_{By OFANI EREMAE}

Last time, it started off as a rumour.

That Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and his government are going to extend the life of parliament.

When the Opposition questioned the Government on that rumour in parliament in April 2021, they denied having any knowledge of that.

But that was a lie.

In fact Cabinet had already made a decision two months earlier to extend parliament from four to five years.

Although the life of parliament was not extended to five years as was the Cabinet decision due to public pressure, Sogavare gave the current House an additional seven months in power by delaying the elections to early next year.

Now a similar rumour is circulating again.

That Sogavare is going to delay the elections again by amending the Constitution so that parliament dissolves in May 2024 instead of December this year.

If this is done, the elections will be held around September 2024 – four months after the House is dissolved in May 2024. In other words, extending the life of the current house to five years (currently it is four years and seven months).

The rumour, which has been circulating for weeks, has prompted Opposition leader Mathew Wale to finally broke his silence.

On Thursday, he called on Prime Minister Sogavare to confirm whether or not there is ongoing dialogue within the Government to extend Parliament again.

Wale said his office was informed that there have been discussions at the top Government level that a proposal on a further extension is likely to be submitted to Cabinet for deliberation.

“As leader of Opposition I am duty-bound to seek clarifications on this matter if it is true or not as it is a matter of national interest,” he said.

The Opposition Leader said whilst it would be irresponsible of the Government to do so, it would not come as a surprise.

“In April 2021 when the first proposal to extend the life of Parliament was questioned in Parliament, the Government denied having any knowledge of the matter.

“However, a leaked Cabinet paper then has clearly showed that Cabinet has already ‘Agreed’ on the decision to extend parliament from four to five years in February 2021.

“The Prime Minister and the DCGA government have a responsibility to clarify this to our people whether this is something Cabinet is looking at.”

Wale said if this is true then the Government is also duty bound to give reasons to support their intentions.

The Office of the Prime Minister has not responded to an email In-depth Solomons sent to them for comments.

To extend parliament, the Government will have to amend the Constitution like it did the last time.

This will require two-third support or at least 33 MPs from the 50-member House.

This is no problem for Sogavare. He’s got the numbers!

But does he have a valid reason to extend parliament for a second time?

When he amended the Constitution to give the current House a seven-month extension, Sogavare used the upcoming Pacific Games as basis for his decision.

Although many did not agree and have criticised the decision, they towed along with it.

This round however, Sogavare will have to come up with a very convincing and legitimate reason if his Cabinet wants to extend parliament.

Funding will not be an issue. Australia has provided AUD$25 million (SBD$135 million) to conduct the elections.

The current House dissolves on 31 December 2023.

Any further extension of parliament will mean the Government issuing notice of a Constitutional Amendment bill in the coming weeks to the Speaker of Parliament.

This is required in order to meet the four weeks needed before the first reading of the bill. So time is of essence here.

Parliament is currently in session. Sogavare will likely adjourn it prior to the Pacific Games next month in Honiara.

If he is to extend parliament as the rumour suggests, he can do that when the House resumes for its final sitting in December.