Prime Minister James Marape thanked the majority of Pangu Pati and coalition partners in the United Resources Party, Social Democratic Party, People’s First Party, People’s Party, National Alliance, People’s Movement for Change, Melanesia Alliance, and Melanesian Liberal Front for attending a government retreat amid the movement of a no-confidence motion.
He said, 6 of the 18 MPs who were in the Opposition camp at Sanctuary Hotel returned to the coalition government in the afternoon on Monday 27th May.
“They are our colleagues and if they want to come back, we will have time and space for them.”
“Updating on numbers: We had a very big coalition of 93 MPs, which has gone down to just over 70.” Marape said,
“They all came in to announce their support for the Pangu Government and expressed that now is not the time for instability but reconstruction under the present Government for better service delivery to the country.”
“We will take these two weeks to review our work in all sectors and improve where we need to for our people and country.”
He said, policies are for the people and good for the country of Papua New Guinea, but sometimes delivery has been impeded by many factors, including politics.
For the next 2 weeks, they will not just consolidate the Government but review work programmes in the face of disasters, economy, census, LLG elections, Bougainville, decentralisation, foreign relations, and so on.
“In the face of a vote-of-no-confidence, we welcome the Section 145 process where a majority of MPs affirms government.”
“At the moment, the majority threshold is 56 MPs, and Pangu and our Coalition partners now are not threatened by a minority.”
“God knows what is best for PNG. All Christians are asked to pray that God’s will for PNG prevails at all times.”