The government has indicated that the new Integrity Bill will not go after "wholesale changes," as was the case for Papua New Guinea's OLIPPAC.
"Members of Parliament will see that the Working Committee has advised against wholesale adoption of the PNG's Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC)," the Prime Minister said when presenting the White Paper in Parliament.Dr. Derek Sikua said that the Government has accepted "that at least 8 issues can be readily dealt with by the Government, and these are acknowledged in the White Paper."
The eight issues, as highlighted by the Prime Minister, are party non-viability, party disloyalty, weak electoral system, weak system for election of Prime Minister, frequent motions of no confidence, the floatability of independent group in Parliament, voter's adverse behaviour and expectations and external influence by rival business interests.
The Prime Minister said that these are the issues which the public has perceived as the direct or indirect causes of political instability in the country.
The Prime Minister said that the tabling of the white paper "demonstrates publicly that the Government is seriously attending to a national contagious disease called political instability which has plagued our nation for more than 30 years now."
Copyright @ 2009. Solomon Times Online. All Rights Reserved.