The Solomon Islands Court of Appeal has issued a judgement revealing it stalled moves to oust Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele due to “serious questions of constitutional significance”.
On Friday, the court approved an application by the Attorney-General for a stay of execution, which temporarily suspended a decision by the Chief Justice for Manele to call parliament, which lapsed that day.
This is the latest development in a political saga that began last month with the mass defection of government ministers to the opposition.
In the High Court last Tuesday, Sir Albert Palmer ordered Manele to convene parliament within three days to face a motion of no confidence in his leadership.
Sir Albert ruled in favour of a new coalition of 28 MPs (in the 50-member house), including government defectors, who filed a judicial review claim in the High Court.
He also denied attempts by Attorney-General John Muria Jr to have the judicial review struck out.
In its judgement, released on Monday, the Appeal Court said it had “discretionary powers to grant such relief as may be necessary to prevent prejudice to the parties pending appeal”.
“In the present case, the appeal raises serious and arguable questions of constitutional significance. Without a stay, there is a real risk that the (government’s ) appeal would be rendered nugatory (futile) by the occurrence of irreversible constitutional consequences. In those circumstances, the balance of justice favours the preservation of the status quo,” the judgement said.
Governor-General Sir David Tiva Kapu last week refused to call parliament, citing the government’s appeal of Sir Albert ‘s decision, which is being heard in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
Sir David firmly rejected calls from the opposition group to use his residual constitutional powers to summon parliament as soon as possible, saying an appeal by the government was afoot.
While he acknowledged he had the power to convene parliament if the Prime Minister failed to do, he would not.
“I will exercise my powers to convene parliament at the appropriate date and time,” Sir David said in a letter to the coalition.
Meanwhile, the opposition group called out Manele’s decision to leave the country during the political impasse.
Manele was in Fiji for a one-day Troika meeting in his capacity as chair of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
“The prime minister has departed the country in clear defiance of a court order requiring parliament to be convened within three days. This raises profound constitutional questions regarding compliance with binding judicial directions and the obligations of the executive under our democratic system,” the coalition said in a statement.
“Such actions reflect a serious erosion of leadership responsibility and are incompatible with the standards expected of lawful constitutional governance.”
“The Constitution must be obeyed. The Court must be respected. Parliament must sit,” it said.
Despite their numerical superiority, the group has previously been locked out of parliament by Manele’s refusal to call a sitting and face a leadership challenge.
