Maelanga Rejects Claims on Caucus

The Solomon Islands Acting Prime Minister Hon. Manasseh Maelanga has rejected claims that Caucus is more powerful than the Cabinet in the current NCRA government.

Hon. Maelanga made the statement in response to a newspaper article by Gabriel Taloikwai who desperately attempted to discredit the NCRA government claiming that Caucus is making decisions on behalf of the Cabinet.

Mr Taloikwai further claimed that the current Caucus is exerting unnecessary pressure on the Prime Minister for self serving interests.

"These claims are only misleading assumptions and there is no evidence to support them," Hon. Maelanga said.

Hon. Maelanga explained that while the concept of Caucus is generally defined as a "committee of political parties" - its practice varied in different countries depending on its suitability.

"In our case, where we have a weak political party system, the role of Caucus is to ensure coalition governments are stable,"

"It also provides an avenue where government backbenchers have the opportunity to share their views on national issues before decisions are made at the cabinet level," Mr Maelanga explained.

Maelanga said individuals have different interpretations on the Caucus but it is irresponsible to claim that the current Caucus is making decisions on behalf of Cabinet.

"It is immature to say that Caucus is powerful than the cabinet because all members of the NCRA government respects the Cabinet as the only legitimate authority in the executive government of the country under our national constitution," Mr Maelanga said.


Source: Press Release, Government Communications Unit