Court approves Opposition’s appeal

By GEORGINA KOREI
A FIVE-MAN Supreme Court bench ruled on Friday that the Constitutional reference filed by Opposition leader Douglas Tomuriesa can be heard.
Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika handed down the decision on the Opposition reference on behalf of other bench members which includes; Judges Derek Hartshorn, Panuel Mogish, David Cannings and Les Gavara-Nanu.
“The applicant’s (Tomuriesa) request is granted.
“It is declared the Opposition has standings to make the application under Section 18 (1) of the Constitution.”
Sir Gibbs also ordered that the first intervener Speaker Job Pomat and second intervener Attorney-General Pila Niningi shall pay costs of the application for the request for a declaration as to standing, on a party-party basis, which shall, if not agreed, be taxed.
“The fact that Tomuriesa is a citizen and Leader of Opposition is enough to show the sufficiency of his interest in the subject of the application,” he said.
Both Pomat and Niningi argued that the interpretations of the constitutional provisions on which the reference was based have been authoritatively settled in previous case, Polye vs Zurenuoc (2016) SC2039.
That case was similar to the present case that Tomuriesa claimed that the Private Business Committee (PBC) of the parliament failed to clear a notice of motion of a no confidence in the Prime Minister and that the procedures of section 145 of the Constitution was breached.
Sir Gibbs said: “We consider the fact that there has been a previous case interpreting the constitution provisions on which Tomuriesa relies does not lessen the seriousness of the Constitutional issues he is proposing to raise, as it is the application of the provisions to the facts of the present case that make the constitutional issues significant.
“The court in Polye Vs Zurenuoc laid out the practical requirements of section 145 of the constitution and held that there are mandatory,” Sir Gibbs said.