic law through parliament."
"To our surprise we are now seeing this- in fact this
particular article through the Social Media who have rolled on this and as of
last night there were all sorts of comments that were coming out about the
revised law which were all totally incorrect."
He reiterated that the law is for the benefit of the
country, and that is what the registry has done with nothing to suggest the
revised law protects any one person’s interest.
"That is not what this office is all about- this is a
constitutional office and it is an office for the people of Papua New Guinea
and not one particular person or a particular government, or political
party."
"For us at the registry we are concerned about that
and we hope that Papua New Guineans are listening to us. In fact for the
registry we have worked very hard to go out and sell parts of this law to the
public."
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