Jeffrey Elapa
PORT MORESBY (PNG Post Courier/ EMTV/ Pacific Media Watch): Several decisions and actions taken by the Papua New Guinea government were eroding check and balances, and democracy in the country, Opposition Leader Don Polye said.
Speaking during a media conference, Polye said the government had made some drastic decisions that were unconstitutional involving the judiciary and the police and were "self-centred decisions" with the aim of clinging to power.
"These kinds of decisions are totally unacceptable and are dangerous for democracy in our country," he said.
Polye said one such bad decision was the deportation of an economic adviser who had told the truth on the state of the country’s economic outlook.
The Opposition leader said the government should take heed of what these specialised people were advising, and to see them as positive critics to help improve the country’s management of its economy, instead of deporting them.
Case against PM
Polye also mentioned the decision to ban two Australian lawyers from entering the country.
“They were involved in the matter relating to the warrant of arrest of the Prime Minister and to stop them from entering the country was to suppress the court in an effort to protect the Prime Minister”, he said.
The lawyers’ travel ban has since been lifted and they will be representing the National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate in a court battle against Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.
They were put on a travel ban into PNG because they were using incorrect visas.
Chief Migration Officer Mataio Rabura said lawyers Fred Egan and Terence Lambert have been entering the country on business visas, but have been “engaged in employment”.
According to Rabura, the Australians had been in breach of immigration law on repeated occasions, entering with incorrect visas.
Officers suspended
The issuance of the travel ban was followed by the suspension of two senior police officers, Timothy Gitua and Thomas Eluh, who are lead investigators in a fraud case against Prime Minister O’Neill.
Polye said the sequence of events preventing the lawyers and the suspension of police officers simultaneously meant the government was playing tactics to hide the truth.
But Police Commissioner Gary Baki said the two police officers were suspended purely on administrative discipline and had no link to politics.
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Pacific Media Watch
