Parliamentary Meeting Ended with Success

The recent Parliamentary meeting which ran for more than a month successfully ended yesterday.

Speaker of Parliament, Sir Peter Kenilorea went on to thank the Parliamentary Members, the Parliamentary Officials, the Office of the Auditor General, the Office of the Attorney General, Prime Minister and his Cabinet, the Office of the Opposition, the Permanent Secretaries and other Public Servants who were involved in making the recent Parliamentary sitting successful.

Sir Peter Kenilorea stated that over time he had noticed great improvements during the Parliamentary debates especially on that of questions used for scrutinizing the Executive and the use of adjournment motions, the congratulatory motion and that of the amendment mechanisms.

Contributing to the success were the four Bills that were debated in Parliament and passed during the course of more than 30 days of sitting. They were the; Amendment to the Correctional Service Act, the Secured Transaction Bill, the Truth and Reconciliation Bill and the Supplementary Budget.

According to the Prime Minister's office, they are not quite clear on when the next Parliamentary sitting for 2008 will be. The date will be later decided by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet.

However, three Bills are expected to be introduced then. They are the Independent Commission Against Corruption Bill, the National Audit Bill and the Political Parties Integrity Bill.

Work on the Commission Against Corruption Bill will soon begin, however consultations among relevant stakeholders regarding the Political Parties Integrity Bill has already been done.

Both Bills are expected to assist in weeding out corruption and political instability and install practices of good governance within the system of Solomon Islands.

The National Audit Bill is to give independence to the Auditor Generals Office from the Ministry of Finance, and make them answerable to the Legislature.