Prime Minister (PM) James Marape has honored the request for the Deputy Prime Ministers seat to be retained in the Morobe province, when he appointed the Member for Lae John Roso the position, follow the recent tragic passing of the former Deputy Prime Minister and Member for Bulolo, Sam Basil.
Speaking this afternoon after his official swearing into the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Roso said the request was put forth by the Morobe Governor Ginson Saonu in honor and as a mark respect of the late member for Bulolo who died in a tragic road accident in the province.
“He asked for the seat to be retained in Morobe and the prime minister in his wisdom after consulting various leaders, ensured that the seat of the deputy prime minister fell on my shoulders, so I would like to say a big thank you to the coalition members,” said Roso.
“We will try to do our best to ensure the country runs smoothly until the next government is formed after the election.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister James Marape said even though the election is on, the office of the deputy must not be vacant, hence the appointment of Mr. Roso. He further stated that from this time on there will be no major decisions made from the office of the deputy, instead Roso will be just doing oversight of things.
The PM then congratulated Mr. Roso on his appointment and congratulated the Member for Magarima Mr. Manasseh Makiba who was also sworn in this afternoon as Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.
Both Roso and Makiba were sworn in this afternoon by the Acting Governor General, Chief Justice Gibbs Salika, at the Government House in Port Moresby.