Parliament has spoken - Papua New Guinea - Westminister Government System

OUSTED Attorney General and Justice Minister Sir Arnold Amet say there is a constitutional crisis in Papua New Guinea, created by the actions of the Speaker who colluded with the Opposition on Tuesday.
Sir Arnold, the former Chief Justice of this country, said in circumventing and corrupting legitimate constitutional process to support a motion to declare a vacancy in the office of the Prime Minister and then to appoint a new Prime Minister is fundamentally wrong in constitutional law.
Sir Arnold went on to argue the law and he is supported by the former Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal who said on Wednesday that there is a constitutional crisis at this moment caused by the illegal act to overthrow the government aided and abetted by the Speaker.
In his press conference, Mr Abal said the Opposition was allowed by the Speaker to use a wrong provision in the Constitution that offset the election of the new leader.
Apart from Abal and Sir Arnold, we have been bombarded by calls and emails from lawyers who have argued the pros and cons of the points raised by the two disposed leaders. The arguments may have or may not have merit and the court is the only competent jurisdiction that will answer these questions. We, however, take note that the Supreme Court reference, challenging the election of O'Neill has been dismissed.
It has turned out that the surprising turn of events on Tuesday; the new Prime Minister Peter O'Neill is not the only one that is in the spotlight right now. The Speaker of Parliament Jeffery Nape is in the spotlight again.
This is not the first time that Speaker Nape has been accused of employing undemocratic practices on the floor of Parliament. One just has to look back over the last few years to find that Speaker Nape had been put on the spot for making controversial decisions on the floor of parliament again and again.
Nape has been accused of hijacking the democratic processes of parliament by gagging debates; passing controversial legislations, adjourning parliament, preventing votes of no-confidence…the list goes on, at almost every Parliament session.
Public condemnation on the controversial decisions by Nape came from PNG as well as abroad but men like Sir Arnold and Abal did not do anything when they were in Government.
On Tuesday, they suddenly found out that Mr Speaker had changed alliance and was with the Opposition. Just because the Speaker is not supporting them, they are claiming foul play. They did not do the same over the last nine years.
We urge Abal and Sir Amet to drop these arguments. They now know what it is like to be the minority on the floor of Parliament and at the receiving end of Mr Speaker's rulings.
We are not sure if Sir Arnold will make another attempt to take the issue up in the Supreme Court again, but when he does, then the Supreme Court, the only organ of Government that has the inherent powers to interpret the Constitution, will tell us whether what the Speaker did is wrong or right.
For the time being, Papua New Guineans have accepted that Parliament has spoken. Seventy out of the 109 Members of Parliament is an absolute majority, the vote clearly demonstrating that the MPs have lost confidence in the Somare - Abal administration.
Another point is what happened on Tuesday may be unconstitutional but the outcome of the vote on Tuesday speaks for itself. It would have been morally wrong for the former Government to continue to hold onto office.