It is the season of peace and goodwill to all people. This is the time of the year we, in Papua New Guinea, join Christians and all peoples of goodwill around the world to commemorate the coming of Jesus Christ through his birth over 2000 years ago.

This Christmas season in PNG, though, is different from many others since Independence in 1975. There is no peace and goodwill in the hearts and minds of many in our midst given the political situation our Members of Parliament (MPs) have placed our country in at this time. The climate now resembles the Christmas season of 2011 during the height of the so-called “political impasse” where the nation was divided along political lines.

We are a politically divided nation this Christmas as well due to the events that have unfolded in Parliament, the Court House in Waigani and in the various political camps in recent days and weeks.

Politics and political experiences and expediencies in PNG are personal and emotional affairs for many as they are going through at this time. Lives of many people depend directly on political engagements and association with elected political leaders and political staff and public servants.

The desire of some MPs and their supporters to change government using the vote of no confidence (VONC) provision of the Constitution has created the anxiety that has permeated across the political divide and different sectors PNG.

I have discussed earlier this year some of the relationships people have with MPs, especially in election funding and support they give to the candidates and then expect be repaid through government contracts and even kick-back after their candidates win seats and become MPs. It is a regrettable cycle that continues in every term of Parliament and the MPs in many ways are enslaved by it and dictates their performance and political alignments. This is an issue I said it before and will say it again that it is one of the key contributing factors toward MPs maneuvering to change government when the 18 months grace period falls due.

As I discussed before, it is one of the main reasons why MPs move to political camps when lobby begins for the VONC after 18 months of incumbency of a Prime Minister and his government.

During the lobby period of the VONC, MPs ‘shop’ for the best deal from the two prime ministerial camps in terms of ministerial portfolios and development projects and funding for their districts or provinces.

 The MPs then decide which offer they are satisfied with and settle to vote for a particular prime ministerial candidate – the incumbent one or the contender usually from the opposition side. These are the kinds of underlying dynamics that plays out below the grand statements MPs or political camps make about why they government ought to change or the incumbent one to remain.

The lobby for PM’s post and the resultant government is like a lottery – you play your cards right and you are in it to win, as it were.

At one level, the politicking and lobbying that takes place around the time of the VONC is retarding and frustrating on the nation’s development path. Government functions and decision are held to ransom and even stopped from taking place. Government’s business with foreign partners is affected. We saw that with the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison cancelling his visit to Port Moresby after the Opposition, with the help of some government ministers and members, successfully moved to adjourn Parliament on Friday 13 November 2020 to Tuesday 1^st December 2020.

On another level, the threat and lobbying for VONC, is taxing for individuals and businesses who do business with the government. It means decisions have to be delayed or payment not done and so forth.

Our parliamentary democracy modelled on the Westminster system allows us through our MPs to keep our executive government in check. There are different ways available for MPs to do this on our behalf. The VONC provision in the constitution is a guaranteed way of keeping the executive government and the Prime Minister honest with their work, so to speak. This is great for the country to keep our leaders in check and on their toes after every 18 months especially when we have a long five-year term of Parliament. I argued here before for us to shorten the five-year term to three years for precisely the same reasons why VONCs are engineered by members of the Opposition and other MPs. It is the abuse of this constitutional provision that we must be worried about.

The VONC provision should be invoked only when it is needed. It must be used when a Prime Minister and his government are heading in the wrong direction as pronounced by the performance of the economy and other indicators to that shows where we are at as a nation.

Our MPs must respect the real intention of the VONC under the Westminster system. This provision of the Constitution should not be used for political expediency or to entertain sectoral interests through the incumbency of a government that is voted into office after a VONC. The good governance tools in the Westminster system like the VONC mush be protected and used for the national good and not to serve self-interests.