by Indy Maealasia
Prime Minister Matthew Wale has invited the Opposition and the Independent Group to support national reforms and help deliver the change Solomon Islanders have long demanded.
And he stated MPs were not elected to protect the old system but to transform it.
Addressing Parliament yesterday, Wale called on lawmakers across the chamber to provide strong scrutiny of the Government’s reform agenda while also taking responsibility for advancing changes he said were necessary for the country’s future.
He challenged the Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the Independent Group and other MPs to bring forward their strongest questions, ideas and alternatives during parliamentary debate.
“This debate belongs to you as much as to the Government. Bring to it your sharpest questions and your best ideas,” Wale said.
“Where the programme can be improved, improve it. Where you believe we are wrong, say so, and say why.”
The Prime Minister said accountability was essential to good governance and should strengthen, rather than obstruct, the work of Parliament.
“Accountability, as His Excellency reminded us, guarantees good government, not obstruct it,” he said.
However, Wale said scrutiny must be matched by political courage, urging MPs to support reforms when they were brought before the House.
“Alongside the invitation to scrutinise, I place before every Member also this humble challenge: this House must be willing to carry the will of our people for the change they have long been longing for,” he said.
He said upcoming reforms, including constitutional amendments, land legislation and restructuring of the country’s resource sectors, would require Parliament to work together in the national interest.
“When the reforms come before us, the constitutional amendments, the land bills, the restructuring of our resource sectors, let us work,” Wale said.
“The people did not send us to this Chamber to guard the old ways. They sent us to change it. Fear not.”
The Prime Minister also issued a message to members of his own Government, saying the passage of the parliamentary motion supporting the Government’s programme would mark the beginning of greater accountability.
“The passage of this motion is the beginning of our accountability, not the end of it,” he said.
“We are not the lords of the people; we are their servants. They did not send us here to be praised. They sent us here to deliver.”
Wale’s remarks came as Parliament considered the Government’s policy direction and reform programme, which includes changes to governance, resource management and economic development.
